A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story

A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story
Genre	Biography Drama Sport
Written by	Jeff Andrus
Directed by	Richard Michaels
Starring	Mario Van Peebles Lane R. Davis Polly Holliday Lynn Whitfield
Theme music composer	James McVay
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Howard Lipstone
Producers	David Permut Daniel Levy Kay Hoffman (supervising producer)
Production location	Houston, Texas
Cinematography	Mike Fash
Editor	Andrew Cohen
Running time	100 min.
Production companies	Landsburg Company Procter & Gamble Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	April 2, 1991 (1991-04-02)

Ricky Bell.

A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story is a 1991 CBS made-for-TV movie that recounts the life of Ricky Bell, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back sickened with dermatomyositis, and Ryan Blankenship, a physically impaired child. The movie takes place during the 1981 Buccaneers season, including actual gameplay footage and a dramatized role played by Mario Van Peebles. Bell finds himself befriending an impaired child who inspire each other to become better in their own ways.

Cast

• Mario Van Peebles as Ricky Bell (including actual gameplay footage of the real Ricky Bell)
• Lane R. Davis as Ryan Blankenship
• Polly Holliday as Ruth Weidner
• Lynn Whitfield as Natala Bell
• Susan Ruttan as Carol Blankenship
• James Zachary as Lee Roy Selmon
• John Schumacher as Charley Hannah
• Duriel Harris as Danny Reece
• Dennis Letts as Ed Warren
• Woody Watson as Larry Blankenship
• Marcus Allen as himself
• Jay Pennison as Steve Wilson
• Doug Williams as himself (only through gameplay footage)

See also

• List of American football films

External links

• A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story at IMDb
• A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story at the TCM Movie Database
• A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story at AllMovie