September 13, 1965 (1965-09-13) – March 27, 1968 (1968-03-27)
Run for Your Life is an American drama television series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.
Synopsis
Gazzara as Paul Bryan with guest star Joan Collins.
Premise
Ben Gazzara played attorney Paul Bryan. When his doctor tells him he will die in no less than 9 months, but in no more than 18 months,[1] he decides to do all the things for which he had never had the time—to squeeze 30 years of living into one or two years of life. Much like Route 66, each episode features the main character on the move, encountering new people in new situations.
Background
Gazzara originated the character of Paul Bryan on Kraft Suspense Theatre, in the episode "Rapture at Two-Forty," which aired on April 15, 1965, and served as the show's pilot. Well received, the show became a series that September. Near the beginning of that episode, the audience actually sees the conversation between Bryan and his doctor, which is heard only in voice-over in subsequent episodes of Run For Your Life.[citation needed] Although Bryan's doctor gave him no more than 18 months to live, the series ran for three seasons, with 86 hour-long episodes, all filmed in color.
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : Frank Fenton & Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James)
October 18, 1965 (1965-10-18)
Paul unites with fellow race-car drivers to help a woman named Marika Takacs (Gia Scala) whose brother Janos Takacs (Eric Braeden) was imprisoned in a country behind the Iron Curtain after he toasted Paul — and simply because he also repeated a toast Paul made to the United States. Other guest stars: Telly Savalas, Jeremy Slate, and David Lewis.
6
6
"Our Man in Limbo"
Leslie H. Martinson
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : Paul Tuckahoe
October 25, 1965 (1965-10-25)
While working under orders from American intelligence and looking for proof that a charming friend is actually an enemy agent, Paul crash-lands in the Sahara Desert. Guest stars: Macdonald Carey and Janine Gray.
7
7
"Where Mystery Begins"
Leslie H. Martinson
Roy Huggins
November 1, 1965 (1965-11-01)
Paul reluctantly agrees to attorney Martin Shawe′s (Keith Andes) request that he defend Shawe′s client, Louise Brode (Dana Wynter) — a confessed murderess accused of killing her husband — even though Paul believes that she is guilty. Other guest stars: Cyril Delevanti, Ian Wolfe, Walter Brooke, and Booth Colman.
Story by : Chester Krumholz Teleplay by : George Kirgo
November 15, 1965 (1965-11-15)
After Paul's car breaks down in a small community, he is accused of murder by the town's police chief, Jim Holland (James Whitmore), who is eager to please Edward Loomis (R.G. Armstrong), father of the victim and the town's main employer. Other guest stars: Mary Ann Mobley, Sharon Hugueny, Paul Fix, and Anthony Hayes.
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : Frank Fenton
December 6, 1965 (1965-12-06)
On a small island in Tahiti, Paul meets Hardie and Elizabeth Rankin (Howard Keel and Dolores Dorn-Heft), a couple with marital difficulties who invites him to go shark fishing. During the fishing trip, they encounter a group of beatniks who claim that they are photographers and that fishing will disrupt their work. The beatniks risk their lives by diving in the shark-infested waters for mysterious reasons, and a shark kills one of them. Eventually, the story of Paul and his illness inspire the disillusioned people around him. Other guest stars: Tony Bill, Melodie Johnson, Steve Carlson, and Bernie Hamilton.
13
13
"Make the Angels Weep"
Leslie H. Martinson
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : John T. Dugan
December 13, 1965 (1965-12-13)
Paul returns to his home town to clear his runaway friend of a murder charge by finding the real murderer, and has trouble dealing with the victim's mother, Mrs. Fielding (Anne Seymour) and unfaithful wife Rosinha Fielding (Carol Lawrence), both of whom he remembers. Also guest starring Alberto Morin.
While searching the jungles of New Guinea (or Africa, according to some sources) for the son of Judge Haines, the man who helped raise Paul after the death of Paul's father, Paul and his guide Carl Hague (James Forrest) — an alcohol-loving newspaperman and former boxer from Australia — are captured by a primitive tribe after Hague kills one of the tribe's children. The tribespeople want to kill Hague in retribution, but Hague claims to have a wife and three children while Paul has only a short time left to live. A duel of justice ensues over whether Paul should offer his own life to the tribe to save Hague's. Other guest stars: Harold Fong, and Ken Renard.
