In ”Consenting Adult,” Marlo Thomas and Martin Sheen costar as parents whose ”perfect family” goes up for grabs when they learn their only son is homosexual. ”My character is the opposite of Mary Tyler Moore`s in `Ordinary People,` ” Thomas says. ”This mother loves her children even though it takes her a long time to accept her son. She spends a lot of time trying to `cure`
him. It`s really as much about unconditional love as it is about homosexuality.” To prepare for her role in the Feb. 4 ABC-TV movie, Thomas talked with parents of gays. ”Parents have a hard time with their children`s sexuality in any case, and this is especially difficult because they know it means their child is going to have a rough time. We`re all very possessive of the people we love and the choices they make because we see them as an extension of ourselves. I know I do with my parents and my husband.”
— Carroll Baker is on a real maternity kick. She played Mariel Hemingway`s mother in ”Star 80” and stars as the matriarch of a German family in ”Hitler`s SS,” a Feb. 17 NBC-TV movie with Tony Randall and John Shea. ”You see the war through the eyes of a German family,” Baker says.
”When the story opens in 1931, we`re christening our youngest son. He is totally a product of the war and becomes so completely indoctrinated that he would turn in his entire family.” Baker, whose ”Baby Doll” autobiography is out in paperback, is writing two more books: an autobiographical travel book about Africa and a novel about the movie industry in Rome, which is ”going to be very juicy.”
