Interesting facts about 'The Fugitive'

[ABlairican Pie]

I read that 'The Fugitive' nearly never made it to television. The show's creator Roy Huggins tried to pitch the idea to many television executives and others that they found the idea so "distasteful" and a "slap in the face" to the American justice and legal system--all in spite of his attempts to paint the show's protagonist Dr. Richard Kimble in the most sympathetic light possible as a man wrongfully committed of a crime.

And the show, of course, went on to become one of the most successful episodic television dramas of all time.

[AB]

I remember watching some of the episodes with my dad when I was a kid. The one armed man always freaked me out. It was a good show, glad it was picked up by ABC all those years ago.

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally Posted by AB

I remember watching some of the episodes with my dad when I was a kid. The one armed man always freaked me out. It was a good show, glad it was picked up by ABC all those years ago.

The one-armed man, convincingly portrayed by disabled actor Bill Raisch, was a good choice for the villain in the series. Interestingly, in Roy Huggins' original script, the villain whom Dr. Kimble had seen fleeing his home on the night of the murder, was initially described as merely a "red-haired man" who allegedly killed his wife. Huggins eventually made the villain more distinctive by having be a one-armed man seen fleeing the scene of the murder. Most likely a "red-haired man" would not have translated well on black and white television.

Part of the success of 'The Fugitive' was due to its having a "film noir" quality similar to such shows of its era as 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. The film noir quality gave more of a dramatic, "dark" quality focusing on the psychological element of the storyline, the interplay between the show's protagonist and the supporting characters.

[ABlairican Pie]

In the first season, the opening credits depicted the final train ride to the prison where Dr. Richard Kimble was to be delivered to Death Row, and the narration stated every time of his predicament and assertion of innocence: His former profession, his trial for his wife's murder where he failed to prove his innocence despite of his claims of the one-armed man, and his pending fate of execution are repeated in the first scenes as he is handcuffed to Lieutenant Philip Gerard in the train car. Suddenly, the train derails, and in the chaos, Kimble finds himself free from his captor.

One attractive element to the opening credits the producers suggested was that when Kimble is shown with the twisted, open handcuff attached to him, a "spark" dances on the open cuff before morphing into the title credits: THE FUGITIVE.

Which brings up an intriguing question: Creative license aside, one wonders, giving the twisted, gnarled condition of the empty handcuff that is assumed became free in the train collision, how is it possible that the gnarled cuff chained to Gerard's wrist in the opening sequence did not in any way injure him in the accident, if not sever his hand or arm in the process?

But this may be just a matter of creative license where the viewer can use their imagination. Kimble found himself free, and that was the important point.

[ABlairican Pie]

David Janssen was a wise choice to play the role of Dr. Richard Kimble. The former star of 'Richard Diamond Private Eye' was selected after several other notable actors were auditioned. Apparently Janssen's soft-spoken demeanor, as well as his distinctive eyes and facial expressions, made him an excellent fit for the role.

In the pilot episode, 'Fear In a Desert City', Kimble is made to win sympathy with viewers who otherwise may find distaste and contempt toward a fugitive, a wanted man running from the law. After the show's premise is stated in the opening credits, efforts were made to make Kimble likeable. His alias, which was changed in every episode afterward, is Jim Lincoln in the debut episode. This alias was chosen to sound "patriotic"--how could one NOT like a person named after one of the country's greatest presidents?

The episode begins with the narration stating that Kimble has now been on the run for six months since the train accident. The narration supplies information as to what Kimble thinks, what he must do each day to keep alive, and to protect his identity. He finds a job working as a bartender in Arizona where he walks into a domestic situation with an estranged couple starring Brian Keith and Vera Miles. While Brian Keith is known for his heartwarming role as the lovable Uncle Bill on the late 60's sitcom 'Family Affair', he plays a sinister, suspicious husband hounding his terrified wife and son.

Interestingly, for most of the series, Kimble strives to keep a very low profile while at the same time finding himself entrenched in people's difficulties which runs the risk of exposure to authorities. However, in this episode, he becomes downright confrontational, urging Keith's character to "find a psychiatrist" for his psychopathic behavior toward his family. As this husband is a "big name" in the town, this comment, and the "undue attentions" toward his wife by a stranger, arouses the suspicions of the local police.

Kimble's fear and sense of helplessness is very tangible in this episode, which became one of the attractions of the series.

Kimble's desire to help Miles' character reflects on the personal marital difficulties he faced which led to the current predicament of flight from the law and certain execution.

In order to instill viewers' sympathy and support of the character of Kimble, he is shown cuddling a stray kitten later in the episode.

