The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | |
---|---|
Genre |
Spy fiction Action |
Created by |
Sam Rolfe Norman Felton |
Developed by | Sam Rolfe |
Starring |
Robert Vaughn David McCallum Leo G. Carroll |
Theme music composer | Jerry Goldsmith |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 105 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Norman Felton |
Camera setup |
Single-camera Action |
Running time | 50 min. |
Production company(s) | Arena Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television |
Distributor | MGM Television |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Picture format |
Black-and-white (1964–1965) Color (1965–1968) 4:3 |
Audio format | Monaural |
Original release | September 22, 1964 | – January 15, 1968
Chronology | |
Related shows | The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. |
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American spy fiction television series broadcast on NBC. It follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret international counter-espionage and law enforcement agency called U.N.C.L.E. Originally, co-creator Sam Rolfe wanted to leave the meaning of U.N.C.L.E. ambiguous so it could refer to either "Uncle Sam" or the United Nations. Concerns by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) legal department about using "U.N." for commercial purposes resulted in the producers' clarification that U.N.C.L.E. was an acronym for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Each episode had an "acknowledgement" to the U.N.C.L.E. in the end titles.
The series premiered on September 22, 1964 and discontinued its run on January 15, 1968.
The series consisted of 105 episodes originally screened between 1964 and 1968. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Arena productions. The first season was produced in black-and-white.
Ian Fleming contributed to the concepts after being approached by the show's co-creator, Norman Felton. The book The James Bond Films says Fleming proposed two characters, Napoleon Solo and April Dancer (The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.). The original name was Ian Fleming's Solo.Robert Towne, Sherman Yellen, and Harlan Ellison wrote scripts for the series. Author Michael Avallone, who wrote the first original novelisation based upon the series (see below), is sometimes incorrectly cited as the show's creator.