Tony Curtis plays an organized crime chief...

Tony Curtis plays an organized crime chief in “Mafia Princess,” a TV movie scheduled to air Jan. 19 on NBC. It’s based on the book of the same name by Antoinette Giancana, who wrote about what it was like growing up the daughter of such a man. She’s played in the film by Susan Lucci of “All My Children.”

Patty Duke and Joseph Bologna star as a married couple in “A Time to Triumph,” a TV movie that CBS plans to broadcast Jan. 7. After Bologna suffers a heart attack, Duke goes to work by joining the Army, where she seeks to become a helicopter pilot.

ABC is expanding its list of programs that are closed captioned for the deaf and hearing impaired. Beginning Jan. 5, “This Week With David Brinkley” will appear with subtitles for viewers who have purchased the special decoding device that makes such captions visible.

Dan Rather has been selected to serve as master of ceremonies for the 44th annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in Broadcast Journalism. The awards for the best radio and TV news reports of 1984-85 will be announced Feb. 5 in ceremonies that will be broadcast on the Public Broadcasting Service. Presenting the awards will be Douglas Edwards, David Hartman, Charlayne Hunter Gault, Janet Murrow and John Palmer.

Peter Ustinov will be back as Hercule Poirot Jan. 8 in “Dead Man’s Folly,” another Agatha Christie mystery that’s been adapted for CBS. He starred as the famed Belgian detective earlier this season in “Thirteen at Dinner,” and has signed to do so again in “Murder in Three Acts,” which also will be for CBS. Co-starring in “Dead Man’s Folly” are Jean Stapleton, Constance Cummings, Tim Pigott-Smith and Susan Wooldridge.

Coming up soon on public television’s “Wonderworks” series will be “Lone Star Kid,” the story of an 11-year-old boy who was elected mayor of a small town in Texas. Chad Sheets stars as the boy, Brian Zimmerman, and the cast also includes James Earl Jones. Former “Happy Days” co-star Anson Williams is directing.

Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson have the lead roles in “The Last Days of Frank & Jesse James,” a TV movie being made for NBC. Also starring in the movie about the Western outlaws is another country singing star, Willie Nelson, who plays a Confederate officer.