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : Harold Gast
January 24, 1966 (1966-01-24)
When Paul visits Monte Carlo to drove in car races there, he encounters his old car-racing gigolo friend Ramon de Vega (Fernando Lamas) whose livelihood stems from charming lonely, wealthy women. Ramon meets a charming young widow, Charlotte Hyde (Gena Rowlands), who agrees to loan him $10,000 he tells her needs to keep his (actually nonexistent) ranch operating. Ramon also takes a valuable necklace of Charlotte's to a jeweler for repairs, but when he brings it back to her she has him arrested on charges that he stole it. Paul comes to Ramon's aid — and discovers some previously unknown facts. Other guest stars: Denny Miller, Ted Roter, Wolfe Barzell, and Emile Genest.
18
18
"The Night of the Terror"
Alexander Singer
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : Gerald Vaughan-Hughes
Story by : Harold Livingston Teleplay by : John W. Bloch
February 7, 1966 (1966-02-07)
After spending a fortune building a car capable of breaking the world land speed record, Greek industrialist millionaire Alex Staphos (Rossano Brazzi), known as a man of depth and stature, signs Paul's friend Pete Gaffney (Jeremy Slate ) to drive it on a salt flat in North Africa. After Gaffney fails, he hires Paul and pays him $100,000 to drive the car. Paul finds the suave, unethical Staphos to be an exacting employer and a desperate man in love — because when Staphos tries to bribe Paul to end his romance with Katerina Ghiatis (Louise Troy) and Paul refuses, Staphos makes the surprising disclosure that he once was in love with her. Other guest stars: Phillip Pine and Athan Karras.
20
20
"In Search of April"
Stuart Rosenberg
Story by : Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) Teleplay by : Alvin Sargent
A comedic episode which was the unsold pilot for a projected television series for the fall of 1966 starring Bobby Darin. While Paul is in the French Riviera, he encounters his old college friend Mark Shepherd (Bobby Darin), a beachcomber who operates an unusual travel and escort service along the Côte d'Or. Shepherd talks Paul into escorting a wealthy American client, Mame Huston (Eve Arden), and her glum daughter Marcia (Davey Davison). A crazy adventure ensues for Paul in which he encounters thieves, beautiful women, and a used car dealer named "Honest Abe" Lincoln (Jeff Corey). Other guest stars: Jocelyn Lane, Nicholas Colasanto, Thordis Brandt, Maurice Marsac, and Nadia Sanders.
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23
"Sequestro: Part 1"
Richard Benedict
A. Martin Zweiback
March 14, 1966 (1966-03-14)
Paul becomes the victim of an old Sicilian custom when he visits the village of his grandparents in Sicily and is kidnapped at gunpoint by two young brothers — Yanio (Sal Mineo) and Enzo (Harry Guardino) — who demand a ransom for his release of 1 million lire to finance the marriage of a tough Sicilian. Other guest stars: Marianna Hill and David Mauro.
24
24
"Sequestro: Part 2"
Richard Benedict
A. Martin Zweiback
March 21, 1966 (1966-03-21)
With Paul being held for ransom in a dismal cave outside a remote town in Sicily and no ransom money arriving for his release, his kidnappers Yanio (Sal Mineo) and Enzo (Harry Guardino) decide that they must kill him. Meanwhile, the young woman whose marriage is to be financed by the ransom money, Marta (Marianna Hill), goes into town and takes a shine to a young man, resulting in stark tragedy. Also guest-starring David Mauro.
While in a coastal town in South America to race cars, Paul becomes interested in a former client, bitter divorcee Clara Mallory (Jan Sterling), who has arthritic hands. When he tries to help Clara and another young invalid woman — the bubbly, sweet, and attractive Belle Frazer (Kathryn Hays), who Paul takes a romantic interest in but who doctors say will never walk again after a skiing accident — his investigation into their situation leads him to Svengali-like Dr, Raphael (Murray Hamilton) — and into a sinister trap. Other guest stars: Robert Pine, Tom Stern, Kai Hernandez, Johnny Aladdin, Amentha Dymally, and Jeff Scott.
Story by : John Thomas James Teleplay by : John W. Bloch & Mel Goldberg
April 25, 1966 (1966-04-25)
At the request of a doctor, Paul travels to Africa to visit millionaire sportsman Mark Foster (Leslie Nielsen) to help Foster face the fact that his young daughter Julie (Lesley Ann Warren) has a terminal illness — and Paul ends up teaching Julie how to get the most out of the life she has left. Other guest stars: Abraham Sofaer and Jean Durand.
