Murder and the Android was a television movie based on '' Fondly Fahrenheit'', a 1954 story by Alfred Bester. It was broadcast on November 8, 1959 as an

NBC Sunday Showcase ''NBC Sunday Showcase'' was a series of hour-long specials telecast in color on NBC during the 1959-60 season. The flexible anthology format varied weekly from comedies and science fiction to musicals and historical dramas. The recent introducti ...

production. The film was produced by Robert Alan Aurthur, directed by

Alex Segal Alex Segal (July 1, 1915 – August 22, 1977) was an American television director, television producer, and film director. Segal directed more than 25 different television programs, including ''The United States Steel Hour'' and ''Celanese The ...

, and starred Kevin McCarthy,

Rip Torn Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...

, Vladimir Sokoloff,

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American theatre, film, television, and voice actress. Pleshette started her career in the theatre and began appearing in films in the late 1950s and later appeared in prominent ...

and Sono Osato. In 1960, science fiction author

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...

called this film, "almost the only first-rate television play on a science fiction theme". It was nominated for the 1960 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. This story is based 400 years in the future, when a man inherits an

android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

. This synthetic being was created in a laboratory as a submissive, obedient construct. Unfortunately the android malfunctions and attempts to dominate its master.

References

1959 television films 1959 films American science fiction television films Android (robot) films 1950s American films {{US-tv-film-stub