70's Made for TV movie..drama/horror

[lilkitties]

Hi guys, I sure could use your movie knowledge here!

I have been searching for the name of this strange movie for a long time now. I believe it was a made for TV movie (it was on around 9 pm when I was a kid in the early 70's) and is about a boy named Eddie (a dark haired boy with black Buddy Holly-type glasses) and his mother, who is out to lunch. She keeps him locked underneath the stairs in this weird, secret room. She feeds him in there and he is never allowed out.

After awhile the mother disappears (moves out? dies?) and a new family moves into the house. Eddie peaks out through his secret room and notices one of the family's teenage daughters, who he thinks is cute.

This is all I know of the movie because it was my bedtime, so I missed the rest. I've always looked for it years later in reruns and never found it.  I think it was named Bad Eddie or something like that, but I can't find it anywhere. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[Andrew]

This sounds like "Bad Ronald" (1974).  You probably remember his name as Eddie because his last name is Wilby.

[Allhallowsday]

The details are not exactly right as described by lilkitties, but I think Andrew is correct, it's BAD RONALD.  The mother was played by KIM HUNTER, SCOTT JACOBY played RONALD.  Ronald's mother dies after helping him secret himself in a downstairs bathroom, which they wall up.  After her death, the house is sold to a new family.  You'll have to double click and watch this clip on YouTube.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyY5lmEJH2U

[M.10rda]

No confirmation from Lilkitties, but Andrew and Allhallowsday are almost certainly correct in their solution - there is no other film from the 70s like BAD RONALD.