29
29
"The Savage Machines"
Richard Benedict
Story by : Robert Guy Barrows Teleplay by : William Wood
May 2, 1966 (1966-05-02)
After a car entered by Paul and driven by his friend Pete Gaffney (Jeremy Slate) qualifies during time trials for an international car race in Spain, they run into trouble. They turn to sportscar maker Clive Darrell (Edward Mulhare), whose firm is failing and who has a bitter relationship with his estranged wife Rhona (Sally Ann Howes). Paul, Gaffney, and Darrell hope that by combining forces they all can win. Bent on divorce, however, Rhona tries to undermine their efforts until she and Darrell finally decide that they cannot live without each other after all. When race day comes, Paul risks his life for a victory that will save Darrell's business — and marriage. Also guest-stars Brendan Dillon.
30
30
"The Sadness of a Happy Time"
Alf Kjellin
Teleplay by : John W. Bloch Based on a story by Patrick Kennedy
May 16, 1966 (1966-05-16)
In a Spanish coastal village on the Costa Brava, Paul falls in love with Nicole (Claudine Longet), a pretty French novelist and sophistictaed realist. He wants to marry her, but is afraid that if he tells her about his terminal illness, she will leave him. When Paul's rough-and-tumble secret agent friend Mike Allen (Stephen McNally) arrives, he upsets their relationship, leads her to suspect Paul of being an American secret agent — and prompts her to leave him for that reason. Other guest stars: Michael Stanwood, Lili Valenty, Eumenio Blanco, and Don Diamond.
Sculptor Julian Hays (Jack Palance) and his wealthy and kooky wife Diana (Diana Hyland) are an offbeat couple with an unconventional style in San Francisco, California, and after she disappears, he is convicted of murdering her and begins serving a life sentence for the crime. While in Mexico, Paul is surprised to find Diana alive and well there — she had faked her death, burning her personal effects and leaving a charred diamond as evidence. Paul convinces her to return to San Francisco to set things right by getting Julian freed and agrees to provide her with legal representation. Her return to San Francisco astonishes District Attorney George McCullough (Laurence Haddon), who had prosecuted Julian for her murder, and puts Julian in a murderous rage that makes Paul fear that he will kill Diana after all. Other guest stars: Isabelle Cooley, Anthony Eisley, Paula Winslowe, Joy Ellison, and Joe Finnigan.
Paul is appalled to find Sarah Sinclair (Brooke Bundy) — a very young San Francisco heiress he knows — hung up in a cage and performing a trance-like dance in a casino in Las Vegas owned by gangsters, and when he tries to question her, thugs beat him up and smash his hands, warning him to stay out of Las Vegas. After Paul informs her father (Wendell Corey) — a friend of Paul's and former San Francisco mayor who has become a wealthy and influential politician in Las Vegas — that his daughter is a virtual prisoner of an underworld gambling czar, her father becomes determined to abolish gambling and enlists Paul's help. Other guest stars: Edward Asner and Edward Faulkner.
Story by : Roy Huggins Teleplay by : John W. Bloch
October 10, 1966 (1966-10-10)
The marriage of Paul's oldest friends, Jim and Ellen Carlson (Peter Graves and Delphi Lawrence), is about to break up because Ellen has chosen to drink herself to death rather than talk it out after she discovers that Jim — Paul's former law partner and the owner of a football team — is making mysterious monthly payments, leading her to believe that Jim is romantically involved with another woman. Paul sets out to investigate, and the payments lead him to George Kowal (Michael Dunn), a shifty and unsavory dwarf. Other guest stars: Kent McCord and Robert Nichols.
36
6
"The Sex Object"
Leo Penn
Henry Slesar
October 17, 1966 (1966-10-17)
While at a plush resort in Mexico waiting for his friend Ramon De Vega — a Latin lover and European international gigolo perpetually in search of wealthy women for his own financial gain — Paul meets two career women from New York City, Diana Murrow (Joan Hackett) and her friend Louise (Sharon Farrell), both of whom are gold diggers scheming to meet wealthy men to marry. After Ramon arrives, he and Diana try to con one another despite Paul's attempts to warn them about each other, with Ramon pretending to be wealthy and Diana claiming to be a rich heiress — and the situation descends into romantic farce when Ramon and Diana actually fall in love. Other guest stars: Pepe Hern and Fernando Escandon.
Paul and Abby Powers (Katherine Crawford), the daughter of famed novelist Eliot Ponas (John Dehner), travel deep into the mountains of South America to find Eliot, who is staying at the camp of rebel leader Mario Cudero (Alejandro Rey) to gather material for a new book. They plead with Eliot to return to New York City with them, but his mixed feelings about Cudero′s cause make the decision difficult for him. Paul helps Eliot discover his true feelings about Cudero's revolution — and gets roughed up by soldiers. Other guest stars: Len Wayland, Edmund Hashim, Don Diamond, and Ruben Moreno.
