M Squad
1957 American TV crime drama
M Squad is an American crime drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. It was produced by Lee Marvin's Latimer Productions and Revue Studios. Its main sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during many episodes. Alternate sponsors were General Electric (GE), Hazel Bishop and Bulova watches.
01Synopsis
Set in Chicago, Illinois, the show starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption and violent crimes citywide. Paul Newlan co-starred as his boss, Captain Grey. Although Marvin had been appearing in feature films since 1951, it was this series that made him a star, and he later went on to an even bigger film career afterward. Nelson Case was the announcer. The popularity of M Squad was proven in the ratings wars by the NBC network choosing a Friday night time slot opposite ABC's The Frank Sinatra Show in the fall of 1957 and Phil Silvers' long running CBS comedy, Sgt. Bilko, in 1958. Both series were eventually cancelled.
02Music
The theme music for the first season was composed by Stanley Wilson, who was nominated for the 1959 Grammy Award for the Best Soundtrack Album and Background Score from Motion Picture or Television. In the second and third seasons, the new theme was composed by Count Basie.
A soundtrack album, Music from M Squad, with liner notes by Lee Marvin, was released by RCA Victor Records in 1959 during the last season of the show.
03Home media
Timeless Media Group released M Squad: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on November 11, 2008. This release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On November 4, 2014, Timeless Media re-released the complete series on DVD in a new 16-disc special edition collection that contains an entire disc of bonus content.
04Episodes
05Guest stars
- Mary Adams
- Roscoe Ates
- Jimmy Baird
- Whitney Blake
- Joanna Barnes
- Rayford Barnes
- Charles Bateman
- Russ Bender
- Chet Brandenburg
- Charles Bronson
- Paul Burke
- Terry Burnham (2 episodes)
- Robert Burton
- King Calder
- Robert Carricart
- Bill Cassady
- James Chandler
- Sidney Clute
- Fred Coby
- Mike Connors
- Russ Conway
- Walter Coy
- James Coburn
- Francis De Sales
- Angie Dickinson
- Don Dubbins
- Michael Emmet
- Joe Flynn
- Richard Garland
- Robert Griffin
- Alan Hale Jr.
- Ron Hayes
- Bern Hoffman
- Clark Howat
- Robert Karnes
- Warren J. Kemmerling
- Don Kennedy
- Werner Klemperer
- Robert Knapp
- Rusty Lane
- Tom Laughlin
- Norman Leavitt
- Ruta Lee
- Dayton Lummis
- Ken Lynch
- Herbert Lytton
- DeForest Kelley
- Nan Leslie
- Dayton Lummis
- Rose Marie
- Walter Maslow
- Carole Mathews
- Tyler McVey
- Joyce Meadows
- Joseph Mell
- Sid Melton
- John Mitchum
- Ed Nelson
- Leonard Nimoy
- J. Pat O'Malley
- Michael Pataki
- Robert Patten
- Joe Ploski
- Mike Ragan
- Tom Reese
- Burt Reynolds
- Don Rickles
- Janice Rule
- Penny Santon
- Frank J. Scannell
- George Selk
- Barbara Stuart
- Mary Treen
- Virginia Vincent
- Ralph Votrian
- H. M. Wynant
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “M Squad”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Lee Marvin 1959.JPG by NBC Television, Public domain
- Lee Marvin M Squad.JPG by NBC Television, Public domain
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