Peter Gunn is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
private eyeDetective fiction is a branch of crime fiction in which a detective , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder...
television series which aired on the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
(produced by Revue Productions) and later
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American 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. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
(produced by
MGM TelevisionMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television is an American television production/distribution company launched in 1955 and a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc.....
)
television networkA television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early...
s from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator (and also
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
and
directorA television director directs the activities involved in making a television episode.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or filmed/taped .In both types of productions, the director is responsible for supervising the placement of cameras ,...
on occasion) was
Blake EdwardsWilliam Blake Crump , better known as Blake Edwards, is an Academy Award–winning American film director, screenwriter, and producer.-Career:...
. A total of 114 thirty-minute episodes were produced.
Peter Gunn
The title character (played by
Craig StevensCraig Stevens was an American motion picture and television actor.-Biography:Born Gail Shikles, Jr. in Liberty, Missouri, he studied dentistry at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1936...
) is a
private investigatorA private investigator or private detective is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigations. Private investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
in the classic
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
tradition, which was a popular
genreA genre is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other form of art or utterance...
on American TV in the late 1950s. However, a few traits differentiate him from the standard hard-boiled detectives, such as
Sam SpadeSam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known books by Hammett....
or
Philip MarlowePhilip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared, under that name, in The Big Sleep, published in 1939...
. Gunn was a sophisticated "
hipsterHipster may refer to:*Hipster *Hipster *Hipster PDA, a paper-based personal organizer...
", a dapper dresser who loved
cool jazzCool jazz is a style of jazz music that arose during the Second World War. During this time, there was an influx of Californian jazz musicians to New York. Once there, these musicians mixed with the mostly black bebop musicians, and were also influenced by the "smooth" sound of black saxophonist...
; where other gumshoes were often coarse, Peter Gunn was portrayed as the epitome of "cool". He operated in a nameless waterfront city, and was a regular patron of Mother's, a wharfside
JazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
club; his girlfriend, Edie Hart (
Lola AlbrightLola Albright is an American singer and actress.She was born Lois Jean Albright in Akron, Ohio, and worked as a model before moving to Hollywood. She began her motion picture with a bit part in the 1948 film The Pirate, and followed it with important role in the acclaimed 1949 hit Champion...
), was a sultry singer employed there.
Herschel BernardiHerschel Bernardi was an American film, Broadway and television actor.He is best known for his starring roles on Broadway including Fiddler on the Roof , Zorba, and Bajour, but he also acted in many television shows, including Harbor Command and The Eleventh Hour Herschel Bernardi (30 October...
played Lieutenant Jacoby, a police detective.
Guest stars
- Francis De Sales
For the Roman Catholic saint, see Francis de Sales.Francis A. De Sales was a prolific American actor best known for co-starring roles on two early television series: as police Lieutenant Bill Weigand on the CBS and then NBC drama Mr. and Mrs...
appeared as the district attorneyIn many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is the appointed public official who represents the government in the prosecution of alleged offense criminals. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
in the 1960 episode "Hot Money".
- Don Keefer
Donald H. "Don" Keefer is a retired American actor known for the versatility of his roles. He was born in Highspire in Dauphin County near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Keefer's first role was as Bernard in the 1951 film, Death of a Salesman, based on the Arthur Miller play...
as John Alastair in the 1959 episode "Death Is a Red Rose"
- Tyler McVey
Not to be confused with an actor of similar age: see Patrick McVey.Tyler McVey was an American actor of stage, radio, film, and television...
appeared twice in episodes "The Vicious Dog" (1958) and "Death Across the Board" (1960).
- Barbara Stuart
Barbara Stuart is an American actress.-Major roles:Stuart portrayed "Miss Bunny", the blonde girlfriend of Sergeant Vincent Carter, played by Frank Sutton, on the CBS military sitcom Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., starring Jim Nabors...
appeared three times between 1958 and 1961 in different roles in the episodes "The Blind Pianist", "The Briefcase", and "Come Dance with Me and Die".
Origin of series
Edwards developed
Peter Gunn from an earlier fictional detective that he had created.
Richard Diamond, Private DetectiveRichard Diamond, Private Detective is a detective drama which was on radio from 1949 to 1953 and on television from 1957 to 1960.-Radio:Dick Powell starred in the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series as a rather light-hearted detective who often ended the episodes singing to his...
starred
Dick PowellRichard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.-Biography:...
and aired as a radio series from 1949 to 1953.
David JanssenDavid Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive .- Early life :...
later starred in the television adaptation from 1957 to 1960. It was this character's success that prompted his creator to revisit the concept as Peter Gunn. Edwards had earlier written and directed a
Mike HammerMichael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional character created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury .-Description:...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
pilot for
Brian KeithBrian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor, who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney film, The Parent Trap, the 1966 movie, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 movie, The Wind and the Lion...
