Ellery Queen (1975–1976)

The son of a police detective solves baffling crimes.

Stars:

Jim Hutton, David Wayne, Tom Reese

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jim Hutton	...	Ellery Queen (23 episodes, 1975-1976)
David Wayne	...	Inspector Richard Queen (23 episodes, 1975-1976)
Tom Reese	...	Sgt. Thomas Velie (22 episodes, 1975-1976)

Storyline

The third TV adaptation of the adventures of super-sleuth Ellery Queen, this time set during the 1940s. Queen was a mystery writer who assisted his father, a detective with the New York Police Department, in solving murders. Sgt. Velie was Inspector Queen's assistant and Simon Brimmer a rival detective. Queen's methods were arcane and intellectual rather than action oriented, and he always astounded his father by arriving at a correct solution by purely deductive reasoning. In this version, just before he revealed his solution to the crime, Queen always turned to the camera and asked the TV audience if they had figured out the identity of the killer yet -- they had all the clues -- because he was about to reveal the correct killer as we met the entire slew of suspects in one room for the ending.

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Plot Keywords:

detective | clues | murder | father son relationship | sergeant | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Family | Mystery

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 September 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Ellery Queen

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fairmont/Foxcroft Productions, Tom Ward Enterprises, Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (22 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Broke the fourth wall when Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton) turned to the camera and listed the significant clues before he gathered everyone together and solved the murder.

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Quotes

Lorelei Farnsworth: But I don't understand why Roger killed him.
Inspector Richard Queen: [Roger has a pushy wife] Must have been something he married.

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Connections

Referenced in Secret Window (2004)

User Reviews

"Have you figured it out yet?"

And thus we approach the wrap-up for another Ellery Queen mystery. This direct audience involvement was just one of the great touches in this all-to-brief series. "You have all the clues..." Well - yes and no. For example, it might have helped to know that, in 1940's Manhattan, telephone numbers were 6 digits long, not the 7 digits we knew in the 70's, so the victim was REALLY dialing...(I won't give it away). OTOH, I had to stop reading TV Guide when I watched this show. This was back in the days when TV Guide had to stretch to fill pages, so they not only gave story synopses, they printed Guest Cast lists for network series. But unfortunately it seemed that The Killer was always listed first in the Guest Cast (or second if the victim was first.) And that was a clue that even dear Ellery lacked!