calsfoundation@cals.org
April 27, 2003
The television movie of A Painted House, based upon John Grisham’s bestselling novel, aired on the CBS network. Prior to its national television broadcast, the film had its world premiere at Arkansas State University (ASU) in Jonesboro (Craighead County), at the request of Grisham. Proceeds from the event went to an endowment fund for the Heritage Studies PhD program at ASU. Grisham was born in Jonesboro, and, while much of his life has been spent outside of Arkansas, Grisham has strong ties to northeast Arkansas. Grisham’s grandfather owned Skidmore Piano Store in Blytheville (Mississippi County), and many of his relatives still live in northeast Arkansas.