.
Music
The show's use of modern jazz music, at a time when most television shows used a generic, uninspired orchestra for the background, was another distinctive touch that set the standard for many years to come. Innovative jazz themes seemed to accompany every move Gunn made, ably rendered by
Henry ManciniHenry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger. He is remembered particularly for being a composer of film and television scores. Mancini also won a record number of Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995...
and his orchestra (which at that time included John Williams), lending the character even more of an air of suave sophistication. Famous jazz musicians occasionally made guest appearances, such as trumpeter
Shorty RogersMilton “Shorty” Rogers , born Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played both the trumpet and flugelhorn, and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Rogers worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and...
in an early episode.
Most memorable of all was the show's opening (and closing) Peter Gunn Theme, composed and performed by Mancini. A hip,
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
y, brassy number with an insistent piano-and-bass line, the song became an instant hit for Mancini, earning him an
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
and two
GrammysThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
, and became as associated with
crime fictionCrime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
as
Monty NormanMonty Norman is a singer and film composer best known for composing the "James Bond Theme".-Biography:Norman was born in the East End of London to Jewish parents on the second night of Passover in 1928...
's theme to the
James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
films is associated with
espionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, as the legitimate holder of the information may change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. The harmonies fit the mood of the show, which was a key to success.
The soundtrack album by Henry Mancini was a smash, reaching #1 in Billboard's Pop LP Charts. Ray Anthony won the singles war, reaching #8 on Billboard's Hot 100 with his 45 of the title theme. Mancini's single made the
Variety magazineVariety is a weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the Daily...
Top 25 retail chart, selling well in the Boston area.
"The Peter Gunn Theme" has been covered by numerous jazz, blues, and
rockRock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States after World War II in the late 1940s, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scenes...
artists since, including
Ray AnthonyRay Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.As a child Anthony moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he began studying the trumpet with his father...
,
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
(on the '68 Comeback Special),
Duane EddyDuane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Rock and Roll's all-time, #1 instrumentalist.- Biography :...
,
Quincy JonesQuincy Delight Jones, Jr. is an American music conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991...
,
The Remo FourThe Remo Four were a 1950s-1960s rock band from Liverpool, England. They were contemporaries of The Beatles, and later had the same manager, Brian Epstein...
,
The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live. Belushi and Aykroyd, respectively in character as lead vocalist "Joliet" Jake Blues and harpist/vocalist Elwood Blues,...
, Croon & The Creepers,
Brian SetzerBrian Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Career:Setzer was born in Massapequa, New York. Beginning in January 1980, he fronted the popular rockabilly band, Stray Cats...
,
The CrampsThe Cramps were an American punk band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009 with the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
,
Jimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter...
, Bosse-de-Nage,
Gary HoeyGary Hoey is a surfer-rock musician.-Biography:Hoey often lingered outside Boston's renowned Berklee College of Music when he was fourteen years old, making friends and offering to pay for lessons...
,
AerosmithAerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and seen by some as America's greatest rock and roll band. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues,, and has...
,
Emerson, Lake & PalmerEmerson, Lake & Palmer were an English progressive rock supergroup. In the 1970s, the band was extremely popular, selling over 35 million albums and headlining huge concerts...
,
Roy BuchananRoy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums charting on the Billboard chart...
,
Melvin TaylorMelvin Taylor is an American blues guitarist, based in Chicago, Illinois.-Career:Born in Mississippi, Taylor relocated to Chicago in 1962....
, The Disco Biscuits,
Umphrey's McGeeUmphrey's McGee is an American progressive rock jam band originally from South Bend, Indiana, now based in Chicago whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation."...
,
PulpPulp were an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Upon their split in 2002, their lineup consisted of Jarvis Cocker , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
,
They Might Be GiantsThey Might Be Giants is a double Grammy Award-winning American alternative rock band which began as a duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, and currently also includes Marty Beller, Dan Miller, and Danny Weinkauf. Formed in 1982, they are best known for an unconventional and experimental style...
,
Dick Dale & The Del-TonesDick Dale is a surf-rock guitarist, known as "The King Of The Surf Guitar"...
