Backstairs at the White House is a 1979 NBC television miniseries based on the 1961 book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks (with Frances Spatz Leighton). The series, produced by Ed Friendly Productions, is the story of behind-the-scenes workings of the White House and the relationship between the staff and the First Families. This mini-series was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards in 31st Primetime Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Achievement in Make-up (Mark Bussan, Tommy Cole and Ron Walters) and nominated for Outstanding Limited Series (Ed Friendly, Executive Producer; Ed Friendly, Producer; Michael O'Herlihy, Producer), Best Actress (Olivia Cole), Best Actor (Louis Gossett Jr.), Best Supporting Actress (both Eileen Heckart and Celeste Holm), Best Supporting Actor (both Ed Flanders and Robert Vaughn), Outstanding Teleplay (Part 1) (Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov), Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration (Part 1) (Richard Y. Haman, Art Director; Anne D. McCulley, Set Decorator), and Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling (Susan Germaine, Lola Kemp and Vivian McAteer). The series was notable for its all-star cast: Leslie Uggams starred as Lillian Rogers Parks and Olivia Cole played her mother Maggie Rogers. Other White House staffers were played by Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Hooks, Cloris Leachman, Leslie Nielsen, and Hari Rhodes. The first episode featured Paul Winfield as Emmett Rogers Sr. Production Producer Ed Friendly acquired the production rights to the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks and Frances Spatz Leighton in 1977 after being contacted by a New York literary agent. The book had been on the New York Times best-seller list for 26 weeks and serialized by more than 100 newspapers and publications. The 187-page treatment was written by Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov based on the book and interviews with Ms. Rogers. Bagni and Dubov won a Writer’s Guild Award for the teleplay in 1980 in the category of Television: Long Form-Multi Part. Paul Dubov died from cancer before the award ceremony and was presented the award posthumously. The teleplay was subsequently published as a book entitled Backstairs at the White House: A Novel in 1978. Michael O'Herlihy co-produced and directed the series, and Morton Stevens was its composer. O'Herlihy and Stevens had worked with Ed Friendly on several previous projects. Elaborate recreations of the White House, including the First Family’s residence and servants’ quarters, were built at Samuel Goldwyn Studios. Author Lillian Rogers