to improve during the initial fast that is used to kick-start the diet. Despite the very high-fat nature of the diet, Robbie accepts the food and rapidly improves. His seizures are eliminated and his mental faculties are restored. The film ends with Robbie riding the family horse at a parade through town. Closing credits claim Robbie continued the diet for a couple of years and has remained seizure- and drug-free ever since. Cast Meryl Streep as Lori Reimuller Fred Ward as Dave Reimuller Seth Adkins as Robbie Reimuller Allison Janney as Dr. Melanie Abbasac Margo Martindale as Marjean Leo Burmester as Bob Purdue Tom Butler as Dr. Jim Peterson Mairon Bennett as Lynne Reimuller Michael Yarmush as Mark Reimuller Background The director and producer, Jim Abrahams, was inspired to make the film as a result of his own experiences with his son Charlie. Charlie developed a very serious seizure condition that proved intractable despite several medications and surgery. His cognitive decline was described by Abrahams as "a fate worse than death". He came across the diet in a book on childhood epilepsy by John Freeman, director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Charlie was started on the diet and rapidly became seizure-free. In addition, medications were tapered and his mental development restored. Abrahams was outraged that nobody had informed him of the diet. He created the Charlie Foundation to promote the diet and funded research studies to demonstrate its effectiveness. Although the film plot has parallels with the Abrahams' story, the character of Robbie is a composite one and the family circumstances are fictional. Several minor characters in the film are played by people who have been on the ketogenic diet and had their epilepsy "cured" as a result. The dietitian Millicent Kelly plays herself. Charlie Abrahams appears as a young boy playing with Robbie in the hospital, whose mother quickly removes him when she discovers Robbie has epilepsy—as though it were an infectious disease. Commenting on the film, John Freeman said "The movie was based on a true story and we see this story often, but not everyone is cured by the diet and not everyone goes home to ride in a parade." He later noted that the film had "fueled a grass-roots effort for more research on the diet." The film was first broadcast on 16 February 1997. It was subsequently released on DVD. Meryl