It is from that 1973 TV movie but it's not Linda Purl,the actress's name is Season Hubley.
The (well known) stars are Desi Arnaz Jr.,Anthony Zerbe,Jack Soo and
Jim Croce's song was featured on his debut LP "You Don't Mess Around With Jim".
Now,according to my Billboard Book of #1 Hits,when producers were looking for a song to fit this movie,they actually went to a record store and bought "a lot" of albums by current artists that were on the lighter side of music.
Essentially trying to find a touching but not sappy theme. They sat & listened to song afte song until they discovered "Time In A Bottle".
This could only happen back in the time of the big 3 networks,but when viewers heard the song in the telefilm.they flooded the network switchboard asking where they could find the song and (those unfamiliar) who the artist was. I'd bet $$ that some confused operator mistakenly said,"I think it's Gordon Lightfoot?" which might partially explain the 3 decades of confusion.
The song was rush released by ABC records and just as it was about to hit #1,Croce was killed in the now infamous plane crash.
There you go James & all.
