Ben Casey (1961)

 

There is little point in rehashing the origins and 5-year run of the wildly popular medical drama Ben Casey, as Stephen Bowie has already done that in his blog post "'Man. Woman. Birth. Death. Infinity.' The Dark Medical Drama Ben Casey" on avclub.com. Bowie has provided additional backstage insight into the program on his own The Classic TV History Blog, including interviews with star Harry Landers and the real-life nurses who were technical advisors on the program in the article "The Nurses of Ben Casey." The series was created by James E. Moser, a Jack Webb acolyte, who had written for the original Dragnet TV series and then applied that "just the facts" style to his first medical drama Medic in 1954. But Ben Casey took a different approach after Moser met an upstart young neurosurgeon named Allan "Max" Warner while doing research at L.A. General Hospital. The character of Ben Casey is based in part on Warner, who wound up switching fields to psychiatry because he felt his association with the program would prevent him from ever passing his boards for neurosurgery. In picking Vince Edwards to play the role of Casey, Moser deliberately chose an actor who up to that point had pieced together a career playing heavies but projected the sort of macho image Moser desired. Moser ran through a series of auditions with actors that were considered too effeminate. Moser's choice obviously had the desired effect, because according to a  May 12, 1962 article in The Saturday Evening Post, Edwards' rugged, beefy looks were a big hit with female viewers. Author Bill Davidson observes,

Unlike his rival Dick Chamberlain (who plays Dr. Kildare and appeals mostly to teen-age girls), Edwards hits the entire spectrum of femininity...One fortyish housewife joyously informed Edwards that she had been trying to become pregnant without success for fifteen years, but that she had conceived after watching the Ben Casey show for three weeks.

Moser himself is quoted in the article saying, "He's thoroughly masculine, which is quite a change from the dozens of pretty-boy actors who dominate television."

While Bowie points out the ways in which Ben Casey tackled human-interest issues such as drug addiction in "I Remember a Lemon Tree" (October 23, 1961) or child abuse in "The Sweet Kiss of Madness" (December 4, 1961), along the lines of contemporary first-rate dramas such as The Defenders and Route 66, the series is equally dedicated to holding up the character of Ben Casey as a crusader who is nearly always right and frequently has to break a few rules to ensure that lives are saved, much in the spirit of Perry Mason. Though Raymond Burr was not the hunk Vince Edwards was, both actors spent their early careers mostly playing the heavy before being cast against type as a heroic insurgent in their respective professions. In the first two episodes of Ben Casey--"To the Pure (October 2, 1961) and "But Only Linda Smiled" (October 9, 1961), Casey performs unauthorized procedures that land him in hot water, though he claims the patients would not have survived otherwise, not unlike the ways that Perry Mason manipulates evidence or witnesses in defense of his clients. Casey also steps out of his lane like Mason in taking on the role of detective in "Dark Night for Billy Harris' (December 18, 1961) when he begins to see cracks in the story of how a liquor store would-be robber was shot. When he begins to suspect that policeman George Dempsey has lied about how and why he shot robber Billy Harris, Casey's mentor Dr. Zorba repeatedly reminds him that the case is one for the police to resolve themselves. But, of course, Casey persists in running the case to ground himself and is proven right, just like Perry Mason. Another parallel to Perry Mason is rigid hospital administrator Dr. Harold Jensen portrayed as Casey's nemesis, threatening him with suspension for his out-of-bounds behavior much like Hamilton Burger's threats to Mason to have charges brought against him for his extra-judicial tactics.

After setting up Casey as a surly maverick in the first two episodes, Moser and company obviously felt the need to rein him in and make him more likable in subsequent episodes, thus he is called on to extend the life of father-like former teacher Dr. Michael Waldman (after first tussling with Jensen over a proposed surgery) in "The Insolent Heart" (October 16, 1961) and shows more sympathy with many of his patients. They also introduce a series of anti-Caseys--other weaker doctors to contrast with the Casey ideal--in episodes such as "I Remember a Lemon Tree," "A Few Brief Lines for Dave" (November 13, 1961), and "The Sweet Kiss of Madness." In "I Remember a Lemon Tree" George C. Scott plays another brilliant, promising neurosurgeon who is even more unpleasant than Casey because we learn he is a drug addict just trying to prop himself up for his remaining days while suffering from a terminal illness. In "A Few Brief Lines for Dave" Kevin McCarthy plays potential hospital lifer Dr. Dave Taylor who briefly tries running a private practice on the outside but is too intimidated by the weight of responsibility and thus returns to work on staff at General Hospital using the excuse that he is getting more training and performing research. However, when a young boy from a nearby rural community dies because his town's doctor retired and was never replaced, Casey argues with Taylor that if he had the guts to enter private practice in such a community, he could save the lives of young boys like the one who just died. And in "The Sweet Kiss of Madness" Arthur Hill plays another former private practice doctor, Alan Reynolds, using the excuse of needing more training when actually he is back at General Hospital to make the necessary connections to establish a highly profitable big-city practice to satisfy the ambitions of his wife. Never mind that we don't know how long Casey has been at General Hospital or what his long-term plans are, these other doctors are doing it wrong and Casey is the first to tell them so.

In shaping the early character of Ben Casey, Moser and his writers made a couple of furtive attempts to show him as the lady's man female viewers imagined him to be, but seem to have settled on showing him as a fighter, not a lover thereafter. As Bowie has noted in his articles on the program, initially Bettye Ackerman's character Dr. Maggie Graham was supposed to be Casey's primary love interest. The two are shown dining and dancing together in the first episode, "To the Pure," and even share a kiss and a few clenches as Graham worries about Casey having possibly contracted rabies from an infected patient who dies from the disease. But thereafter we see no more romantic moments between the two, though we have a brief allusion to such in the second episode "But Linda Only Smiled" when infatuated patient Linda Miller quizzes Graham about how well she knows Casey. We see Casey work his charms on another female doctor, pediatrician Dr. Jean Howard, after the two have clashed over proper treatment for one of her child patients (a la The Taming of the Shrew) in "Pavanne for a Gentle Lady" (November 20, 1961), with the same pattern of dinner, dancing, and some clenching and kissing back at her apartment. But by the end of the episode Howard plays hard to get with Casey, who wants to see her again, while she says she already has a date with Zorba and off-handedly observes that he will certainly see her now and then around the hospital. As with the scores of virile heroes of TV westerns, Moser no doubt realized that to keep female viewers intrigued, his star needed to be available. Meanwhile, we are treated to another anti-Casey, in this case of intern Dr. Lawrence Powers, who is more interested in dating a pretty nurse than in doing his job in "A Certain Time, A Certain Darkness" (December 11, 1961). Once Casey has enough evidence against him, he vows to run him out of his internship.

