Barbara Bain Movies

Oilman Charles Houston (Byron Palmer) might have gotten away with murdering his wife had he not be "captured" on film by cagey wildlife photographer Robert Byrd (Harry Jackson). Before long, Houston is being blackmailed, and to add to his problems his sister-in-law Paula (Lori March) has been depleting his oil profits. It could be that Paula is also mixed up with blackmail--but before anything else can be revealed, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) must save Paula from the gas chamber after she is discovered in a locked room with Houston's corpse! Watch for a young, pre-Mission: Impossible Barbara Bain in a key supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scheming Harvey Scott (Tom Tully) has managed to regain control of his mining company while his nephew Rick (Henry Brandt) was in Acapulco, recuperating from an accident. To make certain that Rick doesn't return to the States to restake his claim on the company, Harvey orders his nephew's lovelorn niece Joanna (Anne Whitfield) to keep him occupied in Mexico. Eventually Rick tumbles to this scheme and heads to LA for a showdown. But when Harvey is killed, Rick is nowhere to be found--and Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) finds himself defending poor Joanna on a murder charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mercenary anarchist Imry Rogosh (Fritz Weaver) has concocted a scheme to kill off most of the population of Los Angeles. With only 36 hours at their disposal, the IMF must "break" the unbreakable Rogosh to uncover his plans. Their strategy hinges upon convincing Rogosh that he has been imprisoned in his own country--two years after his arrival in L.A. Originally telecast on October 1, 1966, "Operation Rogosh" was written by Jerome Ross. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lloyd Bridges guest-stars as Anasta Poltroni, heads of an international drug ring. Under the alias of Ted Carson, Poltroni has avoided prosecution by finding sanctuary in a country that has no extradition treaty with United States. To lure Poltroni out of hiding, the IMF concocts a characteristically elaborate scheme which requires Cinammon and Briggs to pose as a married couple. Watch for the Lincoln convertible that is destroyed in the course of the episode: the car belonged to Lucille Ball, head of the Desilu studio where Mission: Impossible was filmed. First broadcast on December 3 1966, "Fakeout" was written by Leigh Chapman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The IMF journeys to the Free World country of Valeria, where an election is about to be held. The police-controlled Nationalists intend to rig the votes so that they will emerge triumphant over the Liberty Party. The agents' mission is to "unfix" a crucial voting machine that has been tampered with by the Nationalists. Tension mounts as Cinnamon is targetted for surveillance by the police and Barney is shot in a skirmish. Written by Laurence Heath, "Wheels" was originally seen on October 29, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

IMF agents Rollin and Cinnamon are assigned to an Iron Curtain nation, where they hope to retrieve a reel of recording wire containing details of an enemy chemical-warfare project. To avoid detective, Rollin poses as dockworker, while Cinnamon impersonates a news photographer. Finding the reel is the "easy" part: The problem now is to get the wire out of the country, which is festooned with agents from a variety of unfriendly countries. Written by Ellis Marcus, "A Spool There Was" first aired on November 12, 1966. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Returning from a much-needed vacation, Briggs is asked to take his Impossible Missions Force to the South American dictatorship of Santa Costa. General Rio Dominguez has gotten hold of two nuclear warheads and locked them in the impenetrable vault of the Hotel Nacionale. Briggs' mission--should he decided to accept it--is to remove the warheads, and, hopefully, discredit Dominguez. Fortunately, IMF agent Rollin Hand bears a striking resemblance to Dominguez; equally fortunate is the fact that Briggs has enlisted the aid of master safecracker Terry Targo (Wally Cox). First telecast September 17 1966, the inaugural episode of Mission: Impossible was written by series producer Bruce Geller, who won an Emmy Award for his efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Part Two of "Old Man Out," the IMF is still posing as a carnival troupe: Briggs as a mind reader, Cinnamon as his assistant, Willy as a strongman, Barney as a clown, and freelance agent Crystal Walker (Mary Ann Mobley) as a high-wire artist and Rollin as a light-fingered roustabout. It is all part of a plan to rescue Iron Curtain freedom fighter Cardinal Vossek (Cyril Delevanti) from a high-security Balkan prison. The plan hits a snag when Vossek is moved to solitary confinement. The solution to this crisis may well rest in the curious calliope tune which is heard over and over throughout the episode. Written by Ellis Marcus, Part Two of "Old Man Out" was originally broadcast on October 15, 1966.
