Stella

Stella is a 1990 American drama film produced by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and released by Touchstone Pictures. The screenplay by Robert Getchell is the third feature film adaptation of the 1923 novel Stella Dallas by Olive Higgins Prouty. Previous film versions were Stella Dallas (1937) and the silent film Stella Dallas (1925). The title character is an extrovert, flamboyant single mother living in Watertown, New York, who is determined to give her daughter, Jenny, all of the opportunities the she never had, ultimately makes a selfless sacrifice to ensure her happiness. This film version differs from earlier versions in that Stella never marries the father of her child and in fact declines his proposal early in the film. John Erman directed a cast that included Bette Midler as Stella and Trini Alvarado as Jenny, with John Goodman, Stephen Collins, Marsha Mason, Eileen Brennan, Linda Hart, Ben Stiller, and William McNamara in supporting roles. Plot Stella (Bette Midler) is a feisty woman working in a bar when she meets and falls for the suave charms of the young Dr. Stephen Dallas (Stephen Collins). Although from opposite ends of the social spectrum, they start an affair that results in Stella becoming pregnant.