Dr. Kildare (TV series)
Dr. Kildare | |
---|---|
Genre | Medical drama |
Created by | James Komack |
Starring | Richard Chamberlain[1][2][3] Raymond Massey |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 191 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer | Norman Felton |
Running time | 60 minutes (seasons 1–4) 30 minutes (season 5) |
Production companies | Arena Productions MGM Television |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | September 28, 1961 August 30, 1966 | –
Dr. Kildare is an
Plot
Like the earlier
In order to create realistic scripts, the series' first writer, E. Jack Neuman, spent several months working alongside interns in a large hospital. Episodes frequently highlighted diseases or medical conditions that had not been widely discussed on television, including
The series was initially formatted as self-contained one-hour episodes, aired once per week. In later seasons, a trend towards
Cast
An unsold and unaired pilot, directed by John Newland, was shot in 1960 featuring Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare and (Joseph) Joe Cronin as Dr. Grayson.[11][12] As a younger man, Ayres had played the role of Kildare for many years in the earlier MGM film and radio series.[13][14] Later, a second, successful pilot was made with Richard Chamberlain as Kildare and Raymond Massey as Gillespie.
Before the little-known Chamberlain was cast, the Kildare role was offered to
Massey accepted the role of Dr. Gillespie thinking that it would last only one season, leaving him time to accept feature film roles. Instead, the time demands of appearing in a multiple-season hit series prevented Massey from appearing in any films for the duration of the series' run.
Supporting cast
Supporting cast members with recurring roles included Ken Berry as Dr. John Kapish, Jean Inness as Nurse Beatrice Fain, Eddie Ryder as Dr. Simon Agurski, Jud Taylor (who also directed several episodes) as Dr. Thomas Gerson, Steve Bell as Dr. Quint Lowry, Clegg Hoyt as Mac, Sam Reese as Dr. Dan Shanks (first season), Jo Helton as Nurse Conant, and Lee Kurty as Nurse Zoe Lawton.[7][11]
Guest cast
Over the years, numerous well-known or soon-to-be well-known actors appeared as guest stars, including:[4][15][20][21]
- Eddie Albert
- Jack Albertson
- Fred Astaire
- Ed Asner
- Mary Astor
- Lauren Bacall
- Barbara Barrie
- Anne Baxter
- Ed Begley
- Fred Beir
- Russ Bender
- Charles Bickford
- Joan Blondell
- Tom Bosley
- Hank Brandt
- Beau Bridges
- Charles Bronson
- Robert Burton
- James Caan
- Conlan Carter
- Lawrence P. Casey
- John Cassavetes
- John Cliff
- Sidney Clute
- Marian Collier
- Noreen Corcoran
- Joseph Cotten
- Robert Culp
- Kim Darby
- Ossie Davis
- Ruby Dee
- Angie Dickinson
- Don Dubbins
- Olympia Dukakis
- Barbara Eden
- Linda Evans
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
- Peter Falk
- Dick Foran
- Anne Francis
- Beverly Garland
- Thomas Gomez
- Harold Gould
- Herman Hack
- Peter Helm
- Tim Herbert
- Bern Hoffman
- Celeste Holm
- Ron Howard
- Clark Howat
- Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.
- Gary Hunley
- Kim Hunter
- Carolyn Jones
- James Earl Jones
- Victor Jory
- Brian Keith
- Ray Kellogg
- Richard Kiley
- Jess Kirkpatrick
- Ted Knight
- Harvey Korman
- Otto Kruger
- John Lasell
- Cloris Leachman
- William Leslie
- Jack Lord
- Lisa Loring
- Dorothy Malone
- Lee Marvin
- James Mason
- Walter Matthau
- Ken Mayer
- Mercedes McCambridge
- Gavin McLeod
- Yvette Mimieux
- Sal Mineo
- Ricardo Montalbán
- Harry Morgan
- Jan Murray
- Barry Nelson
- Jack Nicholson
- Leonard Nimoy
- Ramon Novarro
- Margaret O'Brien
- Richard O'Brien
- Carroll O'Connor
- Dan O'Herlihy
- Susan Oliver
- Robert Phillips
- Walter Pidgeon
- Edward Platt
- Suzanne Pleshette
- Joe Ploski
- John Qualen
- Claude Rains
- Basil Rathbone
- Robert Redford
- Robert Reed
- Cyril Ritchard
- Cesar Romero
- Gena Rowlands
- Penny Santon
- Joseph Schildkraut
- George Selk
- William Shatner
- Jean Stapleton
- Gloria Swanson
- Kelly Thordsen
- Rip Torn
- Paul Trinka
- Diane Varsi
- Lesley Ann Warren
- Sam Waterston
- Dennis Weaver
- Robert Young
Reception
The series quickly became a top ten hit in its first season and remained in the top 20 during its second and third seasons, drawing as many as 12,000 fan letters each week.[22] Its success spawned a number of merchandising tie-ins featuring the likeness or endorsement of Chamberlain as Kildare, including novels, comics, toys and games, candy bars, and records of Chamberlain singing songs featured on the show. Chamberlain had a hit single, "Theme from Dr. Kildare (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight)," in which he sang romantic lyrics set to the music from the show's familiar opening theme.[16] Largely as a result of the show, Chamberlain became a teen idol during the 1960s.
