The Right Stuff

astronaut program, The Right Stuff. As its screenwriter, Kaufman faced the daunting task of compressing Wolfe’s discursive epic into a cohesive narrative. The film is full of harrowing heroism, comic interludes, and sometimes haunting imagery. Sam Shepard portrayed the charismatic Chuck Yeager, while Barbara Hershey, Dennis Quaid,…

…as astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff (1983), the story of the Mercury space program based on Tom Wolfe’s book of the same name. In 1986 Harris made his Broadway debut in a production of George Furth’s Precious Sons and was nominated for a Tony Award.

The Right Stuff (1979; film 1983), which examines aspects of the first U.S. astronaut program, earned critical praise and was a best seller.

…the decade include the acclaimed The Right Stuff (1983), an adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book about the U.S. space program; Quaid was cast as astronaut Gordon Cooper. He later appeared in such hits as the crime drama The Big Easy (1986) and Innerspace (1987), a sci-fi comedy that also starred…