Besides fighting against hospital administration, Casey spends a fair amount of time fighting the families of patients, who are opposed to his suggested treatments. In the aforementioned "But Linda Only Smiled" he clashes with a mother who is opposed to blood transfusions on quasi-religious grounds. In "My Good Friend Krikor" (November 27, 1961), he fights with the son-in-law of a mental patient who wants his father-in-law committed to an asylum so that he can take control of the family business, while Casey recommends a risky surgery that may alleviate his occasionally delusional thinking. In "A Certain Time, A Certain Darkness" he has to chastise a parental couple who are embarrassed about their daughter's epilepsy, which only adds to the daughter's anxiety and difficulty in dealing with her illness. And in the previously discussed "Pavanne for a Gentle Lady," Casey disagrees not only with Dr. Howard but also the child patient's parents, who in this case try to pressure him into pursuing treatments before the child's illness has been fully diagnosed. This is one episode in which Casey's adversary, Dr. Howard, is proven right about her initial diagnosis, but Casey isn't necessarily proven wrong in waiting until the diagnosis is more certain before proceeding with the operation. If this were a sit-com, one might name it Casey Knows Best.

David Raksin, sometimes called The Grandfather of Film Music, wrote the theme music and some individual episode scores for Ben Casey. Raksin was born in Philadelphia, the son of a musical conductor and performer in dance bands and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Young Raksin formed his first band at age 12 and later led it performing on CBS radio station WCAU. He taught himself orchestration while still in high school and worked his way through college at the University of Pennsylvania by playing in society bands and with radio orchestras. After college he moved to New York and while playing and arranging for radio and recording orchestras, his arrangement of George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" caught the attention of pianist Oscar Levant, who notified Gershwin of the young musician. Gershwin was impressed and recommended him to theatrical arrangement company Harms/Chappell for whom he worked until 1935 when he was invited to Hollywood to work with Charlie Chaplin on the music for Modern Times. Raksin's task was to adapt Chaplin's whistled and hummed tunes into a full orchestral score for the film. He then returned to Philadelphia to work as assistant to conductor Leopold Stokowski before returning to Hollywood for good. Much of his earlier work composing for feature films went uncredited through the late 1930s and early 1940s, but everything changed with his score and title theme for the 1944 film Laura, which became a huge hit and one of the most-covered songs of all time. From then on, Raksin was an in-demand composer for films, scoring multiple movies every year. Among the highlights were The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Forever Amber (for which he received his first Oscar nomination), and Daisy Kenyon--all in 1947--Force of Evil (1948), The Reformer and the Redhead (1950), Pat and Mike (1952), Carrie (1952), and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), whose theme was also a hit. Raksin received his second Oscar nomination for the theme to Separate Tables in 1958 and began working in television, initially only occasionally, on a 1955 episode of Front Row Center, followed by single episodes for Panic! (1957) and Wagon Train (1958). His theme for Ben Casey came during a flurry of television work in the early 1960s that also included composing for multiple episodes and the theme for Father of the Bride. While he did not work extensively in television, he did compose the score for 5 episodes of Ben Casey's prime competitor Dr. Kildare in 1964-65. Otherwise he kept busy continuing to work on feature films such as Too Late Blues, The Patsy, and Invitation to a Gunfighter. But by the late 1960s his work on traditional feature films, TV series, and TV movies waned considerably as he pursued other endeavors. From 1956-2003 he taught film composition at USC, and from 1970-92 he lectured at UCLA and was a visiting professor at U.C. Santa Barbara. He also composed three musicals, incidental music for other theatrical productions and ballets, material for radio broadcast, as well as conducting his own music in concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and Lincoln Center. He also served as President of the Composers & Lyricist Guild of America from 1962-70 and was President of the Film Music Society in the 1990s. He died of heart failure at age 92 on August 9, 2004.

The series' first season has been released on DVD-R by CBS Home Entertainment.

The Actors

Vince Edwards

Vince Edward Zoine was born on July 9, 1928, the son of an Italian-American bricklayer, in one of Brooklyn's toughest neighborhoods. At age 14 he pawned his twin brother's clothes for spending money and later said that his decision to pursue acting preventing him from becoming a "con man or wise guy." But before that he became an excellent swimmer and worked as a lifeguard on Coney Island. After graduating from East New York Vocational High School at age 15, he was awarded an athletic scholarship to Ohio State University, where he was a member on their National Championship swim team. He then transferred to the University of Hawaii specifically to train for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, but an emergency appendectomy put an end to his competitive swimming career. He then decided to study acting, having already garnered some experience in college theatrical productions, and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. By 1951 he was signed to a contract by Paramount Pictures and made his feature film debut in Mister Universe that same year in which he played a gullible body builder lured by a con man into a shady professional wrestling career while sporting a Dobie Gillis-style peroxide-blonde hairstyle (future Ben Casey co-star Harry Landers was also in the cast). The following year he had a supporting role in the Martin-Lewis comedy Sailor Beware and then the title role in the phony Native American drama Hiawatha. He made his television debut in the drama anthology series Fireside Theatre but soon found himself typecast in roles as a heavy in features such as Rogue Cop, The Night Holds Terror, and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. Similar roles followed for the rest of the 1950s as well as occasional appearances on primarily TV drama anthologies, but in 1959-60 he expanded into series such as The Untouchables, Hawaiian Eye, The Deputy, and Laramie. His failure to break out of bit roles made him consider abandoning the acting profession while he was in Hong Kong on an acting assignment in 1959. He spent a year in the Far East, singing in nightclubs, living a vagabond life, and almost marrying a Japanese woman before being lured back to the States by John Cassavetes to appear in Too Late Blues. According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, being cast in the title role on Ben Casey only happened when he went to the wrong audition room, intending to try out for a part as an airline pilot. But according to a 1962 feature story about Edwards in the Saturday Evening Post, Edwards got the part after being recommended by talent agent Abby Greshler when Bing Crosby Productions producer Howard Koch was looking for a more masculine actor for Ben Casey after testing about 100 actors who were deemed too effeminate.

