Northwest Passage (TV series)

Northwest Passage
From left:Keith Larsen, Buddy Ebsen and Don Burnett, 1958
Starring	Keith Larsen Buddy Ebsen Don Burnett
Country of origin	USA
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	30 min.
Production company(s)	Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television (current)
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Color
Original release	September 14, 1958 – March 13, 1959

Northwest Passage is a 26-episode half-hour adventure television series produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer about Major Robert Rogers during the time of the French and Indian War (1756–1763). The show derived its title and the main characters Rogers, Towne, and Marriner from the 1937 novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts, and from the 1940 MGM feature film based on the novel. The scope of the novel was much broader than that of the series, and the second half of the book included an historically based attempt by Rogers to find a water route through North America as a "passage" to the Pacific Ocean. This attempt, lending its name to the novel and used by Roberts as a metaphor for the questing human spirit, is referenced in the first episode.

One of the earlier series telecast in color, Northwest Passage aired new episodes on NBC from September 14, 1958, to March 13, 1959. Keith Larsen (1924–2006) played the lead role (originally that of Spencer Tracy in the film); Buddy Ebsen (1908–2003), later the star of CBS's The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones, appeared as Sergeant Hunk Marriner (originally played in the film by Walter Brennan, who at the time of this series was starring in the TV series The Real McCoys), and Don Burnett co-starred as Ensign Langdon Towne (originally played by Robert Young, at the time of this series starring in Father Knows Best).