Top TV Moments: Joanna Pettet

I was saddened by the recent news that Joanna Pettet had died. In the Comfort TV era she was a frequent guest star on several quality shows and was always memorable regardless of her role. To me she was television’s equivalent to the cool patrician blondes favored by Alfred Hitchcock in films like Vertigo and Marnie, and I’d argue she was a better actress than either Kim Novak or Tippi Hedren.

In her personal life she played a bit part in one of the most infamous crime stories of the 20th century, having had lunch with Sharon Tate in Tate’s home just hours before she was murdered by the Manson Family. Rumer Willis played Pettet in Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood.

Unlike many performers from that era, she was also busy in feature films, appearing in the first (sort of) James Bond movie, Casino Royale, the wartime mystery The Night of the Generals, and the underrated cult horror hit The Evil (trust me, it’s good). But it was on television that most of us came to know her, starting back in 1964.

Route 66 (1964)
In “Child of a Night” Tod and Linc are determined to carry out a dying man’s wish of getting a large sum of money to its rightful recipient. Making her TV debut, the British-born Pettet manages a convincing southern accent as a would-be claimant of the fortune.

The Doctors (1964)
As nurse Judy Lloyd, Pettet appeared in 18 episodes of this daytime drama that debuted the same year as General Hospital.

The Fugitive (1966)
A traveling carnival provides a colorful backdrop to this typically strong episode, featuring Joanna Pettet as an emotionally troubled young woman who falls for Kimble, and jeopardizes his freedom after she is rejected. She would have an equally doomed romance with David Janssen eight years later in the Harry O episode “Forty Reasons to Kill.”

Night Gallery (1971)
Series fans have dubbed Pettet the Queen of Night Gallery, since she appeared in four different episodes. “The Caterpillar” may be the most satisfying but she’s just a supporting player in that tale of lust and murder. More interesting, at least until its climax, is “The House,” in which she plays a woman who tells her psychiatrist about a recurring dream she’s had for ten years: she is driving along a country road and sees a beautiful house – she knocks on the door but wakes up before anyone answers.

On the day she is released from a sanitarium, she spots the house from her dream and finds out it’s for sale. What happens next? No spoilers here, except to say that even Joanna Pettet wasn’t satisfied. “The ending makes absolutely no sense at all,” she said in an interview. 

Banacek (1972)
One reason Joanna Pettet was always in demand is how she seemed to have chemistry no matter who she was paired with on screen. Here she brings out a softer side of George Peppard’s smug, sexist hero. 

In “Project Phoenix” Pettet plays an automotive engineer who falls under suspicion after an experimental vehicle disappears from a moving train. Lots of familiar faces in this one – William Windom, Bert Convy, Peter Mark Richman, Herb Edelman, John Fiedler – what a wonderful era of television this was, with so many great character actors making every part memorable.

The Captains and the Kings (1976)
The 1970s were awash in ‘prestigious’ miniseries adaptations of popular novels, and while this one never made the same splash as Roots or Rich Man, Poor Man, it’s good trashy fun. It’s a multi-generational story of one Irish American family, loosely based on the Kennedys (unofficially to avoid any lawsuits). Amidst a huge all-star cast, Pettet appears as Katherine Hennessey, an early object of desire for young Joe Kenn…er, Armagh, who helps to smooth his rougher edges before his rise to power.

Charlie’s Angels (1980)
“Nips and Tucks” is one of the better fourth season (Shelley Hack) episodes, thanks in part to guest star Louis Jourdan as a renowned plastic surgeon being blackmailed into changing the appearance of a wanted racketeer. Pettet plays the crook’s girlfriend, who’s ready to kill anyone getting in the way.

The Love Boat (1981)
Most of Pettet’s resume consists of heavy dramatic roles, so it’s fun to see her playing light comedy for a change. In “I Love You Too, Smith” she plays a fussy customs agent whom Gopher despises, until she sails on the Pacific Princess, and you can guess what happens next.

Knots Landing (1983)
This was Pettet’s last recurring series role; she appeared in nine episodes as police detective Janet Baines.

The Fall Guy (1984)
Colt and company are shooting a James Bond-type movie (“Always Say Always”), but that’s not what makes this episode memorable. It’s the guest appearances by three former Bond girls that made it more fun – Pettet (Casino Royale), Lana Wood (Diamonds are Forever) and Britt Ekland (The Man with the Golden Gun).

And as it turned out, 1984 was Pettet’s last busy working year. She also appeared in episodes of Hotel, Knight Rider, The Yellow Rose and Finder of Lost Loves. After that IMDB lists only four more projects before she began more than 30 years of (hopefully happy) retirement.

Top TV Moments: Lee Meriwether

I saw a post on Facebook recently about Lee Meriwether, who turned 91 a few days ago, and it reminded me of how she always seemed to be on television in the Comfort TV era, either as a series regular, a guest star, or as herself, helping contestants win cash and prizes on different game shows.

