Shirley O'Hara Movies

Quincy (Jack Klugman) receives an urgent call from his friend Rosey Grier (playing himself), who is currently running Giant Step, a city-funded remedial program for delinquents. One of Grier's charges, troubled teenager Victor Garn (Todd Davis), has been accused of murdering an old man, and the program is in danger of being closed down. Rosey hopes that Quincy can prove the boy's innocence: trouble is, Quincy has already signed off on the case and established the boy's guilt. The challenge now is to establish that Victor is not a murderer, but instead acted in self-defense. This episode was originally scheduled to air on December 23, 1977. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though not readily apparent, Flight to Holocaust is the feature-length pilot film for a potential TV series. Crashing into the side of a high-rise building, an airplane is precariously wedged in the structure's 20th floor. Dispatched to rescue the survivors are a team of acrobatic troubleshooters, played by female circus performer Fawne Harriman and combat veterans Chris Mitchum, Patrick Wayne, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Paul Williams. As can be gathered by a perusal of the cast list, the film's gimmick was the presence of three second-generation Hollywood stars. After the initial telecast of Flight to Holocaust on March 27, 1977, NBC invited viewers to mail in their opinions of the film. Evidently the verdict was unanimous, since no weekly series resulted. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Officer Dan Segal (Robert Drivas) makes it his mission in life to avenge the death of his gambler brother (Harry Davis), who was murdered by a professional hit man. In order to expose the "brains" behind the murder, Segal goes undercover, posing as a bookie and infiltrating an unusually nasty gambling ring. Featured in the cast is the late Claudia Jennings, the well-proportioned leading lady of many an R-rated action flick of the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After a hard day in the field, John (Randolph Mantooth) returns to his bunk at the station, only to find that it has become the new home of a stray cat and her kittens. This week's emergency roster includes an old codger who is stuck in the bear trap he'd set to capture a thief; a burning airplane, with two passengers trapped inside; a gas leak at an elementary school; a near-fatal boating mishap; and a really bad case of stage fright. Virginia Gregg, a loyal member of producer Jack Webb's "stock company", appears as Zelda Zack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Michael Callan guest stars as Harry Springer, an otherwise honest salesman who becomes an amateur extortionist. Actually, Springer's intentions are honorable: He intends to save his brother from a trumped-up murder charge by putting the heat on Alexander York (Simon Scott), prosecution witness whom Harry suspects of being the real killer. Unfortunately, Springer gets in way over his head--and as a result, it's likely that not even Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) can save the salesman from a Mob rub-out. In a rare TV appearance, film favorite Laraine Day is cast as the murder suspect's wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Now using the alias "Paul Keller", Kimble (David Janssen) gets a job at a carnival with the help of pretty Tina Andresen (Joanna Pettet). Unfortunately, Tina's uncle Harry (Andrew Duggan) is a retired detective with a very suspicious mind. . .and he's certain he's seen Kimble's face somewhere before. Having falling in love with the fugitive, Tina offers to help him escape--only to reveal herself as a dangerous psychotic when Kimble refuses to take her along with him. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A mysterious hulking figure prowls a university campus at night and yanks the door off of a locked storage room to steal chemicals -- a guard spots the intruder but before he can react, the man knocks him cold and kills him, carrying the body as if it weighed nothing. The police investigation, led by Lt. Branch (James Doohan), can't figure out how the door was removed or the guard was asphyxiated -- and the materials that were stolen are fairly mystifying as well, chemicals used in experiments with consciousness-expanding ("CE") drugs. Dr. Peter Wayne (Keith Andes), the head of the drug experimentation program, and his associate (and brother-in-law) Dr. Roy Clinton (Skip Homeier), insist that there's nothing missing that was worth a burglary, much less a murder, but the lieutenant insists on checking out a possible connection between the crimes and a group of students and faculty members who were previously dismissed from the university for their CE experiments. This leads to new puzzlements -- including a man (Aki Aleong) who turns up, seemingly dead, for no apparent reason -- and the murder of a philanthropist associated with the university, apparently committed by a man that no one except Dr. Wayne remembers seeing. And of what significance is one student's claim that he saw Dr. Clinton on campus, at the science building, on the night of the burglary, which Clinton insists can't be true? Or Clinton's suggestion that CE drugs may be at work on others around them, affecting their judgement and their abilities? The story poses lots of questions, as well as momentarily waxing poetic on the potential of consciousness-expansion, and then answers them very slightly too early and quickly, in this otherwise eerie and suspenseful mystery. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Charles Bronson guest stars as Henry Grey, a mother-dominated farmer who hopes to escape his miserable existence by wedding a Greek mail-order bride named Callie (Chana Eden). Unfortunately, Callie is claimed by another man, a tough customer named Rud Saxon (George Kennedy). It falls to Paladin (Richard Boone) to straighten out Henry's romantic travails--and, hopefully, to cut the man loose from his mother's apron strings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Heading towards Johnsonville, Paladin (Richard Boone) comes across a young woman named Kathy Rousseau (Pippa Scott), who is burying something along the road. That "something" turns out to be Kathy's fiancee, who was murdered by a jealous rival. The guilty party is ruthless town boss Leander Johnson (Werner Klemperer, minus his Hogan's Heroes German accent), who controls everything in Johnsonville including the local constabulary--meaning that justice for Kathy will have to be meted out by Paladin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Seeking emotional and financial security, young Elisa Minden (Antoinette Bower) marries the wealthy, and considerably older, Sir Humphrey J. Orford (Michael Rennie). Before long, however, Elisa has reason to regret her decision -- especially when evidence surfaces indicating that Sir Humphrey, a widower, used torture to keep his first wife from cheating on him. But this is nothing compared to the double-barrelled shock Elisa receives upon meeting an ominously silent woman named Flora (Shirley O'Hara). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The mother (Shirley O'Hara) of young cavalryman Henry Carver (Larry Pennell), who has deserted his post and escaped into the Black Hills with his girlfriend Becky (Susan Cabot), hires Paladin to locate her errant son. Following Carver's trail, Paladin comes across several ominous clues that there is more to the situation than a mere missing-persons case. Tipping off the climax of the story is the fact that the events occur around the same time as a rather well-known military skirmish in June of 1876. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Directed with his usual dry wit by the talented and underrated Harry D'Arrast, Gentleman of Paris was based on a short story by Roy Horniman. Adolphe Menjou stars as the Marquis de Marignan, an unabashed womanizer who spends the better part of his life escaping the wrath of outraged husbands. The Marquis is regularly rescued from disaster by Joseph (Nicholas Sousannin), his faithful valet. But when it appears as though his boss has been dallying with his own wife, the valet cooks up a scheme to publicly humiliate the Marquis by "exposing" him as a card cheat. The ruse works, but the wily Marquis manages to have the last laugh by faking his own suicide and returning to "haunt" the hapless valet into confessing his ruse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi