Sam Benedict was a
1-hour legal drama which debuted on NBC in September 1962 starring veteran
actor
Edmond O'Brien in the title role, which was based on legendary San
Francisco defense attorney
Jacob W. Ehrlich, nicknamed "The Master,"
who also served as technical consultant on the series. The series tries to
thread the needle between the two most popular legal dramas of the day--
Perry Mason and
The Defenders--as the Benedict character is a more flamboyant
version of the
Erle Stanley Gardner creation but the cases he handles are more
reality-based thorny legal dilemmas seen on the latter series rather than
Perry Mason's whodunit of the week
formula. Filling out the cast is Benedict's young, handsome understudy Henry
Tabor, played by up-and-comer
Richard Rust, and his office manager Trudy Wagner,
played by long-time radio dramatist turned TV supporting character
Joan
Tompkins. Despite the popularity of the two shows
Benedict seemed to try to emulate, the series lasted only a single
season of 28 episodes, with the first 16 airing in 1962, which will be covered
in this post, and the final dozen in 1963. A single color episode,
"Nothing Equals Nothing" starring O'Brien's ex-wife
Nancy Kelly,
aired on October 6, 1962 as a part of NBC's experiment with the emerging color
format; all the other episodes were black and white.
The real-life Ehrlich on whom the show's title character was
based (though the closing credits disclaimer emphasizes that the stories
themselves are fictional) had various traits reminiscent of the fictional Perry Mason--according to
Hal Erickson's
Encyclopedia
of Television Law Shows, of the 63 clients he defended on first-degree
murder charges, 59 were acquitted and 4 had their charges reduced to
manslaughter, a record almost as enviable as Perry Mason's. His reputation also
proceeded him as he was a master not only of legal niceties but also of
self-promotion and publicity, defending such celebrities as
Billie Holiday and
Gene Krupa on drug charges,
Errol Flynn and
James Mason in their divorce cases,
and perhaps most famously City Lights Bookstore owner
Lawrence Ferlinghetti on
obscenity charges for selling
Allen Ginsburg's
Howl, a case later dramatized in the movie of the same title
starring
Jon Hamm as Ehrlich. In fact,
Raymond Burr was coached by Ehrlich when
he was preparing to take on the role of the TV version of Perry Mason.
But unlike
Perry Mason,
Sam Benedict handles a much wider
spectrum of legal cases than first-degree murder, though these cases are also
sprinkled into the lineup as well. The aforementioned "Nothing Equals
Nothing" is one such case in which Benedict is recruited by an old friend
and judge to defend the daughter of a legendary jurist who is accused of
killing her father. The daughter has no recollection of the murder taking place
but the facts are clearly against her, so Benedict decides the only way to
spare her the death penalty is with an insanity defense, only initial
examination by a psychiatrist fails to turn anything up in support of this
plea. This episode is perhaps the most like one from
Perry Mason in that Benedict has to play detective in ferreting out
what really happened, which culminates in a withering cross-examination and
witness-stand confession. It is probably no coincidence that this was the
episode chosen for the color treatment because of its similarity to the already
wildly popular
Perry Mason. We also
see a witness-stand unmasking in "Twenty Aching Years" (October 20,
1962), though this time it is to destroy a witness' credibility in falsely claiming
that a killing was in fact murder. In "Too Man Strangers" (December 8,
1962) Benedict, much like Mason, has to sift through a client's initial
fabricated story about what happened during a killing to find out what really transpired
and why. Once he has it figured out, Benedict goes against the real-life
Ehrlich's famous motto--"Never plead guilty"--and has his client
plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter because the chances of
winning a first-degree murder trial with an unpredictable jury are too risky.
And in "Where There's a Will" (December 22, 1962) Benedict loses a
first-degree murder trial for client Roger Colby and only learns when he is
preparing to appeal that Colby has lied to him about his own guilt, but he must
continue with the appeals process after Colby dies in prison in order to secure
an insurance payment for Colby's young children which will be denied if their
father's conviction is considered his final judgment. Like the other cases
depicted in the series, these murder cases demonstrate and tease out a number
of the finer points of the law, much like an episode of
The Defenders, and are often peppered with grand speeches given by
Benedict about the importance of and the foundations of the American legal
system. As such, they read almost like educational dramas designed to inform
the public about their own rights and those of their fellow citizens rather
than the more titillating parlor-game atmosphere of a typical
Perry Mason episode.
Other episodes focus on the perhaps less sensational topics
of child custody ("Tears for a Nobody Doll" [October 13, 1962) and
"The Target Over the Hill" [December 29, 1962]), inheritance
("Hannigan" [September 15, 1962] and "Where There's a Will"
[December 22, 1962]), mental competency ("Everybody's Playing Polo"
[December 1, 1962]), perjury ("So Various, So Beautiful" [December
15, 1962]), and fraud ("Love Is a Lie, Love Is a Cheat" [November 10,
1962]). Benedict's character comes off as a bit of a social conservative in
some of these cases--his says he is against divorce in the sub-plot of "The
Bird of Warning" (November 17, 1962) because he says it is an admission of
failure. And he pawns off what he considers to be a frivolous divorce request
to Tabor in "Nor Practices Make Perfect" (September 29, 1962), having
already represented the same woman in a previous divorce case, and is pleased
when Tabor reports that he was able to get the woman to reconcile with her
fourth husband. He also tells Tabor in "The Target Over the Hill"
that he does not like drug addicts and initially resists defending a former
addict in a child custody case until Tabor, always ready to come to the defense
of a young attractive woman, threatens to take the case himself. To the show's
credit, the episode uses this reluctance as a teaching moment for Benedict when
he has to talk with the young woman's addiction doctor in building her case,
thereby learning about the physiological side of drug addiction and the possibility
for rehabilitation despite very steep odds.
