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Crew: Director
Synopsis: This final episode of Emergency!'s fourth season was intended as the pilot for a spinoff series titled 905-WILD. The members of Squad 51 lend a helping hand to the LA Animal Bureau Control Team, whose emergency phone number 905-WILD is an abbreviation for "Wild Animal Loose, Threatening". David Read More
Crew: Executive Producer
Synopsis: Log of the Black Pearl was the 2-hour pilot film for an unsold weekly TV adventure series. Kiel Martin plays a successful stockbroker who gives up his job when he inherits the Black Pearl, his grandfather's yacht. He becomes a soldier of fortune, willing to rent out the boat and his services when Read More
Synopsis: This drama chronicles the hard work of the rangers of the U.S. Forest Service who try to preserve human and animal life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More
Synopsis: This final episode of Adam-12's sixth season is actually the pilot for a proposed spinoff series titled Fraud. After they find a dead man with an oscillator belt tied around his waist, Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) discover that the victim died of diabetic Read More
Actors: Martin Milner, Kent McCord, William Boyett, Gary Crosby, William Elliott
Synopsis: The seventh and final season of Adam-12 spends a bit more time on the private lives of LAPD officers Malloy (Martin Milner) and Reed (Kent McCord) than in previous years. Reed was seen commiserating with his wife Jean, played by Kristin Harmon (replacing season two's Mikki Jamison). As for the Read More
Synopsis: Chase was a Jack Webb-produced series which ran from September 1973 to August of 1974. Mitchell Ryan starred as the head of a special police unit assigned to cases that no one else would touch with a ten-foot pole. Ryan's staff included Wayne Maunder, Reid Smith, Michael Richardson and Brian Fong; Read More
Actors: Martin Milner, Kent McCord, William Boyett, Gary Crosby, Shaaron Claridge
Synopsis: Although Adam-12 slipped a bit in the ratings during its sixth season, ranking 23rd as opposed to the previous season's Number 11 slot, the series remained America's most popular half-hour dramatic series. In fact, by 1973 it was America's only half-hour dramatic series. In hopes of Read More
Synopsis: The Century Turns is the syndication title of the 2-hour pilot for the Hec Ramsey television series. Richard Boone stars as Ramsey, an old-fashioned western lawman coming to grips with the "modern technology" of the 20th century. Ramsey teams up with college-educated criminologist Oliver Stamp (Rick Lenz Read More
Crew: Director, Executive Producer
Actors: Robert Fuller, Julie London, Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tighe, Bobby Troup
Synopsis: First telecast January 15, 1972, Emergency is of course the 2-hour pilot episode for the weekly series of the same name. Robert Fuller heads the cast as Dr. Kelly Brackett, head of the staff of LA's Ramparts General Hospital. Brackett oversees the activities of Paramedics Squad 51 of the Los Read More
Synopsis: Season five of Adam-12 boasts a number of fascinating guest stars, backing up series leads Martin Milner (as Officer Pete Malloy) and Kent McCord (as Officer Jim Reed). The season opener "Dirt Duel" features Micky Dolenz, late of The Monkees. "The Beast" offers an acting opportunity to Donna Douglas Read More
Actors: David Janssen, Lana Wood, Jerome Thor, Gary Crosby, Charles McGraw
Synopsis: David Janssen stars in this Jack Webb production as James O'Hara, a small-town sheriff recruited by the US Treasury's Bureau of Customs. O'Hara's first assignment: To break up a gang of smugglers trafficking in hashish. First telecast April 2, 1971 on CBS, this film served as the pilot for the Read More
Actors: David Janssen
Actors: Martin Milner, Kent McCord, William Boyett, Gary Crosby, Claude Johnson
Synopsis: Just as L.A. cop Jim Reed (Kent McCord) was promoted from rookie to full officer during the third season of Adam-12, so too does Reed's older partner Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) enjoy a boost in pay and rank during the season's fourth season. Malloy is promoted to policeman three this year, one Read More
Synopsis: As Adam-12 begins its third season, former rookie cop Jim Reed (Kent McCord) is promoted to full officer. No one is happier about this promotion than Jim's crusty veteran partner Pete Malloy (Martin Milner), who has regarded Reed as an equal all along. The supporting cast this season includes such Read More
Actors: Martin Milner, Kent McCord, William Boyett, Gary Crosby, William Stevens
Synopsis: Officer Jim Reed (Kent McCord) is still on probationary status with the LAPD as Adam-12 begins its second season. However, Jim is lucky indeed that he has a partner as experienced and generous as Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) to show him the ropes. It is during this season that we meet Reed's wife Read More
Crew: Director, Producer
Synopsis: Filmed in 1966 (when screenwriter Richard Breen was still around), this made-for-TV feature marked the return of Jack Webb's classic 1950s cop series Dragnet after a seven-year absence. Ordered to cut his vacation short, Sgt. Joe Friday (played by Jack Webb) is assigned to investigate the Read More
Actors: Jack Webb, Harry Morgan
Synopsis: Though the final season of the new Dragnet (aka Dragnet: 1970) represented the revived series' fourth year on NBC, in actuality it was the property's 12th season, if one counts the previous, classic Dragnet of the 1950s. The stories you are about to hear are true, the city is Los Angeles, CA, and Read More
Actors: Kent McCord, Martin Milner, William Boyett, Gary Crosby, William Stevens, Shaaron Claridge
Synopsis: Season one of Adam-12 gets underway with admirable rapidity, with the episode "Log 1: The Impossible Mission," directed by series creator Jack Webb. The opener details the first day on the job for rookie LAPD cop Jim Reed (Kent McCord), who has been teamed with crusty veteran Pete Malloy (Marvin Miller Read More
Synopsis: Proving remarkably durable despite its venerable reputation and occasional lapses into silent majority hysteria (especially in the episodes involving drug abuse), the new Dragnet launched its third season on NBC in the fall of 1968, under the forward-looking title Dragnet: 1969. The setting is Read More
Synopsis: The most successful of producer Jack Webb's non-Dragnet TV projects, the weekly, half-hour Adam-12 was a realistic, unadorned look at the "working cop." Each episode dealt with a typical day in the lives of two uniformed policeman, assigned to a patrol car in the teeming streets of Los Angeles. Martin Milner Read More
Crew: Director, Screenwriter
Synopsis: The premiere episode of Adam-12 finds veteran LAPD patrol officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner), on the verge of retirement, reluctantly agreeing to "break in" a new partner, rookie cop Jim Reed (Martin Milner). Still not completely recovered from the death of his former partner, Pete makes no Read More
Synopsis: In 1966, producer/director/actor Jack Webb filmed a new, TV-movie version of his classic 1950s series Dragnet for Universal Pictures and the NBC network. Both studio and network were so impressed by the results that they invited Webb to revive Dragnet on a weekly, half-hour basis -- which is just Read More
Synopsis: Although the second season of NBC's revived Dragnet debuted in the fall of 1967, the series' official title was Dragnet: 1968, reflecting the strenuous (and for the most part successful) efforts by producer/director/star Jack Webb to give his venerable property a fresh, contemporary slant. Back on Read More
Synopsis: This brief, 30-minute biographical documentary looks at the early life and professional career of American astronaut John Glenn (before his days in politics). Several of the people who knew him "back when" in New Concord, Ohio take up a certain amount of time reminiscing on Glenn's boyhood and Read More
Actors: Jeffrey Hunter, Preston S. Foster, James Coburn, Joanna Moore, Edward Andrews
Synopsis: This western served as the pilot film for Warner Bros.' Temple Houston television series. It is the tale of a young, brash attorney (Jeffrey Hunter) in the Texas circuit court system. His old flame (Joanna Moore) is accused of murder. The case is resolved when Hunter reveals the real killer in Read More
Synopsis: A video with two programs about John Glenn. They tell of his life and of his career as an early astronaut. ~ All Movie Guide Read More
Actors: Louis Nye, Robert Mitchum, Jack Webb, Martha Hyer, France Nuyen, Joe Flynn, Don Knotts
Synopsis: The title character in this standard comedy about the foibles of military life is Archie Hall (Robert Mitchum), a puffed-up dandy whose strutting personality makes the other privates in a Civilian Pilot Training program absolutely certain he is a spy. They figure him for a multiple-star general Read More
Synopsis: With grim determination, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search for a pair of armed bandits who have robbed and tortured elderly Wendell Bartell, savagely beating and burning the man while repeatedly stabbing his hands with a hatpin. Clearly, the thieves had "inside" information as to Read More
Synopsis: Once again, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) leave the confines of their downtown police station to venture into the wilds of Hollywood. 16-year-old movie starlet Joan Hamblin (Norma Eberhardt) has reported that a forged check has somehow shown up in her bank account. Can it be that Read More
Synopsis: Several holdups have been pulled off by a tall, well-dressed and very nervous thief. When store clerk Bert Matthews is killed during one of these robberies, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) swing into action. The two detectives know that Matthews was shot with a .38, and that the thief Read More
Synopsis: Is someone really trying to murder George Byron (Dennis McCarthy? George thinks so, and so do Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) after someone takes five shots at the unfortunate man. George is convinced that his assailant is one of the disgruntled ex-boyfriends of his current Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when an antique dealer loses $200 to a con artist. Posing as a police officer, the sharpster convinces his victims that they are holding counterfeit money, which he is duty-bound to "confiscate." But the criminal has already outsmarted Read More
Synopsis: The 276th and final episode of the original 1950s version of Dragnet is an adaptation of a two-part radio drama, originally heard on January 3 and 10, 1952. An ex-convict tips off Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) about a huge shipment of Mexican heroin being smuggled into LA by a New Read More
Synopsis: Two men have held up a mom-and-pop café, beating the 68-year-old owner within an inch of his life. Although one of the robbers was shot trying to escape and is currently in custody, the other is still at large, still with a stolen diamond signet ring worth $1500 in his possession. Tipped off by a Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are contacted by an accident-insurance adjuster, who is convinced that some claimants are trying to defraud his company. These claimants have all shown up with highly suspicious-looking injuries--and all have been treated by the same doctor. Featured in Read More
Synopsis: A fashionable neighborhood has been targetted by a gang of burglars, who specialize in lifting valuable furs and jewels. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) determine that all of the robbery victims had been seen at popular LA night spots just before they were burglarized. The case is Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are assigned to round up a bookie ring. The trail of clues leads the detective to a major metropolitan hospital. Can it be that one of the bookies has infiltrated this establishment--posing as a doctor? This episode features a fascinating performance by Read More
Synopsis: Acting on information provided by a bartender, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the apparent kidnapping of Kenneth Gorman. Though a man of modest means, Gorman liked to go around impressing strangers by flashing a huge roll of bills--especially after having a few drinks. Read More
Synopsis: Elderly Alter Fortner (Ralph Moody) tells Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that he has lost his wallet, which contained a huge amount of money. But when a wallet matching the description is recovered, Fortner abruptly changes his story, no only insisting that the wallet is not his but Read More
