Lincoln (miniseries)
1988 film directed by Lamont Johnson

Lincoln, also known as Gore Vidal's Lincoln, is a 1988 American television miniseries starring Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln, Mary Tyler Moore as Mary Todd Lincoln, and Richard Mulligan as William H. Seward. It was directed by Lamont Johnson and was based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Gore Vidal. It covers the period from Lincoln's election as President of the United States to the time of his assassination. (It can also be noted that Waterston would later dub the voice of Lincoln in Ken Burns's documentary The Civil War the following year.)
Lamont Johnson won an Emmy for directing Lincoln.
The miniseries was also nominated for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Art Direction in a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special (Mary Tyler Moore), Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Mini-series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special (Ruby Dee) at the 40th Primetime Emmy Awards.
The miniseries was filmed almost entirely in Richmond, Virginia and cost $8 million to produce.
It was broadcast by NBC in two episodes, each running two hours (with commercials), on Sunday March 27, 1988 and Monday March 28.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6550446. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988 and 1984.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lincoln (miniseries)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.