Blythe Danner’s next role will see her playing the wife of the man who orchestrated one of the biggest swindles of all time.
The actress is set to portray Ruth Madoff, the wife of infamous Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff, in an upcoming ABC miniseries, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The TV drama, which should air sometime next year, will depict the discovery of Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion dollar fraud that earned the former financier a 150-year prison sentence in 2009.
The miniseries is based on the 2009 book The Madoff Chronicles: Inside the Secret World of Bernie and Ruth, written by ABC News’ chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross. Richard Dreyfuss is set to star as the disgraced former stockbrocker, while Frank Whaley will play Harry Markopolos, the securities industry whistleblower who tipped off the SEC about Madoff’s illegal activity.
Danner, who currently stars in the Sundance Film Festival hit I’ll See You In My Dreams, might want to practice looking surprised for her role as Ruth Madoff, who has maintained that she never knew anything about her husband’s massive Ponzi scheme, despite the fact that she served as a director at Bernie Madoff’s investment firm.
Investors lost roughly $17.5 billion in Madoff’s scam, and years of subsequent lawsuits have successfully recovered $10.7 billion for those victims.