NBC’s Ted Danson-led adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels made a giant impact with Emmy voters when it aired 30 years ago. Producer Duncan Kenworthy, known for 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, had long hoped to tackle Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satirical novel. He aimed to focus on all four of Dr. Lemuel Gulliver’s voyages, including his visits with the tiny residents of Lilliput and giants of Brobdingnag, along with the lesser-known sections of the book involving the flying island of Laputa and the intelligent Houyhnhnm horses. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop helped bring the fantastical tale to life. “It was something I’d been developing while Jim was still alive,” Kenworthy has said of collaborating with Henson, who died in 1990. “We wanted to do the whole book — nobody had ever done it before, and this is what interested Jim.”
Finally, the financing came together for the project that starred Ted Danson, whose Emmy-winning role on NBC’s Cheers had wrapped up in 1993. Danson opted for a new look as Gulliver, wearing a long, flowing wig, although producers didn’t want him to use an accent for the character, who is English in the book. “We cast Ted because the most important thing with Gulliver is that he be an everyman,” Kenworthy said at the time. The star-studded cast included Omar Sharif, Peter O’Toole, Alfre Woodard, Kristin Scott Thomas and Mary Steenburgen, who wed Danson shortly after filming wrapped.
Gulliver’s Travels aired Feb. 4 and 5, 1997, and it became NBC’s most watched TV movie in nearly a decade and earned 11 Emmy nominations, notching five wins including best miniseries. Danson has expressed empathy for his character’s plight and noted, “This isn’t a light and cheery story.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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