The series made Edwards an instant star, particularly with female viewers, and Greshler, who quickly became Edwards' agent, was swamped with requests for Edwards at everything from publicity events to variety shows to television specials and even record labels who had learned that Edwards could carry a tune (he would eventually sign with Decca and release three albums and a handful of singles during Ben Casey's run). During his years on Ben Casey Edwards also appeared in the World War II drama The Victors in 1963 and played himself on a 1966 episode of The Lucy Show, but after Ben Casey went off the air in 1966, he found himself typecast as far as television was concerned, so he turned to more feature films such as Hammerhead and The Devil's Brigade in 1968 and Desperado in 1969. Beginning in the 1970s he began appearing in a series of TV movies, and one of these, The Cliff, launched his next TV series, Matt Lincoln, in which he played another doctor, this time a psychiatrist. The series lasted only 16 episodes from 1970-71, and he was soon back to doing TV movies and an occasional feature film. By 1975 he began getting occasional guest spots on TV series again, and his experience directing 7 episodes on Ben Casey came in handy, as he was also called on to direct occasional episodes on series such as Police Story, David Cassidy -- Man Undercover, Battlestar Galactica, and Fantasy Island. In the mid-1980s he added voicework for animated series to his resume, including multiple episodes of the cartoon version of Punky Brewster and the role of Jake Rockwell on Centurions. In 1988 he reprised his most famous role in the TV movie The Return of Ben Casey and played himself in a 1993 episode of the TV series Nurses. However, there was also a dark side to Edwards including a gambling addiction that his fourth wife Janet Edwards estimated had cost him somewhere between $20 and $30 million over his career. Co-star Harry Landers revealed in a 2010 interview that Edwards and members of his entourage, particularly former boxer Benny Goldberg, ran several scams to supply him with gambling money, such as collecting for office Christmas parties and keeping half the money, and getting additional business for extras and then pocketing the additional pay they were due. Landers also claimed that despite Edwards hulking build, he was "phoney baloney," i.e., puffed up on steroids but with the wrists of a 15-year-old girl. Edwards was eventually able to overcome his gambling addiction late in life and collaborated with Janet to tell his story in the memoir Easy, the Hard Way: The Vince Edwards Story. He died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 67 on March 11, 1996.

 

Sam Jaffe

Shalom Jaffe was born in the Lower East Side of New York City on March 10, 1891. His mother Heida Ada was a Yiddish vaudeville actor and singer, first in Odesa, Ukraine, and then in the U.S. after she and her husband, jeweller Barnett Jaffe, emigrated to the States. Young Sam's first appearances in the theater was as a prompter for his mother's performances. Barnett abandoned the family, which then included Sam and three older siblings, so the young Sam was raised and adopted by an aunt and uncle, as his mother was forced to travel for acting work to support the family. Sam's uncle worked by renting out event halls to families on the Lower East Side. Sam attended Townsend Harris High School, was a teenage friend of director John Huston who lived in the same building, and then matriculated to City College of New York to study engineering, graduating in 1912. He attended graduate school at Columbia University and supported himself by teaching and acting as Dean of Mathematics at the college prep school Bronx Cultural Institute. But in 1915 he was invited to join the theatrical troupe the Washington Square Players and thus began his acting career in earnest. Three years later he was appearing in Broadway productions of Youth and Mrs. Warren's Profession. Among his more noteworthy theatrical performances were the comic character Yudelson in 1925-26 and 1927 productions of The Jazz Singer, the dying clerk Otto Kringelein in a 1930 production of Grand Hotel, the enraged accountant Mr. Zero in a 1956 revival of The Adding Machine, and the Hindu guru Tarun Maharaj in the 1979 production of A Meeting by the River when Jaffe was 88 years old. In 1926 he married operatic soprano and musical comedy star Lillian Taiz, who died from cancer in 1941. He made his feature film debut in 1934 playing the mad Grand Duke Peter, opposite Marlene Dietrich. Though his film career was not prolific, he was often sought out for key supporting roles, such as the High Lama holy man character in Frank Capra's 1937 adventure epic Lost Horizon. However, two years later he played the title role as the Hindu water carrier in Gunga Din. Though he had appeared in only four feature films by 1943, he was famous enough to be included playing himself in the star-studded Stage Door Canteen. That same year he collaborated with George Freedley to create the Equity Library Theater, of which he was also chairman for six years, which provided a free showcase for aspiring actors and directors to practice their craft. In 1947 he played a scientist harassed by anti-Semites in Gentleman's Agreement and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing criminal mastermind Dr. Erwin Riedenschneider in Huston's 1950 crime drama The Asphalt Jungle. But his film career would be hampered for much of the 1950s when he was blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer, though he was given special approval by studio boss Daryl Zanuck to play the Einstein-like scientist Prof. Jacob Barnhardt in Robert Wise's 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. In 1956 he remarried to actress Bettye Ackerman, 33 years younger than he and a future co-star on Ben Casey. His Hollywood film career didn't really resume until he appeared in Huston's The Barbarian and the Geisha, followed by the role of Simonides in the 1959 Biblical epic Ben-Hur. Though he made his television debut in a 1949 episode of The Big Story, his TV career didn't really get going until a decade later, as he landed a few guest spots on drama anthology series. By 1960 he was getting regular guest work on series such as The Westerner, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables, Naked City, and Cain's Hundred before being cast as Dr. David Zorba on Ben Casey.

