This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2022) |
Burke's Law | |
---|---|
Also known as | Amos Burke Secret Agent |
Genre | |
Created by | |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Herschel Burke Gilbert |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 81 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 60 mins. |
Production companies | Four Star Television Barbety |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | September 20, 1963 – January 12, 1966 |
Related | |
|
Burke's Law is an American detective series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1966. The show starred Gene Barry as millionaire captain of Los Angeles Police homicide division Amos Burke, who is chauffeured around to solve crimes in his 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II complete with an early car phone.
The original series was converted into a spy drama, Amos Burke Secret Agent, in its third and final season. The series was revived in 1994–1995 on CBS, with Barry reprising the role of the millionaire detective.
The show shares stylistic similarities with Barry's previous series, Bat Masterson , in which he played a debonair lawman of the Old West. During the opening credits, as the title flashes onscreen, a woman's voice seductively pronounces the words "It's Burke's Law!" The title also reflects Burke's habit of dispensing wisdom to his underlings in a professorial manner, e.g., "Never ask a question unless you already know the answer. Burke's Law."
The anomaly of a millionaire police captain is explained in a first episode conversation between Detective Tim Tilson and a potential witness. Told that Amos Burke is Head of the Homicide Division and a millionaire, the witness asks: "Why a cop?"
Tilson: "Why're you a construction man?"
Witness: "It's what I do best."
Tilson: "That's why he's a cop."
A variant is repeated in the 1994 revival.
The title of each episode begins with the words "Who Killed...?" with the name or description of the victim (who invariably dies or is found dead in the show's opening minutes) completing it. Five or six "special guest stars" comprise the list of suspects. Burke is then driven to the crime scene in his Rolls-Royce by his loyal chauffeur, Henry.
Burke is an eligible bachelor whose dates with various gorgeous women are often interrupted by calls to begin a new case. He can be—though rarely—distracted by an alluring woman, and is often the object of much female interest.
Burke is assisted by Detective Tim Tilson (Gary Conway), Detective Sergeant Les Hart (Regis Toomey), and chauffeur Henry (Philippine actor Leon Lontoc). Two recurring characters were coroner George McLeod/McCloud (Michael Fox) and desk sergeant Gloria Ames (Eileen O'Neill).
Tilson is a brilliant, thorough young detective whose skill at finding clues and tracing references results in his "almost" solving the crime, only to be outflanked by Burke's cool intuition and years of experience. Les Hart is a no-nonsense, seen-it-all veteran (perhaps a nod to Toomey's numerous roles as cops in feature films) who has known Burke for years and is on a first name basis, while Henry often provides comic relief. The characters share a team camaraderie reflected in mild jokes about each other's foibles.
Actress Anne Francis, who appears in season-one episode "Who Killed Wade Walker?" and as female private detective Honey West in season-two episode "Who Killed the Jackpot?", starred in the 30-episode spin-off Honey West TV series. (See also Burke's Law (1994 TV series) episode 3, "Who Killed Nick Hazard?").
The role of Amos Burke actually antedated Barry's series, having been played by Dick Powell in "Who Killed Julie Greer?," the initial episode of The Dick Powell Show in September 1961. [1] The first incarnation of the series was produced by Powell's company, Four Star Television. As in the later series, the episode features several well-known TV and movie stars in cameo appearances as suspects – one of whom is the murderer (in the original Dick Powell episode Ronald Reagan played one of the suspects). John Damler played Sgt. Hart, the role played in the show by Regis Toomey. Leon Lontoc was the only cast member of the episode to reprise his role in the later series.
In the final season of the original series (1965–1966), the show was given a complete overhaul and retitled Amos Burke Secret Agent. Burke went to work for a secret government agency, but still drove around in his Rolls, which had been discreetly bulletproofed by the agency. The supporting cast of the earlier seasons was dropped, as was the heavy use of celebrity cameos. The change in format was a reaction to the wildly popular spy trend inspired by the James Bond films and the television success of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ; 1965 also saw the debuts of I Spy , The Wild Wild West , and Get Smart . The new show was not a success and only 17 episodes were broadcast instead of the 32 of the first two seasons.
