''The Millionaire'' is an American
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...
that aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
from 1955 to 1960. It was originally sponsored by
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...
. The series, produced by
Don Fedderson
Donald Joy Fedderson (April 16, 1913 – December 18, 1994) was an American executive producer who created a number of television programs including '' The Millionaire'', ''My Three Sons'' and ''Family Affair''.
Career
Fedderson was born April 1 ...
and Fred Henry, explored the ways that sudden and unexpected wealth changed life, for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars ($ in dollars) from a benefactor who insisted they must never know his identity, with one exception.
The series became a five-season hit during the
Golden Age of Television
The first Golden Age of Television is an era of television in the Television in the United States, United States marked by its large number of live productions. The period is generally recognized as beginning in 1947 with the first episode of th ...
, finishing in the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
at #9 for the 1955–1956 season, #13 in 1956–1957, #17 in 1957–1958 and #30 in 1958–1959. In syndication, it was known by two titles: ''The Millionaire'' and ''If You Had a Million''.
The Benefactor
The benefactor was named John Beresford Tipton. Viewers heard his voice, making observations and giving instructions; they generally saw only his arm as he reached for a cashier's check for one million dollars each week and handed it to Michael Anthony, his executive secretary. It was Anthony's job to deliver that check to its intended recipient. The voice of the unseen John Beresford Tipton was played—uncredited—by veteran character actor and voice artist
Paul Frees
Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...
. (Frees was seen on camera playing other roles in two episodes.) In the closing credits of each episode, the actors and the roles they played would be listed, invariably ending with "and John Beresford Tipton", implying that he was a real person playing himself. The character's name was actually derived from the birthplaces of ''Millionaire'' producer Don Fedderson and his wife Tido: they were born in
Beresford, South Dakota
Beresford (; ) is a city in Lincoln and Union counties in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The population was 2,180 as of the 2020 census. The southern two-thirds is part of the Sioux City, IA- NE-SD Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the no ...
and
Tipton, Missouri
Tipton is a city in Moniteau County, Missouri, Moniteau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,262 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Area, ...
, respectively.
The Executive Secretary
Invariably, ''The Millionaire'' began with a very brief opening theme fanfare behind the ascending title frame, followed by the camera's training directly upon Michael Anthony, played by veteran character actor and
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
announcer
An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event.
Television and other media
Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...
Marvin Miller
Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...
.
''The Millionaire'' told the stories of Tipton's beneficiaries in
flashback, as if from Anthony's case files. Each episode began with Anthony, behind his desk and looking directly into the camera, speaking one or another variation on this theme:
From there, the camera faded to a brief tour of the grounds on which Tipton's home stood, as Anthony continued speaking:
The camera then showed Anthony entering Tipton's presence, with Tipton frequently engaged in another one of his many wide-ranging hobbies. Anthony invariably greeted him with, "You sent for me, sir?" Tipton spoke for a moment to Anthony (always referring to him as "Mike"), chatting about his doings and explaining what prompted him to choose "our next millionaire", before he actually handed Anthony the envelope containing the check, sometimes adding, "I'll want a full report."
Though "Tipton" was heard in every episode, Miller was the only cast member who was ''seen'' in every episode. He was usually only seen in the first few minutes of any given story, returning very briefly to directly address viewers at the episode's end (often promoting the story in next week's episode). These closings are often cut in syndicated airings.
Others
The only other recurring supporting actor was Roy Gordon as banker Andrew V. McMahon, on whose Gotham Trust Bank the anonymous Tipton's cashier's checks were drawn. In a few of the very earliest episodes, recipients had to pick up their check at the bank and it was McMahon (not Michael Anthony) who interacted with the recipients of Tipton's money and outlined the conditions of acceptance. Fairly quickly, this was altered to having Anthony personally deliver the check (and outline the conditions of acceptance), rendering the McMahon character superfluous. Accordingly, McMahon was seen in about half the episodes from the first season, and in the first two episodes of the second season—then was dropped. Later episodes showed a close up of a cashier's check drawn from the "First Molkefstorming Bank".
Ed Herlihy
Edward Joseph Herlihy (August 14, 1909 – January 30, 1999)Cox, Jim (2008). ''This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . was an Ameri ...
was the announcer for ''The Millionaire'' throughout the run. Not a cast member—but seen in a cameo appearance in virtually every episode as a prominently featured extra—was Tido Fedderson.
The beneficiaries
![Nancy Gates John Hudson The Millionaire 1955](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Nancy_Gates_John_Hudson_The_Millionaire_1955.JPG)
Following the commercial break, Anthony, back in the present and behind his desk, would introduce the week's millionaire.
Exactly how Tipton chose whom to make an instant millionaire was never necessarily disclosed, although Tipton made it plain in the show's first episode exactly what his intentions were. Saying that he wanted to set up a new kind of chess game, "with human beings," Tipton told Anthony:
After showing the beneficiary in a typical situation for a few minutes at the beginning of the episode, Anthony would arrive, deliver the check, and have the beneficiary sign a legal statement binding him or her never to reveal the source of this million-dollar gift except to a spouse (if the recipient was single, Anthony would add, "... should you marry"), under penalty of forfeit. Once the document was signed and the thanks were given, Anthony disappeared from the beneficiary's life, never to return. The remainder of the episode showed how the gift affected the beneficiary.
