Tough Guys Don't Die

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“Tough Guys Don't Die”
Murder, She Wrote episode

Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 15
Guest stars	Jerry Orbach
Written by	Peter S. Fischer
Directed by	Seymour Robbie
Production no.	59223
Original airdate	February 24, 1985
Episode chronology
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"Paint Me a Murder"	"Sudden Death"
(List of episodes)

"Tough Guys Don't Die" is the fifteenth episode in the first season of Murder, She Wrote. It first aired on February 24, 1985 on CBS. Jerry Orbach guest stars.

[edit] Synopsis

Archie Miles, a private investigator Jessica Fletcher had hired to research an old murder case, is shot to death in his office. His partner, a hard-boiled detective named Harry McGraw, is determined to find the killer and exact his own justice. Harry teams up with Jessica to see if her case got the man killed. Along the way, a strong partnership and friendship develops between the two sleuths.

[edit] Cast

Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher
Jerry Orbach as Harry McGraw
Barbara Babcock as Priscilla Daniels
John McMartin as Gavin Daniels
Rosanna Huffman as Connie Miles
Floyd Levine as Archie Miles
John Furey as Larry King
Nancy Lee Grahn as Erin Carey
Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Ray Kravitz
Alex Rocco as Ernie Santini
Fritz Weaver as Judge Carter Lambert
Paul Winfield as Lt. Starkey
Margery Nelson as Alma Leonard
Tina Lifford as Leora Cargill

[edit] Triva

In this episode, Jessica meets Harry McGraw, who becomes one of her many friends.
Much of this episode seems to be based on the film and novel The Maltese Falcon, in which a private eye tries to solve the murder of his partner. In the movie, the murdered detective is named Miles Archer. In this episode, Harry McGraw's partner is named "Archie Miles". Harry's speech about a man having to do something when his partner is killed echoes a speech Sam Spade gives in "The Maltese Falcon."