The series also takes a sympathetic view of aging, most
notably in "Nor Practices Make Perfect" in which Benedict has to
persuade another legendary but older attorney not to commit suicide after
losing his wife and daughter within a span of 6 months. "Where There's a
Will" also comes to the defense of the aging when Tabor takes on a will
dispute between two poor old spinsters against a greedy and younger shoe store
owner when the latter's dead aunt leaves her fortune to her friends rather than
to him. And though the Benedict character is often bombastic with his shouting
and finger-waving as well as his often brusque manner with office manager Trudy
Wagner in rifling through the phone messages she has taken for him, there is
plenty to like about the series in its examination of the remote corners of our
legal system. Even hard-to-please
TV
Guide reviewer
Gilbert Seldes gave the show a positive review in the
October 20, 1962 issue, citing in particular the even-handed way in which the
series portrayed its non-white characters, making them appear no different than
their white counterparts rather than resorting to tired stereotypes or
self-congratulatory, supposedly broad-minded sympathy.
But despite what the program had going for it, it failed to
win enough viewers to make it past its first season. Perhaps there was room for
only two popular legal dramas at that time, though there were many more
westerns and medical dramas that lasted much longer. Its position on the
schedule on Saturday nights at 7:30 put it up against the popular
Jackie Gleason Show on CBS but also
against the quickly canceled
Roy Rogers
and Dale Evans Show on ABC. In an October 27, 1962
TV Guide cover story
Samuel Grafton seems to be sewing the seeds
for the program's demise by harping on how dull O'Brien comes across in
interviews. Besides a critically acclaimed theatrical career performing
Shakespeare and starring in some of the most classic noir feature films such as
D.O.A.,
White Heat,
The Killers, and
The Hitch-Hiker, Grafton observes
that very few people know who O'Brien is and that he has been ignored by
newspapers and magazines. His previous TV series,
Johnny Midnight, failed to last past a single season only two years
previous. Grafton also notes that his conversation tends to be vague,
occasionally punctuated by "universal truths" such as "Man's primary
obligation is to home and family." Even talking about his own career
results in dour remarks such as "Nobody achieves a real lasting reputation
as an actor." He goes on to add that he doesn't think he would enjoy it if
Sam Benedict was a hit--"I
really don't enjoy crowds"--and that success would require him to stand
around signing autographs: "I can't think of anything I'd rather do less
right now." As it turns out, O'Brien got his wish and would never again be
tortured by having to carry his own TV series.
The theme song and some of the single episode scores for Sam Benedict were composed by Nelson Riddle, who is profiled in the
1960 post for The Untouchables.
The series' one and only season has been released on DVD by Warner Archives.
The Actors
Edmond O'Brien
Born
Eamon Joseph
O'Brien on September 10, 1915 in the Bronx, New York, O'Brien was the youngest
of seven children to a pair of Irish immigrants. From an early age, O'Brien
showed an interest in performing, he would later say because he sought
attention. An aunt who was a school teacher helped foster an interest in the
theater, but at one time he also lived across the street from legendary
magician
Harry Houdini from whom he learned enough to stage his own magic shows
for which he charged admission from the other neighborhood children. His father
died when O'Brien was only 4 years old, so he and his siblings worked a number
of jobs to help support the family. When working as a delivery boy, O'Brien
said he noticed he would get bigger tips if he faked some kind of disability,
another sign of his early interest in putting on a show. After high school he
enrolled at Fordham University to study English literature but gave it up after
only a month because his interest in acting was a detriment to his studies.
After returning home he won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School
of the Theater, whose other students included actors such as
Lorne Greene,
Betty Garrett, and
Richard Conte. There he was also in the first class taught
by legendary acting teacher
Sanford Meisner, and in the evenings he would
double up by performing in Shakespeare productions with the Columbia Laboratory
Players, including the lead role in
Othello
when he was still only 18. He spent summers performing with summer stock
companies in Massachusetts and Yonkers and made his Broadway debut at age 21 in
a supporting role in
Daughters of Atreus.
At age 22 he got a big break when
Orson Welles cast him as Marc Antony in his
daring production of Shakespeare's
Julius
Caesar, but it was not until his performance as Prince Hal in a
Maurice
Evans production of
Henry IV, Part 1
that O'Brien caught the attention of Hollywood talent scouts. He turned down an
initial offer from MGM, but when RKO offered him the part of Gringoire in their
1939 feature version of
The Hunchback of
Notre Dame starring
Charles Laughton, O'Brien accepted, and the success of
his performance led to an RKO contract with enough leeway to allow him to
continue his theater work during downtimes. The RKO contract was facilitated by
silent-film-era star
Harold Lloyd, who had noticed O'Brien during his time on
the RKO lot and believed in his future potential. Lloyd had O'Brien cast in his
1941 comedy
A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
alongside
George Murphy and
Lucille Ball. O'Brien was already being touted as a
future star by the U.S Critics and the Stars of Tomorrow poll in
Motion Picture Daily magazine. Though he
was considered for several meaty roles at this time, his next feature was the
mundane war-time recruitment piece
Parachute
Battalion, notable only for the fact that it cast O'Brien next to teenage
actress
Nancy Kelly, then 19. The two had first met when the child actress
Kelly was 15 but had fallen out of contact thereafter. However, their work
together on
Parachute Battalion
launched a real romance, and despite frequent arguments and break-ups, the
couple eloped to Yuma, Arizona and were married. But marriage didn't change the
dynamics of the relationship--they continued to argue and split up until Kelly
finally filed for divorce late in 1941, citing O'Brien's cruelty as the
grounds, though the only specific acts she cited were his insistence on living
in a hotel rather than a home and his frequently being late for dinner. If his
transgressions were ever more serious, they were not documented. After
appearing in a few more light comedies--
Unexpected
Uncle,
Obliging Young Lady,
Powder Town, and
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday--O'Brien enlisted in the U.S. Air Force
and reported for duty in January 1943. Though he had initially hoped to become
a gunner, problems with his eyes which he attributed to a plane crash
disqualified him from flight service, so he turned his attention to performing
and was recruited to appear in
Moss Hart's Air Force theatrical promotion
Winged Victory along with other stars
such as
Red Buttons,
Karl Malden,
Lee J. Cobb, and
Mario Lanza. O'Brien toured
with the production for two years and reprised his role as Pvt. Irving Miller
in the feature film version in 1944. But upon his return to Hollywood from
military service, O'Brien began getting cast in a number of noir crime dramas
that would become a hallmark of his career, beginning with
Robert Siodmak's
The Killers in 1946. This was followed
by
The Web,
A Double Life,
An Act of
Murder,
White Heat, and, most
famously,
D.O.A. in which he plays
Frank Bigelow, a man investigating his own murder. His career as a leading man
began to falter in the early 1950s due to problems with his weight but he
continued to work as a character actor, expanding into westerns as well as more
crime dramas like
711 Ocean Drive,
Between Midnight and Dawn,
The Hitch-Hiker, and
Man in the Dark. After a supporting role
in
Julius Caesar in 1953, he was cast
as press agent Oscar Muldoon in
The
Barefoot Contessa which won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1954.
