Run for Your Life (TV series)

Run for Your Life

Title screen
Genre Drama
Created by Roy Huggins
Directed by Nicholas Colasanto
Ben Gazzara
William Hale
Fernando Lamas
Leslie H. Martinson
Leo Penn
John Rich
Michael Ritchie
Stuart Rosenberg
Alexander Singer
Steve Previn
Starring Ben Gazzara
Theme music composer Pete Rugolo
Composer(s) Pete Rugolo
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 85
Production
Executive producer(s) Roy Huggins
Producer(s) Robert Hamner
Gordon Hessler
Jo Swerling, Jr.
Running time 45–48 min
Production company(s) Roncom Films
Universal TV
Release
Original network NBC
Audio format Monaural
Original release September 13, 1965 (1965-09-13) – March 27, 1968 (1968-03-27)

Run for Your Life was an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.

Synopsis

Gazzara as Paul Bryan with guest star Joan Collins.

Premise

Gazzara played attorney Paul Bryan. When his doctor tells him he will die in no less than nine months, but in no more than eighteen months,[1] he decides to do all the things for which he had never had the time--to squeeze thirty years of living into one or two years of life. Much like Route 66, each episode features the main character on the move, encountering new people in new situations.

Background

Gazzara originated the character of Paul Bryan on Kraft Suspense Theatre, in the episode "Rapture at Two-Forty," which aired on April 15, 1965 and served as the show's pilot. Well received, the show became a series that September. Near the beginning of that episode, the audience actually sees the conversation between Bryan and his doctor, which is heard only in voice-over in subsequent episodes of Run For Your Life. Although Bryan's doctor gave him no more than eighteen months to live, the series ran for three seasons.

Episode 27 (broadcast 11 Apr, 1966) "Night Train to Chicago" was an original teleplay by Robert Bloch; story by John Thomas James (Roy Huggins).

Production

Bryan needed to have a disease that he would die from but which would not affect his quality of life otherwise. The disease selected was chronic myelocytic leukemia.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Dialogue in opening of episodes of Run For Your Life.
  2. ↑ Heldenfels, Rich (2015-09-25). "Mailbag: Why networks drop shows; a TV-series flashback with Ben Gazzara". Akron Beacon-Journal.
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