Her IMDB page lists more than 125 credits from every conceivable television genre. Casting directors clearly had her near the top of their lists for roles that required both beauty and brains, not just one or the other.

The best part of putting together these Top TV Moments features is spending a couple of evenings enjoying a marathon of one actor’s memorable work, thanks to DVDs and online streaming. What I discovered again in watching these performances is how naturally Meriwether adapted to the aesthetic of each series and role, from the broadest farce to the most sobering drama. What a pleasure it was to be in her virtual company.

Miss America Pageant (1954)
Few television debuts are as grand as that of Lee Ann Meriwether, who progressed from Miss San Francisco to Miss California, and then to Miss America, back when that title still meant something.

The Today Show (1955)
Following her year’s reign as Miss America, Lee joined The Today Show as the first official “Today Girl,” which mostly meant handling the lighter lifestyle features alongside host Dave Garroway. During her stint she was also studying acting and had already made her debut in an installment of The Philco Television Playhouse entitled “Middle of the Night.”

The Time Tunnel (1966)
Meriwether’s first recurring TV role was as “electrobiologist” Dr. Ann MacGregor in this troubled but impressive sci-fi series that, like all the Irwin Allen shows of the 1960s, still has a cult following. Saddled with bickering leads and huge cost overruns The Time Tunnel only lasted 30 episodes, but in that time, it delivered clever stories set in different historic eras, and some of the coolest sets viewers had likely ever seen - the glowing spiral tunnel itself still looks amazing. 

Unfortunately, just as Allen’s Lost in Space was canceled before the Robinsons returned home, The Time Tunnel also disappeared with our two protagonists “lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages.”

Batman (1967)
Yes, she played Catwoman in the (disappointing) movie, but to me she was more memorable as socialite Lisa Carson, who was to be Bruce Wayne’s date before she was kidnapped by King Tut (“King Tut’s Coup/Batman’s Waterloo”). Batman foils Tut’s scheme to make Lisa his queen of the Nile. 

The final scene has Lisa inviting Bruce into her apartment for some milk and cookies. It’s Meriwether at her most bewitching, so much so that even Bruce gives into temptation.

Family Affair (1967)
In “First Love” Meriwether plays Lise Lowell, a geologist working with Bill on a construction project. While Bill tries to mix business with pleasure, Buffy Is dealing with her first crush on an older boy. Since Family Affair often dealt in the harsh realities of life more than other sitcoms of its day, these would-be romances were doomed to fail. Buffy’s crush falls for Cissy instead, and Bill is shut down after learning Lise is already engaged. 

The episode’s final scene is one of those sublime moments that make this show so special. “It kind of hurts inside, doesn’t it?” Buffy asks. “Yeah,” Uncle Bill replies. “But you know, now that we can share the hurt, it doesn’t hurt so much.”

Mission: Impossible (1969)
When Barbara Bain departed this series along with Martin Landau after three seasons, the show opted against bringing in a full-time female replacement on the IMF team. The remaining cast members wanted Lee Meriwether, according to Patrick White’s book The Mission: Impossible Dossier, and she wanted the job as well. “Not getting that role was one of the biggest disappointments of my life,” she said. However, Meriwether did join the team for six episodes in season four, including “The Submarine,” arguably the season’s best outing.

Star Trek (1969)
“That Which Survives” has a reputation as a clunker only slightly above “Spock’s Brain” among Trekkers, but it’s a pleasant enough mystery and the crew does its best to make it work. Meriwether plays Losira, a woman who kills whomever she touches – finally, someone Kirk doesn’t try to bring back to his cabin.

My World and Welcome to It (1970)
With his wife and daughter out of town, John (William Windom) begins fantasizing about his sexy neighbor, Miss Bessinger (Meriwether). And on this series, John’s fantasies always come to life, albeit in unexpected ways. “The Middle Years” is one of the funnier episodes in this sadly short-lived series, and Meriwether seems to be having fun playing in its silly sandbox.

Barnaby Jones (1973)
Meriwether earned both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal of Barnaby’s daughter-in-law, Betty Jones. 

When Buddy Ebsen began cutting back on his workload in the show’s latter seasons, Betty and J.R. (Mark Shera) took on bigger roles in his cases, and the audience didn’t seem to find. The Quinn Martin detective shows of the ’70s are certainly prime Comfort TV, and viewers liked this one enough to keep it around for 178 episodes.

The $10,000 Pyramid (1974-1977)
Lee Meriwether was a frequent guest on several game shows, including Password, Match Game and Hollywood Squares. I’ve singled out the $10,000 Pyramid because she was a partner contestants knew would improve their odds in the winner’s circle.

The Munsters Today (1988)
It isn’t remembered much now, but this revival of the classic ‘60s series lasted three years and 73 episodes, so I guess that qualifies as a hit. Meriwether played Lily Munster opposite John Schuck as Herman. A game effort but best to stick with the original.

