Death in Small Doses (1995 film)

On January 9, 1991, in Dallas, Texas, Nancy Lyon is rushed to the hospital where she eventually dies from arsenic poisoning. Detective Ortega and A.D.A. Sims investigate the case. The pair question Nancy's wealthy family, the Dillards, who tell them that Nancy and her husband, Richard Lyon, had recently gotten back together after Richard previously left to be with his mistress. According to the Dillards, Nancy had suspected that Richard was slowly poisoning her, but had been too embarrassed to get the police involved. Nancy's brother Bill is adamant that Richard killed Nancy so as to inherit her fortune. Ortega and Sims question the Lyons' nanny, Ellen, who describes Richard as a loving father to the couple's two children. Flashbacks reveal that while both Nancy and Richard were architects, Nancy's far more successful career often kept her away from her family and put a strain on their marriage. The couple also often argued over Nancy's family, who looked down on Richard.

The police discover that Richard had recently purchased arsenic, which he says was for a fire ant infestation in the house. Richard suggests his lawyer, Guthrie, look into the possibility that Nancy may have committed suicide. Richard recounts how Nancy was full of life when they first met in college. He insists they were happily married until one particular family trip to Arizona, in which Nancy visited Bill who was in a treatment center for his drug and alcohol problems. After that trip, Nancy began isolating herself, quit her job and started seeing a therapist. Richard says it was at this time that he began an affair and filed for divorce, although he later returned to Nancy for the sake of their children. Meanwhile, the police receive anonymous letters claiming that Bill is responsible for poisoning Nancy. As they are unable to identify the sender, Richard remains the police's prime suspect.

After a grand jury indicts Richard, he is arrested and put on trial for Nancy's murder. During the trial, Guthrie accuses the police of overlooking Bill as a suspect. It comes to light from Nancy's therapy sessions that Bill and Nancy had an incestuous relationship when they were children. Guthrie also presents handwritten notes that were found among Nancy's belongings, in which she writes about how grateful she is to Richard for saving her from Bill, and shares her fears that Bill might have sexual desires towards her daughters. Bill insists that he and Nancy were on good terms before her death, and that their past incest was the result of a lonely childhood. To prove his innocence, Bill agrees to take a polygraph test, the result of which is inconclusive.

Ellen is called to the witness stand next and admits she had been concerned that Nancy was suicidal after Richard left her. Guthrie then produces an invoice for arsenic from a chemical plant with Nancy's signature on it. The owner of the plant is called to the stand where he testifies that while a woman did call to inquire about arsenic for a fire ant infestation, she never actually purchased any from him. Moreover, he is unable to confirm if Nancy was the woman in question as they never met in-person. When questioned about the invoice, the plant owner insists it is a forgery. A.D.A. Sims then brings in a handwriting expert who testifies that the aforementioned handwritten notes contain both Nancy and Richard's handwritings, suggesting that Richard had doctored the evidence. Despite Richard's insistence that he is innocent, the jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder and he is sentenced to life imprisonment.

• Richard Thomas as Richard Lyon
• Tess Harper as A.D.A. Jerri Sims
• Glynnis O'Connor as Nancy Lyon
• Shawn Elliot as Det. Ortega
• Gary Frank as Bill Dillard Jr.
• Matthew Posey as Guthrie
• Ann Hearn as Ellen Chandler
• C.K. Bibby as Dillard Sr., Nancy's father
• Mitchell Laurance as Dr. Langston, Nancy's doctor
• Richard Olsen as Leonard Porter, a chemical plant owner
• Collin Wilcox Paxton as Mrs. Dillard, Nancy's mother
• Andrea Powell as Bridget Tyler, Richard's mistress
• Susan Rohrer as Mary Helen Dillard, Bill's wife
• Caroline Dollar as Allison, Richard and Nancy's older daughter
• Evan Wood as Anna, Richard and Nancy's younger daughter

Actress-turned-director Sondra Locke (pictured in 1988)

Union County Courthouse in Monroe, North Carolina

Death in Small Doses is a dramatization of the 1991 death of wealthy Dallas native Nancy Lyon by arsenic poisoning, a crime for which her husband Richard Lyon was the police's prime suspect.[2] The film was directed by Sondra Locke and written by Scott Swanton. It was produced by Robert Greenwald Productions for ABC, with Robert Greenwald and Carla Singer serving as the executive producers. The creative team also included director of photography William A. Fraker, editor John W. Wheeler, and composer Jeff Rona.[3]

Although Locke had already directed two theatrical films, Death in Small Doses is the actress-turned-director's television directorial debut.[4] According to Locke, she had been struggling to get her next theatrical project off the ground when her agent suggested she try her hand at directing a television film instead. Locke read through a few scripts and picked Swanton's as her next project, citing the "mysterious quality" that set it apart from the other more straightforward scripts.[5] She was especially drawn to the story's open-ended resolution which aligned with her own uncertainty about Richard's guilt.[2] She explained:

I thought this will be interesting to tell a story as a director when I'm not quite sure as a director myself truly what he did or did not do. To the audience, then, it's like a game of, "Did he or didn't he?"[2]

Locke said she underestimated how difficult directing for television would be, with the tight schedule keeping her on her toes and leaving little room for error. The true crime aspect posed its own challenges for the filmmaker, as adhering to the real-life case meant having to limit the film's dramatic scope. Locke also noted the directorial challenge of finding ways to keep the story moving while covering nearly 30 pages of courtroom scenes that had been pieced together from the real-life court transcripts.[2][4]

Locke scheduled three days of rehearsals for the cast which enabled them to have extensive discussions about the source material.[6] In the film, Richard and Nancy Lyon are played by Richard Thomas and Glynnis O'Connor respectively. Locke was keen to have Thomas portray the accused husband, feeling that the actor's "quality of innocence or directness" would play well into the ambiguity surrounding the character's guilt.[2] For Thomas, he liked that the film set itself apart from other true crime dramas by leaving so much room for interpretation.[7] Because her character mainly appears in sporadic flashbacks after dying at the start of the film, O'Connor described Nancy as "a real mystery" and felt that she had more creative freedom that usual in how she approached the role.[6] O'Connor researched the physical effects of arsenic poisoning and worked with the production's makeup artist to ensure she looked the part.[6]

Death in Small Doses was filmed over 18 days in and around February 1993.[2][8] It was shot on location in both Charlotte and Monroe, North Carolina,[8] with specific locales including the VanLandingham Estate[9] and the Union County Courthouse, the latter of which was used to recreate the courtroom scenes.[8] Local celebrities such as radio personalities Robert D. Raiford and Don Russell were cast in minor roles.[10]

Death in Small Doses premiered on ABC on January 16, 1995, in the 9:00–11:00 pm time slot. The film was originally scheduled to premiere one year earlier on January 10, 1994, but had its air date postponed by the network.[4] According to a network representative, the delay was to avoid having a crowd of similar crime films airing around the same time.[10]

• Poisoned Dreams – a 1993 true crime book about the murder of Nancy Lyon

• Death in Small Doses at IMDb