Harry O

[Mark Giardina]

I wish the folks at Me-TV would air "Harry O."

This was a unique series that was only cancelled because Fred Silverman favored airing "Charlie's Angels" and thus dumped Harry O despite the fact that the program had decent ratings.

After the cancellation David Janssen was reportedly so upset with Silverman that he vowed never to do another regular TV series. Fate played a hand since Janssen died just a few years after the show was cancelled.

 

[BD Sullivan]

I wish the folks at Me-TV would air "Harry O."

This was a unique series that was only cancelled because Fred Silverman favored airing "Charlie's Angels" and thus dumped Harry O despite the fact that the program had decent ratings.

After the cancellation David Janssen was reportedly so upset with Silverman that he vowed never to do another regular TV series. Fate played a hand since Janssen died just a few years after the show was cancelled.

Janssen was also critical of TV in general, saying that fear of boycotts by organized groups were helping to water down material.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Janssen was also critical of TV in general, saying that fear of boycotts by organized groups were helping to water down material.

If he had lived I wonder what Janssen would have thought of today's television?

Of the four TV series he starred in (Richard Diamond, The Fugitive, O'Hara US Treasury, and Harry O) only O'Hara was cancelled after one season.

I read that he (Janssen) was a workaholic thus he spent time making movies and also wanted to get back on television. But the dispute with (Fred) Silverman finally pushed Janssen towards just concentrating on large screen roles.

 

[ajmcwhorter]

The series is on DVD now.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Janssen was also critical of TV in general, saying that fear of boycotts by organized groups were helping to water down material.

If he had lived I wonder what Janssen would have thought of today's television?

Of the four TV series he starred in (Richard Diamond, The Fugitive, O'Hara US Treasury, and Harry O) only O'Hara was cancelled after one season.

I read that he (Janssen) was a workaholic thus he spent time making movies and also wanted to get back on television. But the dispute with (Fred) Silverman finally pushed Janssen towards just concentrating on large screen roles.

After Harry O, he had a development deal with CBS that paid him well for a year or so, but nothing ever came from it. He had no problem bouncing back and forth between TV and feature films, but seemed to pop up more often on the small screen.

The workaholic tag seems to fit, since he was doing about five films a year--though his ego was in check such that he didn't care if it was in a supporting role. That heavy workload and his equally heavy smoking habit might have hastened his death at 48.

At the time of his death, he was doing some post-production work (looping some lines) on the Moonie-funded movie "Inchon," and had just started a TV movie on the legendary leper priest, Father Damien. His reason for working on Inchon was the chance to work with Laurence Olivier. There was some talk of Rich Little coming in to dub the rest of his lines, but because it took another few years before the movie came out, Janssen's role and scenes were chopped out altogether. Following his death, Ken Howard replaced him as Father Damien.

 

[Mark Giardina]

The workaholic tag seems to fit, since he was doing about five films a year--though his ego was in check such that he didn't care if it was in a supporting role. That heavy workload and his equally heavy smoking habit might have hastened his death at 48.

It also didn't help that, according to published stories, that Janssen was known for excessive drinking (which didn't affect his work it should be noted).

I also read he enjoyed recreational drugs too....but again who knows if those stories are true?

But if they are true then that might have contributed to his early demise.

 

[LKellerIII]

The workaholic tag seems to fit, since he was doing about five films a year--though his ego was in check such that he didn't care if it was in a supporting role. That heavy workload and his equally heavy smoking habit might have hastened his death at 48.

It also didn't help that, according to published stories, that Janssen was known for excessive drinking (which didn't affect his work it should be noted).

I also read he enjoyed recreational drugs too....but again who knows if those stories are true?

But if they are true then that might have contributed to his early demise.

I had never heard one way or the other about Janssen's alleged drug use, but it was certainly a myth in those days that recreational drugs were mostly done by disaffected young people. And by his death (1980), cocaine was a popular drug among the Hollywood establishment.

 

[BD Sullivan]

The workaholic tag seems to fit, since he was doing about five films a year--though his ego was in check such that he didn't care if it was in a supporting role. That heavy workload and his equally heavy smoking habit might have hastened his death at 48.

It also didn't help that, according to published stories, that Janssen was known for excessive drinking (which didn't affect his work it should be noted).

There used to be a clip on YouTube of Janssen on a 1976 Tonight Show, in which he had just gotten back from Japan and looked/sounded like he had (more than?) a few drinks on the plane.