"Murder, She Wrote" Old Habits Die Hard (1987)

Director:

John Llewellyn Moxey

Writers:

Peter S. Fischer (creator) and
Richard Levinson (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Murder, She Wrote" (1984)

Original Air Date:

11 October 1987 (Season 4, Episode 4)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Jessica visits a convent to see a former sorority sister and winds up searching for a nun's killer.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Mystery Writer | Writing | Woman Detective | Amateur Detective

Cast

Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
Eileen Brennan	...	Marian Simpson
Cindy Fisher	...	Nancy Bates
Clu Gulager	...	Ray Carter
Evelyn Keyes	...	Sister Emily
Mark Keyloun	...	Mike Phelps
Ed Nelson	...	Mayor Albert Simpson
Scott Paulin	...	Dr. Marshall
Jane Powell	...	Rev. Mother Claire
Robert Prosky	...	Bishop Patrick Shea
Audrey Totter	...	Sister Paul
Sherri Stoner	...	Sarah Martino
Wendy Brainard	...	Amy
Fay DeWitt	...	Sister Mary-Margaret
Carol Swarbrick	...	Sister Margaret-Marie

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Universal TV

Even a Sanctuary from Earthly Vice May Not Be a Sanctuary from Murder

This episode marks the most recent appearance to date for Audrey Totter, who has been acting in film and on television since 1945, and also the recent appearance thus far for Cindy Fisher, who began her acting career in 1974. This presents one of the last appearances by Evelyn Keyes, who has since passed. Robert Prosky has also since passed.

Reverend Mother Claire (Jane Powell) invites her childhood friend Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to a dedication service for a new office at the historic Immaculate Heart Convent and girls' orphanage school, in Bergen Falls, Louisiana, which would be situated in the southeastern section of the state, as the Reverend Mother Superior notes its position "east of the Mississippi" River.

Jessica meets several of the staff members at Immaculate Heart Convent, as elderly Sister Emily (Evelyn Keyes), whose physical ailments require the use of prescription Methylidene, and young Sister Sarah Martino (Sherri Stoner), who is torn between taking her final vows and her interest in former fiancé Mike Phelps (Mark Keyloun), who delivers orders from Lakeside Pharmacy to the convent school.

Bishop Patrick Shea (Robert Prosky) oversees the diocese at which Immaculate Heart Convent is situated, and visits to prepare for its office dedication. Marian Simpson (Eileen Brennan), wife of the ever-campaigning Mayor Albert Simpson (Ed Nelson), an alumni of the orphanage school, also serves on the dedication planning committee.

As Jessica and Marian await Mother Claire's meeting with the Bishop to conclude, Private Investigator Ray Carter (Clu Gulager) arrives from Florida to follow a lead regarding the long-lost daughter of a dying client, who seeks reconciliation with his child, who may have attended the convent school fifteen years prior. He is sent to Sister Emily's classroom, to leave a photograph.

Nancy Bates (Cindy Fisher), a former Immaculate Heart ward, who had been sent off to a Shreveport prison to pay for a crime reported by the nuns, is turned away at the door, but manages to sneak into the hidden corridors of this historic institution, which had once shielded runaway slaves in the years before the U.S. Civil War of the 1860's.

Doctor Marshall (Scott Paulin), also pays a call to the convent, to deliver a prescription, and to explain his purpose for substituting for the regular physician on call at the convent.

But after a body is discovered that night, resulting from a seeming suicide, various theories begin to unfold as to possible causes of death, apparently not murder leading the polls, which is rare in this series, until, of course, it is proved as murder.

Reverend Mother Claire, Bishop Patrick Shea and an unseen Sheriff eventually come around to Jessica's way of thinking, to rally to her cause of sorting through a roster of suspects to figure a way to expose the perpetrator, as "Old Habits Die Hard."

The cast is rounded out by Amy (Wendy Brainard), a frightened orphan, and Immaculate Heart staff members Sister Mary-Margaret (Fay DeWitt), Sister Margaret-Mary (M'el Dowd), Sister Margaret-Marie (Carol Swarbrick), Sister Anne (Hunter Mackenzie Austin), Sister Paul (Audrey Totter) and Nun (Linda Harmon).