October 15 1966.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season one of Mission: Impossible finds Steven Hill heading the cast as Dan Briggs, head of the top-secret Impossible Missions Force. Issued instructions at the outset of each episode by that famous "self-destructing" tape recorder, Briggs proceeds to select the IMF operatives best suited to the covert assignment at hand. There are three "permanent" members of the team during season one: versatile femme fatale Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), electronics expert Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and muscle man Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus). As originally conceived, the fourth member of the team, master of disguise Rollin Hand (played by Martin Landau, then the husband of Barbara Bain) was supposed to have been an infrequent guest star, but audience response was so positive to Rollin that Landau ended up a series regular. However, there are instances during season one in which a guest actor is recruited by Dan Briggs for a specific assignment, notably Wally Cox in the opening episode, Eartha Kitt in the episode "The Traitor," and Mary Ann Mobley in the two-parter "Odd Man Out." In the course of the IMF's first year on the air, the team steals a pair of nuclear warheads possessed by a Latin American despot; convinces an enemy agent (Fritz Weaver) on a deadly mission that he has been in a coma for two years; thwarts the development of a plague virus by posing as spy trainees in a replicated American town somewhere behind the Iron Curtain; foils the scheme of a Communist filmmaker to fake a documentary depicting American atrocities in Indochina; infiltrates a group of neo-Nazis bent on creating a Fourth Reich; creates a phony 27,000-carat diamond in order to oust a greedy African dictator; and rigs a high-stakes poker game to retrieve a cache of secret government documents. Although Mission: Impossible's ratings were good during its inaugural season, the series never cracked the Top 30, prompting CBS to move the show from Saturday evenings to Sundays in season two. However, the series managed to win three Emmy awards, for Outstanding Actress (Barbara Bain), Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama (Bruce Geller), and even for Outstanding Dramatic Series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the second half of the two-part Mission: Impossible adventure "The Slave", the IMF force has kidnapped Amara (Antoinette Bower), the niece of corrupt Elkabaran King Ibn Borca (Joseph Ruskin), Fasar (David Mauro), and sold her into slavery. It is all part of a plan to end the slave trade in Elkabar, and to topple Borca from power. Crucial to the scheme is Cinnamon's masquerade as a potential slave and Phelp's pose as a trader. Originally telecast October 15, 1967, Part Two of "The Slave" was written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Promising to smuggle wealthy Eastern Europeans across the Iron Curtain, banker Alfred Belzig 9James Daly) lures the hapless escapees to their deaths, then deposits the victims' money in his own bank to finance a neo-Nazi party. The IMF hopes to put Belzig out of business permanently by stealing his $3 million nest egg from his safety deposit box. Assisting the agents this time out is Paul Lebarre (Pierre Jalbert, a convicted bank robber who may not be entirely trustworthy. Originally telecast October 1 1967, "The Bank" was written by Brad Radnitz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of Mission: Impossible came to a close with the April 22, 1967 episode "The Psychic." Some valuable NATO secrets have been appropriated in a hostile corporate takeover by ruthless industrialist Alex Lowell (Barry Sullivan). The IMF heads to South America, where Lowell has relocated in hopes of selling the documents to the highest bidder. With Cinammon posing as a psychic, the other IMF agents lure Lowell into a cleverly rigged high-stakes poker game. Written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Baltar, "The Psychic" marked Steven Hill's final appearance as IMF head Dan Briggs.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Under the guise of an LSD addict, US secret agent Vincent Deane (Jacques Denbeaux) has managed to hide some top-secret information in one of his "doped" sugar cubes. Unfortunately, Deane is arrested and placed in a Communist-controlled rehabilitation clinic. Posing as Deane's wife, Cinnamon infiltrates the clinic, hoping to retrieve the cube, while Rollin, impersonating Deane's contact, has himself arrested and placed in the selfsame clinic. Veteran Czech character actor Francis Lederer appears as Brobin. Written by William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, "A Cube of Sugar" first aired on April 1 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide