The Original Mission Impossible Facts

In Memory 2011 Betty Driver

 Bett was nnearly 90 when she died, and had appeared in a round 3000 episodes of the Granada TV soap called Coronation Street. She pulled pints behind the bar, and fed the locals with Bettys Hot Pots to severtal generations. Never in the papers for being bad, and always looking good.

In Memory 2010: Alfred Burke Public Eye

From The Guardian

For 10 years, the actor Alfred Burke, who has died aged 92, starred as the downbeat private detective Frank Marker in the popular television series Public Eye (1965-75). The character was intended as a British rival to Raymond Chandler's American gumshoe Philip Marlowe. Tough, unattached and self-sufficient, Marker could take a beating in the service of his often wealthy clients without quitting. "Marker wasn't exciting, he wasn't rich," Burke said. "He could be defined in negatives."

An ABC TV press release introduced the character as a "thin, shabby, middle-aged man with a slightly grim sense of humour and an aura of cynical incorruptibility. His office is a dingy south London attic within sound of Clapham Junction. He can't afford a secretary, much less an assistant, and when he needs a car, he hires a runabout from the local garage."

Tall, sharp-featured, saturnine and with an incisive voice, Burke was perfectly cast as Marker. He thought up the character's name himself – originally the detective was to be called Frank Marvin. In 1972 the role brought him a Bafta nomination for best actor. The following year, Marker was voted the most compulsive male character in a TV Times poll.

Burke – who was always known as Alfie – was born in Peckham, south-east London, to Irish parents. His father, William, worked in a fur warehouse. He left school in 1933 to take a job as an office boy with a firm that specialised in repairing railway wagons. Soon afterwards he became a steward in a City club for businessmen, but left after an uncharacteristic dispute with a barmaid which ended with her squirting a soda siphon in his face.

On TV, he took roles in episodes of The Saint, The Avengers and Z Cars, as well as several editions of ITV's Play of the Week. In 1964 his own script, Where Are They Now?, written under the pen name of Frank Hanna, was produced as a Play of the Week. The following year, he slid into the arms of a welcoming public as Marker. In between starring in seven series of Public Eye, he had leading roles at the Leeds Playhouse in Luigi Pirandello's Henry IV, in 1970, and in Pictures in a Bath of Acid, as the writer August Strindberg, in 1971.

Burke enhanced his TV popularity with parts including the father in The Brontës of Haworth (1973), Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1977) and Major Richter, a German commandant in occupied Guernsey, in the series Enemy at the Door (1978). He portrayed Richter as essentially decent, despite the dire obligations of war.

After a recurring role in the series Sophia and Constance (1988), based on Arnold Bennett's novel The Old Wives' Tale, he continued to take small TV parts throughout his 70s and 80s. He had his highest-profile role for years when he appeared – albeit briefly – as Armando Dippet, the former Hogwarts headteacher, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).

He and Barbara had two sets of twins – Jacob and Harriet, and Kelly and Louisa – and they remained on good terms. He spent the last 25 years with Hedi Argent. They all survive him, along with 11 grandchildren.

In Memory 2011 Edward Hardwicke from Colditz

From BBC Site:

British actor Edward Hardwicke, known for playing a character based on real-life war hero Pat Reid in the BBC 1970s drama Colditz, has died aged 78.

Born in London, Hardwicke, the son of actors Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Helena Pickard, served in the RAF and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

In Memory DEAD in 2010: Jeff Conway

Jeff Conway was born in 1950, and became a household name in the 1970s with his portrayal in Taxi, where he won a Golden Globe Award. He left the series after the third series due in part to his drug problem.
He also appeared in Happy Days, Barnaby Jones,Mary Tyler Moore Show and Kojak. He later appeared in several series of Babylon 5 in the 90's.

Taxi won 18 Emmy Awards during the run.

In films he became a huge start in the film Grease and Pete's Dragon

Jeff died in May 2011 after his falling into a coma. His family decided there was no hope and his life support system was turned off.

Wombles Creator Dies

Elisabeth Beresford, the creator of The Wombles, has died, her family have announced.

Born in 1926, she passed away on Christmas Eve in the Mignot Memorial Hospital, in Alderney in the Channel Islands, according to her son.

Her creations featured in a series of books as well as a TV series. Many of the characters in the stories stemmed from her family.

In 1998 she was made an MBE, remarking: "The Queen's a mad Womble fan."

She served as a Wren during World War II before finding work as a ghost writer on BBC Radio's Woman's Hour.

In her spare time she wrote fiction, starting with romantic stories for women's magazines.