Synopsis: An armored mail truck has been held up by three masked bandits, and 22 sacks of registered mail have been stolen. Though badly beaten, mail guard Bud Huston (Don Warren) is able to recall that one of the bandits was referred to as "Sid." But the clue that enables Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the prowl for the criminals who have been robbing all-night restaurants throughout LA. As usual, Friday demands "just the facts"--and he gets them from one robbery victim, who supplies serial numbers for the stolen cash. This episode features a Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the theft of a car containing a baby. The car is ultimately found abandoned, but the baby has completely disappeared. Following the trail of clues, the two detectives determine that a pair of juvenile delinquents may know something about the Read More
Synopsis: This time Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the hunt for an outlaw known as the "gourmet bandit." The thief is so named because he specializes in burglarizing fancy restaurants after partaking of lavish, expensive meals. Prominent in the supporting cast is Jack Webb's favorite Read More
Synopsis: A family friend of 17-year-old Lois Brewster informs Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that he has come into possession of some pornographic pictures in which the girl is prominently featured. It turns out that Lois was the victim of two phony talent scouts, who after promising to make Read More
Synopsis: A bandit posing as a salesman has robbed several LA food markets in the past few weeks. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) must rely upon an eyewitness description of the robber's car to lead them to their man. Featured in the cast is radio announcer Dudley Manlove, best remembered as Read More
Synopsis: An out-of-town couple named Johnser are the latest victims of a sneak thief who preys upon hotel guests. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have only one tangible clue to work with: the thief leaves behind a carnation at the scene of each crime. Veteran dialect comedian Benny Rubin has a Read More
Synopsis: It's late Thursday night at the local paper and a savvy city editor, a world-weary but upright writer, and a beleagured copy boy prepare to put the next day's paper to bed. Suddenly two stories come over the wire. In the first, a young girl has gotten lost in the city's storm drains, and her life Read More
Synopsis: The body of a woman who has been savagely beaten to death is found in a parked car. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) focus their investigation on the most likely suspect, the woman's husband (Kevin Hagen). But the man protests his innocence, insisting that his wife was out with a Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the savage murder of a lunch counter proprietor. The main piece of evidence is a linoleum knife with a taped handle--but alas, with no fingerprints. Ultimately, the detectives detectives that the victim may have had the same last name as the Read More
Synopsis: Working out of Bunco Detail, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set their sights on Tim and Doris Hubert (Donald Kirke, Mary Patton), a husband-wife team of con artists with a police record stretching back seventeen years. The Huberts have been out of circulation for a long time--but now Read More
Synopsis: Los Angeles is being terrorized by the "rattlesnake bandit", who preys upon young couples, pointlessly beating them up after robbing them (one of his female victims is now permanently blind). Descriptions of the bandit are fragmentary, but Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have one Read More
Synopsis: What can a blackmailer do when his victim can no longer afford to pay up? In this case, he apparently has no option other than to beat up the victim (a cocktail lounge proprietor) and then rob and shoot the poor fellow. Luckily, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on hand to see that Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search for an elusive check forger with extremely expensive tastes. The forger uses his ill-gotten gain to purchase fancy clothes, which he then sells at a tidy profit. The detectives' investigation leads to a very young girl (Dawn Richard with some Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) must put a fellow cop on the spot when young Officer Blanchard (William Vaughn) is accused of demanding protection money from shady boarding house owner Barclay Evans (Gilman Rankin). Evans insists that Blanchard beat him up when he refused to pay, and Read More
Synopsis: There's a con artist on the loose in Los Angeles, preying upon lonely, middle-aged women. Posing as "Count H. Bukary", the smooth-talking crook worms his way into the confidence of his gullible victims, then steals all their money. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set their sights on Read More
Synopsis: The LAPD receives a tip about an imminent turf war between five different teenage gangs. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have ample evidence that principal agitator behind this war is seventeen-year-old Robert Barson (Dee Pollock). Unfortunately, the detective are unable to head off Read More
Synopsis: A burglar at large in Los Angeles has the curious habit of leaving small mementos at the scene of each crime. Unfortunately, he doesn't leave behind any fingerprints, so Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) must seek out other means of identifiying the burglar. The detectives finally get a Read More
Synopsis: Sometimes it pays to specialize, but not when you're a criminal pursued by police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander). The two detectives are on the trail of a bandit who steals only women's clothing and perfume. Circumstantial evidence would suggest that the thief is Read More
Synopsis: Veteran funnyman Morey Amsterdam eschews his usual "Buddy Sorrell" cheekiness to essay a serious role in this episode. Amsterdam is cast as disgruntled lockpicker Marty Dreen, who assists Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith Ben Alexander in their search for a payroll-check forger. This is the episode in Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are off on another missing-persons case. While searching the missing man's apartment, the two detectives pull a Murphy bed from the wall. As a result of what they find wrapped in the bedsheets, the case suddenly becomes a murder investigation! This Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when a moderately wealthy woman named Dorothy Wagner commits suicide. It turns out that the 42-year-old woman had been robbed and jilted by con artist Carlton Reynolds (Myron Cook), who specializes in preying upon lonely, gullible women with Read More
Synopsis: This unique Dragnet episode features real-life nurse's aide Mrs. Mary Bigler, portraying herself in a recreation of a robbery-kidnapping case in which she was a key witness. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have managed to capture a prime suspect (Brett King), but of the three Read More
Synopsis: Several Los Angeles supermarkets have been burglarized over the past few weeks. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have but one clue to go on: The burglar always leaves cracker crumbs scattered on the floor of the crime scene. Among the supporting players is Sid Melton, best remembered Read More
Synopsis: This episode is a one-part adaptation of a two-part Dragnet radio broadcast, originally heard on July 20 and 27, 1950. Detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) spend the better part of a year tracking down ex-convict Frank Cheney, also known as "The Gentleman Bandit" because of his Read More
Synopsis: A thief who adheres slavishly to the same M.O. during each of his crimes is the quarry of police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander). The most perplexing aspect of the case is that the thief doesn't seem inclined to dispose of his ill-gotten gains. The two detectives finally Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the lookout for a hit-and-run driver. Their detective work includes a thorough inspection of the fenders of the suspects' cars. In the end, however, the case is solved with a small print--not a fingerprint, but a lip print! Like most Dragnet Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) suspect that a gang of teenagers is responsible for a series of auto-accessory thefts. No sooner have the detectives begun their investigation than a young punk shows up with some stolen accessories in hand, hoping to collect a reward from one of the Read More
Synopsis: Familiar Korean character actor Philip Ahn is cast as Chinese merchant Gerald Quon, the victim of a robbery. In their effort to recover two valuable jade thumb rings stolen from Quon, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) interview a six-year-old boy named Norman (Rickey Kelman) who claims Read More
Synopsis: A series of jewel robberies leads Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to begin surveillance of the city's pawnshops. Sure enough, the two detectives manage to nab a suspect--but the robberies continue unabated. A break in the case occurs when the suspect's brother offers to cooperate with Read More
Synopsis: Two men have been committing robberies throughout Los Angeles. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have a single solid clue to go on: One of the bandits has huge feet--and he wears a pair of distinctively fancy cowboy boots. Joby Baker delivers another of his patented Dragnet portrayals Read More
Synopsis: The "big hobby" of the title is photography, and the big hobbyist is an amateur cameraman (Kip King). This erstwhile shutterbug comes in handy during a manhunt conducted by police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander). The two cops are looking for a dangerous fugitive--and based Read More
Synopsis: A gang of thieves has been prowling around local bars and stealing payroll checks from inebriated employees, then forging the endorsements. Searching for the outlaws, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) get a rather grim break when an automobile accident kills one of the suspects. Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the reported kidnapping of wealthy businessman Tony Richman. The victim's wife has already been contacted by phone, and a $50,000 ransom has been demanded. The case takes an unexpected turn when Richman manages to escape from his Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander must wait an agonizingly long time to question Richard Tearson (Malcolm Atterbury), who was found wandering the streets, covered with knife wounds. As the victim remains under sedation, a secondary investigation reveals that his house has been Read More
Synopsis: An enterprising gang of crooks has been systematically syphoning oil from storage tankers. These thefts are tied in with an elaborate swindle, preying upon trucking companies. In order to track down and capture the outlaws, police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go Read More
Synopsis: The title character in this pivotal Dragnet episode is "Gentleman" Wallard (Jay Jostyn), a veteran con artist. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) take a dim view of the public's habit of casting criminals like Wallard in a sentimental or sympathetic light--especially since Wallard's M.O. Read More
Synopsis: Four hot rods have been stolen by thieves who intend to strip the cars for parts and accessories. Investigating, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) cannot help but notice that three of the four missing cars had been entered in the same race just before their disappearance. As in the case Read More
Synopsis: Several robberies have occurred in LA's Chinatown district. Detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have but one clue to go on: a small, green jade monkey. Featured in the supporting cast is prolific Asian-American character actor James Hong, who went on to sizeable roles in such Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the trail of escaped convicts Powell and Selby, who after busting out of San Quentin have embarked upon a 24-hour crime spree in Los Angeles. The detectives end up heading south of the border to the Mexican fishing village of Encinada--where the Read More
Synopsis: Once again, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) must stop a violent teenage gang war before hostilities have a chance to begin. The two detectives really have their work cut out for them this time: the agitator behind the turf war is a young Hitler worshipper who wears a Nazi uniform in Read More
Synopsis: A gang of phony charity solicitors has been preying on the citizens of Los Angeles, gathering money for at least ten different fradulent fund drives. Despite the efforts of Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to warn the public, the scams continue, and as a result several legitimate Read More
Actors: Jack Webb, Ben Alexander
Synopsis: The eighth and final season of the original TV version of Dragnet finds former police sergeant Joe Friday (played by the series' producer/director Jack Webb) assuming the responsibilities of his new rank as lieutenant. Despite his promotion (which occurred at the tail end of season seven), Friday Read More
