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The Bad Seed   1956         N/R, 129 min. Genre: Mystery / Drama / Horror / Thriller Director: Mervyn LeRoy   Cast: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Eileen Heckart, Henry Jones, Evelyn Varden, William Hopper, Paul Fix, Jesse White, Frank Cady, Gage Clarke, Joan Croydon, Shelley Fabares, Patricia Morrow, Adele Taylor, John Truax   What happens when Christine Penmark (Nancy Kelly) fears that her adorable eight-year-old daughter, Rhoda (Patty McCormack), loves nothing more than to commit murder? Matters reach new heights when Rhoda's classmate drowns while at a class picnic, and Christine becomes convinced that Rhoda was involved. Christine fears that Rhoda's problems stem from the fact that Christine, herself, is the daughter of a convicted murderess, and she fears that Rhoda is a "bad seed." Christine gives Rhoda barbiturates to end her life and then shoots herself. Christine dies but Rhoda survives—until she is hit by a bolt of lightening. Kelly received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, and both McCormack and Eileen Heckart (for her role as a victim's mother) received Best Supporting Actress nominations. Cast Nancy Kelly Christine Penmark Patty McCormack Rhoda Penmark Eileen Heckart Hortense Daigle Henry Jones Leroy Jessup Evelyn Varden Monica Breedlove William Hopper Col. Kenneth Penmark Paul Fix Richard Bravo Jesse White Emory Wages Frank Cady Henry Daigle Gage Clarke Reginald "Reggie" Tasker Joan Croydon Claudia Fern Shelley Fabares Margie Patricia Morrow Ginny Adele Taylor Teacher John Truax The Sergeant