In his 2010 interview documented on classictvhistory.wordpress.com, co-star Harry Landers said that Jaffe left the series before its final season because he was fed up with the behavior of Vince Edwards and his sidekick Benny Goldberg. Jaffe made a few guest appearances during the Casey years on The Defenders, The Donna Reed Show, Daniel Boone, and Bonanza, but found more work in feature films than television in the latter 1960s. In the early 1970s he found more work on TV movies before returning to regular TV series and an occasional feature film for the rest of the decade. Among his TV guests spots were episodes of Love, American Style, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, The Snoop Sisters, The Streets of San Francisco, Columbo, The Bionic Woman, and Kojak. His last TV appearance came in a 1983 episode of The Love Boat, and in 1984 he appeared in the feature films Nothing Lasts Forever and On the Line. Jaffe was also considered a talented pianist and for many years was a member of the Actors Equity Council. He died from cancer at the age of 93 on March 24, 1984.

Bettye Ackerman

Bettye Louise Ackerman was born February 28, 1924 in Walterboro, South Carolina but grew up in Williston, where her father was the superintendent of schools. After earning a Bachelors degree from Columbia College in 1945, she moved to New York to study theater as a graduate student at Columbia University, which is when she began her acting career. Ackerman made her TV debut in an uncredited role on a 1953 episode of The Philco Television Playhouse. In 1955 she had her first credited role on an episode of Studio One. She met her future husband Sam Jaffe that same year when they both appeared in a stage production of Moliere's Tartuffe. They married in 1956, and in 1959 Ackerman made her feature film debut in Face of Fire. Besides both being on the regular cast of Ben Casey, Ackerman and Jaffe would often appear together when they were guest stars on other series, such as the May 3, 1961 episode of Naked City "The Economy of Death" as well as Jaffe's last TV appearance on the April 2, 1983 episode of The Love Boat "The Professor Has Class/When the Magic Disappears/We, the Jury." They also appeared together in his last theatrical production A Meeting by the River in 1979.

During her stint as Dr. Maggie Graham on Ben Casey, Ackerman made occasional guest appearances on other series such as Alcoa Premiere, Breaking Point, and Perry Mason. At some point after moving to Los Angeles, she attended the Otis Art Institute and studied under Joseph Mugnaini, who included some of her works in his books, and George DeGroat. She had one-person exhibits of her works in galleries in Los Angeles and Monterrey as well as colleges in New Jersey and her native South Carolina  where her brother Robert had prominent positions. After Ben Casey's cancelation, she appeared  occasionally on series such as Mannix, The F.B.I., and Bonanza before landing a recurring role as Ann Frazier on Bracken's World in 1970. She appeared four times as Nurse Marsh on Medical Center between 1969-73 and originated the role of Constance MacKenzie on Return to Peyton Place beginning in 1972. The remainder of the 1970s included many guest spots on a variety of series--sometimes with Jaffe, sometimes without--including Gunsmoke, Ironside, The Rookies, Police Story, and Barnaby Jones, to name but a few. After Jaffe died in 1984, she continued acting on TV series for a couple of years, her last credit coming in a 1986 episode of St. Elsewhere. In 1998 she moved back to South Carolina to be near her extended family, settling in Columbia. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years later, and in late October 2006 suffered a stroke from which she died four days later on November 1 at the age of 82.

Harry Landers

Born Harry Sorokin on September 3, 1921 in Brooklyn, Landers, one of seven children, said that he and all but one of his brothers took their mother's maiden name Landers out of outrage after their father abandoned the family. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, Landers joined the Merchant Marine during World War II and became something of a hero when he helped rescue several of his crew mates after their ship was hit with a torpedo. After the War he worked as a laborer on the Warner Brothers lot when the studio newspaper ran an article about his war-time heroics, which caught the attention of Bette Davis. She sent her limousine to pick up Landers and bring him to her dressing room where she asked what she could do for him. He told her he would like to be an extra in the movies because he had noticed while sweating at his laborer job that they were better dressed and better paid than he was. So Davis called the head of the Screen Actors Guild and paid for Landers' initiation fee, then sent him to the office to register. He got his first two uncredited roles in 1947 features Boomerang! and Kiss of Death, followed by his first credited part in 'C'-Man in 1949. After being invited by his friend Mark Daly to sit in on an acting class, Landers joined the Actors Lab where he met and was taught by luminaries such as Hume Cronyn and Norman Lloyd. But he said he was thrown out of a class by Stella Adler because she said he was a gangster, by which Landers said meant he was rebellious. In fact, Landers, a lifelong alcoholic, had an explosive temper that frequently got him into trouble. After appearing in Guilty Bystander and Undercover Girl in 1950, he moved back to New York, driving cross country with actor Gene Barry and another man. He began appearing on live TV programs there such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Somerset Maugham TV Theatre, and Studio One and occasional movies such as Mister Universe. He appeared 11 times on Captain Video and His Video Rangers playing different roles and sometimes co-starring with Ernest Borgnine. When he was cast in a 1952 episode of Tales of Tomorrow, he had to be bailed out of jail just in time for the broadcast after being locked up for damaging the apartment building of a woman whom he wanted to go out with but who had turned him down. By 1953 he was back in Hollywood, appearing in features such as Phantom From Space, The Wild One, Drive a Crooked Road, and Rear Window. He also appeared in small parts on TV series such as The Lineup, Treasury Men in Action, and The Whistler. In 1956 he played three different parts in Cecil B. DeMille's last picture, The Ten Commandments, but more famously actually talked back to DeMille and still didn't get fired. In fact, he wound up developing a kind of friendship with DeMille, who could never remember his name, that kept him from being dismissed from the production when he had accrued what the producers felt was too much income from working so much overtime. His work making guest appearances on television and supporting roles in feature films continued to grow in the late 1950s, including series such as Perry Mason, M Squad, The Silent Service, and Have Gun -- Will Travel. He married three-time Miss Louisiana Jeanne Vaughn in 1957, and the couple had two children before divorcing in 1968. After appearing in a single episode of Medic, written by Ben Casey creator James Moser, Landers got an audition for the Ben Casey pilot and was called back for a second look, this time with Vince Edwards, and Moser interrupted the scene they were doing and said they were it.