Synopsis: A worried mother (Grace Albertson) contacts detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) after she finds a hypodermic needle in her teenage son's room. Although the boy sullenly admits that he's shot heroin at least twice in the past few days, he stubbornly refuses to reveal the name of Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) must forsake their Christmas vacation when the body of a murdered woman is found in a church courtyard. The woman is subsequently identified as Maria Carselle, whom several witnesses had seen drinking heavily in the company of a variety of companions Read More
Synopsis: 40-year-old divorcee Florence Dickson is found brutally stabbed to death in her own bed. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) must break the news to Florence's 16-year-old daughter Roberta (Sue George), who curiously seems more concerned about her doll collection than her mother's murder. Read More
Synopsis: Lt. Friday (Jack Webb) and Sgt. Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the disappearance of a Mrs. Muller. It seems that just before the woman vanished, paroled murderess Annie Joplyn (Jeanette Nolan) was released in Mrs. Muller's custody. Contrary to her reputation, Annie is eager to help the Read More
Synopsis: Curvaceous blonde actress Barbara Nichols is typecast as a Monroe-like movie star in this episode. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) enter the rarefied world of Hollywood glamour when the gorgeous star begins receiving anonymous extortion letters, threatening to disfigure her unless she Read More
Synopsis: In the final episode of Dragnet's seventh TV season, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the deaths of an elderly husband and wife. The theory that the couple died in a murder-suicide pact would seem to be confirmed by the suicide note left behind by the husband. But the two Read More
Synopsis: Dragnet switches to "living color" for its eighth season (though existing episodes are in black-in-white), and that's not the only big change: dedicated police detective Joe Friday (Jack Webb has been promoted to lieutenant, while his longtime partner Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) now wears a Read More
Synopsis: The only clue the police have to go on in the case of a man offering $1000 to anyone willing to commit a murder is the man's voice. To flush out the would-be "client", Lt. Friday (Jack Webb) goes undercover, posing as an ex-convict and aspiring hitman. This episode bears a remarkable resemblance Read More
Synopsis: A gang of racketeers has set up an illegal juke-box racket in the LA area. Tavern and restaurant owners are being strongarmed into installing jukeboxes under threat of damage to their property or worse. Friday (Jack Webb) poses as the owner of a small bar to bring the extortionists out in the Read More
Synopsis: Elderly Oskar Hovejg (Fay Roope) walks into police headquarters to tell Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that he has found a box full of stolen silverware in his garage. Somewhat reluctantly, Hovejg further asserts that the items were stolen by his new son-in-law. Meanwhile, an Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) respond to reports that obnoxious teenager Gordon Tolliver (Sammy Ogg) has been stealing things from the merchants in his neighborhood. Only after intense questioning is the reason for Gordon's antisocial behavior revealed: the boy is suffering from an Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are up against a well-organized gang of auto thieves, who seem to follow no pattern except for the make of the cars they've stolen. During a routine investigation of local auto-salvage shops, the detectives discover that one of the stolen vehicles has Read More
Synopsis: The owner of a fashionable Wilshire Boulevard auction house is slugged and robbed of $1200. Searching f or clues, Friday (Jack Webb) and Ben Alexander (Ben Alexander) find some partially burned matches. A rundown of the companies manufacturing these matches leads the detectives to the elusive--but Read More
Synopsis: Young Emil Salter (Jody Baker) turns himself in to Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander), claiming he has committed a robbery--and a murder. Emil is certain that he had struck down and killed a man while driving a truck that he had stolen. Though the man's body is found, there is not a Read More
Synopsis: Someone has stolen several hand-painted neckties from a tie manufacturing company. Questioning the company's personnel, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are informed that a former employee might have had plenty of motive and opportunity to commit the crime. But whe the detectives catch Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when landlady Selma Bruttig (Isabelle Dwan) reports the disappearance of two of her tenants, a man and his wife. She suspects murder, but there is no physical evidence of foul play. It takes a howling dog to lead the detectives to a garden Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) chase after a gang of young punks who have pulled off some thirty holdups in the LA area. The best clue the detectives have to go on is that one of gang members has an itchy trigger finger, firing a pistol without point or purpose at the scene of each Read More
Synopsis: A 15-year old boy dies as the result of a cruel prank during a high school club initiation. It is up to Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to determine whether the boy's death was accidental, or a deliberate act of murder--and if the latter is true, to figure out who exactly is to blame. Read More
Synopsis: The perpetrator this time around is a burglar who manages to escape capture by playing on the sympathies of his victims. Whenever he is caught in the act, the burglar sobbingly explains his actions by relating a story of a life of unrelenting hard luck. But Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Read More
Synopsis: $60,000 worth of phony checks, all obviously signed by the same person, have been cashed in various LA supermarkets. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) realize that they're dealing with pros when even the forensic lab can't come up with any palpable clues as to the forgery gang's Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go after the Person or Persons Unknown who have been robbing homes while the occupants are attending weddings or funerals. Nearly one hundred homes are ransacked before the detectives finally get a lead in the form of a monogrammed gold watch which has Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) answer a call from a Mrs. Halmer (Lucille Vance), whose husband Jason, a mannequin salesman, has been missing for several hours. Mrs. Halmer believes she has good reason to worry: Mr. Halmer had left the house in the company of his business partner Fred Read More
Synopsis: A number of police stakeout posts are set up around Los Angeles, the better to capture a bandit who has been robbing hotels with a sawed-off shotgun. Alas, no sooner have Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) begun their surveillance of the Brinton Hotel than the elusive bandit switches to Read More
Synopsis: This week's Person of Interest is a slippery thief who specializes in swiping brand-new fur coats. In the course of their investigation, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) interview an embittered woman named Wilda Chandler (Michael Ann Barrett), who points a finger at her no-good Read More
Synopsis: There's a robber at large in Los Angeles, and a particularly bold one at that: he commits all his burglaries in broad daylight. After several false leads (and a number of sleepless nights), Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) finally have some palpable clues to work on when a woman is Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are dispatched to a cheap hotel room, where young drug addict Mona Fenton has apparently attempted suicide. Acting upon the possibility that the girl was actually the victim of attempted murder, the two detectives conduct a citywide manhunt for Mona's Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) team up with a fire marshal to determine the cause of several recent house fires. Evidence indicates that the houses were torched by a burglar--who steals only inexpensive or worthless items. What can be behind the burglar's MO...and what is he really Read More
Synopsis: The body of a man is found in a Sepulveda hotel, only a few days after he registered. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) suspect that the dead man had given a phony name to the desk clerk--and that, contrary to evidence of suicide, he was actually murdered. It soon develops that the Read More
Synopsis: The story you are about to see would probably be more at home on a contemporary "procedural" series like CSI or Bones. While playing in the hills just outside LA, two kids stumble upon a human skeleton. When it turns out the bones or those of a man who was killed 25 years earlier, Friday (Jack Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are puzzled when two different women report that their husbands are missing. The descriptions of the missing men are remarkably similar, leading the detectives to one of two conclusions: Either the husbands were twin brothers, or there's a bigamist on Read More
Synopsis: Emmatine Haskell (Ernestine Barrier), an out-of-town buyer, reports that her purse, which contained $6000, is missing. Detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) based their investigation on Ms. Haskell's belief that she left her purse in a taxicab. A humble five-dollar bill proves to Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to a bakery where two of the owners have been shot during a holdup. Shortly afterward, the detectives receive a taunting letter from the elusive assailant, who promises to repeat his crime in the near future. Can the bragging perp be Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate a robbery at a liquor store in which several case lots of valuable booze has been stolen. The two detectives are provided with some unexpected assistance when the attractive girlfriend (Norma Ward) of a young cop reveals that an acquaintance Read More
Synopsis: Police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) race against time to rectify a potentially fatal error. The drug presciptions for two different women have accidentally been switched--and both women have already purchased the drugs. The detectives all but turn L.A. inside out to Read More
Synopsis: In one of the sillier black-and-white Dragnet episodes, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are approached by a pair of young farmers, Otis and Marvin Spengler (Alvy Moore, Kevin Hagen). The two rustics are convinced that their 75-year-old grandfather Chester (Raymond Greenleaf) has been Read More
Synopsis: This unusually grim episode finds Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigating the disappearance of Mrs. Barbara Gorman and her two-year-old daughter Nancy. Though Barbara's husband Philip (Joe Cranston) claims that he can't think of any reason why his wife has vanished, a helpful Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the prowl for a man suspected of pulling a holdup. An anonymous tip leads the two detectives to the Full Moon, a cocktail bar which the suspect is known to frequent. But will the crook be scared off by the presence of The Law? Featured in one of Read More
Actors: Dave Garroway, Milton Berle, Ernie Kovacs, Jack Webb, Albert McCreery
Synopsis: Dave Garroway hosts this all-star celebration of network television's tenth anniversary (actually, NBC and CBS had signed on in 1941, but 1947 is the "accepted" debut date). Utilizing the most up-to-date technology available at the time, the program features several remote pickups, with Garroway Read More
Synopsis: Although Dragnet was no longer the huge ratings lodestone it had been in previous years, NBC was determined to hold onto the property for a seventh season, negotiating a fat new contract for producer/director/star Jack Webb -- who, for his part, felt that he had grown "too old" for the part of Read More
Actors: Don Dubbins, Jackie Loughery, Lin McCarthy, Monica Lewis, Virginia Gregg
Synopsis: A Marine drill instructor (d.i. for short), Sgt. Jim Moore (Jack Webb) is responsible for the rigorous training of his recruits. His already testy patience is tested that much more when a coddled private (Don Dubbins) joins his regiment. Jack Webb produced, directed and starred in the film. ~ John Read More
Actors: Jack Kelly, Jeanne Cooper, Jack Webb
Synopsis: Jack Webb serves and host and narrator of this justifiably infamous propaganda short, produced under the auspices of Warner Brothers head Jack Warner on behalf of the United States Department of Defense. Jerry Donovan (Jack Kelly) is a typical working class guy who cares about his family but Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when a young man reports that his wife is missing. The two detectives are certain the woman was murdered--and indeed, her dead body turns up shortly afterward. A discarded button from a Navy pea jacket is the vital clue that leads Friday and Read More
