A Woman of Independent Means

A Woman of Independent Means

Limited Series 1995 · 3 eps · ★ 10.0 · Drama

Ended

Bess Steed marries her childhood sweetheart in the early part of the 20th century and begins a life in the high society of Dallas, Texas. As time goes by, things do not work out as she expects. Her husband dies of influenza, and she finds that she must pick up and carry along with her life. She proves to be a strong, committed, and loving individual who attracts new loves into her life and finds that she can take good care of the old ones. Despite further tragedy in losing her oldest son, and a second marriage that is not all that she expects it to be she continues to survive as independently as she has discovered the courage to do so.

Directed by Robert Greenwald

Network: NBC

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Sally Field Bess Alcott Steed Garner
Sheila McCarthy Totsie
Ann Hearn Lydia
Pam Dougherty Second Jessamine Sister
Jessica Drake Pregnant Woman
Andrea Roth Eleanor, as an adult
Andrew Lowery Drew, as an adult
Brenda Fricker Mother Steed
Lawrence Monoson Walter Burton
Charles Durning Andrew Alcott
Tony Goldwyn Robert Steed
Ron Silver Arthur

More from Robert GreenwaldSee all →

The Secret Path

The Secret Path · 1999

The Secret Path

MovieDramaTV Movie

14-year-old Jo Ann Foley lives in squalor in a rural Southern community during World War II. Abused by her bootlegging grandfather Hank, Jo Ann has, like her mother Marie, been forced into a life of prostitution. Periodically escaping her miserable existence, Jo Ann finds comfort, security, and genuine love with a poor but proud African American couple: Honey and Too Tall.

Daddy

MovieDramaTV Movie

Two high schoolers are unprepared for the reality of parenthood when the girl becomes pregnant.

And Never Let Her Go

And Never Let Her Go · 2001

And Never Let Her Go

The true story of a woman's suspicious disappearance after ending an affair with a powerful, married attorney.

The Burning Bed

The Burning Bed · 1984

The Burning Bed

MovieCrimeDrama

An abused battered wife has had enough of husband beating up on her. Everywhere she turns for help, there's not much anyone will do. After he rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire with him in it asleep.

Miracle on Ice

Miracle on Ice · 1981

MovieActionDrama

The story of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey players, a group of amateurs from around the country who were whipped into a cohesive unit by controversial coach Herb Brooks to win a gold medal at Lake Placid during the winter games.

Death in Small Doses

Death in Small Doses · 1995

Death in Small Doses

MovieCrimeDrama

One night Nancy Lyon awakes in pain and dies shortly after - poisoned with arsenic. Her family immediately suspects her husband Richard, who left her temporarily the year before because of an affair. Especially Nancy's brother is keen on getting the children away from the suspected murderer. All evidence points against Richard, but in court Richard surprisingly presents proof that his wife had depressions and maybe killed herself - or are these proofs just fake? -- Depicts an authentic case.

In the Custody of Strangers

In the Custody of Strangers · 1982

In the Custody of Strangers

MovieDramaTV Movie

A teenage delinquent who goes on a drunken joyride is left in jail overnight by his parents in the hope that he might learn a lesson from it. But events follow which result in the boy spending far longer behind bars than anyone had foreseen.

Sharing the Secret

Sharing the Secret · 2000

Sharing the Secret

MovieDramaTV Movie

A teenage girl, who feels she must always seem happy for her parents and friends, secretly binges and purges.

21 Hours at Munich

21 Hours at Munich · 1976

21 Hours at Munich

MovieDramaThriller

A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered 11 Israeli athletes.

A Fight for Jenny

A Fight for Jenny · 1986

A Fight for Jenny

MovieDramaTV Movie

Kelsey finds herself fighting a legal battle with her ex-husband Ben when he sues for full custody of their daughter believing that she's no longer living in a suitable environment because her new husband David is African-American. Based on a true story.

A Deadly Silence

A Deadly Silence · 1989

A Deadly Silence

MovieDramaThriller

The father of three children was killed when he left his house. This provokes a lot of sentimental emotions in the neighbourhood because the people know nothing about his dark past.

The Audrey Hepburn Story

The Audrey Hepburn Story · 2000

The Audrey Hepburn Story

MovieDramaTV Movie

The film spans from Hepburn's early childhood to the 1950s which details her life as a Dutch ballerina, coming to grips with her parents' divorce, and enduring life in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II. She then settles in the U.S. where she succeeds in making it big as a movie actress, in such movies as Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Liberty

Liberty · 1986

MovieHistoryDrama

Drama about how the Statue of Liberty came to be erected in New York Harbor in the early 1880s and the people responsible for its creation.

Blonde

A fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe mixed with series of real events in her life.

Shattered Spirits

Shattered Spirits · 1986

Shattered Spirits

MovieTV MovieDrama

When his drinking problem takes control of his life, a father tries to leave the bottle behind while putting his and his family's lives back together.

Xanadu

MovieFantasyScience Fiction

Kira, a Greek muse incarnated on Earth to inspire people, helps Dan McGuire and an artist named Sonny Malone to meet. She inspires them to build a huge disco roller rink called Xanadu.

More Like This

Burning Bush

Burning Bush · 2013

SeriesDramaWar & Politics

Based on real characters and events, this haunting drama focuses on the personal sacrifice of a Prague history student, Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1969. Dagmar Burešová, a young female lawyer, became part of his legacy by defending Jan's family in a trial against the communist government, a regime which tried to dishonour Palach’s sacrifice, a heroic action for the freedom of Czechoslovakia.

We Own This City

We Own This City · 2022

We Own This City

SeriesCrimeDrama

The story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force — and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work.