In the early 1950s he also starred in the lead role on the radio drama
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and made his
first foray into television on drama anthology series
Pulitzer Prize Playhouse in 1951. By the mid-1950s he was working
more regularly on TV, mostly in anthologies, though he also continued his feature
film work in
Pete Kelley's Blues,
1984, and
The Girl Can't Help It. After a few TV western guest spots in the
late 1950s, O'Brien landed his first TV starring role as the title character in
the 1960 crime drama
Johnny Midnight,
which lasted only a single season. After its cancellation he appeared in a trio
of high-profile feature films--
The Man
Who Shot Liberty Valance,
Birdman of
Alcatraz, and
The Longest Day--all
appearing in 1962 before being cast in the title role of his second TV series,
Sam Benedict.
After
failing to carry another series past its first season, O'Brien nevertheless
continued to find plenty of supporting roles in increasingly lower-profile
feature films such as
Seven Days in May,
Rio Conchos,
Sylvia, and
Synanon and
occasional TV guest spots. In 1965 he had a recurring role in a supporting part
on
The Long Hot Summer TV series, but
it, too, was canceled after a single season. O'Brien still made his mark in
features such as
Fantastic Voyage,
The Wild Bunch, and the
Don Knotts
comedy
The Love God? in the late
1960s, but the roles began diminishing in the 1970s, with his last TV
appearance coming on
Police Story in
1974 and final feature role in
99 and
44/100% Dead! the same year. He was cast in the feature film
Black Christmas but was replaced
by
John Saxon due to his failing health, which was eventually diagnosed as
Alzheimer's. The disease may have plagued him as early as two decades earlier
because director
Don Siegel later related that while working with O'Brien on
China Venture in 1953 he investigated
why O'Brien was continually late for shooting and discovered that he was having
a young person read his lines to him right before they were filmed due to his
failing eyesight and memory. His daughter
Maria remarked in a 1983 interview
that he began sleeping with his clothes on and that after he was committed to a
veterans' hospital she saw him in a straitjacket screaming and behaving
violently. He would die from complications from the disease at age 69 on May 9,
1985.
Richard Rust
Born
Richard McEwan Walsh Rust on July 13, 1935 in Boston,
Rust's mother died when he was 5 years old, and since his father was a U.S.
Navy officer, he was sent to live with an aunt. He also lived with his sister
Holly and her husband between stays at a Massachusetts boarding school. One of
his classmates was the son of actor
Frederic March, which is what he credited
with beginning his interest in acting. He then attended the University of Miami
where he was an archery champion and majored in drama before relocating to New
York to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse. His first professional job was
with a Connecticut summer stock group in 1951 in a production of
The Milky Way. He would appear in a
Broadway production of
Long Day's Journey
Into Night with March's son from 1956-58. After an uncredited appearance in
The Phenix City Story in 1955, Rust met
and impressed director
Ted Post at a Sardis dinner party, leading to a contract
with Columbia Pictures in 1958 and supporting roles in feature films such as
Post's
The Legend of Tom Dooley,
Comanche
Station, and
This Rebel Breed. He
also began getting television guest spots on series like
Zane Grey Theatre,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents,
Gunsmoke,
Lawman, and
Sugarfoot. After developing an interest in painting, he spent part
of 1960 living in Mexico to focus on his new-found interest. But he also
continued to guest star on American TV series such as
The Untouchables,
Bronco,
Have Gun -- Will Travel, and
The
Rifleman throughout 1960-61. He was one of 60 actors who tried out for the
part of Henry Tabor on
Sam Benedict
and was chosen for his previous acting experience and educational background.
Rust continued to find TV guest spots after
Sam Benedict's cancelation on programs
such as
Perry Mason,
Bonanza, and
The Rat Patrol, but the number of such appearances declined quickly
after 1963. The same could be said for his feature film career. He had credited
parts in
Alvarez Kelly in 1966 but
nothing more until
Naked Angels in
1969, followed by
The Student Nurses
in 1970 and
The Last Movie in 1971.
He met and befriended
Dennis Hopper while filming
Kid Blue in 1973, and that friendship led to a brief resurrection
of his career some 15 years later. He had a few more feature films of little
note in the mid-1970s as well as playing Jason Vining on
General Hospital in 1975. But he did not log another acting credit
on film until 1988, when the Hopper association landed him an unnamed role as a
hearing officer in the
Sean Penn action feature
Colors. That led to two more small roles in B-grade features that
year but nothing afterward. During his career, Rust had helped found the Canyon
Theatre Guild and taught at Pasadena Playhouse. He was also chairman of local
chapters of the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity. His philanthropy
continued in retirement as he was a benefactor to various schools, hospitals,
and state parks. He spent his retirement painting, journaling, and playing
sports at the Los Angeles Country Club. Rust died of a heart attack on November
9, 1994 at the age of 59.