Synopsis: $1200 in cash and various other items of value have been stolen from a restaurant safe. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) do their best to find both the crook and the loot, but their investigation goes nowhere until they receive a phoned-in tip from a garrolous old woman. Featured in Read More
Synopsis: The opening episode of Dragnet's seventh TV season finds police detectives Friday (Jack Webb and Smith (Ben Alexander) rounding up a group of draft-dodging teenage dropouts who have turned to thievery. The kids hope to use their ill-gotten gains to establish their own country on an uninhabited Read More
Synopsis: An elderly woman tells the police that her life savings, which she has stored in a candy box, has been stolen and replaced with strips of old newspaper. In their efforts to retrieve the money and catch the thief, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) run up against a disturbing number of Read More
Synopsis: The versatile Hans Conried appears in this episode as Paul Zavier, a mercurial artist whom Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) interview after a wealthy widow who had been sponsoring Zavier turns up murdered. The detectives' interrogation is periodically interrupted by Zavier's telephone Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on hand when a pair of teenagers (Don Pathley, Jim Bridges) are arrested after two sets of out-of-town license plates are found in their car's spare tire. Using these clues as a springboard, the detectives launch a widespread robbery investigation. Read More
Synopsis: Wandering into the police station with a huge amount of money but absolutely no memory, a young girl (Cindy Robbins) sparks the interest and concern of detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander). With the help of a police psychiatrist (William Henry), the pretty amnesiac is able to Read More
Crew: Screenwriter
Synopsis: A hotel catering to the convention crowd has been victimized by a pickpocket. Investigating the thefts of several wallets and billfolds, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) hit a snag when one of the victims refuses to cooperate with the police. It turns out that the victim is harboring Read More
Synopsis: Investigating a robbery at a supermarket, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) interview the owners, George and Alva Clawson (Ed Prentiss, Sara Shane). It soon becomes obvious that the thief had "inside" information that the couple kept their money hidden in two empty tomato cans. Things Read More
Synopsis: Secretary Clara Gibbons (Barbara Bestar) tells Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that her employer, stockbroker Henry Orleon, has left town with all the company records--after paying her a month's salary in advance. Clara further insists that Orleon is up to no good because her "mama" Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) haul in a suspect on suspicion of pulling off a $200,000 robbery. But it looks like the suspect may be able beat the rap when he refuses to reveal the name of his accomplice or the location of the stolen money. All this changes when the body of the Read More
Synopsis: Bank robber Bud Carey goes on the lam after brutally killing a bank guard during his latest heist. Taking no chances, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) summon the aid of all police departments in the Los Angeles area to track down the armed-and-dangerous suspect. When it develops that Read More
Synopsis: There's danger ahead for police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) when a former mental patient barricades himself in his house and holds his children at gunpoint. Distraught because his wife has left him, the man threatens to kill himself and his children--and anyone else in Read More
Synopsis: Swindled out of $40,000, a Los Angeles man is the latest victim of a phony real-estate investment racket operated by a woman and her two brothers. Going undercover, Friday (Jack Webb) poses as a businessman in order to lure the criminals into trapping themselves. Frequent Dragnet guest star Maxine Read More
Synopsis: Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) are tipped off to a huge shipment of European heroin (three kilos, uncut), which is to be brought in to LA and peddled to teenagers. To catch the drug smugglers, Friday again goes undercover--but has he been set up as a "dead duck" by police Read More
Synopsis: The rate of recovery for stolen vehicles has dropped to an all-time low, and Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) want to know why. With information provided by a former thief (and current forger!), the detectives are able to close down on an unusually efficient auto-theft ring. Movie Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are none too pleased when fellow police officer James Sorvell (Scott Douglas) is falsely accused of extortion. While Sorvell is placed on suspension, the two detectives search high and low for the crook who bears a striking resemblance to the accused Read More
Synopsis: It's a personal matter for Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) when an off-duty police officer is killed by two stickup men in a downtown bar. The criminal pair has been terrorizing taverns throughout the LA area, but now it looks as though their days of freedom are numbered, thanks to a Read More
Synopsis: Based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of September 6, 1955, this episode focuses on the frustrating legal limitations placed upon police officers when dealing with known criminals. Searching for a huge shipment of heroin, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search and detain suspected dope Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search for the man who has robbed two stores. In both cases, the man handed a sealed envelope to the victim, with instructions to "hand over the money, or else." As it turns out, the person bearing the note had been strongarmed into doing the dirty work Read More
Synopsis: In this vintage black-and-white Dragnet episode, Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) is given a guided tour through the LAPD's new Police Adminstration Building by his longtime partner, detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander). Throughut the tour, Frank points out that the new headquarters have been designed Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) answer the call when elderly Martha Dunbetter (Sarah Padden) reports that a burglar has broken into her apartment. On the basis of the woman's description, the two detectives haul in career criminal Ralph Portland (John Beradino). But though they manage Read More
Synopsis: The higher-ups exert a great deal of pressure on Sgt. Friday's boss Captain Donahoe (Walter Sande) to nab the two men who beat city councilman Jeffrey Hanks to death outside a bar. Working on a tip provided by a drunken witness, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) take into custody one Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) receive a tip that middle-aged dope addict Denson (Rodney Bell) has recently purchased some 30 caps of heroin, which he plans to sell. Not only has "trailer trash" Denson ruined his life and his family with his drug habit, but he is also allowing his Read More
Synopsis: This first episode of Dragnet's sixth TV season was adapted from a radio drama first broadcast on June 15, 1954. Identifying himself as the owner of a small circus, elderly Clarence Havill (Will Wright) tells Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that his circus truck has been broken into Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when a woman reports that her two-year-old niece Melissa has died of a seizure. It looks like a case of epilepsy--to say nothing of depraved child neglect on the part of Melissa's alcoholic mother. The situation changes dramatically when Read More
Synopsis: The owner of a liquor store is killed during a holdup--in which, curiously, no money was stolen. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are puzzled by this fact, and by presence of a .38 bullet casing, but no corresponding slug. Soon afterward, a doctor reports that he removed the missing Read More
Synopsis: Elderly Bertha Gillespie is reported missing, and Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are assigned to find her. The two detectives have a handful of intriguing clues to work on: someone had drawn a huge amount of money from Bertha's bank account; her phone bill hasn't been paid in several Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to the home of wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Moran (Tom Brown, Virginia Carroll), whose 13-year-old daughter Bunny (Frances Karath) has disappeared. All evidence suggests that the girl has been kidnapped, especially since her dog has been found Read More
Synopsis: A juvenile delinquent in the "holding tank" lets slip that his older brother is planning to rob a loan office. Though Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) do their best to head off the holdup man, the robbery goes off exactly as scheduled. All the detectives can hope for is that the Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are assigned to find out who has hijacked fourteen trucks in the past few weeks. Their only clues are some paint chips found at the scene of one of the hijackings, and the fact that a driver who'd been kidnapped and beaten by the criminals overheard the Read More
Synopsis: A truly kinky holdup man is the target of police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander). The perpetrator follows the same MO on each occasion: after committing a robbery, he handcuffs his victim to the nearest lampost, car bumper, drainpipe, barber pole, or what have you. Inasmuch Read More
Synopsis: Responding to viewer requests that he "freshen up" his now five-year-old series, Jack Webb, the producer, director, and star of Dragnet, promised that the series would have a comparatively new look during its sixth season on NBC, carrying over and improving upon several changes that had been tried Read More
Synopsis: Out-of-town watch salesman Herbert Liggins (Kort Falkenberg) claims that he was robbed of his sample case by two men with whom he'd had a few drinks at a bar. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) aren't buying Liggins' story, which has holes one could drive a truck through. Finally, the Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) spring into action when a divorced mother's baby is stolen. It turns out that the "kidnapper" is the new second wife of the baby's father, who is convinced that she is more qualified to raise the child than her predecessor. She may be right--but a crime Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set their sights on a forger who has been passing phony payroll checks all over town. Working on fragmentary evidence, the detectives conclude that the forger is driving a flashy rented convertible, and is frequently seen in the company of an equally Read More
Synopsis: Mrs. Sarah Vesper (Grace Field), a lifelong friend of police detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander), reports that several items in her home have been stolen, apparently by her new maid Margaret. It turns out that the name "Margaret" is as artificial as the references which the thief supplied to Read More
Synopsis: Popular LA radio deejay Dick Whittinghill more or less plays himself in this episode, in which Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) try to find out who stole a platinum-and-diamond wristwatch worth $1500. The timepiece had been sent to radio personality Beetle Buckingham (Whittinghill) as Read More
Synopsis: Kip King, a future member of the Groundlings comedy troupe (and the father of comedian Chris Kattan), here essays a serious role as 17-year-old drug addict John Colter. Though he is willing to turn himself in and go "cold turkey", John refuses to rat on his supplier. While trying to get the boy to Read More
Synopsis: In their search for a diamond thief, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) visit a bar frequented by the suspect. Their search is temporarily sidelined when bar employee Alice Kolbar is beaten to death by her jealous husband. It turns out that Alice may have been romantically involved with Read More
Synopsis: Night watchman Clyde Matik has been stabbed to death in an appliance store warehouse. One of the dead man's fellow employees is convinced that the guilty party is Matik's girlfriend Bessie Rowan (Ann Doran), but Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are sent off on a different path thanks Read More
Synopsis: Even though it's Thanksgiving Week, all days off at the LAPD are cancelled in hopes of capturing a brutal holdup man who preys upon helpless women. Knowing that the perpetrator has been haunting the streetcar routes and bus stops, the department assigns several policewomen decoys throughout the Read More
