''Highcliffe Manor'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

with a gothic horror background focused on the events in a mansion with crazy scientists and strange figures. The series starred

Shelley Fabares Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares (; born January 19, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her television roles as Mary Stone on the sitcom ''The Donna Reed Show'' (1958–1963) and as Christine Armstrong on the sitcom ...

and aired on NBC from April 12 to May 3, 1979.

Summary

The plot concerned the goings on at Highcliffe Manor, a creepy old mansion on a desolate island in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. Helen Blacke, an attractive but flaky widow, is the owner of the mansion that was home to the Blacke Foundation, a scientific research institute with a houseful of sinister characters which included Frances, a mad scientist; Bram Shelley, a bionic man; Ian Glenville, a womanizing preacher; Cheng, a huge Korean assistant; Wendy Sparkles, a sexy secretary; Rebecca, a creepy housekeeper and evil doctors Lester and Sanchez. Each episode featured

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

narration by Peter Lawford.

Cast

as Helen Blacke (widow of the foundation's founder) * Stephen McHattie as Reverend Ian Glenville *Eugenie Ross-Leming as Dr. Frances Kisgadden *Gerald Gordon as Dr. Felix Morger (former assistant to the late Berkeley Blacke) * Audrey Landers as Wendy Sparkles (secretary to the late Mr. Blacke) * Jenny O'Hara as Rebecca (the housekeeper) * Christian Marlowe as Bram Shelley (the bionic man) *David Byrd as Dr. Lester *

Luis Avalos Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

as Dr. Sanchez * Ernie Hudson as Smythe (valet to the late Mr. Blacke) *

Harold Sakata , better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later b ...

as Cheng

Episodes

References

*Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle. '' The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present''. Eight Edition. New York: Ballantine, 2003.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0078624, Highcliffe Manor 1979 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings 1970s American sitcoms NBC original programming English-language television shows Television series by Alan Landsburg Productions Television shows set in Philadelphia