[ABlairican Pie]

While Kimble was shown as a person in a complex dilemma legally and physically, his nemesis was designed to a be a complex person altogether: Lieutenant Philip Gerard, of the police department of Stafford, Indiana, Kimble's hometown, is a person who is solely dedicated to bringing Kimble in to justice and to face that delayed execution. He feels personally responsible for Kimble's escape. But when his superior Captain Carpenter questions Gerard for his unswerving focus on the Kimble case and his capture, the lieutenant explains, "Kimble broke the law. I enforce the law". Yet there is a tone in his voice that suggests he remains almost unsure. There is a ring of hollowness, as if he's trying to convince even himself. Is Gerard simply trying to "even the score" with the "one that got away"?

In the first several episodes, Gerard examines a glass map of the United States, attempting to determine Kimble's flight plans upon frequent reports of his sightings. He even investigates crimes revolving one-armed men, as Kimble's defense was about the one-armed stranger he saw fleeing his home on the night of his wife's murder. Does Gerard believe in the story of this mysterious one-armed man? It's not that HE believes it, but that Kimble had become so "delusional" to believe it himself, though there was no evidence for it at his trial. Such reports of this figure may help him track Kimble back into being apprehended again. And again, "The jury found Kimble guilty, I simply am enforcing the law." He's not to blame, he says, for this pursuit.

Gerard, played by British actor Barry Morse, was universally disliked by fans of the show. The animosity became so real that for years he was assaulted by women carrying umbrellas and threatened by people who identified with Kimble's plight. To protect himself, Morse had to revert back to his native British accent. He was one of the few British actors to adopt a perfect "American" vocal style without the British voice inflections. He in fact had immigrated to Canada and commuted to America to play in the series.

Gerard was not doing his job out of spite or malice toward Kimble, he was simply dedicated to fulfilling his job as an officer of the law, which made him no less dangerous to Kimble. There was, however, a strange obsession to his mission. It made him an intriguing character. What really motivated Gerard?
"Duty to the law", yet it was hard to tell, was there something more underneath?

In the first episode, Gerard was characterized by the standard police trench coat and fedora, but this was discarded after this debut.

In the first several episodes featuring Gerard, he appears vindictive and gloats that Kimble thinks of him as much as Gerard himself is obsessed with Kimble, as with the final scene with Ms. Welles in this debut episode. This instills a sort of "villain factor" in Gerard.

[ABlairican Pie]

Many actors recurred on various roles on 'The Fugitive' such as on the pilot episode, Harry Townes and Dabbs Greer, who played policemen questioning Kimble.

While Greer is known to be the kindly, venerable Reverend Alden on 'Little House On the Prairie', his earlier roles as minor characters on 'The Fugitive' were a little more nefarious. His characters had a cherubic "charm" with a sort of bad element underneath.

[ABlairican Pie]

The second episode of 'The Fugitive', titled 'The Witch', was an interesting anomaly for a series so young in its run. The episode did not even touch on Dr. Kimble's legal predicament in the community in which he was involved. Yet it demonstrated his willingness to assist others wrongfully accused of various matters.

In 'The Witch', which featured actress Madaleine Sherwood (later Mother Placido in 'The Flying Nun'), veteran actor Crahan Wilson and Patricia Crowley, involved Kimble as a freight deliverer in rural Missouri. A young girl, played by Gina Gillespie, implicates Kimble in a plot of revenge against her teacher through a means of supposed spells through a doll she keeps at the bank of a pond. When Kimble attempts to save the teacher, played by Crowley, and her reputation, a campaign of smearing and scandal erupts through the community, as the townsfolk consider the teacher as an illicit, sophisticated 'city girl' intent on corrupting morals. Unfortunately, this backfires on Kimble.

This is one episode where the rural folk are amused and interested in Kimble's intelligence not befitting a manual laborer. He is known as Jim Fowler, but he is nicknamed Brains by his employers. It is also the second instance where Kimble reacts in an uncharacteristic retaliatory manner against his employer suspecting him of "cutting in" on "his woman", the schoolteacher. Kimble punches out the man before being knocked out himself.

Again, his quandary of being a fugitive from the law is largely unknown by the local citizens, but as his references are discovered to be false by the sheriff, he remains to be a person of suspicious character.