But his post-Ben Casey career was not as successful. He logged a few TV guest spots in 1966-68 on Combat!, The Rat Patrol, Iron Horse, and Mannix but then switched to feature films with credits in In Enemy Country, Massacre Harbor, and supporting Elvis Presley in Charro! While filming this last movie, Landers said he felt a strain in his lung after a gym workout, and when he had it checked out, the doctors discovered he had a growth there and wound up removing his upper right lung. After surgery he appeared in a final-season episode of Star Trek only because the director Fred Freiberger was an old friend from the Actors Lab. But after that, Landers refused to work as an actor for almost a decade, instead spending his time collecting and selling antique art. He was finally recruited to return to TV by old friend Jack Klugman on Quincy, M.E., appearing in two episodes as well as a TV movie Mad Bull also in 1977. During this period he was also recruited to be the on-screen spokesperson for Taster's Choice coffee because one of the sponsor's wives had seen him on Ben Casey. However, he disappeared from acting again for another decade until reprising the role of Dr. Ted Hoffman on the 1988 TV movie The Return of Ben Casey. He appeared in three forgettable feature films in 1990 before abandoning acting for good. He retired to the San Fernando Valley and wound up living with his son until his death at age 96 on September 10, 2017.

Jeanne Bates

Born in Berkeley, California on May 21, 1918, Bates broke into show business while attending San Mateo Junior College, first as a model for billboards and magazines and then on the San Francisco-based radio thriller Whodunit? for which she supplied the opening scream and played a variety of characters. In 1943, the show was moved to Hollywood and Bates went with it, marrying the show's chief writer Lew X. Lanforth. Besides her extensive filmography and radio credits, little has been published about her personal life, other than her being a practicing Episcopalian and a registered Republican. Also in 1943 she signed a contract with Columbia Pictures and appeared in three feature films and a serial, beginning with the Boston Blackie crime drama The Chance of a Lifetime, as Bela Lugosi's first victim in The Return of the Vampire , and as heroine Diana Palmer in The Phantom serial. The incredibly prolific Bates would appear in 8 more features in 1944, including The Racket Man, Shadows in the Night, The Soul of a Monster, and Sergeant Mike, but her feature film work declined over the remainder of the decade because she returned to radio to appear on literally dozens of different programs. Besides appearing on a number of anthology series, she had regular roles as Candice Drake on Today's Children, Caroline Wilson on The Woman in My House, and Mary Kay Jones on I Love Adventure. She also played Paula Bullard Winthorp on The Great Gilversleeve and Barbara on the soap opera One Man's Family. In 1950 she also began appearing on television, while still remaining very active on radio. Besides the usual drama anthologies, she appeared on Racket Squad, Gang Busters, and The Halls of Ivy in the early 1950s and dozens more programs in the latter 1950s, including multiple episodes of Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, State Trooper, and The Restless Gun,  in addition to a single appearance on the Ben Casey forerunner Medic. She continued appearing on dozens of shows in the early 1960s, including Rawhide, The Donna Reed Show, Laramie, Death Valley Days, Checkmate, Lock Up, One Step Beyond, and the memorable 1961 Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" in which Bill Mumy plays a tyrannical young boy with God-like powers. That same year she was cast as head nurse Miss Wills on Ben Casey.

During her Ben Casey years, Bates did little else on film, appearing only in one 1962 episode of Wagon Train and playing a nurse (of course) in the 1964 Victor Buono thriller The Strangler. In a 2013 interview with the technical advisor, real-life nurses on Ben Casey, classictvhistory.wordpress.com quotes nurse Alice Rodriguez saying that during the show's summer breaks, Bates accompanied Rodriguez to L.A. General Hospital to shadow nurses on staff there, in full uniform, over a two-week period to see first-hand what they did. However, Rodriguez also notes that Bates felt she was underutilized on Ben Casey, and during the fifth and final season, she appeared in only 5 episodes, none of them before episode 15. After Ben Casey was canceled, it took a few years before Bates resumed her busy schedule of TV guest appearances and occasional feature film roles, though the paced definitely slackened after Casey. Though no one has documented the exact dates of all her theatrical appearances, she was known to be active in the Los Angeles Theatre West company as well as occasional traveling troupes. In 1967-68 she played Jean Perkins on the soap opera Days of Our Lives and returned to the show in 1972 to play Anne Peters until 1975. In between she guest starred on everything from Hawaii Five-O to Family Affair, Mayberry R.F.D., My Three Sons, The Streets of San Francisco, Marcus Welby, M.D., Mod Squad, and Room 222. She continued working on many of the better-known TV series through the rest of the 1970s but returned to feature films in the Disney comedy Gus, the field-goal kicking donkey, starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway, in 1976. The next year her career took a left turn when she appeared in David Lynch's bizarre Eraserhead, and Lynch would use her again over 20 years later in Mulholland Drive in 2001 (as well as the TV movie of the same title that preceded it in 1999). In the meantime, her husband died in 1981, the same year she returned to the soaps as Edith Mills on The Young and the Restless. In 1982 she finally made it to Broadway in a revival production of Seven Brides for Seven Daughters. In 1983 she joined the cast of General Hospital as Mrs. Dodd, all the while continuing to pop up on Barnaby Jones, Quincy, M.E., Three's Company, Benson, and Dallas. In the late 1980s, her work in television largely dried up, but she still found occasional generic roles in TV movies and feature films like Touch and Go and Die Hard 2. She continued working through the 1990s, though more sparsely, in features such as Mom, Grand Canyon, and Dream Lover as well as TV series such as The Commish, Wings, and Sister, Sister. Her last credit was providing the voice of a game show contestant on That '70s Show in 2002. She died from breast cancer at the age of 89 on November 28, 2007.

