Ironside (1967–1975)

Wheelchair-bound detective Robert T. Ironside battles the bad guys on the streets of San Francisco.

Creator:

Collier Young

Stars:

Raymond Burr, Don Galloway, Don Mitchell

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 2 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Raymond Burr	...	Robert T. Ironside (196 episodes, 1967-1975)
Don Galloway	...	Det. Sgt. Ed Brown (196 episodes, 1967-1975)
Don Mitchell	...	Mark Sanger (196 episodes, 1967-1975)
Barbara Anderson	...	Officer Eve Whitfield (106 episodes, 1967-1971)
Elizabeth Baur	...	Fran Belding (89 episodes, 1971-1975)

Storyline

Ironside is confined to a wheel chair (an attempted assassination left him paralyzed). With his former assistants Brown and Whitfield (later Belding) and former delinquent (and later lawyer) Mark, he combats crime for the San Francisco police from his mobile office (a van) while leaving a pot of chili cooking back at headquarters.

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Plot Keywords:

police | policewoman | wheelchair | van | 1960s | 

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Taglines:

The chief of detectives!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Raymond Burr Show

Filming Locations:

Holiday Inn Select Downtown Hotel - 750 Kearny Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harbour Productions Unlimited, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (199 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

In many of the early episodes, Ironside and his team would drive around in an armored car. However, during the second season they replaced it with his more familiar van.

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Quotes

Robert T. Ironside: I... LIKE... burned toast.

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Connections

Referenced in Der Kopp (1999)

User Reviews

Great detective series

I purchased the complete first season not knowing what to expect out of this old TV show. I was pleasantly surprised because the writing and acting is quite well done. Raymond Burr, like some other actors features a screen presence and charisma that are shared by very few people nowadays. This TV show is no exception -- Raymond Burr was good at playing the character where he was tough as nails on the outside, but a marshmallow on the inside. A particularly good episode showing this talent is "Officer Bobby" from the first season. There is also a fair amount of humor in the script, and it comes across very nicely. The only really "dated" thing about the show is Barbara Anderson's hair -- nowadays it looks really funny.

What impressed me partly was how beautiful San Francisco was in 1967. In every episode, they show a portion of San Francisco, and it is stunning! Very different from Columbo or other 70s TV shows that show Los Angeles. Los Angeles is ugly. Every single shot of San Francisco is breathtaking in this series.

Plus, there are some VERY famous guest stars in the first season. One is a household word by now. I won't spoil it for you who have not watched these yet. Overall, an excellent series. Highly recommended, even for kids.