[ABlairican Pie]

The third episode, 'The Other Side Of the Mountain", finds Kimble in another rural setting, this time in a quiet mining town in West Virginia. He stops for a beer at a local bar, looking for a bus going north. His "city-slicker" outsider appearance and mannerisms attract the attention of the bored bumpkins at the bar, including one such buffoon played by Frank Sutton, known as Sgt. Carter in
'Gomer Pyle USMC'. Kimble's dapper attire give the bar patrons the impression that he is rich enough to buy them a round. As the crowd harasses Kimble, the tomfoolery dissolves into a barroom melee which prompts a visit from a local lawman played by Bruce Dern, a recurring actor in the series, who threatens them with jail for unruly behavior. When Kimble attempts to flee, insisting he "had nothing to do with it", he becomes the immediate suspect.

This is an interesting plot device: When Kimble is the first to insist that he had nothing to do with the incident, when the others remain silent, the lawman suspects Kimble at once, since he was the first to deny involvement. What was he trying to hide?

Kimble escapes to the foothills where a young woman, played by Sandy Dennis, happens to come upon him. She offers to help him, while having ulterior motives of her own for holding him back. Meanwhile, Kimble's prints make it to Lieutenant Gerard, who boards a flight to the town.

Ultimately, Kimble provides a life lesson to the girl, who only gives him the name "Mister", about acting on her desire to get off the mountain and make her own way in life with nothing to hold her back.

[ABlairican Pie]

The fourth and fifth episodes, 'Never Wave Goodbye', Parts I and II, are almost a strange inclusion in the series, as they introduce a two-part set of episodes early on in the series. Kimble, tired of running, settles down temporarily to work as a sailmaker helper in Santa Barbara, California. Taking the name Jeff Cooper, he wins the affection of a woman played by Susan Oliver, as well as her uncle, a Norwegian immigrant, who pleads for Kimble to stay and keep her from being lonely after the loss of her parents. But her brother Eric, also a Norwegian immigrant, distrusts Kimble and his sister's affections for him. Eric is played by Robert Duvall, who returns as another character in an episode later in the series. Though Kimble enjoys his days sailing with his brief love interest, he makes it clear that he must move on when the time comes.

Kimble learns that a one-armed man has been arrested and incarcerated in the Los Angeles County Jail for assauting a woman. Once his sailmaker employer has fallen ill, Kimble promises to stay once he finds if this is the right man he's been looking for. However, Gerard has picked up on the story of the same one-armed man as well, hoping it will lure Kimble, and books a flight to Los Angeles.

This is the first instance where we see Gerard's obsession with Kimble has affected the lieutenant's family life, as he has chosen to cancel a fishing trip with his young son to find Kimble. His son remains disappointed. The actor and actress playing his wife and son are later changed in the series. But it is one instance where we are given a glimpse into a human side of Gerard.

One thing which never changes is that Gerard is still relentless and unyielding in his determination of capturing Kimble. Nothing escapes his attention when it comes to the lieutenant's escaped prisoner.

[ABlairican Pie]

The sixth episode, 'Decision In the Ring', shows a first in the series: Kimble's relationship around a black character, an up-and-coming boxing champion, played by James Edwards. The boxer hires Kimble, under the name Ray Miller, as a cut-man, to treat his injuries while fighting. In Los Angeles, Kimble poses as an underling for the boxer while displaying an uncanny knowledge of medicine. However, the boxer's handlers are wary of various things causing a "buzz" which could affect the man's ability to focus and fight in the ring, such his secret desire to become a doctor, as well as signs of a serious brain injury.

Kimble and the boxer's wife, played by Ruby Dee, are concerned about the man's health, but his promoter wants to fire Kimble for making his star lose his resolve.

[ABlairican Pie]

The seventh episode of the first season, 'Smoke Screen', shows Kimble as a migrant worker in Imperial Valley, California, where he is treated with contempt and suspicion by his Latino co-workers. He learns that he is treated thusly because he is suspected of being an undercover border patrol agent or working with INS and infiltrating the workers in the fields. But this all changes when the workers are hired to contain a forest fire nearby. Complicating matters is that the pregnant wife of one worker stowed away on one of the trucks carrying the men to the fire--and she is about to give birth.

Beverly Garland plays a midwife who blows off Kimble's medical credentials in being able to deliver a baby. How could a migrant field worker claim to have knowledge in obstetrics?

Radio reports of a migrant laborer with medical skills in the midst of a forest fire reach Lieutenant Gerard. Could this be Kimble?

[ABlairican Pie]

Scenes from 'Fear In a Desert City' with Kimble and a waitress in the bar:

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Brian Keith, the menacing nemesis of Kimble in 'Fear In a Desert City':

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The estranged wife, Monica Welles, played by Vera Miles, confides with Kimble over her marital crisis in 'Fear In a Desert City':