By Dave Shiflett (Bloomberg) -- If you’re wondering where Richard Nixon resides these days, he’s in heaven – at least according to Chris Murray, a highly-respected autistic artist whose inspirational story is told in “Dad’s In Heaven With Nixon,” which airs on Showtime April 6 at 8:30 p.m. New York time. The documentary, which was written, produced and directed by Chris’s brother Tom, is basically a home movie about a deeply troubled family. Chris, whose autism is blamed on a lack of oxygen during birth, is in many ways the luckiest member of the Murray clan. The film starts at Southampton, where the family spent summers since early in the twentieth century. Archived film shows the days when the island was largely potato fields and traversed by horse-drawn carriages. Kids boxed, plays tennis on grass courts, and swam in the sea. Though the Murrays were privileged they were also haunted by bi-polar disorder. Thomas E. Murray, Tom and Chris’s great-grandfather, was a brilliant inventor with nearly 500 patents and is credited with helping Thomas Edison electrify American homes. Yet his son, John, who sported a large moustache and a larger appetite for alcohol, suffered from “melancholia” and died of drink-related problems the day before his 38th birthday. He is now thought to have suffered from bi-polar disorder, as did his son, Thomas Murray II, Tom and Chris’s father and a successful stockbroker, who was consumed by a rage he refused to seek treatment for and which scarred the lives of his family. Chris’s life, which on the surface would seem the bleakest, is actually the bright spot, though it didn’t start out that way. His mother, Janice Murray, who bears a resemblance to Nancy Reagan, says she woke up prior to Chris’s birth in 1960 and knew “this was going to be very different.” During birth, she says, Chris “got stuck” and suffered oxygen deprivation, which turned the whites of his eyes scarlet red. He didn’t walk until 16 months old or talk until he was four. Doctors told the family not to expect much from him and urged that he be institutionalized. Yet Janice saw promise. “I felt that something could be reached,” she says. Not so for her husband, who was “incapable of any real intimacy. He could not bear it.” The marriage ended in 1976. The film is largely made up of interviews with family members and clips from home movies. It drags a bit at times though the story line, a combination of dissolution and triumph, will keep most viewers tuned in. Thomas Murray II, who eventually sold his seat on the stock exchange for a record low amount, according to the film, suffered severe economic downturns and in August 1979 drowned while swimming off Southampton, aged 52. Speculation as to his celestial status is the topic of a completely endearing interview with Chris, who talks in an urgent, hoarse whisper. He insists his father is in heaven with Richard Nixon, whom he fully detested while on earth. Better yet, the newfound pals probably spend some of their spare time playing poker. You have to wonder if the former president parks a few cards up his sleeves just for old time’s sake. The film also takes an upbeat turn as it focuses on Chris’s blossoming as an artist. His colorful paintings of New York City scenes and skylines eventually drew attention from, among others, Gloria Vanderbilt, who supplied a taped interview in which she calls the work “really arresting and very original.” Collector Tom Isenberg, in an on-camera interview, says the paintings are “luscious” and that Chris is a “great” artist. Tom suggests his brother may have achieved a happiness that often eludes the rest of us. His story will likely put a smile on your face, as does the thought of Nixon scowling and shuffling among the cherubim.