Joan Tompkins
Born
July 9, 1915 in Mount Vernon, New York, Joan Tompkins' early years are not
documented. However, she made her Broadway debut at age 20 in a production of
Fly Away Home and played Lydia Bennet in
a production of
Pride and Prejudice
later in 1935 as well as appearing in
The
Golden Journey the following year. She married for the first time to actor
Stephen Ker Appleby also in 1936, but the couple divorced 5 years later. She
was also a member of stock theater companies in Mt. Kisco and White Plains, NY,
where she appeared alongside
Henry Fonda in a series of productions. Her last
documented appearance on Broadway was playing the part of Helen Wade in
My Sister Eileen which ran from late
1940 to early 1943. During this time she married for the second time to actor
Bruce McFarlane in 1942; this marriage also ended in divorce in 1951. Sometime
in the 1940s Tompkins moved from the stage to radio dramas, appearing in
multiple popular series such as
Against
the Storm,
David Harum,
Our Gal Sunday,
Young Widder Brown,
Your
Family and Mine, and
Lora Lawton
and
This Is Nora Drake on which she
played the title characters. After World War II she took part in a remote
orphan "adoption" program which matched her with a crippled Polish
boy named
Tomasz "Tommy" Machcinski, who would go on to become a
critically acclaimed self-photographer like
Cindy Sherman. However, the program
apparently confused young Machcinski because, according to his biography on
redcollectors.com, the boy received an autographed card from Tompkins with the
inscription "With love to 'Tommy'" and signed "Mother
Joan," Machcinski thought that Tompkins was his real mother, an error that
was not corrected until he was 20 years old. This shock would prove the basis
of much of his artistic self-photography which had him donning various costumes
and alter-identities as a way of teasing out who he really was. Meanwhile,
Tompkins met actor
Karl Swenson during her radio drama days and the two would
marry after both had completed divorces to previous spouses in 1951. Though she
had a busy and successful acting career on radio, like many other actors of the
era she began making the transition to television in the mid-1950s. After a
single appearance on an episode of
Ponds
Theater in 1954, she was cast as Marion Walker on the soap opera
Valiant Lady in the series' final year
of 1957. The late 1950s and early 1960s had her making a number of guest
appearances on TV series as varied as
The
Donna Reed Show,
One Step Beyond,
Maverick, and
Route 66--including four turns as Claire Rogers on the sit-com
Peter Loves Mary--before she was cast as
office manager Trudy Wagner on
Sam
Benedict.
Her
post-
Benedict workload continued to
be heavy on series such as
Perry Mason,
Dr. Kildare,
The Lieutenant, and
Gomer
Pyle, U.S.M.C. until she landed another recurring supporting role as Mrs.
Brahms on
Occasional Wife in 1966.
She finally made her feature film debut in the 1969
Alan Arkin comedy
Popi and followed that up with a role as
a judge in the 1970 thriller
Zig Zag.
Meanwhile, she appeared 9 times as Lorraine Miller on
My Three Sons between 1967-70 while also guest starring on a number
of other series such as
Bewitched,
Bonanza, and
I Dream of Jeannie. In the 1970s her TV guest work continued to be
frequent but she replaced theatrical features with a string of TV movies. Husband
Karl Swenson passed away in 1978. Her final credits came in 1980 in the TV
movie
The Night the City Screamed and
her third appearance on
Eight Is Enough.
After retiring from acting, she formed a writing group and herself wrote
several books and encouraged other members to publish as well. She died at age
89 on January 29, 2005 in Orange County, California.
Notable Guest Stars
Season 1, Episode 1, "Hannigan":
Katherine Bard
(appeared in
Johnny Cool,
Inside Daisy
Clover, and
How to Save a Marriage
and Ruin Your Life) plays recent widow Patricia Hannigan.
Gene Raymond (shown on the left, husband
of Jeanette MacDonald, starred in
Red
Dust,
Ex-Lady,
Flying Down to Rio, and
Mr. and Mrs. Smith) plays her
brother-in-law James Hannigan.
Donna Douglas (see the biography section for the
1962 post on
The Beverly Hillbillies)
plays his girlfriend Francine.
Tammy Marihugh (Tammy Johnson on
The Bob Cummings Show) plays Patricia's
adopted daughter Bridgette .
Lloyd Bochner (Chief Inspector Neil Campbell on
Hong Kong and Cecil Colby on
Dynasty) plays probate court Judge
Bentham.
John Alderson (Sgt. Bullock on
Boots
and Saddles and Wyatt Earp on
Doctor
Who) plays liquor store owner George Washington.
Sandy Kenyon (Des Smith on
Crunch and Des, Shep Baggott on
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, and
Reverend Kathrun on
Knots Landing)
plays newspaper reporter Hank.
Robert Brubaker (Deputy Ed Blake on
U.S. Marshal and Floyd on
Gunsmoke) plays James Hannigan's lawyer
Fallberry.
Season 1, Episode 2, "A Split Week in San Quentin":
Jack Weston (appeared in
Imitation of
Life,
The Incredible Mr. Limpet,
The Cincinnati Kid,
The Thomas Crown Affair,
The
Four Seasons, and
Dirty Dancing
and played Wilbur "Wormsey" Wormser on
Red Brown of the Rocket Rangers, Chick Adams on
My Sister Eileen, Walter Hathaway on
The Hathaways, and Danny Zimmer on
The Four Seasons) plays stand-up
comedian Joey Kent.
Joe De Santis (appeared in
Deadline - U.S.A.,
I Want to
Live!,
Al Capone, and
Madame X) plays Benedict's friend Judge
Anthony Parrelli.
Katherine Ross (shown on the right, starred in
The Singing Nun,
The Graduate,
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
The Stepford Wives,
The Swarm, and
Donnie Darko
and played Francesca Colby on
The Colbys)
plays Parrelli's daughter Teresa.
Stefan Gierasch (Doc Bernstein on
Nichols and Joshua Collins on
Dark Shadows (1991) plays expose
magazine publisher Jack Milbain.
Henry Beckman (Commander Paul Richards on
Flash Gordon, Mulligan on
I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, George
Anderson on
Peyton Place, Colonel
Harrigan on
McHale's Navy, Capt.
Roland Frances Clancey on
Here Come the
Brides, Pat Harwell on
Funny Face,
Harry Mark on
Bronk, and Alf Scully
on
Check It Out) plays state attorney
Gerald Spanglor.
George Kane (Link Morrison on
Love of Life) plays his associate Rich Wallace.
Rex Ingram (starred
in
The Green Pastures,
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
The Thief of Baghdad (1940),
Cabin in the Sky,
Sahara,
God's Little Acre,
and
Anna Lucasta) plays the judge for
Kent's case, Judge Larkin.
Laurence Haddon (Ed McCullough on
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, the foreign
editor on
Lou Grant, Dr. Mitch
Ackerman on
Knots Landing, and Franklin
Horner on
Dallas) plays state
attorney Farron.
