Ursula K. Le Guin, the Portland-based writer who died on Monday at age 88, was a master storyteller whose speculative fiction influenced countless artists.

Despite her literary output, there have been relatively few film adaptations of Le Guin's novels and stories.

"I've mostly had such bad experiences with movies of my work," Le Guin told The Oregonian's Marty Hughley in 2013.

It wasn't a film, but the 1980 public TV adaptation of Le Guin's 1971 novel, "The Lathe of Heaven" is regarded as one of the more intriguing attempts to capture Le Guin's vision (a subsequent TV movie, in 2002, is remembered less fondly.)

In that 2013 Oregonian article about a Portland theater company adapting Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" for the stage, Hughley wrote that the 1980 TV version of "The Lathe of Heaven" -- produced by New York City public TV station WNET -- "is the exception to the rule of Le Guin's celluloid disappointment."

On Le Guin's website, the author wrote approvingly of the 1980 production of "The Lathe of Heaven," which was directed by David Loxton and Fred Barzyk:

"I was involved in this production at many stages, including casting, script planning and rewriting, and filming.

Our budget was so small we couldn't do retakes, and as for special effects, well, the Alien Space Ships are frisbees, and we had to choose which one of the Alien's arms could move, because it cost too much to make both its arms move. But the directors understood the story and the actors did a beautiful job. The film is an oldie now, but it's still a goodie."

"The Lathe of Heaven" is set in Portland, in the near future. Le Guin describes the grim, environmentally compromised climate this way: "It had always rained in western Oregon, but now it rained ceaselessly, steadily, tepidly. It was like living in a downpour of warm soup, forever."

The 1980 TV movie was largely filmed on location in Texas.

Bruce Davison starred as George Orr, a man who fears dreaming because his dreams, he says, can affect reality. Kevin Conway played Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who manipulates Orr's abilities for his own purposes.

Despite being well-received when it was first shown on public television stations in 1980, the first TV version of "The Lathe of Heaven" spent decades out of the public eye. In 2000, as contributor Marc Mohan wrote in The Oregonian, the TV movie reappeared on some PBS stations and as a DVD release.

Mohan wrote: "The sets, costumes, special effects and most of the performances are hampered by the film's $250,000 budget (not much even in 1980) and would seem more at home in an episode of 'Dr. Who.' The core, though, is a compelling nugget of truly thought-provoking science fiction from one of its finest authors, and Davison (who played mutant-hating Sen. Kelly in 'X-Men') gives an affecting portrayal," adding that the 20 years the TV movie spent being hard to see "may have raised expectations a bit too high, but it's still a treat to finally lay eyes on 'The Lathe of Heaven.'"

The Los Angeles Times also reported on the long-delayed home-viewing release of "The Lathe of Heaven" in 2000. The newspaper quoted actor Kevin Conway recalling an encounter with Tom Hanks, in which the star asked Conway, "Could you get me a copy of 'The Lathe of Heaven?'"

Conway told the Times he had also received "a few letters every week" from fans wanting to see the 1980 TV movie, which had finally come out on video and DVD.

A rare example of public television entering the world of science fiction, "The Lathe of Heaven" became a cult favorite, a status probably enhanced by the decades that elapsed between its initial airings and its subsequent revival.

The Amazon page for the "Lathe of Heaven" DVD says the TV movie was "reportedly PBS' most requested program" before its rebroadcast in 2000. The DVD also includes a Bill Moyers interview with Le Guin.

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist