Fame Is the Name of the Game

Fame Is the Name of the Game
Genre Mystery fiction
Based on One Woman
by Tiffany Thayer
Written by Carol Sobieski
Screenplay by Ranald MacDougall
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Starring (See article)
Theme music composer Benny Carter
Country of origin  United States
Original language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) Ranald MacDougall
Cinematography John F. Warren
Editor(s) Edward W. Williams
Running time 100 min
Production company(s) Universal TV
Distributor NBCUniversal TV Distribution
Release
Original network NBC
Original release
Chronology
Followed by The Name of the Game

Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966) is an American TV-movie that aired on NBC and served as the pilot episode of the subsequent series The Name of the Game. It was directed by Stuart Rosenberg. It was produced by Ranald MacDougall, who also wrote the teleplay, from the novel One Woman by Tiffany Thayer.[1]

The film stars Anthony Franciosa as investigative journalist Jeff Dillon. It also presents the screen debut of 20-year-old Susan Saint James as Peggy Chan, Dillon's new editorial assistant. (In the series, St. James's character is renamed Peggy Maxwell, and she is the research assistant to all three of the rotating lead characters.) In the film, Jeff Dillon writes for Fame magazine, a publication of Janus Enterprises, and Glenn Howard (George Macready) is just the managing editor. In the subsequent series, Dillon writes for People magazine, a division of Howard Publications, and Glenn Howard (Gene Barry) is head of the whole company.

The telefilm also features Jill St. John, Jack Klugman, and Robert Duvall.

In the weeks before the telefilm's first broadcast, NBC ran an unprecedented blitz of TV ads which erroneously billed Fame is the Name of the Game as television's first "world premiere" of a "major motion picture". The film garnered phenomenal ratings leading to the spin-off series.

Plot summary

An investigative reporter looks into the murder of a call girl. His investigation unearths her diary, with the names of many prominent people in it. He sets out to find her killer from among the names contained in the diary.

Principal cast

Anthony Franciosa as Jeff Dillon
Jill St. John as Leona Purdy
Jack Klugman as Ben Welcome
George Macready as Glenn Howard (replaced by Gene Barry in the subsequent series)
Jack Weston as Griffin
Susan Saint James as Peggy Chan (Peggy Maxwell in the series)
Lee Bowman as Cruikshank
Robert Duvall as Eddie Franchot
Jay C. Flippen as Dizzy Shaner
Nicholas Colasanto as Lieutenant Lewis

References

  1. Marill, Alvin H. Movies Made for Television, The Telefeature and the Mini-Series 1964-1986. New York, 1987, New York Zoetrope. Page 130.

External links

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