Synopsis: In the final episode of Dragnet's fifth TV season, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate a series of burglaries, all of which have occurred at local auto-rental agencies over a period of seven weeks. Chasing after one of the suspects, a police officer is seriously wounded, but Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are contacted by a woman identifying herself as Mrs. Flint, who is worried that her husband Rodney is going to pull a holdup. It soon develops that "Rodney Flint" is really Ralph Frazy, an ex-convict who for reasons of self-preservation has violated his Read More
Synopsis: A con artist specializes in fleecing lonely middle-aged women whom he meets via the lonely-hearts columns. He promises to marry these women, then asks to "borrow" small amounts of money from each victim--which he has no intention of returning. Although Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) Read More
Synopsis: An old couple has been brutally beaten; the husband is dead, the wife not far from it. Neighbor lady Mrs. Hurley (Barbara Eiler) informs Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that the couple's no-good son had recently been kicked out of the house, making him the number one suspect. Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search for a check forger who has been using the name of old-time movie villain Parker Allington. The detectives are given a lead by one of the forger's would-be victims, a dedicated movie buff who is well aware that Parker Allington has been dead for Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) will not rest until they catch up with the sadistic prowler who has been beating up women in their own homes. The evidence suggests that the perpetrator always makes a thorough surveillance of the victim and her neighborhoods before he makes his Read More
Synopsis: The wife of elderly Alfred Shroder (Edward Keane) is missing, and Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have been assigned to find her. Although Shroder insists that his wife merely left town, his daughter Ella (Joyce McCluskey) suspects that the old man is lying, citing his history of Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) respond to a call from the LAPD's San Fernando Valley division. Several new homes in the district have been robbed by a thief with a bizarre MO: he only targets people who own pet birds--which he brutally kills on every occasion. Following the grim Read More
Synopsis: A mysterious thief has been stealing groceries and other necessities from a suburban LA neighborhood. The only clue the thief has left behind are a couple of books on science and math. Following up the nameplate in one of the books, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) consult with college Read More
Synopsis: Anyone who thinks that the cost-cutting strategy known as "the clip show" is unique to TV sitcoms should take a gander at this vintage black and white Dragnet episode. During a New Years' Eve party at the home of police detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander), Frank and his partner Joe Friday (Jack Read More
Synopsis: Included are four Christmas episodes from '50s television shows: A Date with the Angels, Racket Squad, The Ruggles and Dragnet. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More
Synopsis: A nightclub manager has been murdered, and it is the job of Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to find the killer. At first, it appears that there were no witnesses to the murder. Ultimately, however, someone steps forward with an eyewitness account of the crime, sending the detectives Read More
Synopsis: Why would James Fader (Than Wyenn) walk up to a pawnbroker and offer to sell a ring worth thousands of dollars for only twenty bucks? That's the question that Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) would like to answer--immediately. But that answer won't come until the two detectives unearth Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb and Smith (Ben Alexander) are certain that career criminal Louis Roat (Paul Burke), recently released from prison, is the man behind a series of holdups. Retracing Roat's steps, the detectives discover that among other things, he'd been attending a night-school class--in Read More
Synopsis: Investigating a missing-persons report, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are handed a clue when a ring worth $1500 shows up in a pawn shop. At this point, the missing man, Garfield Hunt (James Stone) resurfaces. It turns out that Hunt had been fleeced by a pair of clever con artists Read More
Synopsis: A number of drugstores have been robbed of money and narcotics. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) step up their manhunt after the bandit vicious beats up his latest victim, an elderly pharmacist. The two detectives get a big break in the case when, while following up a Read More
Synopsis: Working out the Forgery Division, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate reports that a con artist, posing as a former member of the French underground, has been worming his way into the homes of wealthy families as a tutor. He then forges the names of the employees to purchase Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) answer reports that a reclusive old man named Peter Collins (Vic Rodman) is terrorizing his neighborhood with a shotgun. It turns out that Collins is preparing to shoot and kill the person responsible for poisoning his beloved dog--and he intends to Read More
Synopsis: Working in cooperation with a US Postal Service inspector (Douglas Kennedy), Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search for a forger who has been stealing checks and bank statements from mailboxes. After interrogating a first-time offender who turns out not to be the man they're looking Read More
Synopsis: Working in concert with FBI agent Tom Ashford (Douglas Kennedy), Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) inaugurate an intensive search for a bank robber. The most valuable clues are provided by bank guard Leon Gibson (Ben Morris), despite his being the target of several condescending remarks Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) really have their work cut out for them when bartender George Cabot (Nesdon Booth) reports that his wife Ethel was assaulted by an unknown perpetrator, who then threw hot tar on the unfortunate woman. It soon becomes obvious that Cabot himself injured Read More
Synopsis: A storekeeper has been robbed and killed by two thieves, who have also wounded a police officer. The wife of the unfortunate storekeeper provides Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) with a vital clue: one of the thieves kept an unfolded handkerchief in his breast pocket. As often happens Read More
Synopsis: Two well-armed criminals terrorize the city with a three-week robbery spree. Though one of the outlaws is captured and held in a Highland Park jail, his machine gun-wielding sidekick breaks him out of his cell, along with another prisoner. With three criminals now at large, Friday (Jack Webb) and Read More
Actors: Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O'Brien, Peggy Lee, Andy Devine
Synopsis: Pete Kelly's Blues is arguably the most stylish of director/star Jack Webb's theatrical features. Beginning with a brilliantly evocative pre-credits prologue, wherein we see how WWI vet Pete Kelly (Webb) came into possession of his precious trumpet, the film traces Kelly to his 1927 gig at a Read More
Synopsis: Beginning with its fifth season on the air, the popular NBC cop show Dragnet was filmed at a small studio next to Republic Pictures, which the series' producer/director/star, Jack Webb, had purchased when he felt the need to expand his operation beyond its longtime headquarters at Walt Disney Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when the family of wealthy John Jarrett (Herb Butterfield) reports that the man has disappeared. All evidence points to suicide, but the two detectives suspect that there's more to the case than meets the eye--especially after meeting Read More
Synopsis: Reporting the disappearance of young mother Harriet Shipley and her nine-month-old baby, the woman's mother-in-law Mrs. Shipley (Doris Kemper) further claims that her son, Harriet's husband, is serving overseas in the Army. In the course of their investigation, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate reports of a TV repair racket, in which customers are charged for more than the work actually costs, and sometimes aren't even given the tubes and other parts that they've paid for. Going undercover with crusading newspaperman Jack Kennitt Read More
Synopsis: An elusive gang of thieves have robbed four bars, tunnelling into the premises from adjoining buildings. Collaring a likely suspect, Friday (Jack Webb) plays on the man's inflated ego and discovers that the gang's next target is a bank--and this time, they intend to build their tunnel from below Read More
Synopsis: Working out of Homicide, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when accountant Ada Fitzgerald is found in her office, beaten to death with a lead pipe. Although the office was left in a shambles, it does not appear that robbery was the motive for the crime. Following the trail Read More
Synopsis: A particularly vicious "strong-arm" bandit has been preying on innocent downtown pedestrians. Police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) take turns as "decoy" and "lookout" in hopes of bringing the miscreant out in the open. Despite its violent nature, this final episode of Read More
Synopsis: A woman has been missing for two weeks, and her sister (Barbara Eiler) suspects foul play. She further informs Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that she is certain her brother-in-law has committed murder. Though the suspect robustly protests his innocence, the two detectives can't help Read More
Synopsis: Eleven unsolved holdups have occurred in the past three months. The robbers invariably target jewely stores and supermarkets, and have left behind precious few clues. Acting upon a tip from a reformed convict, Friday (Joe Friday and Smith (Ben Alexander) launch a search for a "big guy" named Chet Read More
Synopsis: Future TV producer Aaron Spelling appears in this episode as Bruce Marcus, a nerdish young man who walks into Police headquarters and confesses to a murder. Marcus tells Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) that the victim was a young girl he'd met the night before, and whom he had killed Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are under pressure from practically everyone in Los Angeles-- their superiors at the Police Department on down to a humble restaurant counterman--to find out who has pulled off seventeen burglaries in the past five weeks. Only after a lengthy and Read More
Synopsis: It looks like a case of attempted murder when a middle-aged woman is found unconscious in a gutter; preliminary evidence indicates that the woman was beaten and thrown from a moving car. Only after Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have hauled in two suspects--one of them a sexual Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the armed holdup of an appliance store. The witnesses state that one of the two robbers sported a 1920s-style handlebar mustache. This clue comes in handy when it is discovered that a similarly mustachioed gentleman used to work for the Read More
Synopsis: This time the criminal at large is a con artist who poses as a "displaced person" in need of quick cash. Each of the con man's victims is offered a handful of genuine "perfect cut" blue-white diamonds for a fraction of what they are worth--but by the time the victim has made the purchase, the real Read More
Synopsis: Several large markets have been robbed by a bandit who hides his features with something resembling a black mask. After several frustrating weeks of false leads, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) think they have their man in the form of lifelong scofflaw Leonard Clark (Herbert Vigran) Read More
Synopsis: The object of the search conducted by police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) is a thief who specializes in stealing costume jewelry. The only other clue the detectives have to go on is the footprint made by someone wearing a very expensive tennis shoe. The most likely Read More
Synopsis: Once again, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are on the trail of a supermarket bandit. The first big break in the case comes unexpectedly when a watch owned by one of the suspects turns up in a repair shop. Featured in the cast is character actor Henry Corden, best remembered by Read More
Synopsis: A teenage girl named Edna (played by a young Carolyn Jones) tells Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) that her best friend Kathryn (Allene Roberts) is hooked on heroin. Kathryn's father (Malcolm Atterbury) is outraged by this accusation, insisting that the hypodermic marks on the girl's arms were administed Read More