The Wombles books were inspired by a comment made by her daughter during a Boxing Day walk on Wimbledon Common.


The Wombles were hugely popular in the 1970s
In a November 2010 interview with BBC Guernsey, she described the moment: "Over Christmas I had to keep the children quiet as their grandparents were visiting, so on Boxing Day, after the grandparents left, we got in my car and went to Wimbledon Common.

"The three of us ran backwards and forwards screaming at the top of our voices and it was my daughter who said to me 'oh ma, isn't it great on Wombledon Common?' and I said 'That's where the Wombles live.'"

In Memory Robert Robinson

The UK in the 1970s, was dominated by this man . Both on TV and radio. He hosted the BBC Radio 4 news programme, and was better known to the kids of the 1970s as the TV quiz host to Ask The Family. This BBC1 series pitched one upper middle class family, against another. As simple as that.

He compared the long running TV word game Call my Bluff. This was compelling viewing in the 1970s, and had peak time slots. That could never happen now.

Although the programme catered for the elite contenders, it was all done very softly, with Robert being like a kindly headmaster at all time. He produced many documentaries in the 1970s, and also presented the news quiz Stop The Week.

Robert also presented the first years of the 1970s of the TV review programme Points of View.
Robert died at the age of 83.

TV Intros Of 1972

Today we have a selection of TV Intros from 1972, and its juts for fun.

So why not see how many of this old must see TV clips you can remember.

How did you do?

1)Temperatures Rising
2)Streets of San Francisco
3)Bridget Loves Bernie
4)Banacek
5)Fat Albert and Friends
6)The Delphi Bureau
7)Search
8)Longstreet

70s TV Barney Miller

US actor Steve Landesberg, who starred in US TV show Barney Miller, DIED IN 2011.

Landesberg played Detective Sgt Arthur Dietrich in the long-running 1970s programme and most recently appeared in 2008 film, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The actor also made guest appearances on a number of shows, including The Golden Girls and Saturday Night Live.

Commercial Break

Love them or hate them  the TV commercials of the must see TV from the 1970s are etched on our memories.

Its important to remember that unlike the TV programmes, that would travel to many territories in the world, most commercials were a little more local.

From the Beer to Tea.

Time for a chocolate to finish with,more must see TV commercials  soon.

The Day Elvis Died 1977

The 70s had some major news stories that were very global and must see TV. because of the use of new technologies like satellite and high quality video recordings, that delivered colour images to our homes. which has now become must see TV from the archives.

Here we cover the death of the" King "Elvis Presley, and how various news networks covered the death and funeral..

For me I was in a training centre for some exams and when ITN news told me the breaking news in the evening, everything stopped we all watched and hoped it was wrong.

When Elvis died he had a record in the charts, obviously it went straight to Number One.

 Here is "Way Down"

ELVIS PRESLEY IN MUSIC IN THE 1970S


Elvis Presley and John Lennon Interview 1975

Here is the News

Back now to the must see TV News of the 1970s, remember that in most places the News was a major thing to watch, as there was no internet and no 24 hour rolling News. So TV news across the world had presenters or anchors that became so famous, from regional to national.

Here are some 70s News clips from  WAGA TV in Atlanta.

More must see TV News clips including WXIA.

And finally

In Memory George Baker 2011

George Baker was British actor who was famous for the role of The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Wexford. But in the 1970s he was a very well known face in many classic TV series including the BBC I Claudius an epic TV series featuring the Roman empire no less. 

George was born in 1931 in and oplayed Tiberius in I Claudius, and also in the 1970s he played in Survivorsand the BBC comedy The Goodies.

Seventies TV Intros

Lets see how many must see TV opening themes from the 1970s you remember.

As you watch this video, keep this page open to see if you were right.

Click Here to start video 70S TV Themes
Clips
1.Dan August starring Burt Reynolds ran 1970 to 1971.
Also starred Richard Anderson who was a bigger name during his time in "The Six Million Dollar Man"

2. Bayon  starring Robert Forster ran 1972 to 1973.
Only fifteen episodes were ever made.

3.The Streets Of San Francisco starring Michael Douglas and Karl Malden (Died 2009) ran from 1972 ton 1977.

4. Police Story  with a huge range of stars including  Vic Morrow(Died in 1982 during filming of "The Twilight Zone"), Don Meridith, James Farentino and ran from 1973 to 1978.

5.Matt Helm starring again Tony Franciosa (Died 2006) and ran 1975 to 1976.

6.Search Control starring Doug McClure (Died 1995),Hugh O Brian, Burgess Meredith (Died 1997) and  Tony Franciosa (As above), the "Mission Impossible" style series ran 1972 to 1973.

