| Second Serve | |
|---|---|
 Vanessa Redgrave as Renée Richards | |
| Genre | Biography Drama Sport |
| Written by | Stephanie Liss Gavin Lambert |
| Directed by | Anthony Page |
| Starring | Vanessa Redgrave Martin Balsam Richard Venture Louise Fletcher |
| Music by | Brad Fiedel |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Linda Yellen |
| Cinematography | Robbie Greenberg |
| Editor | John C. Horger |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Production company | Lorimar-Telepictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | May 13, 1986 (1986-05-13) |
Second Serve is a 1986 Americanmade-for-televisionbiographical film starringVanessa Redgrave as retired eye surgeon, professional tennis player, andtransgender womanRenée Richards. The film is based on her 1983 autobiographySecond Serve: The Renée Richards Story[1] that was written withJohn Ames. The script is by Stephanie Liss andGavin Lambert and the film was directed byAnthony Page.Second Serve aired onCBS on May 13, 1986.[2]
In 1976, Renée Richards is on the tennis court as a professional tennis player. The filmflashes back to 1964, when Renée Richards is an eye surgeon named Richard Radley (both roles played by Redgrave). Radley has a successful career and a fiancée, but secretlycross-dresses at night. Unable to speak with his mother Sadie (Louise Fletcher), who is a psychiatrist, Radley consults his own psychiatrist, Dr. Beck (Martin Balsam), who advises him to grow a beard. This strategy works temporarily until Radley isdrafted into theNavy, which does not allow beards. Following his discharge and a failed marriage, Radley undergoesgender reassignment surgery and becomes Renée.
Renée relocates to California, resumes her career as a surgeon and begins dating. After playing in a local tennis tournament inLa Jolla, Renée isouted as transgender by a television reporter. In the ensuing controversy, Renée takes theUnited States Tennis Association to court, where she secures her right to play professional tournament tennis as a woman without being subjected tochromosome testing.
Critic John J. O'Connor ofThe New York Times praised Redgrave's performance. Although noting that from a physical standpoint Redgrave is not very believable, O'Connor calls her performance "astonishingly convincing".[2] While finding the script wanting for its tendency to reduce complexities to cliches, O'Connor also found thatSecond Serve "does manage, despite oversimplifications and evasions, to stick to the point. But it is the extraordinary Redgrave performance that slams the message home."[2]
New York magazine concurred in this assessment, with reviewer John Leonard calling the film "calm and matter-of-fact, and perhaps too tidy".[4] Leonard lavished Redgrave with praise for her performance, writing:
Redgrave, tall and vulnerable, athletic and bewildered, fearful and loving competitive and lonely, manages totranssex both ways. She embodies, with the fine bones of that face and the twitching of her various limbs, every internal contradiction of the polymorphously perverse."[4]
Second Serve was not universally praised by critics, receiving negative reviews from such outlets as theChicago Sun-Times.[5]
Redgrave was nominated for anEmmy Award and aGolden Globe for her performance andSecond Serve won Emmys for hairstyling and makeup.