J. Pat O'Malley (see the biographical section of the 1961 post
on
Frontier Circus) plays wealthy
Benedict client Freddie Small.
Season 1, Episode 3, "Nor Practices Make Perfect":
Claude Rains (shown on the left, starred in
The Invisible
Man,
The Adventures of Robin Hood,
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,
Casablanca,
Phantom of the Opera,
Notorious,
and
Lawrence of Arabia) plays legendary
San Francisco attorney Thonis Jundelin.
Frank Puglia (starred in
My Favorite Brunette,
Road to Rio, and
20 Million Miles to Earth and played Bibo on
To Rome With Love) plays bar owner Ricco.
Joey Scott (Donald Brown
on
National Velvet) plays dog bite
victim Johnny Anneau.
Linda Watkins (Robin Crosley on
One Life to Live) plays divorce seeker Emma Horngrath.
Rupert
Crosse (appeared in
Shadows,
Too Late Blues, and
The Reivers and played Det. George Robinson on
The Partners) plays Benedict's apartment house doorman Moffat.
John
Anderson (see the biography section of the 1960 post on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays rival attorney James
Bradley.
Ed Prentiss (the narrator on
Trackdown
and played Carl Jensen on
The Virginian)
plays bar association disciplinary chairman Pete Coburn.
Adrienne Marden (Mary
Breckenridge on
The Waltons) plays dog-bite
case Judge L.L. Anders.
Season 1, Episode 4, "Nothing Equals Nothing":
Nancy
Kelly (Oscar nominee, sister of Jack Kelly, and once married to Edmond O'Brien,
starred
in
Tail Spin,
Jesse James,
Tarzan's Desert Mystery,
Show Business, and
The Bad Seed) plays murder suspect Sarah Wallace Sykes.
Karl
Swenson (Lars Hanson on
Little House on
the Prairie) plays state prosecutor Barney Rosvalley.
Gage Clarke (see the
biography section for the 1961 post on
Gunsmoke)
plays preliminary hearing Judge Newland.
Constance Ford (starred in
A Summer Place,
Home From the Hill,
All Fall
Down, and
The Caretakers and played
Ada Lucas Davis Downs McGowan Hobson on
Another
World) plays Sarah's friend Margaret Palmer.
Ed Asner (shown on the right, appeared in
The Satan Bug,
The Slender Thread,
The Venetian
Affair,
El Dorado,
Change of Habit,
They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!,
JFK,
and
Up! and played Lou Grant on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show,
Rhoda, and
Lou Grant, Sam Waltman on
Off
the Rack, Principal Joe Danzig on
The
Bronx Zoo, Walter Kovacs on
The
Trials of Rosie O'Neill, George Lahti on
Hearts Afire, Gil Jones on
Thunder
Alley, Carl Dobson on
The Closer,
Art Barnett on
Center of the Universe,
Wilson White on
Studio 60 on the Sunset
Strip, Patrick on
The Line, Hank
Greziak on
Working Class, and Dr.
Wasserman on
Michael: Tuesdays and
Thursdays) plays psychiatrist Dr. Everett Colner.
Otto Kruger (appeared in
Treasure Island,
Dracula's Daughter,
Saboteur,
Murder, My Sweet, and
High Noon) plays Sarah's long-time
admirer Judge Radcliffe.
Robert Bice (appeared in
Thirty
Seconds over Tokyo,
The Snow Creature,
and
It! The Terror From Beyond Space
and played Police Capt. Jim Johnson on
The Untouchables) plays arresting Officer Quint.
Henry Beckman (see "A
Split Week in San Quentin" above) returns as state attorney Gerald Spangler.
Mai Tai Sing (Ching Mei on
Hong Kong)
plays Chinese bar co-owner Lily Sin.
Joe De Santis (see "A Split Week in
San Quentin" above) returns as Judge Parrelli.
Season 1, Episode 5, "Tears for a Nobody Doll":
Miyoshi
Umeki (shown on the left, starred in
Sayonara,
The Flower Drum Song, and
A Girl Named Tamiko and played Mrs.
Livingston on
The Courtship of Eddie's
Father) plays expectant mother Sumiko Matsui.
Beulah Quo (appeared in
Girls! Girls! Girls!,
The Sand Pebbles, and
Yes, Giorgio and played Alice Wong on
My Three Sons and Olin on
General Hospital) plays her
mother-in-law Mrs. Matsui.
Aki Aleong (appeared in
Never So Few,
Operation
Bikini,
Buckskin,
The Quest, and
House of Sand and Fog and played Dr. Sam Yee on
As the World Turns, Mr. Chiang on
V, and Mr. Wu on
General Hospital) plays Sumiko's brother Arthur Nishibue.
Robert F.
Simon (Dave Tabak on
Saints and Sinners,
Gen. Alfred Terry on
Custer, Frank
Stephens on
Bewitched, Uncle Everett
McPherson on
Nancy, Capt. Rudy Olsen
on
The Streets of San Francisco, and
J. Jonah Jameson on
The Amazing Spiderman)
plays Matsui attorney Bill Gottlieb.
Harold Gould (Bowman Chamberlain on
The Long Hot Summer, Harry Danton on
The Feather and Father Gang, Martin
Morgenstern on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
and
Rhoda, Jonah Foot on
Foot in the Door, Ben Sprague on
Spencer, and Miles Webber on
The Golden Girls) plays psychiatrist Al
Walpole.
Virginia Gregg (starred in
Dragnet,
Crime in the Streets,
Operation Petticoat and was the voice of
Norma Bates in
Psycho, Maggie Belle
Klaxon on
Calvin and the Colonel, and
Tara on
Space Stars) plays custody
case Judge Semmeler.
Joanna Barnes (appeared in
Auntie Mame,
Tarzan, the Ape Man,
Spartacus,
The Parent Trap, and
The War
Wagon and played Lola on
21 Beacon
Street and Katie O'Brien on
The
Trials of O'Brien) plays art dealer Cordelia Montagne.
Michael Constantine
(appeared in
The Last Mile,
The Hustler,
The Reivers, and
My Big Fat
Greek Wedding and played Jack Ellenhorn on
Hey, Landlord, Principal Seymour Kaufman on
Room 222, Judge Matthew Sirota on
Sirota's Court, and Gus on
My
Big Fat Greek Life) plays arson case Judge Sherman Tower.
