I watched "Deadman's Curve" on Decades the other day. I then did some reading up on Jan & Dean to see how close the tv-movie was to real life. There was no mention of a "Susan" as Jan's girlfriend, only Jill Gibson, who wasn't in the tv-movie. Was "Susan" supposed to be Jill Gibson? Did Jill not give her permission to be featured in the tv-movie?
shareI cant answer your questions.
But after watching the movie I was disappointed that Jan did not wind up with Susan. She was so loyal and dedicated to him.
Just watched the movie myself....Seems none of the female parts are based on fact.
I could not find anything about "Annie" in the real life stories of Jan's recovery.
The character of Annie seems to be based on Pam McGregor. This is an excerpt from the 1974 Paul Morantz article in Rolling Stone magazine that the Dead Man's Curve movie is based on:
"In 1969 Jan got the help Sheehan had thought he needed. A good friend who would stay with Jan and give him understanding, yet force him to learn. She also kept the scavengers away. Pam MacGregor met Jan through her boyfriend, Chris Thomasson, who had picked up Jan and his German shepherd once when they were hitchhiking. With some coaxing from Jan and his parents, she moved into Jan’s house, remained for two years and became like a sister to him. For Jan they were comeback years."
BTW, Jill Gibson was apparently living in Greece in the 70s when the movie was made. She participated (was interviewed) for the 1998 Jan & Dean episode of the popular VH1 series, "Behind the Music."
Thank you so much....Now that you provided the name, I re-did my search and realized I literally glanced right over the answer.
Serves me right for only skimming the article and not reading thoroughly.
I appreciate the help, and really feel like a fool now :-)
Oh, stop - I do that all the time. It's from reading too fast.
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