Fred Dalton Thompson was actually Marie Ragghianti's real life lawyer for her suit against Governor Blanton and the director was so impressed with him during interviews that they asked him to take the role which he did.
Up to that time period, lawyer and politician Fred Thompson, had been known primarily as a peripheral figure in the United States Senate probe of the Watergate scandal. This is, in fact, his feature-film debut. He was Ragghianti's attorney during the actual trial, and played himself in the film. It would be his first of many acting roles.
The movie was made and released two years after its source non-fiction book "Marie: A True Story" by Peter Maas had been published.
When this movie opened in Nashville theaters, it lasted only two weeks.
Filmed on location in Nashville and at the Tennessee State Penitentiary, Marie (1985) (also known as Marie: A True Story) is a 1985 American biographical film starring Sissy Spacek as Marie Ragghianti, former head of the Tennessee Board of Pardons and Paroles, who was removed from office in 1977 after refusing to release prisoners on whose behalf bribes had been paid to aides to Governor Ray Blanton.
Ragghianti, a political appointee, was persecuted for refusal to cooperate with political corruption with which she found herself confronted. Two Blanton's aides faced prosecution for their roles in the scandal. The film was based on the 1983 book "Marie: A True Story" by Peter Maas.
Divorced from her abusive husband, she raised her three children, went back to Vanderbilt University, and became the first women to head the Tennessee state parole board.
Ragghianti, a political appointee, was persecuted for refusal to cooperate with political corruption with which she found herself confronted. Two Blanton's aides faced prosecution for their roles in the scandal. The film was based on the 1983 book "Marie: A True Story" by Peter Maas.
Divorced from her abusive husband, she raised her three children, went back to Vanderbilt University, and became the first women to head the Tennessee state parole board.