Top TV Moments: Ruth Buzzi

As happens following the death of every classic TV star, the passing of Ruth Buzzi generated its share of online coverage. But it seemed the tributes were more frequent and heartfelt in this case, which was nice to see and frankly, a little surprising since she’s been mostly out of the public eye for more than a decade. 

Perhaps it happened because we all first met Ruthie in a series that was not just a hit but a phenomenon – one of those shows that explodes into the public consciousness seemingly overnight that everyone is talking about the next day. Typically, they fall as quickly as they rise but still leave a lasting impression. 

Remember when television could produce moments like that? The 1960s gave us a few of them – The Monkees and Batman, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, and certainly Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In would also qualify. With its rapid-fire stream of broad slapstick, music and topical humor, it turned an unknown cast of performers into household names within weeks of its first episode.

Some, like Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, went on to even greater fame, but the rest – Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley – rarely seemed to ever be out of work. Whether it was guest spots in films and TV shows, game shows, regional theater, voiceover work, commercials, they were always turning up somewhere, and when we saw them again it brought back happy memories of once brighter spotlights. 

It's my honor to give Buzzi one more curtain call with a look back at some of her most memorable TV moments. 

The Garry Moore Show (1964)
Buzzi made her TV debut on this popular long-running variety series that launched the careers of Carol Burnett and Durwood Kirby among others. I could not find any further details or footage. Would have been fun to see. 

Linus the Lionhearted (1964)
The first acting credit listed on IMDB has her providing the voice of Granny Goodwitch in this animated series with characters that were featured in cereal commercials. Linus’s cereal never caught on, but Sugar Bear would appear in Sugar Crisp ads for the next 20 years. 

That Girl (1967)
One year before Laugh-In debuted, Buzzi made the first of five appearances on That Girl as Ann Marie’s unlucky-in-love girlfriend, Pete Peterson. So many of Buzzi’s guest spots had her broadly playing over-the-top characters, which makes her work here as a low-key, friendly and supportive neighbor more memorable.

The Monkees (1967)
If Buzzi hadn’t been cast the following year in Laugh-In, I wonder if she would have spent more time taking roles like the one in “A Coffin Too Frequent,” as a silly little old lady going along for the ride in a barely scripted episode. Saving grace: the performance of “Daydream Believer” before the closing credits. 

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968)
Cast members came and went over the course of six seasons but Ruth Buzzi stayed for the full run – more than 130 episodes. 

She appeared in countless skits and was regularly featured in the musical “Laugh-In looks at the news” segments and the cocktail parties, but she will always be best remembered as Gladys Ormphy, the “purse-wielding spinster” whose visits to the park were always interrupted by Arte Johnson as lascivious Tyrone Horneigh:

“Do you believe in the hereafter?”
“Of course.”
“Then you know what I’m here after.”

Between this character and Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, the name Gladys has probably been poisoned for generations. 

Here’s Lucy (1972)
In “My Fair Buzzi,” shy Annie Whipple gets a makeover from Kim (Lucie Arnaz) before their community theater musical set in the roaring 1920s. 

This episode is a great showcase for both Buzzi and Arnaz, and a reminder of how this series could mount Broadway-caliber musical numbers within the tight scheduling of a weekly series. 

ABC Afterschool Special (1974)
“The Crazy Comedy Concert” was a big departure for this series, as it wasn’t a scripted mini movie in which no teenagers were pregnant, addicted to something, or facing a family in crisis. Instead, Ruth Buzzi and Tim Conway appear as a cleaning lady and janitor tidying up the Hollywood Bowl the day after a concert. They perform some wordless pantomime skits, between performances of classical music from Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Glinka, among others. 

The Lost Saucer (1975)
It was never a favorite of mine from the Sid & Marty Krofft canon. But having recently acquired an unofficial DVD set of Kaptain Kool & the Kongs and watching some of its 16 episodes again, I found myself warming to its good-natured silliness. Jim Nabors and Ruth Buzzi play android space explorers Fi and Fum, who take a kid and his babysitter for a trip around the galaxy and then get lost and can’t find their way back to earth. 

The Dean Martin Roasts (1978)
Buzzi brought Gladys back for the roasts of Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Angie Dickinson. How many performers get to clobber Sinatra without getting rubbed out and tossed into the Hudson? 

Sesame Street (1994)
I know we’re a little past our Comfort TV cutoff date of 1989, but I can’t overlook the fact that after Laugh-In, Buzzi’s best TV work was done on more than 80 episodes of this PBS staple as Ruthie, owner of the shop Finders Keepers. 

One of the more unfortunate aspects of how television evolves is that we are unlikely to ever see another series achieve the kind of phenomenon status that Laugh-In and others once did. Glee was probably the last one before the TV audience became too fractured to produce a show with the same cultural impact. 