Paul arrives in San Francisco on a flight from Tokyo and discovers that he has won $500,000 in a sweepstakes. Not needing the money, he decides to do with it as he chooses. He is besieged by old acquaintances and newfound friends who want a share of it, and also finds himself pursued by Lisa Rand (Collin Wilcox), a sharp and smart newswoman who wants to tell his story, and, to his dismay, facing the possibility of having to reveal the secret that he is terminally ill. Other guest stars: Jack Albertson, Bruce Dern, Anne Helm, and Rosemary Murphy.
40
10
"The Man Who Had No Enemies"
Michael Ritchie
Story by : Roy Huggins Teleplay by : John W. Bloch
November 21, 1966 (1966-11-21)
After Paul sails to a small Caribbean island with a newfound friend — a millionaire socialite and sailboat racer from Hot Springs, Arkansas — the man is murdered. The man supposedly knew no one on the island and the crime has overtones of Mafia involvement, and a local police official, Inspector Kronig (Kurt Kasznar), views Paul as the prime suspect in the murder. Paul sets out to solve the murder and clear his name in an investigation in which three beautiful women — Kay Mills (Joanna Moore), Katherine (Nancy Malone), and Eileen Trotter (Victoria Shaw) — play key roles, but the victim's widow, once an old friend of Paul's, makes no effort to help him. Other guest stars: John Lodge, Jean Durand, Ward Ramsey, Jason Wingreen, and Kai Hernandez.
41
11
"A Game of Violence"
Leo Penn
Louis Guardino
November 28, 1966 (1966-11-28)
Paul returns to San Francisco, where an old friend of his, boxer Duke Smith (Sugar Ray Robinson), is heavily favored to win a middleweight title bout but collapses mysteriously in the third round. Although Smith is accused of "taking a dive," Paul believes he is an honest fighter and stands by him — but Paul′s suspicions are aroused when he discovers a $25,000 payment made by gambler Sam Miller (Tige Andrews). Robinson, a real-life former boxing champion, made his dramatic debut in this episode. Other guest stars: Ossie Davis, Carol Lawrence, Janet MacLachlan, Chick Hearn, and Jim Healy.
42
12
"Hang Down Your Head and Laugh"
Michael Ritchie
Story by : Jack Curtis Teleplay by : Adrian Joyce & Jack Curtis
December 5, 1966 (1966-12-05)
While aboard a westbound bus headed for California, Paul meets Tina (Kim Darby), a disturbed but arresting teenage girl who startles the passengers. They befriend one another, and after the bus breaks down, they continue their journey together in a rented car, each trying to learn the reasons for the other's way of life. She responds with hostility and evasion as Paul questions her about her exact destination and whether or not she is a runaway and lectures her about running away from home, and it becomes apparent that her arrogance is both a cover for her loneliness and a cry for help. Other guest stars: Jacqueline Scott and Larry Ward.
43
13
"Tears from a Glass Eye"
Leo Penn
Story by : Roy Huggins Teleplay by : Luther Davis
December 12, 1966 (1966-12-12)
While Paul is visiting a Caribbean resort, the one-eyed owner of a chain of car washes offers him $100,000 to marry his beautiful ex-wife, Laura Bronson (Mary Ann Mobley). Paul becomes suspicious when a well-known con man begins to romance Laura and intervenes to help her choose the right man for a husband. (Some sources describe the Laura Bronson character as a young widow.) Other guest stars: Gerald S. O'Loughlin and Donnelly Rhodes.
44
14
"Time and a Half on Christmas Eve"
Michael Ritchie
Story by : Dan Aubry Teleplay by : A. Martin Zweiback
December 19, 1966 (1966-12-19)
When Paul′s car breaks down and leaves him stranded in a small town on Christmas Eve, he becomes involved in the life of Harry (Ernest Borgnine), a taxicab driver who has lost everything spiritually important in his life. Harry has refused to see his wife and son for nine years, and as he drives Paul around town and discusses his problems he suddenly discovers that he is lonely and his life is empty without his family. Other guest stars: Melanie Alexander, Richard Bull, Charles McGraw, and Craig Hundley.
Story by : Roy Huggins Teleplay by : Howard Browne
March 27, 1968 (1968-03-27)
Production
Bryan needed to have a disease from which he would die, but would not affect his quality of life otherwise. The disease selected was chronic myelogenous leukemia.[172]
References
^Dialogue in opening of episodes of Run For Your Life.[citation needed]
