From poverty to eminence

Press, 18 June 1982, Page 11

From poverty to eminence

America’s proud heritage is her people. They came from all over the world, survived then prospered, and with their spirit and muscle helped America achieve greatness. “The Manions of America” which will begin on One on Tuesday at 820 pm.. was created by Agnes Nixon. Drawn from Ms Nixon’s own family history, the series traces the rise’ of the remarkable Manions from poverty in Ireland to eminence in America. When Rachel Clement and her brother David travel from England to the Galway estate that their father has inherited, they are appalled by the misery of the famine. Among their tenants is a family with whom they will become ■ inexorably ’ intertwined. the O'Manions: the

fiery, young farmer. Rory; his gentle twin brother, Padriac; their lovely sister, Deidre; the young siblings, Brian, Maeve and baby Sean; and their recently widowed father, Shane. Rachel and Rory fall in love, as do David arid Deidre. But soon the two sets of lovers are parted. David, a British soldier, is dispatched to India because of his sympathies for the Irish plight And Rory, following his accidental slaying of his twin Padriac, arid his clandestine, rebellious activities on behalf of Ireland’s independence movement, flees to America to escape the British authorities. “The Manions of America" stars Kathleen Beller, Steve Forrest, Barbara Parkins, Anthony Quayle and Peter Gilmore.