Coronet Blue
| Coronet Blue | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Larry Cohen |
| Starring |
Frank Converse Brian Bedford |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Herbert Brodkin |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Production company(s) | Plautus Productions and CBS Productions |
| Distributor |
Viacom Enterprises (until 1994) Paramount Domestic Television (1994–2006) CBS Paramount Domestic Television (May 2006 – August 2007) CBS Television Distribution (current since 2007) |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | May 29 – September 4, 1967 |
Coronet Blue is an American TV series that ran on CBS from May 29, 1967, to September 4, 1967.
It starred Frank Converse as Michael Alden, an amnesiac in search of his identity. Brian Bedford co-starred. The show's 13 episodes were filmed in 1965 and were originally intended to be shown during the 1965–66 television season, but CBS put the show on hiatus when they reversed an earlier decision to cancel the drama Slattery's People. The network had plans to show Coronet Blue the following year, and CBS head of programming Michael Dann said that, "there still is enormous enthusiasm" for it, but it would take another full year before the network aired it as a summer replacement. It proved moderately popular and developed a cult following. According to Converse, CBS wanted to renew it but by then Converse had signed to do another series for ABC, N.Y.P.D., which premiered the day after the last airing of Coronet Blue. Due to a number of pre-emptions, only 11 of the 13 episodes were shown during the initial run. The theme song was performed by R&B singer Lenny Welch.
Frank Converse's character (called "Gigot" in the first episode), is told by a woman and two men that they know what he is up to, after which they drug him and dump him in the river. He manages to pull himself ashore and the only words he says are "Coronet Blue". Suffering from amnesia due to the effects of the drug, he soon discovers that he has been targeted for assassination by the same, mysterious group of killers. He adopts the name "Michael Alden," a combination of the name of his doctor and the name of the hospital where he was taken to recover. Over the remaining episodes he attempts to discover his identity and the identities of his assailants, whom he refers to as "Greybeards". The series ended before the solution to these mysteries was revealed, but series creator Larry Cohen later told his biographer:
"The actual secret is that Converse was not really an American at all. He was a Russian who had been trained to appear like an American and was sent to the U.S. as a spy. He belonged to a spy unit called 'Coronet Blue.' He decided to defect, so the Russians tried to kill him before he could give away the identities of the other Soviet agents. And nobody could really identify him because he didn't exist as an American. Coronet Blue was actually an outgrowth of 'The Traitor' episode of The Defenders."
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