The Fugitive (TV series)
| The Fugitive | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre |
Action/Adventure Mystery Drama Thriller |
| Created by | Roy Huggins |
| Starring |
David Janssen Barry Morse |
| Narrated by |
William Conrad Dick Wesson (episode credits) |
| Theme music composer | Pete Rugolo |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 120 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Quinn Martin |
| Producer(s) | Alan A. Armer (1963–66) Wilton Schiller (1966–67) |
| Running time | 51 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Quinn Martin Productions United Artists Television |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution (current) |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format |
B&W (seasons 1–3) Color (season 4) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 17, 1963 – August 29, 1967 |
The Fugitive is an American drama series created by Roy Huggins. It was produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television. It aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a physician who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and sentenced to receive the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails over a switch, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man" (played by Bill Raisch). At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard (Barry Morse).
The Fugitive aired for four seasons, and a total of 120 51-minute episodes were produced. The first three seasons were filmed in black and white; the final season was in color.
The Fugitive was nominated for five Emmy Awards and won the Emmy for Outstanding Dramatic Series in 1966. In 2002, it was ranked No. 36 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. TV Guide named the one-armed man No. 5 in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.
The series premise was set up in the opening narration, but the full details about the crime were not offered in the pilot episode, which started with Kimble having been on the run for six months, being on the way to the "Death House" when the train crash happened, after 18 months in prison, having exhausted all appeals. In the series' first season, the premise (heard over footage of Kimble handcuffed to Gerard on a train) was summarized in the opening title sequence of the pilot episode as follows:
Name: Richard Kimble. Profession: Doctor of Medicine. Destination: Death Row, state prison. Richard Kimble has been tried and convicted for the murder of his wife. But laws are made by men, carried out by men, and men are imperfect. Richard Kimble is innocent. Proved guilty, what Richard Kimble could not prove, was that moments before discovering his wife's body, he encountered a man running from the vicinity of his home. A man with one arm. A man who has not yet been found. Richard Kimble ponders his fate as he looks at the world for the last time, and sees only darkness. But in that darkness, fate moves its huge hand.
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