The fourth and final season of Sea Hunt didn't diverge from the previous three in depicting the
adventures of frogman-for-hire Mike Nelson who encounters life-threatening
dangers each week, whether on assignment with the U.S. Coast Guard, where he is
an auxiliary officer, working for scientists and inventors hoping to make new
discoveries, or simply giving diving lessons to civilians who sometimes have
ulterior motives. But while most of the episodes involve hair-raising
near-death experiences, star Lloyd Bridges and the producers show a lighter
side as well on a few occasions. In "The Meet" (July 1, 1961), in
which Mike Nelson and a young diver named Chaz spoil a counterfeit ring using a
cave on an isolated island as their base of operations, Nelson is an avid fan
of the TV series Dempsey of the Deep,
a kind of soap opera version of Sea Hunt,
and after he and Chaz have finished breaking up the counterfeit ring, he learns
that Chaz is a fan of the series, too, and the two sit down to watch an episode
together while Chaz's girlfriend rolls her eyes. In "Imposter"
(August 5, 1961) Bridges plays both Nelson and his diving doppelganger Whitey
Fender, who pretends to be the famous diver Nelson in order to swindle
socialite Marna Gould out of a diamond necklace and other jewels she lost when
a boat she was traveling on sank after she was rescued. To add insult to injury,
Fender romances Gould and then drops her like a hot potato once he recovers her
jewels, leaving Nelson in an uncomfortable position when she accuses him of
ghosting her the first time he actually meets her. And "The
Aquanettes" (March 25, 1961) seems to be Nelson's dream come true when he
is assigned to help three pretty young female astronauts train underwater for a
planned trip to Venus (yes, 8 years before man landed on the moon) only to
spend most of his time trying to reassure one of the astronauts that her two
panic-induced blunders were perfectly normal and do not mean she is unfit for
duty. Which isn't to say that Nelson doesn't show a sense of humor fairly often
in teasing people who have just escaped a harrowing experience, but the
above-mentioned episodes add a kitschy charm that offer a nice change-of-pace
from the usual life-or-death dramas in which the series traffics.
The other characters Nelson interacts with are often mere
foils for his swashbuckling manliness, but Victor Buono's depiction of
lip-smacking archaeologist Tank Wallace in "The Saint Story" (July
29, 1961) compares favorably with his portrayal of King Tut in Batman as he blusters into the office of
Father Guerra before secretly revealing to Nelson that he is actually working
undercover for the U.S. government to try to foil an attempt to overthrow the
small Caribbean island where Nelson happens to be working. Less amusing is the
character of eccentric inventor Dr. Kendrick Kelway as played by Kelton Garwood
in "P.T. Boat" (August 26, 1961) due to Garwood's over-the-top
mugging and affectations. Then there are the characters who show incredible
stupidity that leads to life-threatening near disasters. In "River
Treasure" (January 14, 1961) Tom Marzack continues diving alone in the
Amazon River searching for emeralds to the point of exhaustion and then
suspects his wife of wanting to leave him for Nelson. Nelson has to continue to
rescue him when he gets stuck in some underwater pinch, but Marzack continues
to ignore Nelson's advice to rest up before trying to go below again.
"Rescue" (February 18, 1961) features Nelson's old friend Lou James
who thinks he is too poor to avoid a wedding license, so he risks his life and
nearly gets killed diving for a reported Aztec relic in the luggage of a sunken
freighter that Nelson has been hired by the Coast Guard to blow up. Of course,
James gets trapped underwater on his dive minutes before the explosives are due
to go off, and Nelson has to make a hair-raising rescue mission to save his
life. "Superman" (August 12, 1961) features another bonehead named
Stan Brenner in search of relics in an underwater Mexican cave. Brenner's idiocy
is matched by his wife Liz's in that he has never told her he has diabetes and
takes daily insulin shots, and she is frustrated that he is so obsessed with
diving for relics that she deliberately sinks their boat on an isolated,
uninhabited island so that he will be forced to pay attention to her, not
realizing that the boat she just sank contains her husband's insulin kit. You already
know who has to save everybody--Nelson. And "Skipper" (September 9,
1961) tells the implausible story of speed-boat racing champion Johnny Cleaver
and his brother Fred, who serves as his mechanic and one day deliberately
sabotages his brother's speed boat in the hopes of killing him because mom
always liked him best. Funny that his resentment never surfaced until Nelson
appeared on the scene.
