''The Court of Last Resort '' is an

American television Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...

dramatized court show which aired October 4, 1957 – April 11, 1958, on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. It was co-produced by

Erle Stanley Gardner Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of crime fiction, detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of ...

's Paisano Productions, which also brought forth the long-running hit CBS-TV law series, ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

''.

Summary

The concept for ''The Court of Last Resort'' was developed from a popular

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

column of the same name. Written by lawyer-turned-author

, the column appeared in the monthly magazine ''Argosy'' for ten years beginning in September 1948. Gardner enlisted assistance from police, private detectives, and other professional experts to examine the cases of dozens of convicts who maintained their innocence long after their appeals were exhausted. The TV show centers on seven attorneys who take on the cases of wrongly accused or unjustly convicted defendants. Episodes dramatized various cases investigated by the Court from its inception through "the present". The members of the Court were portrayed by actors during the episode, but the actual members often appeared at the conclusion of the program, with one of them reflecting on the case that had just been dramatized. The series aired October 4, 1957 – April 11, 1958, on

at 8 p.m. EST on Fridays. It was rebroadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on Wednesdays from August 1959 to February 17, 1960. The program was sponsored by the P. Lorillard Company, a cigarette manufacturer.

Principal cast

Robert H. Harris Robert H. Harris (born Robert H. Hurwitz; July 15, 1911 – November 30, 1981) was an American character actor. Stage A veteran of the Yiddish Art Theater from his teens, Harris made his first Broadway appearance in 1937 in ''Schoolhouse on the ...

as Raymond Schindler *

Carleton Young Captain Carleton Scott Young (October 21, 1905 – November 7, 1994) was an American character actor who was known for his deep voice. Early years Born in Fulton, Oswego, New York, Young was the second and only surviving child of St ...

Harry Steeger Henry Steeger III (May 26, 1903, New York City – December 25, 1990) was an American magazine editor and publisher. He co-founded Popular Publications in 1930, one of the major publishers of pulp magazines, with former classmate Harold S. Goldsmi ...

S. John Launer Saul John Launer (November 5, 1919 – November 8, 2006), was an American television program, television and film actor. Launer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Career Launer appeared in 89 films and television programs between 19 ...

as Marshall Houts * John Maxwell as Alex Gregory * Robert J. Anderson as Park Street Jr. *

Lyle Bettger Lyle Stathem Bettger (February 13, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was an American character actor who had roles in Hollywood films and television from the 1950s onward, often portraying villains. One such role was the wrathfully jealous elephant ...

as Sam Larsen * Paul Birch as Erle Stanley Gardner * Charles Meredith as Dr. LeMoyne Snyder

Episode list

Joe De Santis in The Court of Last Resort

Legacy

''The Court of Last Resorts extra-judicial approach to dealing with potential miscarriages of justice was adopted by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

series '' Rough Justice'' in the 1980s.

References

External links

*
The Court of Last Resort
at Justice Denied {{DEFAULTSORT:Court of Last Resort 1957 American television series debuts 1958 American television series endings 1950s American drama television series Black-and-white American television shows 1950s American crime television series English-language television shows Dramatized court shows NBC original programming Erle Stanley Gardner