Like most everyone I’ve got 400 channels and thousands more options from streamers, but I’d give it all back for the time when just three networks gave us all something to enjoy together. That era is long gone but our fondness for its stars, like Ruth Buzzi, still remains. 

Top TV Moments: Tony Roberts

The obituaries for the recently passed Tony Roberts identified him as a sidekick in Woody Allen films and a Tony-nominated Broadway star. All of which is true – but to me he’ll always be the guy who almost married Julie McCoy on The Love Boat. 

Television was, admittedly, the least heralded aspect of Roberts’ multifaceted career. The credits that stand out on his IMDB page are classics like Annie Hall, Serpico and Hannah and Her Sisters. But over the course of a six-decade career he also made regular appearances on TV in good shows, bad shows and those long forgotten. 

To his credit Roberts certainly wasn’t a snob who looked down on the small screen when that was a prominent mindset among film actors in the 1970s. In fact, he agreed to recurring roles in four different series, none of which lasted a full season. Their fate was not his fault – in fact I can’t remember any TV show or movie that didn’t benefit from his combination of class, professionalism, and approachability. 

Many of the Top TV Moments listed below are more obscure than most in these career retrospective pieces, but most are accessible on YouTube and worth a look. 

The Trials of O’Brien (1965)

The first credit on Roberts’ IMDB page is for an episode of this short-lived series starring Peter Falk and Elaine Stritch (sounds interesting already, doesn’t it?). A handful of episodes are on YouTube but not “Charlie’s Got All the Luck,” featuring Roberts as Charlie. 

Night Gallery (1971)

Night Gallery episodes are notoriously hit-and-miss, but “The Messiah on Mott Street” belongs in the win column. Edward G. Robinson plays a dying man concerned over the fate of his grandson in this tale that borrows from Jewish traditional stories of the Messiah and the Angel of Death. Tony Roberts plays the man’s doctor, and Yaphet Kotto is wonderful as the Messiah. It’s a sad story until it isn’t, and I’m sure has become annual holiday viewing in many homes. 

McMillan (1977)

Many viewers likely lost some interest in McMillan and Wife when it became just McMillan, after the departure of Susan Saint James. But “Philip’s Game” is a solid entry with two intriguing mysteries. The first – how was the key witness in the prosecution of a crooked land developer killed, before his car seemed to start automatically and plunge into San Francisco Bay? The second begins when McMillan meets Philip (Tony Roberts) who introduces himself to the police commissioner, says he’s a hit man and that McMillan is his next target. He also reveals how he plans to do the job. 

Roberts is terrific here – he exudes both good manners and menace, and the suspense builds nicely until it’s time to carry out his assignment. I admit I was slightly bummed by the ending but getting there was still fun. 

Rosetti and Ryan (1977)

This was Tony Roberts’ first attempt at series stardom, and the one I think had the most potential. He and Squire Fridell played law partners with opposite personalities; Roberts, as Joe Rosetti, was something like Arnie Becker on L.A. Law: high-class style, active social life, while Fridell’s Frank Ryan, a former cop, was more focused on a by-the-book approach to each case. 

Had NBC not pulled the plug after just six episodes, I think the show would have found an audience. The two leads worked well together, and the scripts were better than those used in other legal dramas that lasted longer. Fridell would later find a career-defining role as the successor to King Moody in the role of Ronald McDonald, which he played in dozens of commercials from 1984 to 1991. 

The Girls in the Office (1979)

This TV movie follows the stories of three women working in the corporate offices of a major Houston department store, as it prepares for the grand opening of a new location. Tony Roberts plays second in command to the company’s founder (well-played by David Wayne). Barbara Eden is outstanding as an executive assistant who falls for a younger construction worker (Joe Penny), as is Susan Saint James as a ruthlessly ambitious woman determined to move up the corporate ladder by any means necessary. There are some dated elements to this look at office politics in the 1970s, but like so many long-out-of-circulation TV movies from this era, it’s a joy to rediscover on YouTube. 

The Love Boat (1978)

Romances among the Pacific Princess crewmembers and their passengers were part of nearly every Love Boat episode, but every so often they got more serious than a single-episode fling. When Julie met Jack (Roberts), a widower with two daughters, it was love at first sight for all of them. He proposed, but Julie couldn’t move with him to Alaska and felt unprepared to become a wife and mother all at once. But by the series’ next season she had changed her mind, and with the ship sailing to Alaska she was eager to reunite with Jack and accept his proposal, but fate had other ideas. 

The Four Seasons (1984)

It was 13 episodes and out for this adaptation of the 1981 Alan Alda film about the friendships and other relationships between three middle-class couples. Alda produced the series, but only Jack Weston returned from the film to reprise his role. It’s the only one of Roberts’ series that didn’t work for me at all. Tina Fey is apparently bringing a new version to Netflix later this year. 