As for Nelson, besides being brave, heroic, trustworthy, and
persistent, in Season 4 he also shows he is modest in "Vital Error"
(January 28, 1961) on a diving trip with friend and celebrated newspaper
columnist Frederick C. Darrow, who keeps having underwater
"accidents" that turn out not to be accidental because Darrow is
secretly trying to commit suicide believing that he has a fatal tumor. Fortunately,
Darrow's doctor gets in touch with Mike and rushes out to his boat to tell him
that the latest tests revealed that the tumor is benign, and Nelson is able to
once again rescue Darrow from an underwater death trap, after which Darrow
thanks him for saving his life, but Nelson replies that he did it for selfish
reasons--so that he can continue to enjoy Darrow's column in his daily
newspaper. Nelson uses the same line in the very next episode "The
Dancer" (February 4, 1961) when he answers a distress call while out
tooling around in his boat and is informed that world-famous dancer Anna
Buonanova has one leg pinned by a heavy metal plate on the floor of Rosarita
Bay. At first it appears that they may have to perform an underwater amputation
of the leg just to save her life, though it would also end her career. But
after trying several unsuccessful attempts to free her leg, Nelson hits on the
idea of using an air saw, which is rushed out to the site on a Coast Guard boat
and saves the day--and the leg. Afterward, when Buonanova is recovering in the
hospital, Nelson visits her and says he saved her leg for selfish reasons--so
that he could one day see her dance again. Luckily, this is the last time we
hear Nelson deflect praise this way, though one can imagine that it could
develop into a pretty funny gag if used in more and more ridiculous situations.
Despite the fact that Bridges was the biggest star in
syndicated television--he was a major star in NBC's Marineland Circus special and was featured in the April 1, 1961
edition of TV Guide in connection
with that program--as we documented in our post on the episodes for 1960,
producer Ivan Tors eventually cancelled the series after Season 4 because
Bridges wanted to start using plots revolving around oil companies and other
industrial actors damaging the sea and its resources, an idea to which the
show's sponsor Standard Oil would obviously have objected. Though the final
episode, "Round Up" (September 23, 1961), didn't actually serve as a
finale in the way we think of series signing off today, it perhaps suggests
that Mike Nelson's thrill-seeking adventures were winding down because after
completing yet another job collecting and detonating discarded underwater
explosives, Nelson says the assignment may be his last such job because he had
decided that the work was too dangerous to keep pushing his luck. Of course, he
is then immediately summoned by the Coast Guard to do another such job, and
once that is finished he is pressed to locate and remove a torpedo fired into
the drainage pipe of a hydro plant by disgruntled former employee John Stark,
played by a very young Jack Nicholson. Nelson is clearly tired of his
life-threatening work and by episode's end is so exhausted that he can barely
make it out of the drainage pipe with the torpedo. Though he would never don
his mask, fins, and air tanks on television again, Mike Nelson has remained a
cherished TV character for decades. Beau Bridges marveled in a 2014 interview
on tv.avclub.com that he ran into a fan wearing a Sea Hunt T shirt at a concert performed by his brother Jeff's band
The Abiders. Apparently not just The Dude abides in the hearts of old Sea Hunt fans.The Actors
For the biography of Lloyd Bridges, see the 1960 post on Sea Hunt.
