Bernard and Doris - Controversy

Controversy

During the production of Bernard and Doris, Pony Duke and Jason Thomas, the authors of Too Rich: The Family Secrets of Doris Duke (1996), threatened Balaban with a suit for copyright infringement. Thomas contended that Balaban had gone so far as to "invite Pony to the movie's set, so he could say he got the material from Pony in an interview. I told Pony not to go." Balaban, however, denied ever admitting anyone to the set. The basis for Duke's and Thomas' contention was an erroneous entry for Bernard and Doris in the IMDb, which stated that Balaban's film was a "version" of Too Rich. According to the NY Daily News, "Balaban says his movie is quite different from the TV flick (whose makers optioned the book title) and that he had nothing to do with IMDB.com's posting." Bernard and Doris, Balaban explained, was entirely based on public records. Balaban dismissed the threatened suit, saying: "They can do whatever they like, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep over this." (The IMDb listing has since been corrected.)

An earlier miniseries, Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke, had been aired by CBS in February 1999 to less critical acclaim than the later Balaban film. Based largely on the book The Richest Girl in the World by Stephanie Thomas and a series of Vanity Fair articles by Bob Colacello, it also listed the Duke-Thomas book in the credits.