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet · 1998

SeriesDramaSci-Fi & Fantasy

With the growing threat of viral epidemic and the possibility of worldwide environmental catastrophe, humanity has an unprecedented ability to destroy itself, and vampires need to take control of their threatened food source. CIB is a clandestine, elite government unit that hunts vampires, referred to as 'Code Fives' or 'leeches'. DS Michael Colefield joins the team after his partner is turned, blending a realistic, scientific approach with modern vampire mythology, including their inability to appear on video or audio recordings.

One Day

One Day · 2024

After spending graduation night together, Emma and Dexter go their separate ways — but their lives remain intertwined.

Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston

Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston · 2026

Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston

SeriesDocumentaryDrama

A historical exploration about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and the preserved Roman city it left behind.

Uzumaki

Uzumaki · 2024

SeriesMysteryDrama

Kirie tries to escape from her town Kurouzu-cho, where the residents get obsessed with spirals due to an unexplained curse.

More on Prime VideoSee all →

Reacher

Reacher · 2022

SeriesAction & AdventureCrime

Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator, has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served.

Carrie

SeriesMysteryDrama

After her father's sudden, untimely death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of public high school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social‑media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence.

Chicago Fire

Chicago Fire · 2012

An edge-of-your-seat view into the lives of everyday heroes committed to one of America's noblest professions. For the firefighters, rescue squad and paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51, no occupation is more stressful or dangerous, yet so rewarding and exhilarating. These courageous men and women are among the elite who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death.

Chicago P.D.

Chicago P.D. · 2014

SeriesCrimeDrama

A riveting police drama about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department's District 21 who put it all on the line to serve and protect their community. District 21 is made up of two distinctly different groups: the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head-to-head with the city's street crimes and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond.

Suits

While running from a drug deal gone bad, Mike Ross, a brilliant young college-dropout, slips into a job interview with one of New York City's best legal closers, Harvey Specter. Tired of cookie-cutter law school grads, Harvey takes a gamble by hiring Mike on the spot after he recognizes his raw talent and photographic memory.

The Boys

The Boys · 2019

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyAction & Adventure

A group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys” set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.

Chicago Med

Chicago Med · 2015

An emotional thrill ride through the day-to-day chaos of the city's most explosive hospital and the courageous team of doctors who hold it together. They will tackle unique new cases inspired by topical events, forging fiery relationships in the pulse-pounding pandemonium of the emergency room.

The X-Files

The X-Files · 1993

SeriesMysterySci-Fi & Fantasy

The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.

Stargate SG-1

Stargate SG-1 · 1997

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyAction & Adventure

The story of Stargate SG-1 begins about a year after the events of the feature film, when the United States government learns that an ancient alien device called the Stargate can access a network of such devices on a multitude of planets. SG-1 is an elite Air Force special operations team, one of more than two dozen teams from Earth who explore the galaxy and defend against alien threats such as the Goa'uld, Replicators, and the Ori.

JUJUTSU KAISEN

JUJUTSU KAISEN · 2020

SeriesAnimationSci-Fi & Fantasy

Yuji Itadori is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, an organization that fights the curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a curse to exorcise a curse, a life from which he could never turn back.

One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill · 2003

In Tree Hill, North Carolina two half brothers share a last name and nothing else. Brooding, blue-collar Lucas is a talented street-side basketball player, but his skills are appreciated only by his friends at the river court. Popular, affluent Nathan basks in the hero-worship of the town, as the star of his high school team. And both boys are the son of former college ball player Dan Scott whose long ago choice to abandon Lucas and his mother Karen, will haunt him long into his life with wife Deb and their son Nathan.

Young Sheldon

Young Sheldon · 2017

SeriesComedyFamily

The early life of child genius Sheldon Cooper, later seen in The Big Bang Theory.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time · 2011

Once Upon a Time

SeriesDramaSci-Fi & Fantasy

There is a town in Maine where every story book character you've ever known is trapped between two worlds, victims of a powerful curse. Only one knows the truth and only one can break the spell.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power · 2022

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

Beginning in a time of relative peace, we follow an ensemble cast of characters as they confront the re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

The Expanse

The Expanse · 2015

SeriesDramaMystery

A thriller set two hundred years in the future following the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship's captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale · 2017

The Handmaid's Tale

SeriesDramaSci-Fi & Fantasy

Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.

Teen Wolf

Teen Wolf · 2011

SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama

Scott McCall, a high school student living in the town of Beacon Hills has his life drastically changed when he's bitten by a werewolf, becoming one himself. He must henceforth learn to balance his problematic new identity with his day-to-day teenage life. The following characters are instrumental to his struggle: Stiles, his best friend; Allison, his love interest who comes from a family of werewolf hunters; and Derek, a mysterious werewolf with a dark past. Throughout the series, he strives to keep his loved ones safe while maintaining normal relationships with them.

Scandal

Scandal · 2012

Everyone has secrets and Olivia Pope has dedicated her life to protecting and defending the public images of the elite by keeping those secrets under wraps. Pope and her team are at the top of their game when it comes to getting the job done for their clients, but it becomes apparent that these "gladiators in suits," who specialize in fixing the lives of other people, have trouble fixing those closest at hand -- their own.

Bosch

SeriesMysteryDrama

Harry Bosch, an LAPD homicide detective, stands trial for the fatal shooting of a serial murder suspect. A cold case involving the remains of a missing boy forces Bosch to confront his past. As daring recruit Julia Brasher catches his eye and departmental politics heat up, Bosch will pursue justice at all costs.

INVINCIBLE

INVINCIBLE · 2021

SeriesAnimationDrama

Mark Grayson is a normal teenager except for the fact that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet. Shortly after his seventeenth birthday, Mark begins to develop powers of his own and enters into his father's tutelage.

How is it so far?

Your ratings make Midnight smarter