The Mortician, The Murder, The Movie
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real people, real crimes, real life drama. In the mid-1980s, a young funeral home director named Ernie T.D. came to the Little East Texas town of Carthage. It's beautiful, yes, I love the people here in Carthage. Carthage is just a small town of 6,000 people. A lot of people got very wealthy on oil and gas. There's a lot of little widows in town who have a lot of money, none more so than Mrs. Marjorie Nugent. Bernie T.D. was running a con on my grandmother. He picked up a gun, shot her four times in the back, and then he buried her in her own deep freeze. My name is Bernie T.D. He may have heard about me. They did a movie about me called Bernie. Jack Black was going to play you. Yes. Richard Linklater is my favorite filmmaker I've ever worked with. Alright, cut. I'm Rick Linklater and I directed the movie Bernie. There was something about this story that stayed with me and I think it was that relationship, the Miss Nugent Bernie relationship. And the Bernie T.D. that you know, is he a good man? He's the sweetest guy, you know, he's a great man. Very complex character, is that part of what attracted you to this film? The thing about playing Bernie is that he's lovable and it's really important to Bernie. That he be loved. And I can relate to that. I have a little bit of that in me too. You know, this would be funny if it wasn't today I'm sad. Apparently, Marjorie was tough. She was vile and hateful, just mean. Go wave, hi, hello. She was very loving. I miss her. Bernie stole $3.8 million from my grandmother and then he put four bullets in her back at close range. How did this happen? And that was what the movie explored. She didn't have a lot of friends. She didn't have a lot of people around her to take care of her and to love her. And that's where Bernie came in. Did she ever look at you, Bernie, and say, Bernie, I love you? Well, we often tell each other that, yes. She was a wonderful woman and didn't deserve to be executed by Bernie T.D. I have to live with this every day of my life. And I don't like that. I think the film is asking the question, "Can the nicest person in the world?" I don't like thinking ill of Marjorie. Be capable of the worst act.
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Did a mortician kill and freeze a widow to live off of her millions or was it a desperate act to end abuse?