The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985)

Series attempt #3 was a workplace sitcom set in New York, starring Arnaz as a radio psychologist, albeit one without the neurotic hangups of Frasier Craine. Roberts plays her understanding (sometimes) boss. The whole thing was a bit too low-key for me, but Arnaz and Roberts are both eminently likable performers, and the older I get the more I appreciate that aspect of a series. But viewers back then were more interested in TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes on another network, and The Lucie Arnaz Show was gone after just six episodes. 

Hotel (1985)

After such memorable appearances on The Love Boat, it’s fitting that Roberts also shined in another series featuring rotating lineups of celebrity guests. In “Wins and Losses” he plays a rival hotel manager pursuing Christine (Connie Selleca) personally and professionally. His approach is two parts smarm to one part charm, but that’s enough to pique her interest and make Peter (James Brolin) jealous, something that happens about a hundred times over the course of five seasons. 

The Thorns (1988)

Now this was an interesting show, and certainly one that was ahead of its time. Today’s audience that prefers dysfunctional families to happy ones would have enjoyed the selfish exploits of this aptly named clan. Roberts played Sloan Thorn opposite Kelly Bishop (Gilmore Girls!) as his wife Ginger. Twelve episodes were made, only seven aired, but watching it in 2024 you’d never suspect it was more than 30 years old. The characters are petty, insecure, sniping and greedy – and yet somehow still remain likable. 

Top TV Moments: Wally Cox

 

In the classic TV era, character actors earned a steady living specializing in a certain type, and going from series to series playing variations on that same role. Need a blustery authority figure? Call Roy Roberts. Have a role that calls for what in less sensitive times would be described as a battle-axe? Kathleen Freeman paid her mortgage on those parts for decades. A feisty senior citizen? Paging Burt Mustin.

 

Which brings us to Wally Cox, who once described himself as “a harmless preoccupied guy in a constant state of reduced effect.” He became known to television audiences in more than 100 episodes of Mr. Peepers as a meek, bespectacled intellectual, courteous but a little awkward, diminutive in size and reedy in voice, and that type stayed with him for the rest of his life. 

 

 

I remembered him as having a notable career, and certainly his IMDB page requires scrolling through dozens of film and television credits. But he died at the shockingly young age of 48, which makes the voluminous work he left behind even more impressive. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more memorable performances from a very talented man. But here are some of my favorites.

 

Mr. Peepers (1952-1955)

I don’t know if this is true for anyone else but with 1950s television, especially from the first part of the decade, some shows seem very dated to me, while others I can watch and enjoy without thinking about how many years have passed since they were first broadcast. 

 

 

I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, several westerns, and The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet all share a timeless quality for me. But Mr. Peepers falls into the former category, along with Our Miss Brooks and My Little Margie. But it was Wally Cox’s portrayal of science teacher Robinson Peepers that earned him an Emmy Award, and set the paradigm for the rest of his career.

 

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1961)

Cox received a “special guest star” acknowledgment in the opening credits of “The Fraternity Rents Out a Room,” and I can’t think of another actor given that same accolade on this long-running show.

 

Once again he plays a teacher, this time of college economics, who moves into a spare room at Dave and Rick’s fraternity and proceeds to cramp everyone’s style. When he moves out a few weeks later, he delivers a heartwarming speech that once again shows how TV from this time and this series in particular exuded kindness and civility in a way that has almost disappeared from the medium.

 

Underdog (1964-1967)

With Underdog we are also reminded of how times have changed since 1964. Our canine hero, so memorably voiced by Wally Cox, was a humble shoeshine boy who became a superhero by taking a powerful vitamin pill. Due to subsequent pressure from “educators” and “child safety advocates,” reruns often aired with any scenes of Underdog taking the pill deleted. And see? It worked! No more drug abuse in America! 

 

 

The Dick Van Dyke Show (1966)

Who has a better chance of winning an election – the most qualified candidate, or the most charismatic? That was the question in this two-part story in which Rob runs for city councilman against Lincoln Goodheart (Cox, playing his usual nebbishy intellectual). Rob charms the crowds, while Lincoln has all the answers about New Rochelle’s most pressing issues. Who wins? The answer is revealed at the end of “The Making of a Councilman.” 

 

 

 

Hollywood Squares (1965-1973)

Wally Cox was one of this game show’s two original panelists who stuck around for most of its run (can you name the other? Hint – it’s not Paul Lynde). Between the daytime series and syndicated version, Cox was in a box for more than 1,000 episodes. 

 

 

Mission: Impossible (1966)

Mr. Milquetoast on the IM Force? Yep. Not only that, but as reformed safecracker Terry Targo, Cox plays a key role in the team’s very first mission, in a brilliant pilot episode written by the series’ creator, Bruce Geller. 

 

 

The team is dispatched to Santa Costa to recover two stolen nuclear devices. Everything that made the series a classic was already in its first episode – the soon to be iconic self-destructing tape recorder, Lalo Schifrin’s brilliant theme, Rollin’s rubber masks, Barney’s technological wizardry, a cracking pace and a plot that kept viewers on the edge of their seats for a full hour.

