Man with a Camera (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Man with a Camera is a 1950s television crime drama
starring Charles Bronson
.
Throughout the 1950s, Charles Bronson spent most of his early acting career in TV-shows
as well as small parts in film
s, until he landed the lead in the ABC
series The Man with a Camera.
combat photographer freelancing in New York City, who specialized in getting the photographs that other lensmen could not. He usually assisted newspapers, insurance companies, the police and private individuals, all of whom wanted a filmed record of an event.
By often acting as a private eye
, Kovac gets himself into plenty of troubles involving criminals of every kind, helping with cases the police could not handle.
Besides an array of cameras for normal use, for surreptitious work Kovac employed cameras hidden in a radio, cigarette lighter and even his necktie. He also had a phone in his car, and a portable darkroom in the trunk where he could develop his negatives on the spot.
Kovac's police liaison was Lieutenant Donovan (James Flavin
), though he frequently came for advice from Anton Kovac (Ludwig Stössel
), his immigrant father.
. The series had two abbreviated seasons in 1958-59 and 1959-60 and was aired on the ABC-TV network, Friday nights at 9:00 pm. The entire run of the serial 29 episodes was released in 2007 by the Infinity Entertainment Group, in collaboration with the Falcon Picture Group and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, from which the source prints were obtained.
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
starring Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
.
Throughout the 1950s, Charles Bronson spent most of his early acting career in TV-shows
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
as well as small parts in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, until he landed the lead in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series The Man with a Camera.
Plot
In the series Bronson portrayed Mike Kovac, a former World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
combat photographer freelancing in New York City, who specialized in getting the photographs that other lensmen could not. He usually assisted newspapers, insurance companies, the police and private individuals, all of whom wanted a filmed record of an event.
By often acting as a private eye
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
, Kovac gets himself into plenty of troubles involving criminals of every kind, helping with cases the police could not handle.
Besides an array of cameras for normal use, for surreptitious work Kovac employed cameras hidden in a radio, cigarette lighter and even his necktie. He also had a phone in his car, and a portable darkroom in the trunk where he could develop his negatives on the spot.
Kovac's police liaison was Lieutenant Donovan (James Flavin
James Flavin
James William Flavin, Jr. was an American character actor whose career lasted nearly half a century.-Life and career:...
), though he frequently came for advice from Anton Kovac (Ludwig Stössel
Ludwig Stössel
Ludwig Stössel was an actor born in Lockenhaus, Austria. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses that were forced to flee Europe when the Nazis came to power in 1933....
), his immigrant father.
Selected guest stars
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- Don DurantDon DurantDon Durant was an American actor and singer, best known for his role as the gunslinger-turned- sheriff in the CBS Western series Johnny Ringo, which ran on Thursdays from October 1, 1959 - June 30, 1960....
- Robert EllensteinRobert EllensteinRobert Ellenstein was an American film, television and theatre actor.The son of Meyer Ellenstein, a Newark dentist, Robert Ellenstein grew up in that New Jersey city and saw his father go on to become its two-term mayor. He served in the Air Corps during World War II: earning a Purple Heart during...
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- Don Gordon
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Season 1
| # | Title | Original Airdate |
| 01 | Second Avenue Assassin | October 10, 1958 |
| 02 | The Warning | October 17, 1958 |
| 03 | Profile of a Killer | October 17, 1958 |
| 04 | Turntable | November 7, 1958 |
| 05 | Closeup on Violence | November 14, 1958 |
| 06 | Double Negative | November 21, 1958 |
| 07 | Another Barrier | November 28, 1958 |
| 08 | Blind Spot | December 5, 1958 |
| 09 | Two Strings of Pearls | December 12, 1958 |
| 10 | Six Faces of Satan | December 19, 1958 |
| 11 | Lady on the Loose | December 26, 1958 |
| 12 | The Last Portrait | January 2, 1959 |
| 13 | The Face of Murder | January 9, 1959 |
| 14 | Mute Evidence | January 16, 1959 |
| 15 | The Big Squeeze | January 23, 1959 |
Season 2
| # | Title | Original Airdate |
| 16 | The Killer | October 19, 1959 |
| 17 | Eye Witness | October 26, 1959 |
| 18 | The Man Below | November 2, 1959 |
| 19 | Black Light | November 9, 1959 |
| 20 | The Positive Negative | November 16, 1959 |
| 21 | Missing | November 23, 1959 |
| 22 | Live Target | December 7, 1959 |
| 23 | Girl on the Dark | December 14, 1959 |
| 24 | The Bride | December 21, 1959 |
| 25 | The Picture War | January 4, 1960 |
| 26 | Touch-Off | January 11, 1960 |
| 27 | Hot Ice Cream | January 25, 1960 |
| 28 | Fragment of a Murder | February 1, 1960 |
| 29 | Kangaroo Court | February 8, 1960 |
Production
Man with a Camera was filmed on locations in Hollywood (doubling for New York City) at Desilu StudiosDesilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
. The series had two abbreviated seasons in 1958-59 and 1959-60 and was aired on the ABC-TV network, Friday nights at 9:00 pm. The entire run of the serial 29 episodes was released in 2007 by the Infinity Entertainment Group, in collaboration with the Falcon Picture Group and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, from which the source prints were obtained.