Synopsis: A robbery has occurred, and Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) arrive on the crime scene. The victim tells the detectives that he manage to shoot and wound both robbers, further adding that he thinks he killed one of them. Only one problem, Frank. What's that, Joe? There's no body. Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) swing into action to find the hit-and-run driver who killed an old woman and her grandson. The owner of the bakery truck driven in the accident swears that he is innocent, and that he lent the vehicle to a casual acquaintance named Paul. The detectives Read More
Synopsis: Claude Akins is cast as Mr. Ellis, whose wife's dead body has been found in a vacant lot. As Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) try to get "just the facts", the grieving Ellis tries to drown his sorrows in liquor. But the more Ellis drinks, the more convinced the detectives become that Read More
Synopsis: Old Martin Latimer is found dead in his home, a bullet hole in his chest. At first, it looks like a case of suicide, wherein the victim had rigged a Winchester rifle to go off with the tug of a string. But young Officer Harkness (played by a pre-"Davy Crockett" Fess Parker) suspects that Latimer Read More
Synopsis: In one of the best-remembered of the original black and white Dragnet episodes, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate a series of robberies occuring within a ten-block area. Only after the stolen goods begin turning up abandoned or in trash cans do the detectives realize that Read More
Synopsis: Sixteen men have been robbed, beaten and in some cases shot by a hitchhiker. What sets this case apart from the rest is the description of the assailant as a tall, beautiful and very strong young woman. Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set up a trap to capture the "big girl"--assuming Read More
Synopsis: It appears to be a simple case of hit-and-run when the body of Eddie Stokes is found in a gutter. When they question Stokes' ex-wife, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) learn that the dead man was a hopeless drunk, which seems to confirm the theory as to cause of death. But when several Read More
Synopsis: Chester Abbott (James Bell) tells the police that his wife is missing. Abbott's 17-year-old stepson, however, suspects that his mom was murdered by his stepdad. But when Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) try to question the boy, he can't be located--and worse, Abbott has "lawyered up" Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to the Nevada Hotel, where tenant Theodore Benham (James Bell) claims that he took a shot at a burglar who then killed Benham's wife. A witness across the hall confirms that she saw an apparently wounded man was fleeing the scene of the Read More
Synopsis: A elderly woman is robbed and beaten in a bank parking lot. Investigating, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are tipped off that two men were spotted a few days earlier, taking photographs near the scene of the crime. A subsequent photo "blowup" leads the detectives to surmise that one Read More
Synopsis: Working out of the bunco division, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go after a self-proclaimed "mental therapist" who hypnotized a neurotic young woman and robbed her of her furs and jewelry--whereupon the victim committed suicide. Going undercover, Friday ascertains the whereabouts of Read More
Synopsis: The scene is a dingy rooming house, where the body of a former vaudeville actress is found tied to a chair. The woman has been beaten to death, and Friday (ack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) deduce that her killer wanted to find out what she kept in the huge trunk in the middle of her room. In an Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to the office of a young lawyer, where an unknown vandal has trashed the place and sprayed the walls with green paint. While the detectives check out the neighborhood trash receptacles for empty paint cans, the vandal strikes again, setting Read More
Synopsis: Sergeant Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) continue to seek out "just the facts, ma'am" as Dragnet enters its fourth season on NBC. The series' popularity was affirmed a few months earlier when a theatrical feature-film version of Dragnet was released by 1954, posting Read More
Actors: Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, Richard Boone, Ann Robinson, Stacy Harris
Synopsis: At the height of the popularity of his Dragnet TV series, producer/director/star Jack Webb struck a deal with Warner Bros. to direct several feature films--the first of which, but of course, was 1954's Dragnet. This time around, the "true story" in which "only the names are changed to protect the Read More
Synopsis: Detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) gets word that four vicious hoodlums who have cut quite a swath of crime and terror in San Francisco are headed for LA. Setting up a stakeout in a seedy hotel, Smith and his partner Joe Friday (Jack Webb) must contend with a drunken desk clerk (Peter Leeds) Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) follow up reports that a shabbily dressed eight-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl have been going door to door in a fashionable Bel-Air neighborhood, begging for food. A tip from a servant in one of the homes indicates that the little beggars are two Read More
Synopsis: The police receive a report that an elderly couple, Walter and Kate Apperson, are missing. Detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) find traces of cyanide in the couple's breakfast dishes. Can it be that the Apperson's dissolute nephew has been up to no good? In one scene set in a Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the death of young Gloria Paul, who left behind a suicide note. When the results from the crime lab reveal that Gloria did not kill herself after all, suspicion immediately falls on her boyfrined Ross Mitchell (Robert Knapp), a struggling Read More
Synopsis: Highway patrolman Eugene Brewer disappears without a trace, leaving his car unattended with the motor running. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set up a roadblock in hopes of finding the driver of the stolen car reported in the vicinity of Brewer's last know whereabouts. Things take a Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when 33 small businessmen have been victimized by forged checks within a two-month period. The main suspect is veteran forger Stanley Bubeck, but Bubeck was in jail at the time the bogus checks were passed. Further evidence suggests that the Read More
Synopsis: When police officer Jack Conley is murdered in cold blood on New Years' Eve, Joe Friday (Jack Webb) has the unenviable task of breaking the news to Conley's wife Betty (June Whitley)--just as she is preparing a big party. Making it his personal mission to track down Conley's killer, Friday pieces Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go after an enterprising gang of auto thieves who double as con artists. Using the classified ads as their guide, the crooks "purchase" cars from their owners by using phony checks, then resell the vehicles for a profit. Based on the Dragnet radio Read More
Synopsis: In the conclusion of a two-part story, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) rush to the small sanitarium where hoodlum Gus Valentine, recuperating from two previous attempts on his life, has been shot and killed. Normally, this would be a case of "good riddance to bad rubbish"--except that Read More
Synopsis: In the past several weekends, a number of stores have been burglarized in the same neighborhood. Curiously, the thief takes only small amounts of cash and merchandise--and even more curiously, he leaves behind an empty milk bottle as his "calling card." Inevitably, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith Read More
Synopsis: In the first episode of a two-part story, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) zero in on Gus Valentine (Harlan Warde), a young hoodlum on the way up. Unfortunately, he may simultaneously be on the way down: two attempts have already been made on Valentine's life. If the detectives think Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) receive a tip that the Plaza Royale, a fancy downtown hotel, is being used as a clearing house for "high grade" merchandise from an Eastern heroin ring. Going undercover, Friday poses as "Joe Edwards", a potential buyer from Phoenix. Though it appears Read More
Synopsis: The estranged husband of Nora Hamlin (Marian Richman) has apparently committed sucide: he was found with the gun in his hand in a room locked from the inside. But crime lab technician Sgt. Allen (played by a pre-Gunsmoke) Dennis Weaver) determines that the bullet in the body doesn't match the gun. Read More
Synopsis: The departmental rotation wheel spins once more, and Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are assigned to the LAPD Business Office on a typically frantic Saturday morning. Throughout their shift, the two dectetives dispense advice on police procedure, issue weapons and other materiel, and Read More
Synopsis: A small LA business district has been plague by a series of jewelry store holdups, in which the perpetrator violently assaults his victim. Working on the slimmest of leads, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are finally able to determine that the criminal is carrying on an affair with a Read More
Synopsis: A hit and run driver has struck and killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child. The only clue Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) have to go on is that the death car bore a hot rodder's license plate with the word "WHEELS." With the cooperation of several responsible hot-rod Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go on the prowl for a holdup man who has hit several bars in a period of a few days. The felon's MO is identical in each case: he orders a scotch and water and turns on the same jukebox song before pulling out his gun. The detectives intensify their Read More
Synopsis: In the first episode of Dragnet's fourth season, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) search for a pornographer who has been distributing "dirty" books and pictures to a local high school. After interrogating a student (Martin Milner) who'd been found with several lewd books in his Read More
Synopsis: Working out of the Bunco division, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) make it their personal mission to capture two con artists posing a police officers. In an elaborate scam targetting out-of-town businessmen, the phony cops, working with an accomplice who pretends to be a drug addict Read More
Synopsis: Under normal circumstances, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) would have had suspected holdup man Tom Stanford (Robert Crosson) dead to rights: Stanford has confessed to robbing a grocery store, and the storekeeper has identified him of the culprit. But Friday can't shake the feeling Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) spend the better part of a year trying to crack a case in this episode, which was adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of April 12, 1951. The detectives are stymied by the fact that the victims of a series of robberies and beatings refuse to Read More
Synopsis: Single mother Betty Dixon has been savagely stabbed to death with a bollo knife. A lack of additional evidence makes it extremely difficult for Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to locate the perpetrator; all that is certain is that the killer is a madman. Ultimately, the detectives Read More
Synopsis: It's a personal matter for Joe Friday (Jack Webb) when his old army buddy Max Tyler (Harlan Warde) is arrested. Out of sympathy for Max's wife Dorothy (Elizabeth Fraser), Joe offers to look after the man's family while he is in prison. Dorothy returns the "favor" by helping Max escape just before Read More
Synopsis: The police department receives at tip that a war between two teenage gangs, the Orchids and the Pink Rats, is scheduled to begin within 48 hours. Knowing that both sides are well armed with stolen weapons, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) race against time to prevent the bloodshed. But Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) receive a frantic long distance call from the mother of a girl who had recently moved from Utah to L.A. The mother hasn't heard from her daughter in over a month--and when the two detective investigate, they find that the shower in the girl's apartment Read More
Synopsis: In a scenario that could as easily be set in the early 21st century as in the mid-20th century, a married couple driving a moving van has been robbing the houses of vacationing homeowners, pretending to have been hired by the occupants to remove the furniture in their absence. Checking out several Read More