As of 2010, the Rolls-Royce used in the original 1963 series was owned by a collector in Palm Beach, Florida. [2] [ better source needed ]
In addition, a number of actors appeared regularly in various roles through seasons 1 and 2:
In alphabetical order:
Eddie Albert, June Allyson, Don Ameche, Mary Astor, Frankie Avalon, Ed Begley, William Bendix, Joan Blondell, Ann Blyth, Hoagy Carmichael, Rory Calhoun, John Cassavetes, Dick Clark, Jeanne Crain, Broderick Crawford, Arlene Dahl, Sammy Davis Jr., Linda Darnell, Laraine Day, Yvonne DeCarlo, William Demarest, Andy Devine, Diana Dors, Joanne Dru, Dan Duryea, Barbara Eden, Nanette Fabray, Felicia Farr, Rhonda Fleming, Nina Foch, Anne Francis, Annette Funicello, Eva Gabor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gloria Grahame, Jane Greer, Tammy Grimes, George Hamilton, Phil Harris, June Havoc, Richard Haydn, Celeste Holm, Oscar Homolka, Edward Everett Horton, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Tab Hunter, Betty Hutton, Martha Hyer, Carolyn Jones, Buster Keaton, Eartha Kitt, Frankie Laine, Fernando Lamas, Dorothy Lamour, Elsa Lanchester, Lauren Lane, Gypsy Rose Lee, Ida Lupino, Tina Louise, Paul Lynde, Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Maxwell, Virginia Mayo, Burgess Meredith, Una Merkel, Dina Merrill, Vera Miles, Sal Mineo, Ricardo Montalbán, Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, Rita Moreno, Sheree North, Susan Oliver, Janis Paige, Fess Parker, Suzy Parker, Bert Parks, Walter Pidgeon, Zasu Pitts, Juliet Prowse, Basil Rathbone, Aldo Ray, Martha Raye, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles, Ruth Roman, Cesar Romero, Mickey Rooney, Gena Rowlands, Janice Rule, Soupy Sales, Telly Savalas, Lizabeth Scott, William Shatner, Nancy Sinatra, Jan Sterling, Jill St. John, Gale Storm, Susan Strasberg, Gloria Swanson, Terry-Thomas, Miyoshi Umeki, Mamie van Doren, James Whitmore, Michael Wilding, Chill Wills, Ed Wynn, Keenan Wynn.
The musical score for Burke's Law was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert, who also wrote the show's theme, although Richard Shores and Joseph Mullendore also composed scores. Gilbert's theme was rearranged for Amos Burke, Secret Agent.
The following DVD sets of Burke's Law have been released by VCI Entertainment. [3]
DVD set | Episodes | Release date | |
---|---|---|---|
Burke's Law: Season 1, Volume 1 | 16 | April 29, 2008 | |
Burke's Law: Season 1, Volume 2 | 16 | November 18, 2008 |
VCI released the complete first season on April 5, 2016. [4]
In the revival of the show, which ran on CBS from 1994 to 1995, the title was again Burke's Law. In the 1994 version, Burke was back at work as a police detective, though now as a deputy chief instead of a captain, and was assisted by his son, Peter (Peter Barton). The revival was produced by Aaron Spelling's production company, Spelling Productions.
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama, created by Blake Edwards, which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.
The Partners is an American sitcom that aired on September 18, 1971, through September 8, 1972, on NBC.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is a luxury automobile produced by Rolls-Royce Limited from April 1955 to March 1966. It was the core model of the Rolls-Royce range during that period. The Silver Cloud replaced the Silver Dawn and was, in turn, replaced by the Silver Shadow. The John P. Blatchley design was a major change from the pre-war models and the highly derivative Silver Dawn. As part of a range rationalisation, the Bentley S1 was made essentially identical, apart from its radiator grille and badging.