Notable Guest Stars
Season 4, Episode 1, "Point of No Return": Paul
Birch (shown on the left, played Erle Stanley Gardner on The Court
of Last Resort, Mike Malone on Cannonball,
and Capt. Carpenter on The Fugitive)
plays State U.S. Coast Guard project leader Dr. Bainbridge. Ross Elliott (Freddie
the director on The Jack Benny Program
and Sheriff Abbott on The Virginian)
plays his assistant Lt. Dave Tulley. Joyce Meadows (Lynn Allen on The Man and the Challenge and Stacy on Two Faces West) plays journalist Dottie
Maybrook.
Season 4, Episode 2, "River Treasure": Linda
Lawson (shown on the right, played Renee on Adventures in Paradise,
Pat Perry on Don't Call Me Charlie,
Laura Fremont on Ben Casey, and Mrs.
Paganini on That's Life) plays diver's
girlfriend Jill Marzack.
Season 4, Episode 3, "The Destroyers": Ross
Elliott (see "Point of No Return" above) returns as USCG Lt. Dave
Tulley. Harlan Warde (John Hamilton on The Rifleman and Sheriff John Brannan on The
Virginian) plays Tulley's friend USCG Cmdr. Ben White. Paul Maxwell (Steve
Tanner on Coronation Street, Sam
Webber on The Lotus Eaters, Hellman
on The Aphrodite Inheritance, Ed
Hathersage on Emmerdale, and was the
voice of Col. Steve Zodiac on Fireball
XL5) plays electronics expert Dr. Neal Martin. Karl Held (see the biography
section for the 1961 post on Perry Mason)
plays a Navy radar operator.
Season 4, Episode 4, "Vital Error": Reed Hadley (shown on the left, starred
in I Shot Jesse James, The Return of Jesse James, Dallas, and Little Big Horn and played Capt. John Braddock on Racket Squad and Bart Matthews on Public Defender) plays writer Frederick
C. Darrow. Aline Towne (Joan Gilbert on Commando
Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe) plays his wife Elaine. William Woodson (the
narrator on Dick Tracy, The Invaders, and Centurions, voiced J. Jonah Jameson on Spider-Man and Spider-Man and
His Amazing Friends, and played Sgt.
Ed Blankey on This Man Dawson) plays
Darrow's doctor John Gregory. Ross Elliott (see "Point of No Return"
above) returns as USCG Lt. Dave Tulley.
Season 4, Episode 5, "The
Dancer": John Hackett (stand-in for Jack Nicholson in 7 feature films from
1990-2003) plays diver Bob Forrester.
Season 4, Episode 6, "Sperling of Lamatsu": John
Barclay (starred in The Mikado, The Power of God, and King Rat) plays renowned humanitarian
physician Dr. Jan Sperling.
Season 4, Episode 7, "Rescue": Jack Ging (Beau
McCloud on Tales of Wells Fargo, Dr.
Paul Graham on The Eleventh Hour, Lt.
Dan Ives on Mannix, Lt. Ted Quinlan
on Riptide, and Gen. Harlan
"Bull" Fullbright on The A-Team)
plays salvage diver Lou James. Sue Randall (shown on the right, see the biography section for the
1960 post on Leave It to Beaver)
plays his fiance Mary Carter. Ross Elliott (see "Point of No Return"
above) plays USCG Cmdr. Bill Brady.
Season 4, Episode 8, "Mercy Ship": Gregory Gaye (appeared
in Dodsworth, Tovarich, Ninotchka, and Creature With the Atom Brain and played
The Ruler on Commando Cody: Sky Marshal
of the Universe and Andre the Maitre D' on The Roaring 20's) plays Philippine Mayor Sunander. Ken Drake
(Bragan on Not for Hire) plays
hospital ship chief Dr. Levy.
Season 4, Episode 9, "Hot Tracer": Robert
Montgomery, Jr. (shown on the left, son of actor Robert Montgomery and brother of Elizabeth
Montgomery) plays thrill-seeker Chan Harrington III. Darlene Tompkins (stunt
double for Cheryl Ladd on Charlie's
Angels) plays his girlfriend Ginny. Tyler McVey (Major Norgrath on Men Into Space) plays scientist Dr. Wilmer.