Synopsis: In the 100th TV episode of Dragnet (albeit the 89th to be telecast), Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the disappearance of two little girls. Fortunately, both children are recovered and returned to their mother (Virginia Christine); unfortunately, there is evidence that the Read More
Synopsis: This time, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) "go Hollywood" to investigate a fatal accident at a movie studio. The victim was film director Henry Wilson, who was killed by a falling arc light. That the accident was no accident is proven when the detectives find a small piece of fabric Read More
Synopsis: Arriving at a medical building, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the disappearance of society matron Louise Marston. Filing the missing-persons report is Louise's husband, dentist Robert Marston (Whit Connor), who explains that he waited two weeks to notify the police of Read More
Synopsis: There's a lot more physical action than usual in this episode, in which Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) chase after an armed bandit with a history of successful jail breaks. In the course of events, the "perp" not only busts out of a county jail, but also an Army stockade. A fierce Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when Rose Baker, a no-good, slovenly "party girl", disappears. The last person to see Rose was her sister Bernice (Irene Tedrow), who has been taking care of Rose's four children. Several other people come forth with contradictory stories Read More
Synopsis: Two elderly women have been killed by a hit-and-run driver--and the lack of skid marks at the death scene indicates that the driver didn't even bother to slow down after striking his victims. Investigating, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) learn that the driver was a young blonde man Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when a young wife and mother (Frances Rafferty) claims that she and her husband had signed a year-long lease for an apartment--only to have landlord Edward Daniels (John Qualen) chase them off the property at gunpoint before they can even Read More
Synopsis: Representing the Homicide Division, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) arrive at the home of a Mr. Atkins, who has died of an apparent heart attack while having dinner with his family. Though Mrs. Prader (Elsbeth Hoffman) is distraught, the victim's mother-in-law Mrs. Atkins (Olive Read More
Synopsis: Things get personal for Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) when he finds out that honor student Gary Field (Ralph Votrian),the son of Joe's good friends Edward and Helen Field (Harry Bartell, Ralph Votrian), has become a heroin addict. At first sullen and uncooperative, the chastened Gary finally agrees Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigates the murder of shopkeeper John Wilford, whose bound-and-beaten body is found on the floor of his own haberdashery. At first it looks like robbery was the motive, but the victim's widow sends the detectives off on another trail when she Read More
Synopsis: A young man (Bob Crosson) identifying himself as Bruce Hamilton drags himself into an LA police station, battered and bruised. Questioned by Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander), the boy claims that he was prospecting in Mexico with his best friend Kevin Bradley when both of them were Read More
Synopsis: Erstwhile bookie Harry Lawrence (Paul Bryar) contacts Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) to inform them that a "bad cop" may be in their midst. A man identifying himself as police officer Ray Williams has been shaking down Harry and other bookies for hush money, and this story is Read More
Synopsis: Investigating a series of robberies, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) find out that off-duty patrolman Paul Eastman (Don Gibson) was spotted at the scene of the most recent crime--several minutes before it took place. Sure enough, it turns out that Eastman, a married man with children Read More
Synopsis: Someone has been forging checks and spreading them throughout the city. Once all the evidence is in, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) can't believe that the "perp" is a sweet little old lady, Mary Walker (Myra Marsh). She insists that he intentions were honorable--but when has that Read More
Synopsis: One sure sign that NBC's Dragnet was the most popular filmed dramatic series on TV during its third season was the number of satires and parodies of the program popping up on all manner of comedy and variety shows -- not to mention the release of the classic Stan Freberg 45 rpm record spoof, "St. Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the holdup of a liquor store. The thief is described as an old derelict, who apologized throughout the robbery. After dismissing one suspect as a harmless eccentric (he's writing a five-volume tome on the evils of the Machine Age), the Read More
Synopsis: In one of the most famous Dragnet episodes of all time, Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the theft of a statue of the Baby Jesus from a Catholic church, just before the first Christmas Mass. Father Rojas (Harry Bartell) explains that the doors of the church are Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are summoned to a church by a Reverend Small (Lawrence Ryle), who reports that one of his parishioners, Dorothy Wilson (Joyce McCluskey) has been receiving anonymous letters and phone calls, branding her a "sinner" and threatening dire consequences. Read More
Synopsis: Working out of Homicide, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are dispatched to an old rail yard, where a dazed young man (Sam Edwards) has been found hiding in an abandoned freight car, holding the body of a middle-aged woman in his arms. Though there are no signs of violence, it appears Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) are stymied by a series of well-planned safe burglaries, pulled off right under the authorities' noses. A clue provided by the owner of a fix-it shop turns out to be the latest in a long of false leads, but finally the investigation bears fruit when two Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when a "Jane Doe" is found dead of chloroform poisoning. It looks like a case of suicide until the victim's 16-year-old son (Jeff Stevens) identifies the woman, and reveals that she had been wearing an expensive necklace which is now Read More
Synopsis: This controversial episode (adapted from a Dragnet radio broadcast first heard on April 10 1952) finds detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) interrogating Mrs. Marjorie Lewis (Virginia Gregg), who insists that she came into possession of another woman's baby while she was sitting Read More
Synopsis: Rookie officer Russell Clark (Todd Karns) is accused of robbing and assaulting a drunken man at a prizefight arena. The alleged victim insists that Clark be prosecuted, threatening to go to the newspapers if justice isn't done immediately, With Clark on suspension and in police custody, detectives Read More
Synopsis: Robbery victim Arthur McKinley is found strangled with his own necktie in a dingy alley. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) find it odd that the well-dressed and apparently well-off McKinley would be hanging around in such a disreputable neighborhood. Suspects include a drunk, a store Read More
Synopsis: Investigating the murder of 50-year-old Charles Stahl, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) interview snappish motel manager Margaret Becker (Ellen Corby), who'd grown up with the victim. It turns out that Stahl was in the process of changing his will, possibly to favor a young girl with Read More
Synopsis: A twelve-block residential area has been targeted by an elusive thief who preys on small businesses. The thief's MO is a strange one; he follows no set pattern, and never steals more than five dollars' worth of merchandise. Detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) finally catch up Read More
Synopsis: It's business as usual for police detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) when two AWOL marines are robbed and poisoned (one fatally) in a cheap hotel. The chief suspect is an elusive fellow Marine known only as "Stubby", who'd provided what he referred to as "hangover pills" to Read More
Synopsis: Edith Curtis (Virginia Brissac) informs the police that her son Jeff has been murdered in his own home. Detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) cannot help but notice that Mrs. Curtis seems unusually calm about her son's death, chalking it up to "The Lord's will." Further Read More
Synopsis: There's no obvious motive when a police officer is killed in a drive-by shooting on the steps of his own house. But after Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) trace the "murder car" to a man named Hymie Flores (Paul Picerni), it becomes obvious that the killer was ex-con Jake Carver (Tony Read More
Synopsis: Operating out of the Bunco division, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) set their sights on a "lonely hearts" con artist. The criminal in question places newspaper ads for female companionship, then proposes to his victims, steals all their money, and skips town. Watch for versatile Read More
Synopsis: In this pivotal episode (written directly for television, with no previous radio version) Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate a series of robbery-assaults committed by a husband-and-wife team of criminals. The couple has been checking into various hotels, whereupon the woman Read More
Synopsis: While on Narcotics detail, Joe (Jack Webb) and Frank (Ben Alexander) takes a coffee break in the small bar where they plan to bust a heroin sale. Instead, the two detectives overhear a loud conversation in the next booth--a conversation that may well end up cracking an unsolved murder case in San Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) begin by investigating a series of truck hijackings, and end up with a strange case of "in-law trouble" on their hands. The perpetrator turns out to be truck driver, who had turned to crime merely to prove to his mother-in-law that he wasn't a failure. Read More
Synopsis: Acting on an anonymous tip, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the apparent beating death of Hazel Rockman. The woman's landlady and next-door neighbor offer evasive and contradictory evidence, suggesting that either Hazel was killed by her absentee husband, or that she Read More
Synopsis: An unidentified woman has been found strangled to death in a hotel room. The only clue to go on is the obvious that that the killer had extremely large hands. Investigating, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) end up asking several probing questions of elderly circus owner Al Morgan Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate the reported suicide of wealthy retiree Chester Dillon. Everyone who knew the man--including neighbor Lucille Banner (Susan Selby), who found the body--agrees that Dillon had been despondent over the death of his wife. However, this doesn't Read More
Synopsis: Based on a radio play first broadcast on March 15, 1951, this episode focuses on the relationship between Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and his partner, officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander). While investigating a robbery, Smith is shot and seriously wounded by suspect Jack B. Grant (Joe Cranston). As Read More
Synopsis: Leonard Gray (Paul Richards) contacts Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) to report the murder of his wife Hazel. In a somewhat garbled statement, Gray insists that Hazel was killed while both he and his best friend Earl Anderson (Kenneth Tobey) were drunk--and that he's worried that Anderson will accuse Read More
Synopsis: Eleven food markets have been held up in the past three weeks; there's clearly a pattern, but the police have trouble figuring it out. A break in the case finally comes when a young thief is caught in the act. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) think they've gotten their man--but the Read More
Synopsis: Joe (Jack Webb) and Frank (Ben Alexander) are assigned to probe the mysterious kidnapping of three infants in as many weeks, all of whom have been returned unharmed. Despite setting an elaborate trap involving undercover policewomen and "decoy" baby dolls, a fourth child vanishes. After dismissing Read More
Synopsis: In a break from tradition, the third-seasoner opener of Dragnet is not based on a radio broadcast, but was written specifically for television. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) suspect that drug dealers have broken into an experimental laboratory and stolen five white rats. But further Read More
