niara Review of Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold

Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978 TV Movie)

A little more than the typical, TV-movie-of-the-week

[7/10 · 5 November 2007]

I remember this one from when I was in high school. I remember Kim Basinger with that Texas drawl. I also remember Melanie Mayron, who I believe played a photographer. Pretty typical story about a young woman who poses for a playboy-like magazine and ends up leaving the town she was raised in because of all the trouble her photograph created for her and her family. She ends up in Hollywood, chasing a dream of becoming an actress, and of course, things don't work out as she had hoped. I remember another character -- they all end up in a Hollywood apartment as roommates, of which Melanie Mayron was one. There was a particular character in this TV-movie who was young, had a child, and was willing to go to certain lengths to become famous whereas Basinger's character would not cross that line. I'm sure this TV-movie is pretty dated now (it is nearly 30 years old) and will probably never be released on DVD but I remember it clearly. It has stayed with me all this time, particularly the end.