Season 4, Episode 10, "Sonar Story": Mark Dana (SAC
Clayton MacGregor on The F.B.I.) plays
sonar experimenter Dr. Briggs. Joan Patrick (see the biography section for the
1961 post on Dr. Kildare) plays a drug
trafficker.
Season 4, Episode 11, "Amigo": Noel Drayton (Mr.
Hardcastle on Family Affair) plays archaeologist
Dr. Graham. Eugene Mazzola (Joey Drum on Jefferson
Drum) plays Mexican boy Don Juan.
Season 4, Episode 12, "The Aquanettes": Valerie
Allen (appeared in The Joker Is Wild,
The Five Pennies, Bells Are Ringing, and Pillow Talk, and played
Verna Mason on The George Burns and
Gracie Allen Show and Anne Banner on The Texan) plays astronaut Dana Perry. Gloria Marshall (Mary Beth Hall on The Bob Cummings Show) plays astronaut
Joanna Sue Tolliver. Mary Lawrence (shown on the right, appeared in County Fair, The Stratton
Story, and A Cry in the Night and
played Alice Jones on Casey Jones and
Ruth Helm on The Bob Cummings Show)
plays their boss Dr. Barnes.
Season 4, Episode 13, "Survival Kit": King Moody (Starker
on Get Smart and Ronald McDonald on McDonaldland) plays German Consul Baumer.
Gertrude Michael (appeared in I'm No
Angel, Murder at the Vanities,
and Flamingo Road) plays Nazi pilot's
widow Mrs. Dietrich.
Season 4, Episode 14, "Expedition": Robert F.
Simon (shown on the left, played 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 history professor Aaron Halliday. Irene Tedrow (the biography section for
the 1961 post on Dennis the Menace)
plays boarding house owner Naomi Roundtree.
Season 4, Episode 15, "Bionics": Kathie Browne (shown on the right, played Angie
Dow on Hondo and was Darren McGavin's
second wife) plays scientist's daughter Kathryn Drayton. Robert Karnes (see the
biography section for the 1961 post on The Lawless Years) plays Mike's boss USCG Cmdr. Flint. 
Season 4, Episode 16, "The Defector": Robert
Sampson (Sgt. Walsh on Steve Canyon,
Father Mike Fitzgerald on Bridget Love
Bernie, and Sheriff Turk Tobias on Falcon
Crest) plays diving student Bob Hicks. Ted Knight (shown on the left, played Phil Buckley on The Young Marrieds, Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Roger Dennis
on The Ted Knight Show, and Henry
Rush on Too Close for Comfort) plays government
agent Steve Powery.
Season 4, Episode 18, "Cougar": Robert Ridgely (Lt.
Frank Kimbro on The Gallant Men, the
announcer on The Woody Woodbury Show,
and Cliff Hamilton on Domestic Life
and was the voice of Tarzan on Tarzan,
Lord of the Jungle, Flash Gordon on Flash
Gordon, and General Ross on The
Incredible Hulk) plays former juvenile delinquent Cougar Norris. Susan Silo
(Rusty on Harry's Girls and has been
a prolific voice actor on shows such as The
Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, James
Bond, Jr., and Where's Waldo?)
plays professor's daughter Leilani.
Season 4, Episode 19, "Sub Hatch": George Clayton
Johnson (co-wrote the stories for Ocean's
11 and Logan's Run and wrote
screenplays for The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and Kung Fu) plays USCG Lt. Harwell. Bill Edwards (Jonathan Kaye on Hawaii Five-O) plays USCG submarine
Cmdr. Murdock.
Season 4, Episode 20, "The Octopus Story": Ken
Curtis (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Ripcord) plays oceanographer Dean.
