Soldiers of Fortune | |
---|---|
Genre | Adventure |
Starring | John Russell Chick Chandler |
Theme music composer | Paul Dunlap |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 52 |
Production | |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 22–24 minutes |
Production company | Revue Studios |
Original release | |
Network | Syndication |
Release | January 10, 1955 – March 10, 1957 |
Soldiers of Fortune is a syndicated half hour American television adventure series that ran from 1955 to 1956. It starred John Russell as Tim Kelly, and Chick Chandler as his sidekick Toubo Smith, who were international adventurers. Episodes take place in different countries. [1] Many of the film crew had worked at Republic Pictures studios with the show filmed on Republic's backlot[ citation needed ] then used by television's Revue Productions. [2] The series ran for 52 episodes, [3] and was constantly rerun on American television into the 1960s.
The series began as a television pilot called Adventure in Java that was shown on the Chevron Theatre on 10 February 1953.[ citation needed ] The show starred Tim Holt [4] and Charles Bronson then credited as Charles Buchinsky. [5]
The show was sponsored for two years by 7 Up soft drink with the firm also sending the stars out on national publicity tours. [6]
One year after Soldiers of Fortune was cancelled, John Russell went on to star as Marshal Dan Troop in the successful ABC/Warner Brothers western series Lawman . [7]
Timeless Media Group (TMG) released a Region 1 five disc DVD set titled Soldiers of Fortune: The Complete Television Series on November 30, 2010. It includes all 29 episodes of Season 1 and all 23 episodes of Season 2. [8]
Charles Bronson was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town in the Allegheny Mountains. Bronson's father, a miner, died when Bronson was young. Bronson himself worked in the mines as well until joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 to fight in World War II. After his service, he joined a theatrical troupe and studied acting. During the 1950s, he played various supporting roles in motion pictures and television, including anthology drama TV series in which he would appear as the main character. Near the end of the decade, he had his first cinematic leading role in Machine-Gun Kelly (1958).
Highway Patrol is a 156-episode action crime drama series produced for syndication from 1955 to 1959. It was "one of the most popular syndicated series in television history", and it was the first American series broadcast in West Germany on that country's commercial TV channel.
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series that ran for eight seasons from April 15, 1951, through September 24, 1958. The Screen Gems series began in syndication, but ran on CBS from June 5, 1955, through 1958, and, at the same time, on ABC from 1957 through 1958. The Kellogg's cereal company was the show's national sponsor. The series was also exported to Australia during the late 1950s.
Broken Arrow is a Western television series that ran on ABC-TV in prime time from September 25, 1956, through September 18, 1960..The show was based on the 1947 novel Blood Brothers, by Elliott Arnold, which had been made into a film in 1950, starring James Stewart as Tom Jeffords and Jeff Chandler playing as Cochise.
John Lawrence Russell was an American film and television actor, most noted for his starring role as Marshal Dan Troop in the ABC Western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962 and his lead role as international adventurer Tim Kelly in the syndicated TV series Soldiers of Fortune from 1955 to 1957.
Kent Taylor was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), I'm No Angel (1933), Cradle Song (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Payment on Demand (1951), and Track the Man Down (1955). He had the lead role in Half Past Midnight in 1948, among a few others.
Beverly Lucy Garland was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action and science-fiction movies; however, she had prominent recurring roles on several popular television series.
China Smith is a 30-minute American syndicated television adventure series starring Dan Duryea. It is set in Singapore. It was released in the fall of 1952. The program's alternate title was The Affairs of China Smith, and the last 26 episodes were syndicated with the title The New Adventures of China Smith.
Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action adventure drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) Rescue Squad 8. It premiered in 1958 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade thereafter.
The Lineup is an American police drama which aired on CBS radio from 1950 to 1953 and on CBS television from 1954 to 1960.
Bob Steele was an American actor. He also was billed as Bob Bradbury Jr..
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Foreign Intrigue is a syndicated espionage drama television series produced in Europe by Sheldon Reynolds. The 30-minute series ran for four seasons from 1951 to 1955, producing 156 episodes. It was the first filmed television series from the United States to be broadcast on Canadian television.
Raymond Forrest Lewis was an American actor of the theater, radio, motion pictures and television.
State Trooper is an American crime drama set in the American West of the 1950s, starring Rod Cameron as Lt. Rod Blake, an officer and chief investigator of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from 1956 to 1959.
Stage 7 is a 30-minute American TV drama anthology series that was broadcast on CBS from December 12, 1954, through September 25, 1955. This program premiered in December 1954 with the title Your Favorite Playhouse with all episodes being repeats from other series, but later featured original episodes.
Stacy Harris was an American actor with hundreds of film and television appearances. His name is sometimes found misspelled Stacey Harris.
Fehmer Christy "Chick" Chandler was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 130 films from 1925 through the mid-1950s. Chandler was known for his starring role as Toubo Smith in the Universal-produced 1955 syndicated television series Soldiers of Fortune.
Adventures of the Sea Hawk is a 1961 syndicated television series starring John Howard.
Broadway Television Theatre is a one-hour syndicated television anthology series produced by WOR-TV in New York City. The series premiered April 14, 1952 and ran through January 25, 1954.