S. John Launer
(Marshall Houts on
The Court of Last
Resort and the judge 33 times on
Perry Mason) plays state prosecutor Walter Price.
Andy Albin (Andy Godsen on
Julia) plays mob agitator Stroud.
Season 1, Episode 6, "Twenty Aching Years":
Herschel
Bernardi (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on
Peter Gunn) plays 20-year police veteran Tony Delgano.
Joanne
Linville (Amy Sinclair on
The Guiding
Light) plays his wife Geraldine.
Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock on
Star Trek, Paris on
Mission: Impossible, and Dr. William Bell on
Fringe) plays Delgano's partner Joe Shatley.
Robert J. Wilke
(appeared in
Best of the Badmen,
High Noon,
The Far Country,
Night
Passage, and
Stripes and played
Capt. Mendoza on
Zorro) plays
Delgano's superior Lt. Mike Radich.
Paul Carr (Bill Horton on
Days of Our Lives, Casey Clark on
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Dr.
Paul Summers on
The Doctors, Ted
Prince on
Dallas, and Martin Gentry
on
The Young and the Restless) plays
college student Ralph Towner.
Harry Townes (starred in
The Brothers Karamazov,
Screaming
Mimi, and
Sanctuary and played
Jason Gioberti on
Falcon Crest and
Russell Winston on
Knots Landing)
plays deputy district attorney Charlie Daniels.
Francis De Sales (Lt. Bill
Weigand on
Mr. & Mrs. North,
Ralph Dobson on
The Adventures of Ozzie
& Harriet, Sheriff Maddox on
Two
Faces West, and Rusty Lincoln on
Days
of Our Lives) plays arraignment hearing Judge Kramer.
Robert Biheller
(Corky on
Here Come the Brides) plays
juvenile delinquent Reald.
Marjorie Corley (Rosemary Dorsey on
Mr. Novak) plays the court clerk.
Season 1, Episode 7, "Maddon's Folly":
Vera Miles
(shown on the left, starred in
Wichita,
The Searchers,
The Wrong Man,
The FBI Story,
and
Psycho) plays daughter of
recently deceased San Francisco politician Midge Maddon.
Robert Lansing (see
the biography section for the 1961 post on
87th Precinct) plays her ex-husband Dr. Owen Scott.
Bernard Kates (Lalley on
The Asphalt Jungle) plays newspaper
reporter Dobmeyer.
Woodrow Parfrey (appeared in
Planet of the Apes,
Dirty
Harry, and
Papillon and played
Holmes on
Iron Horse) plays architect
Vernon Kurtz.
Paul Newlan (Police Capt. Grey on
M Squad and Lt. Gen. Pritchard on
12 O'Clock High) plays building committee chairman Judge Quinbury.
Richard
O'Brien (Capt. O'Farrell on
The Smith
Family and Chief Roman on
S.W.A.T.)
plays police deputy Christopher Dane.
Joel Fluellen (appeared in
Porgy and Bess,
A Raisin in the Sun,
Roustabout,
and
The Chase and played Chaba on
Ramar of the Jungle) plays the Maddons'
butler.
Season 1, Episode 8, "Hear the Mellow Wedding Bells":
Zohra Lampert (shown on the right, played Anne on
The Girl With
Something Extra and Dr. Norah Purcell on
Doctors' Hospital) plays expectant wife Sarah Friedman.
Larry
Blyden (Joe Sparton on
Joe & Mabel
and Harry Burns on
Harry's Girls)
plays her husband Mort.
Joseph Schildkraut (Oscar winner, starred in
Orphans of the Storm,
The King of Kings,
Viva Villa!,
Cleopatra
(1934),
The Life of Emile Zola,
The Shop Around the Corner, and
The Diary of Anne Frank) plays Orthodox
Rabbi Gottlieb.
Darryl Richard (see the biography section for the 1962 post on
The Donna Reed Show) plays one of his
pupils Leon Katz.
Bernard Fein (Pvt
Gomez on
The Phil Silvers Show) plays
bail bondsman Harry Owens.
Lewis Charles (Lou on
The Feather and Father Gang) plays courthouse janitor Charlie.
Rusty
Lane (Harry Moseby on
The Clear Horizon)
plays court clerk Kelly.
Stanley Adams (Lt. Morse on
Not for Hire and Gurrah on
The Lawless Years) plays used car salesman Square John McWayde.
Ross Elliott
(see the biography section for the 1962 post on
The Virginian) plays state prosecutor Marty Rhodes.
Francis De
Sales (see "Twenty Aching Years" above) plays the judge in McWayde's
case.
Barry Kelley (starred in
The
Asphalt Jungle,
The Manchurian
Candidate, and
The Love Bug and
played Charlie Anderson on
Big Town,
Jim Rafferty on
The Tom Ewell Show,
Mr. Slocum on
Pete and Gladys, and
Carol's father on
Mister Ed) plays
U.S. Senator Condor.
Season 1, Episode 9, "Love Is a Lie, Love Is a Cheat":
Audrey Meadows (shown on the left, played Alice Kramden on
The
Honeymooners and
The Jackie Gleason
Show, Iris Martin on
Too Close for
Comfort, and Maggie Hogoboom on
Uncle
Buck) plays physician Dr. Carrie Morton.
Ed Nelson (Michael Rossi on
Peyton Place, Ward Fuller on
The Silent Force, and Sen. Mark Denning
on
Capitol) plays con-man Neil
Bracket.
Joyce Meadows (Lynn Allen on
The
Man and the Challenge and Stacy on
Two
Faces West) plays Bracket's secretary Gloria Gorman.
John Anderson (see
"Nor Practices Makes Perfect" above) plays Bracket's lawyer Jim
Bradley.
Joe Mantell (appeared in
Marty,
The Sad Sack,
Onionhead, and
Chinatown
and played Ernie Briggs on
Pete and
Gladys and Albie Loos on
Mannix)
plays traveling salesman Fred Stark.
Robert H. Harris (Jake Goldberg on
Molly and Raymond Schindler on
The Court of Last Resort) plays his
case's Judge Thomas.