Season 4, Episode 21, "Quicksand": Kathie Browne (see
"Bionics" above) plays archaeologist's daughter Eleana Dales. Ric
Marlow (wrote the lyrics to "A Taste of Honey") plays diving crew
member Slade. Corey Allen (went on to direct multiple episodes of Dr. Kildare, Police Woman, Dallas, Hunter, and Star Trek: The Next Generation) plays diving crew member Young.
Season 4, Episode 22, "Lost Island": Roy Dean
(multi-talented athlete in swimming and track, stage designer, actor, singer,
and photographer whose first book A Time
in Eden was the first to bring male nude imagery to the masses) plays
escaped prisoner Johnny Gerard.
Season 4, Episode 23, "Baby": Beau Bridges (shown on the left, Lloyd
Bridges' son, played Seaman Howard Spicer on Ensign O'Toole, Richard Chapin on United States, Dave Hart on Harts
of the West, Judge Bob Gibbs on Maximum
Bob, Dan Falco on Beggars and
Choosers, Tom Gage on The Agency,
Maj. Gen. Hank Landry on Stargate:
Atlantis and Stargate SG-1, Carl
Hickey on My Name Is Earl, Nick Brody
on Brothers & Sisters, Barton
Scully on Masters of Sex, and Tom
Miller on The Millers) plays missionary
Warren Tucker. Denise Alexander (Susan Hunter Martin on Days of Our Lives, Mary McKinnon on Another World, Sister Beatrice on Sunset Beach, Lola on The
Inn, Dr. Lesley Webber on General
Hospital, and Louise Fitzpatrick on Pretty
the Series) plays his wife Caroline. 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 physician
Dr. Bruney.
Season 4, Episode 24, "Confidential Mission": Ken
Drake (see "Mercy Ship" above) plays government agent Steve Walker. Terry
Becker (Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey on Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea) plays American journalist Alcott. Jan Arvan
(Nacho Torres on Zorro and Paw
Kadiddlehopper on The Red Skelton Hour)
plays a Caribbean police lieutenant. Dehl Berti (Vittorio on Buck James and John Taylor on Guns of Paradise) plays a yacht captain.
Season 4, Episode 25, "Underwater Pirates": Ron
Hayes (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Bat Masterson) plays Mike's war buddy Sam Carter. Stuart Bradley (Prince
Percival on The Magic Cottage) plays pirate
diver Brady. John Considine (brother of Tim Considine, played Grant Capwell on Santa Barbara) plays Brady's partner
Doak. Robert Christian (Dr. Colby on All
My Children and Lt. Frank on Search
for Tomorrow) plays tug boat pilot Charlie.
Season 4, Episode 26, "The Meet": Robert Clarke (appeared
in The Man From Planet X and The Astounding She-Monster, starred in
and directed The Hideous Sun Demon,
and was married to Alyce King of the King Singers) plays federal agent Bill
Saunderman. Richard Evans (shown on the left, played Paul Hanley on Peyton
Place) plays young diver Chaz. Larry Pennell (see the biography section for
the 1961 post on Ripcord) plays counterfeiter
Steve.
Season 4, Episode 27, "Dark Evil": Michael Whalen
(starred in White Fang, Career Woman, The Lady Escapes, Inside
Story, and The Phantom From 10,000
Leagues) plays philanthropist Oliver Bradon. Margie Regan (shown on the right, played Lucy Carr on Michael Shayne) plays his daughter
Lucille.
Season 4, Episode 28, "Sunken Car": John Marley (appeared
in Cat Ballou, Love Story, and The Godfather)
plays fisherman Frank Johnson. Ann Morrison (Dr. Alma on The Young Marrieds) plays widow Mrs. Krag.
Season 4, Episode 29, "Hit and Run": Nancy
Valentine (appeared in Father of the
Bride, The Black Castle, and -30-) plays model Virgie Bryant. Terry
Becker (see "Confidential Mission" above) plays a movie star's agent.