Vegas is an American crime drama television series starring Robert Urich that aired on ABC from September 20, 1978, to June 3, 1981, with the pilot episode airing April 25, 1978. Vegas was produced by Aaron Spelling and was created by Michael Mann. The series was filmed in its entirety on location in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Hart to Hart is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset lifestyle and regularly find themselves working as unpaid detectives in order to solve crimes in which they become embroiled. The series was created by novelist and television writer Sidney Sheldon. The series ended after five seasons on May 22, 1984, but was followed by eight made-for-television movies, from 1993 to 1996.
Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City (1952) and The War of the Worlds (1953) and for his portrayal of the title characters in the TV series Bat Masterson and Burke's Law, among many roles.
The Last Detective is a British TV comedy drama series, broadcast on ITV between 7 February 2003 and 31 May 2007, starring Peter Davison as the title character, Detective Constable "Dangerous Davies". The series is based on the "Dangerous Davies" series of novels written by Leslie Thomas, and was filmed in the north London suburbs of Willesden, Neasden and Harlesden.
Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001. The series was based on the work of Sydney Water Police who fight crime around Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney Harbour.
New York Undercover is an American police drama that aired on the Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to February 11, 1999. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torres, two undercover detectives in New York City's Fourth Precinct who were assigned to investigate various crimes and gang-related cases. The cast also included Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn as their superior, Lt. Virginia Cooper, and Lauren Vélez, who joined the cast in the second season as Nina Moreno, fellow detective and love interest to Torres. New York Undercover was co-created and produced by Dick Wolf, and its storyline takes place in the same fictional universe as Wolf's NBC series Law & Order, its spin-offs, the Chicago and FBI series, and Homicide: Life on the Street.
John Francis Regis Toomey was an American film and television actor.
Naked City is an American police procedural television series from Screen Gems that aired on ABC from 1958 to 1963. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture The Naked City and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format. As in the film, each episode concluded with a narrator intoning the iconic line: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them."
Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer and Joel McCrea, it was inspired by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz founding Desilu Productions a year earlier. McCrea left soon after its founding to continue in films, television and radio, and was replaced by Ida Lupino as the fourth star—although Lupino did not own stock in the company.
Peter Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than 100 movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career between 1925 and 1981. Fix portrayed Marshal Micah Torrance, opposite Chuck Connors's character in The Rifleman from 1958 to 1963. He later appeared with Connors in the 1966 Western film Ride Beyond Vengeance.
The Dick Powell Show is an American television anthology series that aired on NBC from September 26, 1961 until September 17, 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company.
Honey West is a ground-breaking American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 17, 1965, to April 8, 1966, as an entry in the 1965–1966 television season. Based upon a series of novels that had launched in 1957, the series starred Anne Francis as female private detective Honey West and John Ericson as her partner Sam Bolt. The popular series was historic in that it marked the first time a woman played the lead character in a network TV series with her character's name as the title.
Herschel Burke Gilbert was an American orchestrator, musical supervisor, and composer of film and television scores and theme songs, including The Rifleman, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. Gilbert once estimated that his compositions had been used in at least three thousand individual episodes of various television series.
Regis Francis Xavier Philbin was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest-working man in show business", he held the Guinness World Record for the most hours spent on US television.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a comic science fiction detective television series created and primarily written by Max Landis. The two seasons are inspired by the novel series of the same name by Douglas Adams. The series is co-produced and distributed by BBC America and Netflix, along with AMC Studios, Ideate Media and IDW Entertainment. Filming primarily took place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Burke's Law is an American crime drama television series that aired on CBS during the 1993–94 and 1994–95 television seasons. It was a revival of original Burke's Law television series, and starred Gene Barry as millionaire cop Amos Burke, now deputy chief instead of a captain, and Peter Barton as his son Det. Peter Burke. It was produced by Spelling Television.
Leon Lontoc was a Filipino-American film and television actor. He was known for playing the role of Henry in the American detective fiction television series Burke's Law.