Holiday in Your Heart
Ellen Weston (teleplay)
LeAnn Rimes and Tom Carter (novel)
LeAnn Rimes
Bernadette Peters
Rebecca Schull
William Wages
- December 14, 1997
120 minutes
Plot[edit]
The story is told as part realistic, part fable. A young country singer, LeAnn Rimes, playing herself, prepares to make her debut at the Grand Ole Opry at Christmas. However, her beloved grandmother is hospitalized and LeAnn is faced with a difficult decision. While trying to reconcile her new-found stardom with her family obligations she meets Faith Shawn (Bernadette Peters), a once-famous country singer. Faith decides to mentor LeAnn, showing her the history of country music.
Faith relates a poignant family story to LeAnn. In a flash-back, Faith and her band are seen stuck on a bus in a snow-storm. Faith, a diabetic, is given insulin by a stranger, who dies overnight. He is later revealed to be her father, who she had not spoken to in many years. Faith and her husband Carl erect a monument to that fateful event. Faith's subtle message is about the importance of family.
As she is finally about to sing at the Grand Ole Opry, LeAnn tells her parents about meeting Faith, and she discovers that Faith and Carl died in an accident after getting struck by Lightning.
Faith and LeAnn sing a duet, "Crazy", and Rimes also sings "One Way Ticket", and "Blue." "On the Side of Angels" is sung by Peters and others during the snow-storm. "Holiday in Your Heart" aired on My Life Time on December 22, 2010.
Production[edit]
Rimes and Tom Carter wrote the part autobiographical, part fictional book Holiday in Your Heart after being approached by Doubleday. ABC then asked her to do a movie based on the book. Bernadette Peters was cast because, Rimes said, she is "a wonderful actress", not for crossover appeal.[1]
The movie was filmed in Dallas, Texas.