Season 4, Episode 30, "The Saint Story": Nestor
Paiva (Theo Gonzales on Zorro) plays salvage
boat operator Tio Ramon Delgado. Victor Buono (shown on the left, appeared in Robin and the 7 Hoods, Hush...Hush,
Sweet Charlotte, The Greatest Story
Ever Told, and The Silencers and
played King Tut on Batman and Dr.
Schubert on Man From Atlantis) plays archaeologist
Tank Wallace.
Season 4, Episode 31, "Imposter": Jean Porter (shown on the right, wife
of director Edward Dmytryck, appeared in The
Youngest Profession, Andy Hardy's
Blonde Trouble, and The Left Hand of
God) plays diamond necklace seeker Marna Gould. John Bryant (Dr. Carl
Spaulding on The Virginian) plays insurance
investigator Larrabee.
Season 4, Episode 32, "Superman": Russ Conway (Fenton
Hardy on The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of
the Applegate Treasure, Gen. Devon on Men Into Space, and Lt. Pete Kile on Richard
Diamond, Private Detective) plays relic seeker Stan Brenner. Sue Randall
(see "Rescue" above) plays his wife Liz.
Season 4, Episode 33, "Roustabout": Kenneth Tobey
(shown on the left, starred in The Thing From Another World,
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and It Came From Beneath the Sea and played
Chuck Martin on Whirlybirds and Russ
Conway on I Spy) plays salvage diver
Pete Butler. Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr. (Luis Valdez on Viva Valdez) plays policeman Carlos.
Season 4, Episode 34, "P.T. Boat": Kelton Garwood
(Beauregard O'Hanlon on Bourbon Street
Beat and Percy Crump on Gunsmoke)
plays inventor Dr. Kendrick Kelway. Ken Roberts (the announcer on The Secret Storm, The Electric Company, and Texas)
plays his sister's friend Dan Canaday.
Season 4, Episode 35, "Starting Signal": Robert F.
Simon (see "Expedition" above) plays oceanographic scientist Dr.
Tomaso Ricou. Ross Elliott (see "Point of No Return" above) plays USCG
Lt. Pete Gregory. Ray Hamilton (Al Casey on King
of Diamonds) plays Mike's diving partner Jim Parsons.
Season 4, Episode 36, "Skipper": Grant Woods (Lt.
Kelowitz on Star Trek and Capt. Myles
Keogh on Custer) plays speed boat
mechanic Fred Cleaver. Jana Lund (shown on the right, appeared in Don't Knock the Rock, Loving
You, Frankenstein 1970, High School Hellcats, and Hot Car Girl) plays his brother's
girlfriend Jill Bromley
Season 4, Episode 37, "Crime at Sea": Sue Randall
(see "Rescue" above) plays Navy captain's daughter Peg Nicholson. Keith
Andes (starred in Project X, Clash by Night, and The Girl Most Likely and played Col. Frank Dawson on This Man Dawson, Keith Granville on Glynis, and voiced Birdman on Birdman) plays maritime lawyer Todd
Webster. Chris Robinson (Sgt. Sandy Komansky on 12 O'Clock High, Rick Webber on General
Hospital, and Jack Hamilton on The
Bold and the Beautiful) plays his assistant Kelsey. Bruce Dern (shown on the left, starred in The Wild Angels, Hang 'Em High, Support Your
Local Sheriff!, Silent Running, Coming Home, and Nebraska and played E.J. Stocker on Stoney Burke and Frank Harlow on Big Love) okays FBI agent John Furillo. Harry Lauter (Ranger Clay
Morgan on Tales of the Texas Rangers,
Atlasande on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger,
and Jim Herrick on Waterfront) plays
a Coast Guard judge. Ric Marlow (see "Quicksand" above) plays
helicopter pilot Robert Lewis Bates. Ken Drake (see "Mercy Ship"
above) plays bomber George Hillman.
Season 4, Episode 38, "Round Up": Jack Nicholson (shown on the right, starred
in Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, The Shining,
and Terms of Endearment and played
Jaime Angel on Dr. Kildare) plays
bomber John Stark.
