Father Murphy

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Father Murphy
Genre	Western Drama
Starring	Merlin Olsen Moses Gunn Katherine Cannon Timothy Gibbs Richard Bergman Ivy Bethune
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	35 (2 seasons)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael Landon
Running time	60 mins.
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Audio format	Mono
Original run	November 3 , 1981 – September 26, 1983
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Father Murphy was an American television drama series that aired on the NBC network from November 3, 1981 to September 18, 1983.

The Michael Landon created series starred former NFL Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle football player and Little House on the Prairie actor Merlin Olsen as a frontiersman in the 1870s named John Michael Murphy who teams up with a prospector named Moses Gage (played by Moses Gunn) and shelter a group of orphans who are being forced into a workhouse. Murphy disguises himself as a priest and befriends a schoolmarm and helps the children find a home.

In the second season, his true identity is revealed to the head of the orphanage, and the orphans seem destined to a life of labor. Instead, Murphy marries the schoolmarm and they adopt the children.

Many of the series' episodes were filmed at the Old Tucson Studios and theme park just outside of Tucson, Arizona.

Notable guest appearances on the series included: Shannon Doherty, Kellie Martin, Eddie Quillan, Victor French, Christina Applegate and James Cromwell.

The series was exective produced by Michael Landon, who also directed the series in partnership with William F. Claxton, Maury Dexter, Victor French and Leo Penn.