MovieChat Forums > Dr. Kildare (1961) Discussion > Richard Chamberlain in Only One Episode?

Richard Chamberlain in Only One Episode?

posted 16 years ago by IamyourHuckleberry2
9 replies | jump to latest

I'd forgotten that "Dr. Kildare" and "Ben Casey" aired at the same time, '61-'66, but I did know about my Mom's crush on Dr. Ben because I remember one time my Dad giving her a box containing a cultured pearl necklace laying on top of an autographed 8x10 B&W of Vince Edwards. I still think she preferred the photo over the pearls.

Anyway, my point is that in our house we only watched "Ben Casey" and I am just finding out that there were some major differences between the shows.

In "Ben Casey" the star, Vince Edwards, was probably in every episode, but I see here on IMDb that in "Dr. Kildare", the actor I always thought was the star, Richard Chamberlain, was actually in only one episode... and not until Season three at that.

Also, their sidekicks, Sam Jaffe for "Ben Casey", while he was in 14 episodes, the sidekick on "Dr. Kildare", Raymond Massey, was only in two episodes. Once in Season three and once in Season four.

This is very different than I remember, but, as I said, we were a "Ben Casey" family with our single RCA Victor B&W protable TV set and my parents pretty much always chose what we watched.

[–] GusF 16 years ago

Actually, Richard Chamberlain was in every single episode. Raymond Massey too, I think I'm right in saying. I added credits for Chamberlain for every episode the other day so hopefully that rather glaring omission will be fixed in the next few days.

[–] IamyourHuckleberry2 16 years ago

It is fixed. He now shows 191 episodes.

I guess the same fix needs to be done for Raymond Massey and however many more actors that were on more than once but aren't correctly credited.

Good luck!

[–] GusF 16 years ago

Hmm. Totally forgot about this, to be honest. I'll try to remember add Massey and others over the next few days.

[–] SylvesterMcMonkeyMcBean 16 years ago

Uh, Richard Chamberlain played the title role. Would be hard for him not to be in every episode, wouldn't it?

[–] nursewratchet_romanorn 12 years ago

Not Really-Pernell Roberts starred in Trapper John-And at times was barely seen. He let Gregory Harrison get the limelight most of the time. Pernell also starred in Bonanza and was listed in 202 episodes. In reality he wasn't in 2 dozen of those at all, and several dozen more where he only made a minor appearance.

[–] jograham-1 13 years ago

Crazy talk -- Richard Chamberlain appeared in 191 episodes from 1961-1966

[–] jf_moran49 11 years ago

Agreed. It is "crazy talk."

Apparently, some who visit IMDB.com are unaware the citations are user-generated, as well as by IMDB staff, so not every single credit for every film or TV production is yet included, and will always be an on-going process. The process of updating credits is time-consuming and requires adherence to website style, as well verification. Naturally, true fans of entertainers and films and TV series' provide much-needed expertise. But this added or corrected information must still be verified.

Some entertainment websites have editors in charge of specific performers and productions, which gets credits updated more quickly. But here on IMDB, there are still many television productions whose stars are listed having appeared in only one episode, when the reality is close to or on every episode.

Obviously, before this was noticed and discussed here, Richard Chamberlain had been one of those cited on IMDB as having only appeared on only one or a few episodes of the very TV series in which he was the star.

[–] Itsamoomoo 9 years ago

You can never rely 100% on the information posted on IMDB. I learned this pretty early on. No offense, but it would be pretty unrealistic to think that the star of the show would only be in one episode of a series' five season one.

[–] tightspotkilo 8 years ago

If you were alive and a sentient being who watched TV in 1961 you knew Richard Chamberlain was featured in every episode of the show that bore his character's name. He was *always* the draw, not just the focus, but the draw. Pretty boy that he was, before it was known that he was gay.

Get the facts first - you can distort them later!