Roy Glenn (appeared in
Carmen
Jones,
Written on the Wind,
Porgy and Bess, and
A Raisin in the Sun and played Roy on
The Jack Benny Program) plays U.S. Postal Service supervisor Ernie
Miller.
Paul Newlan (see "Maddon's Folly" above) returns as Judge
Richard Quinbury.
Rusty Lane (see "Hear the Mellow Wedding Bells"
above) returns as court clerk Joe Kelly.
Season 1, Episode 10, "The Bird of Warning":
Diana
Hyland (Gig Houseman Malone on
Young
Doctor Malone and Susan Winter on
Peyton
Place) plays drunk driver Donna Heistand.
Gale Page (starred in
Crime School,
Four Daughters,
You Can't Get
Away With Murder,
Four Wives,
They Drive by Night, and
Knute Rockne All American) plays her
mother.
Henry Beckman (see "A Split Week in San Quentin" above) returns
as state prosecutor Jerry Spangler.
George Tobias (shown on the right, starred in
Sergeant York,
This Is the Army, and
Yankee
Doodle Dandy and played Pierre Falcon on
Hudson's Bay, Trader Penrose on
Adventures
in Paradise, and Abner Kravitz on
Bewitched)
plays Hungarian cafe owner Max Versterhauzy.
Maria Palmer (Mady Stevens on
The Young Marrieds) plays his wife
Marushka.
Robert H. Harris (see "Love Is a Lie, Love Is a Cheat"
above) returns as Judge Xavier Thomas.
J. Edward McKinley (appeared in
The Angry Red Planet,
Advise & Consent,
The Interns,
The Party, and
Where Does It
Hurt?) plays neurologist Dr. Albert Brunson.
Noah Keen (Det. Lt. Carl Bone
on
Arrest and Trial) plays drunk
driving case Judge Travis.
Season 1, Episode 11, "The View From an Ivory Tower":
Dan O'Herlihy (shown on the left, played "Doc" Sardius McPheeters on
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, "Boss" Will Varner #2 on
The Long, Hot Summer, Lt. Col. Max
Dodd on
Colditz, The Director on
A Man Called Sloane, and Andrew Packard
on
Twin Peaks) plays arrogant
attorney Hart Marbury.
Phyllis Avery (Peggy McNulty on
The Ray Milland Show: Meet Mr. McNulty, Ann Shelby on
The Clear Horizon, and Ruth Wilkinson on
Mr. Novak) plays his mistress Betsy
Grayson.
George Macready (Martin Peyton on
Peyton
Place) plays the head of his law firm Jason Kirwell.
Robert Burbaker (see
"Hannigan" above) plays arresting officer Lt. Eubank.
Lawrence Dobkin
(Dutch Schultz on
The Untouchables,
the narrator on
Naked City, Judge
Saul Edelstein on
L.A. Law, and Judge
Stanely Pittman on
Melrose Place) plays
murder trial Judge Ryan.
Leo Penn (father of Sean, Chris, and Michael Penn,
played Dr. David McMillan on
Ben Casey,
and had at least 87 directing credits including 19 episodes of
Ben Casey, 11 episodes of
Bonanza, 18 episodes of
Marcus Welby, M.D., and 27 episodes of
Matlock) plays state attorney George
Klaus.
Al Ruscio (Paul Locatelli on
Shannon,
Sal Giordano on
Life Goes On, Frank
Ruscio on
Joe's Life, and Kosta
Kanelos on
Port Charles) plays waiter
Nico Garza.
John Zaremba (Special Agent Jerry Dressler on
I Led 3 Lives, Dr. Harold Jensen on
Ben Casey, Admiral Hardesy on
McHale's
Navy, Dr. Raymond Swain on
The Time
Tunnel, and Dr, Harlem Danvers on
Dallas)
plays the state medical examiner.
David Sheiner (Norman Brodnik on
Diana) plays newspaper reporter Ben
Williams.
Vaughn Taylor (starred in
Jailhouse
Rock,
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
Psycho, and
In Cold Blood and played Ernest P. Duckweather on
Johnny Jupiter) plays Deputy D.A. Larry
Pine.
Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand on
Star
Trek, the
Star Trek feature
films,
Star Trek: Voyager, and
Star Trek New Voyages) plays newspaper
office clerk Susan Craig.
Season 1, Episode 12, "Everybody's Playing Polo":
Burgess
Meredith (shown on the right, starred in
Of Mice and Men,
Mine Own Executioner,
Advise & Consent, and
The Cardinal and played Martin Woodridge
on
Mr. Novak, The Penguin on
Batman, V.C.R. Cameron on
Search, the narrator on
Korg: 70,000 B.C., and Dr. Willard Adams
on
Gloria) plays eccentric
millionaire Cyrus Carter.
Irene Dailey (Liz Matthews on
Another World) plays his daughter Amelia.
John Anderson (see
"Nor Practices Makes Perfect" above) plays her attorney Jim Bradley.
Milton
Selzer (Parker on
Get Smart, Jake
Winkelman on
The Harvey Korman Show,
Abe Werkfinder on
The Famous Teddy Z,
and Manny Henry on
Valley of the Dolls)
plays psychiatrist Dr. Michaels.
Joby Baker (David Lewis on
Good Morning, World and Col. Harvey Mann
on
The Six O'Clock Follies) plays pianist
Nick Correa.
Ted de Corsia (Police Chief Hagedorn on
Steve Canyon) plays his father.
Yvonne Craig (starred in
Gidget,
High Time,
Kissin' Cousins,
Ski Party, and
One Spy Too Many and played Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, on
Batman and Grandma on
Olivia) plays his accuser Angela Larkin.
Harlan Warde (John Hamilton on
The Rifleman and Sheriff John Brannan on
The Virginian) plays arraignment Judge Raymond Dewey.
Tom Greenway (Sheriff
Jack Bronson on
State Trooper) plays
juvenile detention officer Tom Brelson.
Season 1, Episode 13, "Too Many Strangers":
Michael
Parks (starred in
Bus Riley's Back in
Town,
The Bible: In the Beginning,
The Return of Josey Wales,
From Dusk Till Dawn,
Kill Bill, and
Argo, and played Jim Bronson on
Then
Came Bronson, Phillip Colby on
The
Colbys, and Jean Renault on
Twin
Peaks) plays murder suspect Larry Wilcox.
