Princeton resident and author Helen Behr Sanford is the granddaughter of two of the 712 survivors of the tragic voyage in which 1,495 lives were lost. In her new book, "Starboard at Midnight," she attempts not only to re-create the experiences of the couple who would later marry and become her grandparents but also to suggest a kind of absolution for their being first-class passengers fortunate enough to survive. She grew up on the farm that later became Princeton Day School.
THIS VIDEO: Deep-sea explorer Brock Lovett has reached the most famous shipwreck of all - the Titanic. Emerging with a safe believed to contain a diamond called 'The Heart of the Ocean', he discovers the safe does not hold the diamond but a drawing of a beautiful woman wearing it. When Brock is later interviewed on TV, he shows the drawing to the cameras, and a 100-year-old woman named Rose Calvert living in Michigan recognizes the woman in the drawing - herself! On a visit to Brock's explorer ship over the wreck, Rose tells her story of the Titanic and its ill-fated voyage. Engaged to a would-be steel magnate, Caledon Hockley, she boards the Titanic's first-class suites with him & her mother in Southampton. Also boarding are Jack Dawson & his friend Fabrizio, after a lucky poker game wins them tickets in steerage. When Rose attempts suicide by jumping off the stern in 3rd class, Jack pulls her back onto the ship...and a bond is forged between them as Jack is invited by her into 1st-class the following day. Rose's mother & Cal Hockley try desperate measures to keep them apart. But that strategy goes out the window when the Titanic collides with an iceberg, and due to a design flaw begins to sink - despite being proclaimed 'unsinkable'. Now Rose & Jack must fight to stay alive, but is young Jack already doomed because of his lower status as a steerage passenger? Written by Derek O'Cain
[IMDB.COM]
Release: 19 December 1997
Running Time: 194 min
Awards: Won 11 Oscars. Another 76 wins & 48 nominations
AFI Recognition:
100 YEARS100 THRILLS #25
100 YEARS100 PASSIONS #37
100 YEARS100 SONGS #14
100 YEARS100 MOVIE QUOTES #100
100 YEARS100 MOVIES 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION #83
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
Executive Producer: Rae Sanchini
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson), Kate Winslet (Rose Dewitt Bukater), Billy Zane (Cal Hockley), Kathy Bates (Molly Brown), Frances Fisher (Ruth Dewitt Bukate

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