7.The Persuaders starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis as two crime fighting lady killers, the series ran in 1971, but in US was pulled off the air during its run.

8.The New Avengers, following up from the sucess of the 60s "The Avengers", this series starred Patrick Macnee as "Steed" along with Gareth Hunt (Died 2007) and the beautiful Joanna Lumley, the series ran 1976 to 1977.

9.Serpico played by David Birney a  series from 1976 to 1977, and based on the real life character, the book and the film.

10.Baretta starring Robert Blake in the series that ran 1975 to 1978, the actor was charged with murder in 2002.

In Memory 2011 Harry Morgan

Harry died in December 2011 at the amazing age of 96, and had been on the small screens though out televisions golden era. He was a huge star in films and TV in the 1950s and 1960s including programmes like Dragnet.

As we entered the 1970s Harry was working even harder. In 1971 he was involved with a TV version of Ellery Queene, in which he played the part of Insp Queen.He starred in Emergency in 1972 and in that very same year he joined the MASH comedy series, and there he stayed for as long as the real Korean war actually ran.

He also starred in the Wild Wild West mini Series and even appeared in Roots in 1979.

Fawlty Towers

Another must watch TV show from the BBC in the UK, well even a must laugh comedy classic, that is still voted as one of the most successful comedies ever produced by the BBC. The title "Fawlty Towers" refers to  the name of the fictional hotel in Torquay, however it was based on a real hotel in Torguay that the Monty Python team stayed at. John Cleese was amazed by the owner of the hotel a Mr Donald Sinclair, who seemed to have behaved just like the charachter Bsil Fawlty. The guests were in the way, and everything was too much trouble. Donald died in 1981, but the show was a worldwide hit by then, and he knew the show was based on him.

John Cleese and his wife and co star Connie Booth, set out and wrote the first series of the show, both were taking a rest from the other huge cult show "Monty Pythons Fling Circus" and writing for ITV series "Doctor In The House" Fawlty Towers first show aired on BBC2 in 1975, and even now regularly is voted the best comedy ever in the UK.

Its hard to imagine that the first episodes script was rejected by the BBC at the time, they needed more non studio shots, which of course put production costs up, which forced Cleese to make TV commercials to earn, and those were some of the funniest commercials too.

Here are some clips from "Fawlty Towers.

Andrew Sachs died in 2016.

The Wedding Party
The Builders

Only six episodes were made in 1975, and because Cleese was unable to keep the scripts to 30 mins, so it became the first comedy series that had different running times each episode, its amazing that the BBC allowed it, because it called problems for the schedulers, and when sold to the US it was even more of a problem.

Series one won a BAFTA award in 1976, and numerous awards from the people over the years and kept it and keeps it today a must watch tv event..

Episodes of "Fawlty Towers" Series One
A Touch Of Class
The Builders
The Wedding Party
The Hotel Inspectors
Gourmet Night
The Germans

Each episode was non stop laughing, and the relationship between all the charachters jelled from the word go.

Perhaps the most classic clip from the first series came in "The Germans". Try not to laugh here it is.

Series two was delayed until 1979, partly because John Cleese and his wife Connie Booth had got divorced, but still were friends and managed to co write and develop the characters from series one.

Episodes Of Fawlty Towers Series Two.

Communication Problems

The Psychiatrist

Waldorf Salad

The Kipper And The Corpse

The Anniversary

Basil And The Rat

The second series was cut short because of a BBC strike, and also meant that the last episode was transmitted several weeks later. Even worse news, despite rumours of a missing episode and remakes, that was it. Fawlty Towers never opened its doors again, except for a reunion documentary in 2009.

The Main Cast

John Cleese, born John Marwood Cleese in 1939,  played Basil Fawlty and he started in the 70s in "Monty Pythons Flying Circus", he wrote for numerous comedy shows and even starred with Miss Piggy in "The Muppet Show". Some of the film credits in the 70s included "And Now For Something Completely Different","Monty Python And The Holy Grail" "Life Of Brian".

Prunella Scales, born Prunella Magaret Rumney Illingsworth in 1932, and played Basils wife Sybil. She appeared in many BBC programmes during the 70s including "Jackanory","The Big Job","BBC2 Playhouse".

Connie Booth, born 1944 and played the waitress Polly Sherman. Connie played also in "And Now For Something Completely Different", "Monty Pythons Flying Circus","Play For Today"in the 70s.

Andrew Sachs, born 1930 and played the Spanish waiter with a poor grasp of English. He also starred in the 70s in "Rising Damp","The Basil Brush Show","Are You Being Served".

