Fight for Life (film)

This article is about the Jerry Lewis television film. For the 1940 film, see The Fight for Life. For other uses, see Fight for Life.

Fight for Life is a 1987 American made-for-television drama film starring Jerry Lewis (in his television film debut), Patty Duke and Morgan Freeman. It was originally broadcast on March 23, 1987, on ABC.

Fight for Life
Genre	Drama
Written by	Thomas Nesi Scott Nisor
Directed by	Elliot Silverstein
Starring	Jerry Lewis Patty Duke Morgan Freeman
Music by	Laurence Rosenthal
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Charles Fries Irv Wilson
Producer	Ian McDougall
Production location	Toronto
Cinematography	Albert J. Dunk
Editor	Leslie Dennis
Running time	95 minutes
Production company	Fries Entertainment
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 23, 1987 (1987-03-23)

Plot

Dr. Bernard Abrams, an Ohio optometrist, and his wife Shirley Abrams have a six-year-old daughter that suffers from a rare form of epilepsy. The child's paraplegic doctor cares for her. As for the little girl's parents, they need to have a drug approved from the Food and Drug Administration. However, the process is slow and they are forced to fly to England to obtain the medication. They take their cause to the media in order to highlight their case and force the FDA to expedite its decision on use in America.

Cast

• Jerry Lewis : Dr. Bernard Abrams
• Patty Duke : Shirley Abrams
• Barry Morse : Dr. Whalley
• Morgan Freeman : Dr. Sherard
• Jaclyn Bernstein : Felice Abrams
• Gérard Parkes : Father Robert Hunt
• Robert Benson : Dr. Keith
• Rosemary Dunsmore
• Patricia Hamilton

Home media

The film was released twice on DVD. The first release was on September 4, 2012, on a Morgan Freeman dual release with Moll Flanders. It was later released on October 31, 2012, on an Amazon exclusive dual 'Family Film' release with Dominick and Eugene.

Prior to 2023, it was available to stream on Paramount+.

External links

• Fight for Life at IMDb