Nick Dennis

Like many supporting actors of his generation, little has been published about Nick Dennis' life beyond his filmography. He was born in Thessaly, Greece on April 26, 1904 and spoke fluent Greek, but how or when he came to America is not known. He began appearing in Broadway productions as early as 1935, at first in general roles in A Slight Case of Murder, followed by On Your Toes (1936-37), and On Borrowed Time (1938). He got his first named role playing Modesto in a 1939-40 production of The World We Make, but was back to ensemble/chorus roles in What Big Ears! (1942), The Innocent Voyage (1943), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1946-47). In between he played named characters in Storm Operation (1944) and The Rugged Path (1945-46). His big breakout role came playing Pablo Gonzales in the original production of A Streetcar Named Desire from 1947-49, a role he reprised in the film version of 1951. This role appears to have launched his movie career because he would not return to Broadway after it, and he made his first feature film appearance in an uncredited part in A Double Life. His first TV appearance came two years later on an episode of Hands of Mystery. But his film career really began in earnest in 1951 in which he appeared not only in the above-mentioned A Streetcar Named Desire but also in Humphrey Bogart's Scirocco, the Burt Lancaster French Foreign Legion action-adventure drama Ten Tall Men, and an episode of the TV anthology Pulitzer Prize Playhouse. From then on, Dennis would remain active with a string of feature films and TV appearances, often playing ethnic types, for the rest of his life, though his resume is nowhere near as extensive as Jeanne Bates, for example. Notable feature film credits include the 1953 3D noir Man in the  Dark, East of Eden, Kiss Me Deadly, Slaughter on 10th Avenue, Spartacus, Birdman of Alcatraz, and 4 for Texas. TV series on which he made multiple appearances include The Danny Thomas Show, Fireside Theatre, Passport to Danger, Four Star Playhouse, The Rebel, and Bachelor Father. He made his first of 48 appearances as orderly Nick Kanavaras in the third episode of Ben Casey, "The Insolent Heart." His last appearance was his only one in Season 5. According to technical advisor Alice Rodriguez cited above in the Jeanne Bates biography, Dennis had a tendency to improvise his lines on the show and was constantly having to be reined back in. His post-Ben Casey career was considerably less active but included single appearances on I Spy, Ironside, and Columbo as well as a few feature films. His final credits came on Kojak, first as Uncle Constantine 6 times in the first three seasons, and then as a character named Charlie 3 times in the fifth season. Dennis died at the age of 76 on November 14, 1980.

John Zaremba

Born in Chicago on October 22, 1908, John Zaremba began his career as a newspaper reporter for the Grand Rapids Press and Chicago Tribune before deciding to switch careers to acting after writing about the theatre in entertainment columns. He moved to Los Angeles in 1949 and was "discovered" by director Thomas Carr during a casting call. Though imdb.com lists his first feature film appearance in the 1944 western Cyclone Prairie Rangers (a full 5 years before he moved to California), findagrave.com says he first appeared in Carr's adventure epic Pirates of the High Seas in 1950 (which is not included in his filmography on imdb.com). In any event, it took a few years for Zaremba's new career to gain traction, but after getting his first credited part in the 1953 science fiction thriller The Magnetic Monster, Zaremba began finding regular work with increasing regularity. That same year he got his first recurring TV role as Special Agent Jerry Dressler on the anti-communist espionage series I Led 3 Lives, playing the role 69 times over the next three years. During the same period he also appeared on Waterfront, Big Town, and Dragnet but found even more work in feature films, most notably Chicago Syndicate, The Houston Story, and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. In the latter 1950s Zaremba was an in-demand character actor on dozens of TV shows and feature films, usually playing authority figures such as military men, policemen, judges or attorneys, sheriffs, and scientists on The Ford Television Theatre, Science Fiction Theatre, Code 3, Navy Log, The Court of Last Resort, Zane Grey Theatre, Frontier Doctor, Whirlybirds, and Tightrope. His feature films included 20 Million Miles to Earth, Young and Wild, and Frankenstein's Daughter. By the early 1960s most of his work came in television on series such as Maverick, M Squad, Men Into Space, Hawaiian Eye, The Roaring '20s, Dennis the Menace, Sea Hunt, Checkmate, Death Valley Days, 87th Precinct, Tales of Wells Fargo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and many more. He took over the role of hard-nosed hospital administrator Dr. Harold Jensen in the second episode of Ben Casey (Maurice Manson had played the role in the pilot), and appeared 15 times over the first four seasons.

Because he was only an occasional supporting player on Ben Casey, Zaremba had plenty of time and opportunity to appear on other programs between his Casey years 1961-65, including Sam Benedict, The Eleventh Hour, Dr. Kildare, Hazel, Perry Mason, McHale's Navy, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and 12 O'Clock  High to name but a few. And unlike some of his fellow castmates, he found plenty of work after Ben Casey was canceled, landing a recurring role as scientist Dr. Raymond Swain on The Time Tunnel in 1966-67. He appeared 5 times in various roles on The Virginian, played a few different judges on Judd for the Defense, and a few more veterinarians on Lassie all in the latter 1960s. Transitioning into the 1970s he had multiple appearances on Ironside, The F.B.I. and Bonanza before landing a recurring role as Judge Blaustein on Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law with 9 appearances from 1971-74. Though the number of guest spots began to wane in the mid 1970s, he still appeared on multiple episodes of The Manhunter, Cannon, The Rookies, and The Streets of San Francisco. He had a few semi-recurring roles in the late 1970s--Senator Zukovsky in the 1976-77 series Rich Man, Poor Man -- Book II, Dr. Harlen Danvers  on Dallas, and Judge Adams on Little House on the Prairie. Off-screen, Zaremba maintained a busy schedule as an instructor at Pasadena Playhouse, helping found the Canyon Theatre Guild, as a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and as a chairman for charters of the Red Cross and Feeding America. In the 1970s and 1980s he played a fictional coffee bean buyer in commercials for Hills Brothers Coffee. While still actively working on Dallas, he suffered a heart attack and died December 15, 1986 at the age of 78.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 1, Episode 1, "To the Pure": Aki Aleong  (shown on the left, 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 resident Dr. George Nabura. Francis De Sales (Lt. Bill Weigand on Mr. & Mrs. North, Ralph Dobson on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Sheriff Maddox on Two Faces West, and Rusty Lincoln on Days of Our Lives) plays rabies expert Dr. Donnelly. Stuart Nisbet (Bart the bartender on The Virginian) plays his associate Dr. Taylor . Adrienne Hayes (Brooke Bentley on General Hospital) plays rabies victim Dorothy Wilmer. Ann Morrison (appeared in My Pal Gus, Battle Circus, and The Brothers Karamazov and played Dr. Alma on The Young Marrieds) plays her mother. Angela Clarke (appeared in The Great Caruso, The Harlem Globetrotters, House of Wax, and The Interns) plays sick boy's mother Mrs. Salazar. Maurice Manson (Frederick Timberlake on Dennis the Menace, Josh Egan on Hazel, and Hank Pinkham on General Hospital) plays hospital administrator Dr. Harold Jensen. Barton Heyman (appeared in Valdez Is Coming, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Exorcist, and The Happy Hooker) plays fumbling resident Dr. Paul Cain.