Other stars came through the doors of Fawlty Towers to make oit such a comedy classic.

Here is John Cleese talking about "Fawlty Towers".

One more last clip to make you smile the rest of the day.

Mission: Impossible Opening Montage 3

The Partridge Family

Back in the 1960s there was an American family  pop group called The Coswills, it was this group that was the inspiration for Bernard Slade to come up with the successful series "The "Partridge Family" , the story of a family who sang around the house, and went on tour and had hits , well the fiction became real, as the success of the series spawned records actually being released, and becoming worldwide hits.

The series ran from 1970 to 1974 on ABC and was a worldwide hit, even I in the UK would love to see the show, also looking at America that looked so wonderful when you are a little kid, and the music was good too,



Here are just some of the shows songs that became real time hits.

The main cast

David Cassidy born 1950,played Kieth Douglas Partridge, and David's solo success gave him huge teen idol status with perhaps his most famous No1 record being "Daydreamer". .David as in fact the real life step son to his co start Shirley Jones in the show. See David in the charts in 1973.

Susan Dey born 1952 and named then Susan Smith, joined the show at the age of 17 and admitted to having a huge crush on David. She also starred in "S.W.A.T.", "Hawaii Five O" during the 70s and a few made for TV films too.

Danny Bonaduce born 1959 played Danny Partridge, he also released records but they got no where, and he even admitted his voice was not that strong at all.

Dave Madden born 1931 played the band manager Rueben Kincaid but was an established comedian having appeared in the classic "Rowan and Martin Laugh In" the year before. He appeared in so many shows in the 70s , so here is a glance at just some.

"Fantasy Island","Barney Miller","Love Boat","Starsky and Hutch" and "Happy Days".

Shirley Jones born 1934 played mum Shirley Partridge, she was already a long established actress and held an Academy award and starred in may 70s programmes including "The Bob Hope Show","McMillan and Wife" and "Yesterdays Child". Shirley appeared on stage in "The Sound Of Music" and "Sow Boat" during the 1970s.

Suzzane Crough played Tracey Partridge and the two actors Brian Foster and Jeremy Gelbwaks played Chris Partridge.

Land Of The Giants

This must watch tv shows classic Sci Fi series actually started airing in the US in 1968, but the original transmission carried on into 1970, so just meets our criteria for being a 70s Tv classic, infact the final nine episodes ran from January to March 1970 in the US. The programme follows the crew of Spindrift a ship that is taken off  its journey in 1983, to land in, a place that looks like it could be Earth, although its never really ever said for sure. Everybody and everything is Earth like, but so massive, that our crew and passengers struggle to survive in "The Land Of The Giants".

See The Land Of The Giants opening titles

This Irwin Allen production was a massive undertaking for the studios at the time, as there was no such thing as computer graphics, so everything was made  and built up in the studios, the  production costs broke records at the time, and the series was popular across the whole world, and spawned huge merchandising too, I remeber collecting my "Land Of The Giants" picture cards, and I think I also got a model of the spaceship from a cereal packet.

The cast really did have to climb, jump and more during the series, and  because of the huge costs involved, many of the sets and props were used repeatedly during the series as it was just impossible to keep costs in check. Watch Tv shows like this online, just check your browser, normally only available in the US.


The main cast.
Gary Conway, born in 1936, played the handsome Captain Stephen Burton in his immaculate red uniform, before that he starred in sixties TV thriller "Burkes Law". After the series, he appeared in a few made for TV films, and in odd episodes of Columbo in 1973, and Police Story in 1974 but from the public's point of view, that's the last we saw of him. 

Don Marshall, again born in 1936, played the co-pilot  Dan Erikson, a very athletic man, and a black character, that in one of the stories actually was on screen with Sugar Ray Robinson the boxer. After the show  he was in a handful of films, and again nothing on screenwise, but he did appear in episodes of "The Incredible Hulk" and "Buck Rogers In The 25th century".

Don Matheson, born 1929, played  Mark Wilson, Don himself was a Korean war veteran, he was super fit for the action man hero he played in the series. After the series ended he appeared in many 70s TV show including  "Emergency","Shaft , "Quest" and "The Waltons".

Kurt Kasznar, born 1913 in Austria, DEAD 1979, played the baddie with a soft heart, Alexander Fitzhugh who in real life became a firm friend of Stefan (Barry) from the series, Kurt was the real actor and had even earned a Golden globe nomination, and appeared in many blockbuster films through the 1950s and 1960s.
The actor was always in demand and played in classics during the 1970s like "The Virginian","McMillan and Wife","The FBI","Heres Lucy" and 2barnaby Jones". His last TV performance was in "Suddenly,Love" in 1978.