Synopsis: The LAPD scours the city in search of "The Bull", vicious leader of a robbery gang. Although his henchmen have all been arrested and his criminal associates have shunned him, "The Bull" is still full of bravado, threatening to harm the family of detective Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) unless he is Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) go after a particularly vicious gang of con artists who prey on the grieving relatives of recently deceased servicemen. The crooks' M.O. involves scanning the obituary columns, then persuading the families of dead soldiers to spend huge amounts of money Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when the body of 21-year-old Helen Corday, who has been bludgeoned to death with a tire iron, is found in a vacant lot. Unfortunately, the only clue is the footprint of a very popular brand of tennis shoe. After several dead-end Read More
Synopsis: Working out of Missing Persons, Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when Martha Borg (Irene Tedrow) reports that her husband has disappeared. In the days that follow, the two detectives unearth considerable evidence that Mr. Borg has left on his own accord, fed up by his Read More
Synopsis: With only a book of matches as evidence, Joe Friday ($Jack Webb}) and Frank Smith (Ben Alexander) hope to capture a pair of vicious holdup men who specialize in beating their victims. After the elusive criminals have committed 24 crimes, the detectives finally get a viable lead, courtesy of Read More
Synopsis: Based on a radio episode first heard on February 8, 1951, this early Dragnet TV episode marks a turning point in the career of Lee Marvin, who with this one performance matriculated from bit player to star (though not as big a star as he'd be in later years). Marvin is cast as longshoreman Henry Read More
Synopsis: Sergeants Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips) investigate when an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie, are found dead in a rooming house--along with their pet parrot. Evidence indicates that the killer set fire to the Guthries' room to cover his tracks, using a homemade timing device Read More
Synopsis: Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) is invited to deliver a speech before a high school assembly, detailing the pitfalls of drug addiction. Ironically, once the speech is over, Friday must exercise his authority and arrest a baby-faced young dope addict (played by a decidedly pre-Adam 12 Martin Milner. Based Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) investigates the theft of $10,000 worth of medicinal narcotics from a Catholic Hospital. The trail of clues leads to movie bit player Leonard Castle (Whit Connor)--who, in a typically ironic touch, is currently acting in a B-picture called "Crime Report." Based on a radio Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) again teams up with Sgt. Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips) to investigate the seemingly unmotivated murder of a pretty young secretary. It takes some doing, but the two cops manage to follow the clues to a religious fanatic who has a morbid obsession with the month of September. This Read More
Synopsis: Based on a radio episode which first aired on November 9, 1950, this classic Dragnet TV episode finds Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and his temporary partner Sgt. Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips) investigating the disappearance of a newborn baby. It turns out that the infant was stolen by Mrs. Roberta Read More
Synopsis: Working undercover, Friday (Jack Webb) poses as a hit man, hired by Charles Stone (Vic Perrin) to kill Stone's wife (Helen Kleeb). Not unexpectedly, the killing doesn't take place and Stone is arrested--but there's a surprise in store for Friday, courtesy of the incredibly forgiving Mrs. Stone. Read More
Synopsis: In this TV adaptation of a Dragnet radio episode originally heard on June 28, 1951, Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips) are summoned to a cheap hotel, where the wife of elderly Mr. Turner is found dead under unusual circumstances. Turner tearfully insists that he awoke to find his Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Herb Ellis) investigate the trashing of a movie theater by a gang of teenagers. In typical Dragnet fashion, it turns out that the kids were all high on marijuana. Harold Everson Sr. (Willis Bouchey), the father of youthful drug pusher Hal Everson (Edwin Bruce) Read More
Synopsis: Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Frank Smith (here played by Herb Ellis) arrive at a hospital to investigate the discovery of a dead body in an elevator. The decedent is an unidentified woman in a wheelchair--and at the moment, there is no known cause for her death, nor any suspects. The detectives get Read More
Synopsis: This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of December 27, 1951, which was originally written to acknowledge the death of Jack Webb's costar Barton Yarborough. The TV version opens as Joe Friday (Webb) mourns the loss of his longtime partner Ben Romero (the role played by Yarbrough), who Read More
Synopsis: In the most controversial Dragnet episode to date, Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) must put off his Christmas vacation to investigate the disappearance of a boy named Stevie Martin. The missing youngster's best friend Stanley Johnstone (Sammy Ogg) tearfully comes forward, confessing that he has killed his Read More
Synopsis: In a curious "stolen identity" episode (based on a Dragnet radio program first heard on July 7, 1951), Friday (Jack Webb) investigates when old Mr. Grady (Anthony Jochim) thinks that he has been reunited with his grandson Donald. It turns out that there are several inconsistencies in the stories Read More
Synopsis: It's a tough shift for Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Herb Ellis) as they work the Accident Detail on the eve of the July 4th weekend. Out of dozens of traffic accidents, the two detectives focus on three "standouts". The first involves a bunch of teenagers (ages 12 through 16), all of whom are Read More
Synopsis: Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) is outraged when safecracker Conrad Buckley (Eddie Firestone) is acquitted by a jury on a technicality. Even though the case is officially closed, Friday and his partner Jacobs refuse to give up in their efforts to nail Buckley. There's only one thing to do: catch the Read More
Synopsis: Investigating the shooting death of Mrs. Marie Robertson, Friday and Jacobs are calmly assured by the victim's husband (Harry Bartell) that his wife committed suicide with his .45 automatic. Despite irrefutable evidence that the couple had violently quarreled just before the shooting, the two Read More
Synopsis: Familiar Dragnet supporting player Vic Perrin goes into his patented snivelling-weasel act as shady jeweler Ernest Garvey. Brought in for questioning after a big diamond robbery, Garvey strenuously protests his innocence to Sergeants Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips). But with Read More
Synopsis: Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips) put in a lot of long, hard hours to locate the hit-and-run driver who struck down pedestrian Sheila Gordon (Joyce McCluskey). The extra effort seems to have paid off when a man named Ralph Angelo is brought to trial. All that is needed to secure a Read More
Synopsis: Season Two of the original TV version of Dragnet begins with an episode adapted from a Dragnet radio program first heard on January 11, 1951. Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) is dispatched to a high-rise LA office building, where psychiatric patient Walter Harrison (Paul Richards) is threatening to Read More
Synopsis: Working out of Homicide, Friday (Jack Webb) and Jacobs (Barney Phillips) investigate the murder of Josephine Stevens, who was killed by a shotgun blast while sitting up in bed. The only witness to the crime is Mrs. Stevens' 7-year-old son, who though lying in the same bed with his mother was Read More
Synopsis: The television saga of Jack Webb's Dragnet (the original, black and white version, that is) began on December 16, 1951, with a film adaptation of a radio episode first heard on July 21, 1949. Sgt. Joe Friday (Webb) and his partner Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough) are summoned to Los Angeles City Read More
Actors: Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Paul Stewart, Jan Sterling, Jack Webb
Synopsis: Al Goddard, (Alan Ladd) special investigator for the U.S. post office, is assigned to collar two criminals who've murdered a postal detective. Goddard must first locate the only witness to the crime, attractive young nun, Sister Augustine (Phyllis Calvert). Posing as a crook, Goddard gains the Read More
Crew: Executive Producer, Show Creator
Actors: Jack Webb, Barton Yarborough, Barney Phillips, Ben Alexander, Henry Morgan
Synopsis: "The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." Thus began each and every episode of Dragnet, arguably the most famous police series in TV history. Originating in 1949 as a radio series, Dragnet was the brainchild of actor/producer/director Jack Read More
Actors: Jack Webb, Barton Yarborough, Barney Phillips
Synopsis: Tentatively added to NBC's Thursday-night schedule on alternate weeks in December of 1951, the TV version of the long-running radio cop series Dragnet soon not only matched the popularity of its radio predecessor, but surpassed it in spectacular fashion. Jack Webb, of course, starred in both the Read More
Actors: Gary Cooper, Jane Greer, Millard Mitchell, Eddie Albert, John McIntire
Synopsis: Gary Cooper stars in this broad naval farce, directed by Henry Hathaway and based upon a John W. Hazard New Yorker magazine story. Cooper plays Lieutenant John Harkness, a wet-behind-the ears naval lieutenant who is given command of his first ship. Unfortunately, not only is Harkness new to Read More
Synopsis: The surprise hit of the 1951-1952 TV season, the semi-documentary cop series Dragnet was renewed by NBC for a second season, this time on a weekly rather than bi-weekly basis. Returning to the fold was, of course, the series' producer/director/star, Jack Webb, as Sgt. Joe Friday of the LAPD. Read More
Actors: Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Robert Wagner, Jack Webb, Karl Malden, Reginald Gardiner, Richard Hylton
Synopsis: In Halls of Montezuma, Richard Widmark stars as Lt. Carl Anderson, a former schoolteacher who serves as a no-nonsense Marine officer during WW II. Anderson leads his patrol to a Japanese-controlled island, where the enemy has set up an experimental rocket base. The patrol's mission is to capture Read More
Actors: Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Don DeFore
Synopsis: Though he had previously appeared in David Bradley's film adaptation of Julius Caesar, Dark City marked Charlton Heston's first role in a major Hollywood production. Danny (Heston) and his pals Augie (Jack Webb), Soldier (Henry Morgan), and Barney (Ed Begley Sr.) set up a poker game to take Arthur Read More
Actors: Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb, Richard Erdman
Synopsis: Fred Zinnemann's sensitive film on the plight of paraplegic WWII veterans features Marlon Brando in his superbly moving screen debut. He plays Lt. Bud Wilozek, one of a group of veterans recovering in the paraplegic ward of a hospital in his hometown. His former fiancée, Ellen (Theresa Wright) Read More
Actors: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Fred Clark
Synopsis: Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard ranks among the most scathing satires of Hollywood and the cruel fickleness of movie fandom. The story begins at the end as the body of Joe Gillis (William Holden) is fished out of a Hollywood swimming pool. From The Great Beyond, Joe details the circumstances of Read More
Actors: Dana Andrews, Märta Torén, Stephen McNally, Jeff Chandler, Phillip Friend
Synopsis: Sword in the Desert is set in Palestine during World War II. Dana Andrews plays an American seaman engaged in smuggling European Jewish refugees into the Holy Land, despite the restrictions levied by the British occupation troops. Fifth-billed Jeff Chandler makes his movie debut as an Israeli Read More
Actors: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz, Leslie Brooks, John Qualen
Synopsis: John Muller (Paul Henreid), an intelligent, arrogant criminal who has been a medical student and a phony psychoanalyst, believes that people are only interested in themselves and do not notice what is happening around them. Paroled from prison to a boring job, Muller is more interested in a big Read More
Actors: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James B. Cardwell
Synopsis: The "He" of the title is Richard Basehart, a clever but psychopathic burglar (based on real-life criminal Erwin Walker) Basehart stays one step ahead of the law by listening in to the police band on his radio. To avoid detection, he changes his M.O. on each crime, making it seem that the string of Read More
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