 

Bonanza (1967)

The comedic episodes of Bonanza tend to divide fans between those who enjoy them and those who find them too silly. “The Gold Detector” will not be one that appeals to the latter crowd. But I liked it, and Wally Cox as always is a delight as a professor who sells Hoss a machine that supposedly can detect gold.

 

Here’s Lucy (1970)

Lucy clearly enjoyed working with Wally Cox, as he appeaed four times on Here’s Lucy and once on The Lucy Show. I selected “Lucy the Diamond Cutter,” to spotlight here because it’s a rare appearance in which Cox does not speak in his usual nasally tones – and sports an accent as well. 

 

This is also one of his more physically taxing roles, as he seems to spend half the episode jumping up and down on Lucy’s couch.

 

The Odd Couple (1972)

“The Pen is Mightier Than the Pencil” may only be a slightly above-average episode of this series, but I had to include it here because I enjoyed seeing Cox and Tony Randall, who was a supporting player on Mr. Peepers, sitting in a classroom together again.

 

The Night Strangler (1973)

Carl Kolchak returns in this first-rate follow-up to The Night Stalker. Our intrepid reporter has relocated from Las Vegas to Seattle, to investigate a series of brutal murders by strangulation that have reoccurred every 21 years for more than a century.

 

In his last screen performance, Wally Cox plays a research librarian who helps Kolchak unravel the mystery behind the murders.

Top TV Moments: Barbara Rush

 

I regret kicking off this piece on a downbeat note, but I feel a need to acknowledge that it was inspired by a sobering thought that occurred while watching a 1974 episode of Police Story – it was the realization that so many of the talented artists who continue to fill my evenings with hours of viewing enjoyment are no longer with us.

 

Obviously I was already aware of that on some level, but there are moments when thoughts like this that sometimes lightly float through in passing suddenly settle in for a longer stay, making one aware of one’s own advancing years. And maybe that’s why I felt some relief to find that Barbara Rush, turning in one of her always reliably charismatic turns in that Police Story episode, is still with us. And also why I then went on a mini-binge of her best TV work, some of which is listed here. 

 

 

Lux Video Theater (1954)

In 1954, Barbara Rush won the Golden Globe Award as most promising female newcomer for her role in It Came from Outer Space.

That same year, she landed her first television role in an episode of this anthology drama entitled “Gavin’s Darling.”

 

Interesting footnote: Rush tied in her Globes category that year with co-winner Pat Crowley, who would go on to an equally long and busy television career.

 

Suspicion (1958)

Two sailors keep a lonely watch on a fogbound vessel, where there should not be “isle or ship within a thousand miles.” So imagine their surprise when they hear a man crying “Ahoy” and asking for help – but why won’t he come aboard? And why won’t he let them shine a flashlight in his direction? 

 

Working from a story by William Hope Hodgson, “Voice in the Night” features writer Stirling Silliphant and director Arthur Hiller creating an eerie, slow-burn tale of a couple who survive a shipwreck, only to land into a situation far more perilous. James Donald and Barbara Rush play the unfortunate pair in this, one of the best-remembered episodes of a series that often rivaled The Twilight Zone for macabre suspense. 

 

 

The Eleventh Hour (1962)

After two years in a mental hospital, Linda Kincaid (Rush) seems to have her life back together – but her ex-husband (David Janssen) is concerned she might try to kill herself again. “Make Me a Place” goes into some pretty dark places (the whole series did, admittedly) and Rush does powerful work here as a woman who can’t trust her own mind. And she’d work with Janssen again soon – see next entry.

 

The Fugitive (1965)

Ed Robertson’s excellent book on The Fugitive singled out the two-part “Landscape With Running Figures” as the series’ finest moment. It’s certainly in the running, if only for its ingenious premise.

 

Lt. Gerard’s obsession with Richard Kimble has put a strain on his marriage to Marie (Rush). When he cuts their vacation short to pursue another lead, she’s had enough. She buys a bus ticket under her maiden name and leaves him to his investigation – and guess who else just happens to be on that same bus? There’s an accident, she suffers temporary blindness, and Kimble takes care of her until help arrives. Neither knows who the other is, and when those discoveries are made it’s a wonderfully played moment. 

 

 

I also learned from Ed’s book that Rush and David Janssen were good friends, and he lobbied for her to play Marie Gerard. Is it the show's best episode? The scenes with the juvenile delinquents who harass the pair didn’t play as well for me (according to Ed they were added when it was decided to make this a two-parter). I’d rank “The Girl From Little Egypt,” “Nightmare at Northoak,” and “Brass Ring” ahead of this one, but not by much.

 

Peyton Place (1968)

Ryan O’Neal and Mia Farrow were the breakout stars from this groundbreaking prime time soap, but it was also Barbara Rush’s longest steady TV work. She appeared in 75 episodes as Marsha Russell, and honestly all I know about her is that she hooked up with Ed Nelson’s character for a while. 