Season 1, Episode 2, "But Linda Only Smiled": Jeanne Cooper (shown on the right, played Grace Douglas on Bracken's World and Katherine Chancellor Murphy on The Young and the Restless) plays Hodgkins Disease patient Linda Miller. Susan Gordon (appeared in Attack of the Puppet People, Tormented, The Five Pennies, and Picture Mommy Dead) plays car accident victim Kathy Reed. Stanja Lowe (Mrs. Thomas on Peyton Place) plays her mother. Bernard Kates (Lalley on The Asphalt Jungle, Ben Scott on Guiding Light, and Arthur Saxton on Where the Heart Is) plays consulting physician Dr. Murphy. Robert B. Williams (see the biography section for the 1962 post on Hazel) plays Mrs. Reed's attorney Mr. Hodges. Charles Irving (Blanchard on Perry Mason) plays the hospital's attorney Mr. Sanger. Barton Heyman (see "To the Pure" above) returns as Dr. Cain. Mary Gregory (appeared in Sleeper and Coming Home and played Dr. Stanwhich on Knots Landing and Judge Pendleton on L.A. Law) plays a nurse.

Season 1, Episode 3, "The Insolent Heart": Luther Adler (shown on the left, appeared in House of Strangers, M (1951), D.O.A., and Absence of Malice) plays Casey's former teacher Dr. Michael Waldman. Carl Benton Reid (starred in The Little Foxes, In a Lonely Place, Lorna Doone, and The Left Hand of God and played The Man on Burke's Law) plays dean of medical staff Alfred Norris. David Lewis (Senator Ames on The Farmer's Daughter, Warden Crichton on Batman, and Edward L. Quartermaine on General Hospital) plays medical staff member Dr. Paul Wolf. George Dunn (Jessie Williams on Cimarron City and the Sheriff on Camp Runamuck) plays heart patient's husband Jim Wilkins. Mary Gregory (see "But Linda Only Smiled" above) plays a nurse.

Season 1, Episode 4, "I Remember a Lemon Tree": George C. Scott (shown on the right, Oscar winner, starred in Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler, Dr. Strangelove, and Patton and played Neil Brock on East Side/West Side, President Samuel Arthur Tresch on Mr. President, and Joe Trapchek on Traps) plays brilliant young neurosurgeon Dr. Karl Anders. Colleen Dewhurst (multiple Emmy winner and wife of George C. Scott, starred in A Fine Madness, The Cowboys, Annie Hall, Ice Castles, and The Dead Zone and played Avery Brown, Sr. on Murphy Brown) plays his wife Phyllis.

Season 1, Episode 5, "An Expensive Glass of Water": Chester Morris (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Diagnosis: Unknown) plays business owner Walter Tyson. Shirley Ballard (Miss California 1944, wife of actor Jason Evers, script supervisor on Mad Max, and continuity supervisor on Water Under the Bridge and The Sullivans) plays his wife Wiletta. Neva Patterson (appeared in Desk Set, Too Much, Too Soon, Dear Heart, The Buddy Holly Story, and All of Me and played Maggie McLeod on The Governor & J.J., Ma Ketcham on Nichols, and Margaret Brimble on Doc Elliot) plays his secretary Frederica Warren. George N. Neise (Capitan Felipe Arrellanos on Zorro, Dr. Nat Wyndham on Wichita Town, and Colonel Thornton on McKeever & the Colonel) plays one of Morris' executives George Baxter. Herb Armstrong (Carl Sawyer on Days of Our Lives) plays proxy vote wrangler Joe Weiss. Mary Patton (Mrs. Nowlin on Days of Our Lives) plays a nurse. Barbara Collentine (Charlotte on Nichols) plays an injured construction worker's wife Mrs. Johnson.

Season 1, Episode 6, "The Sound of Laughter": Stanley Adams (shown on the right, played Lt. Morse on Not for Hire and Gurrah on The Lawless Years) plays nightclub comic Tony Romano. Ruth Storey (see the biography section for the 1961 post on 87th Precinct) plays his wife Leona. Ned Glass (appeared in West Side Story, Experiment in Terror, Charade, and The Fortune Cookie and played MSgt. Andy Pendleton on The Phil Silvers Show, Jerry Dale on Fair Exchange, later played Dr. Abraham Goldman on Ben Casey, Mr. Hastings on Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Sol Cooper on Julia, and Uncle Moe Plotnick on Bridget Loves Bernie) plays talent agent Hal Gaxton. John Pickard (Capt. Shank Adams on Boots and Saddles and Sgt. Maj. Murdock on Gunslinger) plays pathologist Jim. Roxane Brooks (Sam on Richard Diamond, Private Detective) plays surgical nurse Dorothy.

Season 1, Episode 7, "A Few Brief Lines for Dave": Kevin McCarthy (shown on the left, starred in Death of a Salesman, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 & 1978), The Misfits, and Hotel and played Philip Hastings on The Survivors, Claude Weldon on Flamingo Road, Zach Cartwright on Amanda's, George Hayward on Bay City Blues, and Lucas Carter on The Colbys) plays returning resident Dr. Dave Taylor. Phyllis Love (appeared in So Young, So Bad, Friendly Persuasion, and The Young Doctors) plays hypochondriac Elizabeth Collins. Meg Wyllie (Mary Elizabeth Kissell on The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Doris Roach and Lila Morgan Tolliver Quartermaine on General Hospital, and Aunt Lolly Stemple on Mad About You) plays sick boy's neighbor Mrs. Storey. Mary Gregory (see "But Linda Only Smiled" above) plays nurse Miss Wilson. Bill Bixby (Charles Raymond on The Joey Bishop Show, Tim O'Hara on My Favorite Martian, Tom Corbett on The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Anthony Blake on The Magician, Dr. David Banner on The Incredible Hulk, and Matt Cassidy on Goodnight, Beantown) plays an intern at a party.