Marsha Hunt (shown on the left, starred in
Pride and Prejudice (1940),
The Affairs of Martha, and
Raw Deal and played Jennifer Peck on
Peck's Bad Girl) plays his mother Cora.
Judi
Meredith (Bonnie Sue McAfee on
The George
Burns and Gracie Allen Show and
The
George Burns Show, Monique Devereaux on
Hotel
de Paree, and Betty Cramer on
Ben
Casey) plays his "girlfriend" Diane Langley.
Harriet E. MacGibbon
(see the biography section for the 1962 post on
The Beverly Hillbillies) plays his victim's wife Melia Branton.
Robert
J. Wilke (see "Twenty Aching Years" above) returns as police Lt. Mike
Radich.
Ross Elliott (see "Hear the Mellow Wedding Bells" above) returns
as Deputy D.A. Marty Rhodes.
Bernard Fein (see "Hear the Mellow Wedding
Bells" above) returns as bail bondsman Harry Owens.
Gloria Grahame (starred
in
It's a Wonderful Life,
Crossfire,
The Bad and the Beautiful,
The
Big Heat,
The Cobweb, and
Melvin and Howard) plays jilted fiance
Rita Bain.
Barry Russo (Roy Gilroy on
The
Young Marrieds)
plays her
ex-boyfriend Perry Lewis.
Season 1, Episode 14, "So Various, So Beautiful":
Hazel
Court (shown on the right, starred in
Devil Girl From Mars,
The Curse of Frankenstein,
The Raven, and
The Masque of the Red Death and played Jane Starrett on
Dick and the Duchess, Liz Woodruff on
12 O'Clock High, and Norma Hobart on
Dr. Kildare) plays perjury suspect
Deborah Bowman.
Murray Matheson (Felix Mulholland on
Banacek) plays her family tax attorney Larry Wallencott.
Theodore
Bikel (starred in
Moulin Rouge,
The Defiant Ones,
A Dog of Flanders,
My Fair
Lady, and
The Russians Are Coming!
The Russians Are Coming! and played Marin Dimitrov on
Falcon Crest) plays assistant D.A. Neil Bonney.
Noah Keen (see
"The Bird of Warning" above) plays perjury case Judge Medford.
Richard
Loo (appeared in
The Purple Heart,
Back to Bataan,
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,
The Sand Pebbles, and
The Man
With the Golden Gun and played Master Sun on
Kung Fu) plays restaurant owner Andrew Ling.
Bernie Hamilton (Capt.
Harold Dobey on
Starsky and Hutch) plays
upholsterer Van Alston.
Season 1, Episode 15, "Where There's a Will":
Frank
Overton (starred in
Desire Under the Elms,
To Kill a Mockingbird, and
Fail-Safe and played Major Harvey
Stovall on
12 O'Clock High) plays murder
suspect Frank Colby.
Geraldine Brooks (Lou Carson on
Faraday and Company, Angela Dumpling on
The Dumplings, and Arden Dellacorte on
Love of Life) plays his sister Carol.
Susan Gordon (appeared in
Attack of the Puppet People,
Tormented,
The Five Pennies, and
Picture
Mommy Dead) plays his daughter Edith.
Rory O'Brien (Danny Morley on
The Farmer's Daughter) plays his son
Benjy.
Jean Inness (see the biography section for the 1961 post on
Dr. Kildare) plays newsstand operator
Emmaline Goodrich.
Connie Gilchrist (starred in
Tortilla Flat,
A Letter to
Three Wives, and
Long John Silver
and played Purity Pinker on
The
Adventures of Long John Silver) plays her friend Hazel Krolick.
Norman Fell
(shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on
87th Precinct) plays shoe store owner Alex McConnell.
Paul Langton
(Leslie Harrington on
Peyton Place)
plays estate attorney Bruce Richmond.
Jan Arvan (Nacho Torres on
Zorro and Paw Kadiddlehopper on
The Red Skelton Hour) plays McConnell's
lawyer Mertner.
William Keene (played various reverends on
The Andy Griffith Show and
Mayberry
R.F.D.) plays McConnell's employee Sidney Sheldon.
Ed Prentiss (see
"Nor Practices Make Perfect" above) plays insurance attorney William
Fergus.
John Marley (starred in
Cat
Ballou,
Love Story, and
The Godfather) plays the appeals court
chief justice.
Season 1, Episode 16, "The Target Over the Hill":
Inger Stevens (starred in
The Buccaneer,
A Guide for the Married Man,
Madigan, and
Hang 'Em High and played Katy Holstrum on
The Farmer's Daughter) plays former heroin addict Theresa Stone.
Dolores
Sutton (starred in
The Mugger,
The Trouble With Angels, and
Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! and
played Diane Emerson Soames on
Valiant
Lady and Luisa Corelli on
From These
Roots) plays adoption petitioner Sarah Franklin.
Arch Johnson (starred in
Somebody Up There Likes Me,
G.I. Blues, and
The Cheyenne Social Club and played Gus Honochek on
The Asphalt Jungle and Cmdr. Wivenhoe on
Camp Runamuck) plays Sarah's lawyer
Frank Drucker.
Everett Sloane (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on
The
Dick Tracy Show) plays adoption case Judge Allan Copeland.
Jacques Aubuchon
(starred in
The Silver Chalice,
The Big Boodle, and
The Love God? and played Chief Urulu on
McHale's Navy) plays addict physician Dr. Arnold Kazlenko.
Sidney
Clute (Sgt. Same Gerke on
Steve Canyon,
Det. Simms on
McCloud, the National
Editor on
Lou Grant, and Det. Paul La
Guardia on
Cagney & Lacey) plays his
patient Charlie.
Crahan Denton (appeared in
The
Parent Trap,
Birdman of Alcatraz,
and
To Kill a Mockingbird) plays retired
federal narcotics agent Anson Holiday.
Edward Mallory (Bill Riley on
Morning Star and Bill Horton on
Days of Our Lives) plays a drug test
doctor.