, Johnny Guitar Seven, 1981 Pittsburg band 'The Silencers, album, Rock'n' Roll Enforcers' and many others. A version by Art of Noise, with guest artist
Duane EddyDuane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Rock and Roll's all-time, #1 instrumentalist.- Biography :...
reprising his original 1959 performance on twang
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
(taking the piano riff) earned a Grammy Award in 1987. Furthermore, the riff has been incorporated into many blues and jazz songs. The theme is also used as the background music for the 1983
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
Spy HunterSpy Hunter is a 1983 arcade game developed and released by Bally Midway. It was incredibly successful initially, and it has remained popular for many years. The game's novel gameplay and popular theme music are largely responsible for its success...
, with
SalivaSaliva is an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in September 1996 and currently under Island/Def Jam Records. Saliva released their self-titled debut album on August 26, 1997 under Rocking Chair Records/Red Urban Records...
recording a song which used the main theme, with added lyrics, for the 2001 remake. Versions of the theme have appeared in countless films, including
The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James Brown,...
and
Sixteen CandlesSixteen Candles is a 1984 coming-of-age film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling and Anthony Michael Hall. The film was written and directed by John Hughes.- Plot :...
. The song was used by
Monty PythonMonty Python were a British comedy group that created the influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
in their sketch
The BishopThe Bishop is a famous Monty Python sketch from season 2, episode 17 of Monty Python's Flying Circus . It stars Terry Jones as a Secret Agent-like bishop attempting to stop several comical murders of various members of the Anglican clergy , usually arriving a moment too late...
. In 2004 the theme was used in
The Lion King 1½The Lion King 1½ is a American direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 10, 2004. The DVD went to the Disney Vault in January 2005...
when Timon and Pumbaa try to break up
SimbaSimba is a lion character and the protagonist of one of Disney's most famous animated feature films, The Lion King. He is the son of Mufasa and Sarabi, nephew of Scar, mate of Nala and father of Kiara. His name is Swahili for lion...
and Nala. Today, many people with no knowledge of the original show still can identify the theme.
The show's theme was used as background music in the 1993 video game Rock 'N' Roll Racing.
Adaptations
After the two-season run on NBC and the single season on ABC, Edwards made numerous attempts to revive the character in other media. A
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
and a
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
were released in 1960. A feature film,
GunnGunn is a 1967 mystery film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Craig Stevens. It featured the same lead character from the 1958-1963 television series Peter Gunn, and a Henry Mancini score but the characters of Gunn's singing girlfriend Edie Hart and Police Lieutenant Jacoby were played by...
, was made in 1967, and ABC carried a
pilotA television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like pilot lights or pilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity, or pilot holes prepare the way for larger holes. Networks use pilots to...
in 1989 with
Peter StraussPeter Strauss is an American television and movie actor, perhaps best known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s. He won an Emmy Award for his role on the 1979 made-for-television movie The Jericho Mile...
in the lead role, but they failed to catch on. In 2001, Edwards joined Norman Snider in developing an updated television series, but the project was scuttled when
John WooJohn Woo Yu-Sen is a Chinese film director and producer from Hong Kong. Recognized for his stylized films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, and...
and
David PermutDavid Permut is a television and movie producer. He was the producer of Richard Pryor: Live in Concert , the first theatrical live comedy concert, and Dragnet , an early example of remaking a television series into a motion picture. He is owner and president of Permut Presentations, Inc...
began developing a big screen remake for
ParamountParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
. Both projects remain stuck in development.
In 2002,
A&EA&E is a cable and satellite television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London. A&E stands for Arts & Entertainment, which, for many years, was in the channel's full title...
Home Video released two 2-disc sets of
Peter Gunn on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
, including 32 episodes from Season One.
Selected songs from the series
- "Peter Gunn Theme"
- "The Brothers Go to Mother's"
- "Dreamsville"
- "Blues for Mother's"
- "Sorta Blue"
- "Slow and Easy"
- "Timothy"
- "Fallout!"
- "Session at Pete's Pad"
- "Soft Sounds"
- "The Floater"
- "A Profound Gass"
- "Brief and Breezy"
- "Not from Dixie"
- The Music from Peter Gunn
The Music from Peter Gunn is a 1959 album by Henry Mancini . It was the first album ever to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1959...
– 1959 album (RCA LPM/LPS-1956)
- "Walkin' Bass"
- "Timothy"
- "Joanna"
- "My Manne Shelly"
- "Goofin' at the Coffee House"
- "Odd Ball"
- "Blue Steel"
- "The Little Man Theme"
- "Spook!"
- "A Quiet Gass"
- "Lightly"
- "Blues for Mother's"
- "Peter Gunn"
- "Mr. Lucky"
- "Mr. Lucky Goes Latin"
- "Experiment in Terror"
- More Music from Peter Gunn – 1959 album (RCA LPM/LPS-2040)
Trivia
In
Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
's novel Misery, Annie Wilkes poisons a cat named Peter Gunn.
External links