Stefan Arngrim, born in 1955, he played Barry Lockridge who was Alexanders friend in real life and in the TV series, Stefan was the "WILL ROBINSON" of the series.He went on to star in a handful of series in 1970s, but was more in work in 80s and 90s including "X Files".

Deanna Lund, born 1937, played Valerie Scott, and all the boys in my school thought she was so FAB.She went on to marry her co star Don Matheson, she also dated Larry King in the nineties!!! In the 1970s she also starred in "The Incredible Hulk", and "The Waltons" amongst a few others.

Heather Young,born as Patricia Paterson, played Betty Hamilton, but strangely in some episodes she never appeared and it was never explained where she was, it was infact because she was pregnant. Heather gave up acting, although did make a little come back in 1980.


See more clips of Land Of The Giants.

Jeff's Star Talk pay's Tribute to the Land of the Giants Interview with Don Matheson Part 1

MASH

Its real name for this must watch tv show, was M*A*S*H, which stands for  Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and  was originally a book by  Richard Hooker, real name H.Richard Hornberger (Died 1997 from Leukaemia),  he wrote the book after being a doctor in Korea during the war, which gave him the inspiration to write the book that in itself became a huge blockbuster film in 1972. The film starred Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould.

    

The 4077 MASH was transferred to TV by CBS in 1972, and was so successful it ran through to 1983, much much longer than the Korean War it was portraying and with the final episode getting more viewers than any other at the time 106 Million people. This must watch tv series followed the main character Hawkeye, played by the  brilliant Alan Alda for the whole  run.

   

The show as like a comedy and a drama, with you laughing so much in one scene, and in tears at the next scene thanks to the writing  and acting, and the subject matter that was still fresh in America with the Vietnam situation. In most of Europe and other territories there was NO laughter track, which the British Prefer, we find it annoying to be told when to laugh, but in America it had a  laughter track .

The theme to MASH was called "Suicide is Painless" by The Ventures, listen to whole record here and see the stars over all the episodes that became major household names.

   

                                         alan alada talks about mash


 The cast over all those years was huge, so we pick just some to highlight.

The main cast
Alan Alda,born 1936 in New York, played Hawkeye and  has 31 Emmy Award nominations, two Tony Award nominations and Six Golden Globe awards, the list goes on and on, with The Peoples Choice Wards being very prominent. He also had time in the 70s to appear in seven films,  and several TV specials while MASH was still in production.

Loretta Swit, born 1937 and the sexy lady in the series Major Margaret  Houlihan HOT LIPS, who often had romantic involvements with other lead characters, she also appeared in numerous 70s programmes including "A Man Called Ironside"(Ironside ) in the US and even starred in "Bonanza".

Jamie Farr, born 1934 and played the cross dressing  Corporal Maxwell Klinger, who was trying anything to get out of the 4077th, but was trapped there for the whole series, and even went on to star in the 80s spin-off "After MASH"

William Christopher, born 1932 played Father Francis Mulchay who in the series lost his site, and was prone to helping Hawkeye with plans to help humanity. Also appeared in "Colombo" and"Alias Smith and Jones".

Gary Burghoff, born 1943 and played the part of Radar, which he also played in the 1972 film, he was the one who ran the office and appeared to have knowledge of what everybody wanted in advance before they even knew it themselves. He even made an appearance in "Wonder Woman".

Harry Morgan, born 1915 played  Colonel  Sherman Potter, and he won two Emmys  for the part. Being an older guy, he was already established in film and TV, including the 60 s series "Dragnet". and through the 70s he also starred in "The DA".

Mike Farrell,born 1939 and played Captain BJ Hunnicut, he also starred in "Harry O","Marcus Welby MD" and "The Six Dollar Man"  in the 70s., and in later life was a film producer too.

David Ogden Stiers, born  in 1942 played Major Charles Winchester who was brought in to replace Mike Farrell character when he left the series, and he did very well as the pain in the ass to Hawkeye. He already had been in the series twice as an uncredited actor, and now as then he works in so many TV programmes it would take five pages to write them all down. So in the 70s we list only a few, including "Kojak","Charlies Angels","Rhoda,"Mary Tyler Moore Show", and "The Paper Chase" and later in life David admitted he was gay.

Larry Linville, born 1939,DIED 2000,played the weak and scheming  Major Frank Marion Burns. He starred also in "Barnaby Jones","The Rockford Files" and "CHIPS".

Wayne Rogers also played Trapper John, and  Mclean Stephenson played Henry Blake. died 1996.

More scenes from MASH