Season 1, Episode 8, "Pavanne for a Gentle Lady": Bethel Leslie (shown on the right, appeared in 15 episodes of The Richard Boone Show and played Dr. Maggie Powers on The Doctors, Claudia Conner on All My Children, and Ethel Crawford on One Life to Live) plays pediatrician Dr. Jean Howard. Anne Whitfield (Barbara Harris on Days of Our Lives) plays sick baby's mother Sue Paulson. Alex Cord (Jack Kiley on W.E.B., Mike Holland on Cassie & Co., and Michael Coldsmith Briggs III on Airwolf) plays her husband Frank. Harry Holcombe (appeared in The Fortune Cookie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Foxy Brown, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Empire of the Ants and played Frank Gardner on Search for Tomorrow, Doc Benson on My Mother the Car, Mr. Kendricks on Barefoot in the Park, and Dr. J.P. Martin on Bonanza) plays head of Pediatrics Dr. Prentiss.  Anne Seymour (appeared in All the King's Men, The Gift of Love, The Subterraneans, and Fitzwilly and played Lucia Garrett on Empire and Beatrice Hewitt on General Hospital) plays tumor patient's sister Nancy Farrell.

Season 1, Episode 9, "My Good Friend Krikor": Abraham Sofaer (shown on the left, starred in Christopher Columbus, Quo Vadis, and Elephant Walk) plays Armenian butcher Krikor Dakopian. Arlene Martel (Tiger on Hogan's Heroes and Spock's Vulcan bride on Star Trek) plays his daughter Nina Vartan. Henry Corden (Carlo on The Count of Monte Cristo, and Babbitt on The Monkees, voiced Fred Flintstone on numerous later Flintstone TV movies and videos, Paw Rugg on The Hillbilly Bears and The Banana Splits Adventure Hour,  Bez on Arabian Knights, Arnie Barkley on The Barkleys, General Urko on Return to the Planet of the Apes, Bump on C B Bears, Sheriff Muletrain on Yogi's Space Race, Clem on Heathcliff, Mr. Gronkle on The Busy World of Richard Scarry, and did voicework on The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, and The Atom Ant Show) plays her husband Henry. Roger De Koven (Dr. Jim Spencer on Days of Our Lives) plays Krikor's brother Joe. Robert Ellenstein (appeared in 3:10 to Yuma, Too Much Too Soon, and North by Northwest) plays Krikor's psych ward caretaker Dr. Grayson. Jack Hogan (see the biography section for the 1962 post on Combat!) plays psych ward patient Carl Pierce. Simon Scott (John Riggs on Markham, Gen. Bronson on McHale's Navy, Chief Barney Metcalf on Mod Squad, and Arnold Slocum on Trapper John, M.D.) plays the judge in Krikor's commitment case. Paul Keast (Nathaniel Carter on Casey Jones) plays court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. John Davidson.

Season 1, Episode 10, "The Sweet Kiss of Madness": Arthur Hill (shown on the right, starred in The Deep Blue Sea, Harper, The Andromeda Strain, and A Bridge Too Far and played Owen Marshall on Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and Charles Hardwick on Glitter) plays returning resident Dr. Alan Reynolds. Patricia Barry (Kate Harris on Harris Against the World, Lydia McGuire on Dr. Kildare, Adelaide Horton Williams on Days of Our Lives, Peg English on All My Children, and Sally Gleason on Guiding Light) plays his ambitious wife Ruth. William Windom (appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Americanization of Emily, and Escape From the Planet of the Apes and played Congressman Glen Morley on The Farmer's Daughter, John Monroe on My World and Welcome to It, Larry Krandall on Brothers and Sisters, Frank Buckman on Parenthood, and Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote) plays psych ward head Dr. Owen. Roger Mobley (Homer "Packy" Lambert on Fury) plays young boy with a skull fracture George Maxwell. John Lasell (Dr. Peter Guthrie on Dark Shadows) plays his father Jack. Joyce Van Patten (appeared in I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, Mame, The Bad News Bears, St. Elmo's Fire, and The Falcon and the Snowman and played Janice Turner Hughes on As the World Turns, Clara Kershaw on Young Dr. Malone, Claudia Gramus on The Good Guys, Iris Chapman on The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, Helen Marsh on All My Children, and Maureen Slattery on Unhappily Ever After) plays his mother Stella. Mary Gregory (see "But Linda Only Smiled" above) plays nurse Miss Carson. Bob Hastings (see the biography section for the 1962 post on McHale's Navy) plays a psych ward orderly.

Season 1, Episode 11, "A Certain Time, a Certain Darkness": Joan Hackett (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Defenders) plays epileptic Ellen Parker. Donald Woods (John Brent on Tammy and Craig Kennedy on Kennedy, Criminologist) plays her father Frank Dixon. Lynn Bari (starred in Always Goodbye, Sun Valley Serenade, and The Magnificent Dope and played Gwen Allen on Boss Lady) plays her mother Ethel. Ron Hagerthy (Clipper King on Sky King) plays new intern Dr. Lawrence Powers. Dyan Cannon (starred in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Shamus, Heaven Can Wait, Revenge of the Pink Panther, and Deathtrap and played Lisa Crowder on Full Circle, Judge Jennifer Cone on Ally McBeal, and Honey Bernstein-Flynn on Three Sisters) plays nurse Donna Whitney. Anna-Lisa (Nora Travers on Black Saddle) plays neural specialist Dr. Amy Peterson. Mary Gregory (see "But Linda Only Smiled" above) returns as nurse Miss Carson.

Season 1, Episode 12, "Dark Night for Billy Harris": Telly Savalas (shown on the right, starred in Cape Fear, The Birdman of Alcatraz, The Dirty Dozen, and Kelly's Heroes and played Mr. Carver on Acapulco and Lt. Theo Kojak on Kojak) plays policeman George Dempsey. Cece Whitney (wife of actor Bernie Kopell) plays his wife Flo. Bruce Dern (see the biography section for the 1962 post on Stoney Burke) plays shooting victim Billy Harris. Paul Bryar (Sheriff Harve Anders on The Long, Hot Summer) plays shooting-range proprietor Al.