 

 

Batman (1968)

As this once hugely popular series limped toward cancelation in its final season, it churned out losers like “Nora Clavicle and Her Ladies Crime Club,” featuring Barbara Rush as “Guest Villianess of the Week.” The story has Women’s Lib crusader Nora (Barbara Rush) plotting to destroy Gotham City with an army of exploding mechanical mice, though it is best remembered for scene in which Batman, Robin, and Batgirl are tied into a  Siamese human knot, an image that launched countless memes. 

 

 

There isn’t a moment of this episode that isn’t absolutely ridiculous, and once again Batgirl is restrained in an embarrassingly simple fashion (with a sharpened knitting needle!), but it’s fun to see Rush, whose resume is primarily comprised of serious roles, camping it up and stretching the limits of over-acting to keep up with the silliness of the situation.  

Night Gallery (1971)

I’ve said before in this blog that the stories on Night Gallery always missed a lot more than hit for me, but “Cool Air” is certainly one of the better ones. Rod Serling’s teleplay, based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, changes the narrator from a man to a woman (Rush) who encounters the mysterious Dr. Munoz and his quest to cheat death.

 

Police Story (1974)

John Forsythe plays the Chief of Police in a large city (we assume Los Angeles thought it’s never specified) in the midst of an especially challenging day. First an old friend on the force is caught in a compromising position, and then there’s a chance someone will try to take a shot at him when he visits a crime-ridden neighborhood, following the exoneration of officers who killed two teenagers in a confrontation. How Barbara Rush appears here as the chief’s supportive wife is how I best remember her TV career appearances - blonde, captivating brown eyes, perfectly coiffed, effortless class.

 

 

The Bionic Woman (1976)

Jaime has a disturbing dream about her mother, who had died years earlier. And then she shows up – or does she? “Jaime’s Mother” is one of the better first season episodes, as Jaime discovers that both her parents were government agents just like she became. This is one of my favorite Barbara Rush guest spots – she keeps you guessing about who she really is until the episode’s final act. 

 

 

Death Car on the Freeway (1979)

As one online commentator astutely admitted – “I like this film but it is a bit crap.” Roger Ebert could not have summed it up any better. After helming Smokey and the Bandit, which became a huge box office hit, director and former stuntman Hal Needham brought his car-crashing skills back to television, in this lurid tale of a mysterious driver who slips on gloves, pops in an 8-track tape of dissonant music, and then runs pretty girls off the road in his Dodge van.

 

Crusading local Los Angeles news reporter Shelley Hack is on the case of the man dubbed the Freeway Fiddler, and Barbara Rush plays the seasoned female news gal who serves as a mentor while trying to mask her jealousy. Honestly, it’s not one of Rush’s more memorable performances, but I can’t miss an opportunity to promote this exploitation classic. What a cast – Morgan Brittany, Frank Gorshin, George Hamilton, Dinah Shore, Harriet Nelson, Peter Graves – everywhere you look there’s another Love Boat passenger.

 

The freeway pursuit scenes are as expertly shot as anything you’d see in a bigger budget movie. But if you spend a lot of time driving L.A. freeways as I have, perhaps the most unbelievable aspect in the film is that anyone could get a car up to 70 mph in the afternoon on the 405.

Top TV Moments: David McCallum

 

We’ve all seen the social media posts mourning the passing of actor David McCallum, and it was easy to surmise the age of the poster by whether McCallum was associated with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. or NCIS. Not many stars from the classic TV era were still turning up on a weekly network series 40 years after a breakthrough role, so that alone is an impressive achievement. 

  

Let’s honor a fine actor with a closer look at more of his memorable TV moments.

 

The Rose and the Ring (1953)

McCallum’s television debut came in this adaptation of a William Thackeray novel that was produced and aired in Britain. He was fifth billed as Prince Giglio. Getting top billing was Jacqueline Hill, who ten years later would become one of the Doctor’s first companions in the first incarnation of Doctor Who.

 

The Outer Limits (1963)

David McCallum appeared in two episodes, one of which ranks among the series’ best. In “The Sixth Finger” he plays a coal miner who volunteers for a genetic scientist’s experiment in accelerating human evolution. After the treatment his brain gets bigger, his hair disappears (so that’s what happened to mine), and he takes on the appearance of a creature from another planet (in one of the show’s better makeup jobs).   

 

He also develops the powers of telepathy and telekinesis, as well as a sixth finger (“for extra dexterity”). What could possibly go wrong?

 

Perry Mason (1964)

Phillipe Bertain (McCallum) loves a married woman. But when her husband dies in a plane crash with a deadly dose of barbiturates in his system, Phillipe needs a good attorney to prove he didn’t spike his rival’s coffee. “The Case of the Fifty Millionth Frenchman” is typical Perry Mason, which certainly qualifies as a recommendation. Glasgow, Scotland native David McCallum would play multiple nationalities throughout his career, but his French accent here is hit-and-miss.

