Life, Liberation and the Pursuit of Death (26 Oct. 1975)

A psychology professor is killed by one of two of his students who wanted to blackmail him into giving them higher grades. A woman witnesses the student as he throws the professor's body ... See full summary »

Director:

Nicholas Sgarro

Writers:

Abby Mann (creator), Gene R. Kearney,

Stars:

Telly Savalas, Dan Frazer, Kevin Dobson

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Telly Savalas	...	Lt. Theo Kojak
Dan Frazer	...	Capt. Frank McNeil
Kevin Dobson	...	Det. Bobby Crocker
George Savalas	...	Det. Stavros
Joanna Miles	...	Miss Lorelei Mason
William Katt	...	Carey Nysrom
Jim Borrelli	...	Bob Viliano
Robert Carricart	...	Mr. Viliano
Catlin Adams	...	Adelle (as Nira Barab)
Robert Riesel	...	Colbenz
Richard Reicheg	...	Richard
Robert Patten	...	Forman
Burt Douglas	...	Draper
Frank Castellano	...	Prof. Hooper
Phyllis Glick	...	Janice

Storyline

A psychology professor is killed by one of two of his students who wanted to blackmail him into giving them higher grades. A woman witnesses the student as he throws the professor's body off of a pier. When they find out that the witness works in a high-pressure advertising job and is under severe stress, the two students plan to psychologically manipulate the woman into committing suicide.

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Plot Keywords:

eye witness | psychological manipulation | blackmail | psychological torment

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 1975 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode contains a funny moment that is apparently an outtake that wasn't taken out. Kojak (Telly Savalas) is throwing darts when Captain McNeil (Dan Frazer) sees him and scolds him for wasting time. McNeil throws a dart himself and does a double take when he sees how accurate his aim was, especially compared to Kojak's efforts. What follows seems unscripted. Telly Savalas looks into the camera, shrugs, and says, "Whaddya want? He's Irish!"

User Reviews

Enough To Drive One Nuts

Two college punks who aren't happy about their grades, confront the professor and plan to blackmail him into changing his grades.

The problem: one of the dummies accidentally kills the teacher. Now the two of them, being the good citizens they are, decide to compound matters by dumping the prof's body into the water. Another problem: there is a witness to this, a stressed-out woman who hiding nearby in back of a truck.

The stress on her is her job, trying to succeed as an advertising executive. She's on medication and is ready to unravel.

Now the real story arrives for the rest of the episode. The witness "Lorelei" (Joanna Miles) comes forth to identify one of the men and while he's put away, the other begins a campaign of terror against the witness, trying to proves she's too unstable to talk at a trial. The show becomes very suspenseful as this woman is put through mental hell.

Miles is interesting as the witness. One of the young crooks ("Carey") was played by William Katt, who went on to TV fame about six years later in "The Greatest American Hero." He ain't a hero in this story.