The show's influence was so great that viewers would sometimes write to Chamberlain asking "Dr. Kildare" for medical advice.[4] According to Mort Fleischmann, a former promotions executive for NBC, at one point the network promoted the show by having "Dr. Kildare" paged as if he were a real doctor on the public announcement system in airports, train stations, and bus stations across the United States.[23]
In the later seasons of the series, a decline in ratings (possibly coupled with a high asking price for sponsor advertisements) led to the series' cancellation in 1966. Despite its cancellation, the Dr. Kildare series continued to influence many later television medical dramas.[24]
Home media
Warner Bros. has released all five seasons on DVD-R in Region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection.[25][26][27][28][29] These are Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases, available via WBShop.com & Amazon.com.
DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
---|---|---|
The Complete First Season | 33 | April 16, 2013 |
The Complete Second Season | 34 | January 28, 2014 |
The Complete Third Season | 34 | June 3, 2014 |
The Complete Fourth Season | 34 | April 28, 2015 |
The Complete Fifth Season | 58 | March 8, 2016 |
The unaired 1960 pilot episode starring Lew Ayres was also released on DVD by Warners as an extra included with the DVD release of their "Dr. Kildare Movie Collection" (compiling all the MGM Kildare films) via Warner Archive Collection in 2014.[30]
The DVD release of "Dr. Kildare: The Complete First Season" included, as an extra, the original never-aired pilot episode for the 1962 psychiatric medical drama series The Eleventh Hour, in which Dr. Kildare (Chamberlain) and Dr. Gillespie (Massey) appear assisting "Dr. Theodore Bassett" (a psychiatrist character played by Wendell Corey) in diagnosing patient Ann Costigan (played by guest star Vera Miles).[31] The episode was initially meant to air as an episode of Dr. Kildare, but was instead reworked to cut out Chamberlain and Massey's parts and remove all Kildare and Gillespie references before airing on October 3, 1962, as the debut episode of The Eleventh Hour TV series, entitled "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White".
Music
The series theme was composed by
Related series
A second television series, titled Young Dr. Kildare, premiered in first-run syndication in 1972. Starring Mark Jenkins as Dr. Kildare and Gary Merrill as Dr. Gillespie, it lasted for only one season of 24 episodes.
See also
References
- ^ "The Doctor Is Out". EW.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ "TV VIEW; More Than Just Another Dr. Kildare". The New York Times. November 5, 1989. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ISBN 184150050X, S. 52.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-93734-1.
- ^ "Dr. Kildare Episode Guide", TV.com. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-92199-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
- ^ "Shining Image". Dr. Kildare. Season 1.
- ISBN 0-8156-0368-1.
- ISBN 978-0-415-88025-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-7445-5.
- ^ News Brief (mentioning test film for new "Dr. Kildare" TV series starring Lew Ayres and Joseph Cronin), TV Guide, Feb. 20, 1960.
- ^ Gussow, Mel, "Lew Ayres, Actor, Dies at 88; Conscience Bound His Career." New York Times, Jan 1, 1997.
- ISBN 978-1-61703-637-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-312-37265-1.
- ^ a b "Artists' Biographies - Richard Chamberlain (MGM)," Billboard, June 9, 1962, p. 36.
- ISBN 978-1-4684-6523-5.
- ^ "It's a Parade of Stars as TV Land Honors Dallas, Cheers, Good Times, Batman, and Grey's Anatomy" (Press release). Santa Monica, California: TV Land. PR Newswire. March 19, 2006. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
TV's most beloved classic TV stars spoofed one of television's most popular dramas, Grey's Anatomy in a parody starring several classic TV stars -- several of whom appeared in popular medical dramas -- including Bernie Kopell, Chad Everett, Diahann Carroll, Ed Begley, Jr., Loretta Swit, Richard Chamberlain, Jane Seymour as well as Larry Hagman, Maureen McCormick and Jimmy 'JJ' Walker.
- ^ Polk, Chris (March 9, 2006). "Land Awards Spoof of 'Grey's Anatomy'". Gettyimages.com. Getty Images. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
- ^ Stempel, p. 91.
- ISBN 978-1-250-00155-9.
- ^ Eastman, Janet. "Time After Time: Richard Chamberlain Masters Success on Stage and Screen." Orange Coast Magazine, Sept. 1986, p. 18.
- ISBN 978-1-4357-1600-1.
- ^ LaFollette, p. 66.
- ^ "Warner Archive Releases 'The Complete 1st Season' on DVD Today". Tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ "Warner Archive Schedules 'The Complete 2nd Season' on DVD". Tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ "Now Available: 'The Complete 3rd Season' 9-DVD Set!". Tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ Warner Archive Collection - Dr. Kildare: The Complete Fourth Series (BTB)(MOD), WBshop.com. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ^ 'The Complete 5th Season' - Its Last - Is Officially Announced! Archived February 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mavis, Paul. "Dr. Kildare Movie Collection (Warner Archive Collection)" (DVD review). DVDtalk.com, March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
- ^ ComicMix Staff, "Never-Aired Pilot Highlights Dr. Kildare The Complete First Season." Comicmix.com, April 17, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
External links
- Dr. Kildare at IMDb(1961 television series)
- Dr. Kildare Archived March 14, 2019, at the Wayback Machine (1961 television series) at TV.com Archived May 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- Young Dr. Kildare at IMDb(1972 television series)