 

Profiles in Courage (1964)

William Daniels’ iconic performance as John Adams in the musical 1776 is something I treasure every year around the Fourth of July. So I was certainly intrigued to check out a different take on Adams, as played by David McCallum, in the historical anthology series Profiles in Courage.

 

Its story takes place before the events of 1776, when Adams reluctantly agrees to serve as legal counsel for British soldiers accused of murder in what history would call the Boston Massacre. As drama it is earnest and sincere, but it also sometimes plays as stiff as a high school play sponsored by the History Club.

 

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  (1964)

The 1960s box-office success of James Bond inspired a wave of secret agent facsimiles, including this hugely popular series starring the suave Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo. The twist was having Solo partner with a Russian (McCallum) at the height of the Cold War, inspiring millions of teenage girls to ponder how Communism could be bad when Illya Kuryakin was so dreamy.

 

 

In its first season, the only one in black-and-white, the show deftly walked the line between serious and tongue-in-cheek. Audiences loved watching Solo and Kuryakin foil the schemes of THRUSH with a droll bemusement, especially when they drafted bewildered civilians (usually beautiful young women) into their plans.

 

The series switched to color for the remainder of its run, and just like Lost in Space the stories became sillier when that happened, though thankfully never as farcical as Dean Martin’s Matt Helm.

 

Vaughn and McCallum reunited in 1983 for The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. Like so many classic TV encores it fell short of expectations, but I liked the scene in which James Bond (George Lazenby, billed only as “JB” to avoid a lawsuit) comes to Solo’s aid. If only Hart to Hart could have loaned out Stefanie Powers so she could appear as April Dancer. 

 

 

Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1964)

The appearance of Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as their Man From U.N.C.L.E. characters in this short-lived sitcom surely ranks as one of the most bizarre classic TV crossovers. In “Say U.N.C.L.E. ” Jim Nash’s sons become convinced that their English professor dad is actually a secret agent. Of course that’s not true, but then why are Napoleon and Illya visiting their house?

 

Teacher, Teacher (1969)

Long before Hallmark became known for releasing 300 Christmas movies every year, it bestowed its brand to the Hallmark Hall of Fame, a prestige designation suggesting quality works that were more distinguished than your standard made-for-TV movie.

 

“Teacher, Teacher” doesn’t begin like one of their typical tales; as David McCallum drives up a long, winding road to an isolated estate to the strains of ominous music, opening credits play over creepy slow motion footage of a boy jumping on a trampoline. What was I getting myself into?

 

But then the tone shifts completely, as we learn that McCallum’s character, previously a teacher at prestigious private schools, is six months removed from a nervous breakdown, and has been hired to teach the retarded teenage son of a man who will be away for the next month. 

 

 

While he struggles to reach the boy, he discovers that the property’s handyman, played by Ossie Davis, has no trouble communicating with him. 

 

Normally this type of story would not be something I’d enjoy, but the conversations between McCallum and Davis (who frankly steals the show) feature two fine actors at the top of their games.

 

The Invisible Man (1975)

There have been at least a dozen films and television series inspired by the H.G. Wells story of a man who finds a formula for becoming invisible. In this version, McCallum plays Dr. Daniel Westin, whose experiments are successful – until he discovers he can’t find a way to become visible again. It lasted just 13 episodes but had its moments – though with the haircut they saddled its star with, he was fortunate to be unseen most of the time. 

 

 

Sapphire and Steel (1979)

There were just six stories (called “assignments”), aired between 1979 and 1982, but this British sci-fi series still retains a loyal cult following.

 

David McCallum (Steel) and Joanna Lumley (Sapphire) play inter-dimensional agents assigned to correct unnatural breaks in the timeline. In the atmospheric first episode, they arrive at a remote 18^th century farmhouse to help two children whose parents have disappeared. The story unfolds over six half-hour episodes in which the two leads remain stubbornly enigmatic, and even brusque with the frightened kids they are ostensibly there to aid. 

 

 

It’s a show that requires focus and patience, but if you allow yourself to sink into its languid pace it will draw you under its spell. McCallum’s character is as cold and unyielding as his name – Steel is callous to the fate of humans as long as the timeline is secured, and he shows not a hint of remorse in their necessary sacrifice.

 

The A-Team (1986)

Is there room for one more U.N.C.L.E.-related appearance on this list? Why not? Especially as it’s the last on-screen pairing of McCallum with Robert Vaughn, who joined the A-Team in its fifth and final season as General Stockwell. McCallum plays Ivan Trigorin, an Oxford professor and Soviet agent. What’s it about? It doesn’t matter – never really did with this show - but when the two first meet and embrace in “The Say UNCLE Affair,” viewers of a certain age sighed with that warm glow of nostalgia that keeps us all coming back to our favorite shows.