Make no mistake about it. "Woman on the Run: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story" sets out to do on television what Bembenek nev-er did in the legal system.
Clear her of charges that she murdered her then-husband's ex-wife.Based on Bembenek's own book, "Woman on Trial," this two-part, four-hour TV movie, which airs Sunday and Monday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 2, paints Bembenek as a victim who was framed for the killing.
In 1981, Bembenek and her then-husband, Fred Schultz, were facing financial ruin after the settlement with his first wife, Christine, gave her everything. While Fred, a police officer, was on duty, someone broke into Christine's house and murdered her.
Soon, Bembenek was charged with the crime. After her husband was granted immunity from prosecution, she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The case was a sensation in Milwaukee, and became even more of a sensation when Bembenek escaped from prison nine years later. By then, a good deal of evidence had been uncovered pointing toward her innocence, and T-shirts emblazoned "Run, Bambi, Run" demonstrated public support.
Of course, reports that she was a former Playboy Bunny and a centerfold model also helped spice things up - reports that Bembenek hates as much as she hates the nickname "Bambi."
"You know, this is all so insane," said Bembenek, a tall, striking brunette. "The whole thing was over-sensationalized to the point where people think . . . that I posed nude for some centerfold. I just want to go on record that that is absolutely not true."
The unglamorous truth, she said, is that when she was 18 she posed - clothed - for a calendar. And, desperate for a job, she worked for four weeks as a waitress in a Playboy Club.
Bembenek was desperate for work because she'd been fired - wrongly, she said - by the Milwaukee Police Department. In turn, she filed suit against the department, bringing its wrath down upon her.
And that's what she believes led to her being framed.
"I was scheduled to be a federal witness against the chief of police. I had an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claim against the department," Bem-be-nek said. "I was organizing a group of minority and women officers in a class-action suit and then there was some evidence given to internal affairs. So there were quite a few things I was involved in that could have angered a number of officials."
After her escape, Bembenek fled to Canada. When she was captured, Canadian authorities would not return her to the United States unless American authorities agreed to look into improprieties in her conviction. (And evidence suggests there were many.)
But she has never actually been cleared of the crime. After looking at the evidence, Wisconsin prosecutors agreed to allow her to plead to second-degree murder (instead of the first-degree murder conviction) and release her to probation because of the time she'd already served.
Facing a long wait in prison for a new trial, Bembenek agreed to plead no contest to second-degree murder.
"Anybody in their right mind, I think, would have decided to do . . . what I did," she said. "It was a compromise. It certainly was not the perfect solution, and of course I would have obviously preferred a new trial with an acquittal."
But the plea stands. And even if she really is innocent, it's a cloud that will always remain with her.
A cloud that "Woman on the Run" will undoubtedly help lift.
"Woman on the Run" marks Tatum O'Neal's return to acting after a six-year absence.
And, less directly, it marks the end of her marriage to tennis star John McEnroe.
O'Neal's response to questions about her marriage is a terse "No comment." But it's been widely reported that his unhappiness with her decision to return to acting sparked their separation after six years and three children.
But O'Neal is happy to tell you that she's been working with acting coaches for four years, looking for a way back into the business.
"I wasn't just at home cooking, and then NBC called and said, `We've got a great role for you!,' " O'Neal said. "I had an inner drive to work. . . . I wanted to work. And my work happened to be being an actress.
"I stayed home six years with my children. I have a little (1-year-old) girl now who has two brothers that she can fall back on. . . . So I felt like I definitely stayed home and raise two boys." (Who are now 5 and 6 years old.)
In the title role of "Woman on the Run," O'Neal is in almost every scene of the four-hour movie. Her performance isn't perfect throughout, but it's very good - and will undoubtedly lead to more roles.