Christmas Lilies of the Field

Christmas Lilies of the Field is a 1979 made-for-TV sequel to the classic 1963 film Lilies of the Field. In this sequel, directed by Ralph Nelson (his final project before his death), Homer Smith (played by Billy Dee Williams instead of Sidney Poitier) returns to the Arizona desert where he had built the chapel for the nuns. This time, Mother Maria (played by Maria Schell) convinces Homer Smith into building a kindergarten as well as an orphanage by claiming that, since the chapel lacks a bell-tower and bells, the previous job was never completed.

Christmas Lilies of the Field
Genre	Drama
Written by	William E. Barrett John McGreevey Ralph Nelson
Directed by	Ralph Nelson
Starring	Billy Dee Williams Maria Schell Fay Hauser Lisa Mann
Music by	George Tipton
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Ralph Nelson
Producers	Toby Martin Jack N. Reddish
Cinematography	Robert B. Hauser
Editor	O. Nicholas Brown
Running time	100 min.
Production company	Osmond Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	December 16, 1979 (1979-12-16)

Cast

• Billy Dee Williams as Homer Smith
• Maria Schell as Mother Maria
• Fay Hauser as Janet Owens
• Lisa Mann as Sister Gertrude
• Hanna Hertelendy as Sister Albertine
• Judith Piquet as Sister Agnes
• Donna Johnston as Sister Elizabeth
• Robert Hastings as Harold Pruitt
• Fred Hart as Father Brian Connor
• Oliver Nguyen as Trang (orphan)

Production

Parts of the film were shot in Salt Lake City and Orem, Utah. The TV special was released on VHS in 1989.

External links

• Christmas Lilies of the Field at IMDb