The beneficiaries were not always poor but could be from any social class or occupation, from secretaries, salespeople, and construction workers to professionals like doctors, lawyers, even writers. Nor were they always likely to find their lives changed for the better because of their sudden wealth. In one episode, "The Jerry Bell Story",
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...
played a once-lonely writer who first invests some of his unexpected fortune in the surgery to restore his blind fiancée's (
Georgeann Johnson) eyesight, only to disappear at the moment her bandages were removed, fearful she would reject him because of his plain looks.
The series ran for 207 episodes, and Tipton made 206 millionaires. (One recipient returned the money.) However, the amount Tipton invested in his hobby was much more than $206 million, since, as Anthony told the recipient each week, "The taxes have already been paid."
The exceptions
Tipton did meet one beneficiary, a man condemned to be executed for a crime he never committed. He used a portion of his million-dollar gift to prove his innocence, with direct help from Michael Anthony, the only time Anthony stayed in even the periphery of a beneficiary's life.
Tipton visited the man as he was about to leave prison, though he was shown in his customary position: from behind, only his hand or arm and a brief glimpse of the top of his head in view. The only other time Tipton was seen in any episode, beyond his presentation of Anthony with the next check to deliver, was one in which Anthony was arrested and needed Tipton to bail him out so that he could finish the mission.
In another episode, Anthony said that the beneficiary "got the money, all right ... but not from me." Anthony was on his way to deliver the check when he was run down in a street accident, and the check was jarred loose from his possession. It made its way around a few stunned townspeople before it finally reached its rightful owner, offering a short study of those people's reactions to instant wealth as well as the intended recipient's.
In the first episode, during which Tipton explained to Anthony his human chess match, the recipient—a young woman who worked as a sales clerk—actually returned the bulk of her unexpected fortune, saying it wasn't worth allowing her husband-to-be to feel like a "kept man."
End of production
''The Millionaire'' ceased regular series production in 1960, its final regular episode, "The Patricia Collins Story", airing June 7, 1960, and its final summer
rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s in its regular production time slot appearing that September. The show became a familiar presence in syndicated reruns from the 1960s through the 1980s, both on its original network, CBS, and on numerous regional independent stations. In 1999, the
TV Land
TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...
cable channel aired a few selected episodes. The show was never officially released on home video. CBS also aired daytime reruns in the early 1960s, with Bern Bennett being the live announcer for these. The Millionaire also aired on ABC in Australia on January 2, 1959.
In 2015, the series began to air on CBS's digital subchannel network
Decades
A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
Usage
Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...
, and indeed, it unofficially launched the network on January 16, 2015, as part of the network's "countdown" to its Memorial Day launch, where 186 out of the 207 episodes of the series (along with others on the Decades schedule) were screened back-to-back consecutively. Nineteen episodes were excluded from airing, and according to CBS Television Distribution, these episodes were also removed from syndication. But CBS Television Distribution did not disclose the reasons for these episodes being removed from syndication. The show had formerly aired on Weigel Broadcasting's
Heroes & Icons
Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American Digital terrestrial television, digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network ai ...
weekdays from 5:00am to 6:00am EST, but was later removed in the first quarter of 2015.
Up until 2019, the show was not transmitted regularly on any television network. It is now playing on Decades every weekday from 6am to 7am.
Creator and producer
Don Fedderson
Donald Joy Fedderson (April 16, 1913 – December 18, 1994) was an American executive producer who created a number of television programs including '' The Millionaire'', ''My Three Sons'' and ''Family Affair''.
Career
Fedderson was born April 1 ...
later produced a TV movie version of ''The Millionaire'' with
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...
as Arthur Haines and
Robert Quarry
Robert Walter Quarry (November 3, 1925 – February 20, 2009) was an American actor, known for several prominent horror film roles.
Life and career
Quarry was born in Santa Rosa, California, the son of Mable (née Shoemaker) and Paul Quarry ...
as Michael Anthony. The movie was intended as a
backdoor pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
for a revival series, which never occurred.
Guest stars
Since each episode featured a different beneficiary, numerous guest stars appeared during ''The Millionaire's'' production, including
Richard Anderson
Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 – August 31, 2017) was an American film and television actor. Among his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin (Lee Majors) and Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) in b ...
,
Joanna Barnes
Joanna Barnes (November 15, 1934 – April 29, 2022) was an American actress and writer.
Early life and education
Barnes was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the eldest daughter of John Pindar Barnes and Alice Weston Mutch. She had two younger ...
,
Patricia Barry
Patricia Barry (born Patricia Allen White, November 16, 1921 – October 11, 2016) was an American stage, film, and television actress.
Although Barry has numerous credits performing in stage productions and in films, the majority of her work wa ...
,
Orson Bean
Orson Bean (born Dallas Frederick Burrows; July 22, 1928 – February 7, 2020) was an American film, television, and stage actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a game show and talk show host and a "mainstay of Los Angeles’ small ...
,
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...
,
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
,
Carleton Carpenter,
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later Jo ...
,
Marguerite Chapman
Marguerite Chapman (March 9, 1918 – August 31, 1999) was an American film and television actress.
Biography
Born in Chatham, New York, Chapman was working as a telephone switchboard operator in White Plains, New York when her good looks br ...
,
Chuck Connors
Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...
,
Royal Dano
Royal Edward Dano Sr. (November 16, 1922 - May 15, 1994) was an American actor. In a career spanning 46 years, he was perhaps best known for playing cowboys, villains, and Abraham Lincoln. Dano also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronic L ...
,
Angie Dickinson
Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...
,
Mason Alan Dinehart
Mason Alan Dinehart (born 1936) is an American business consultant and retired actor best known for his role as a youthful Bat Masterson in 34 episodes between 1955 and 1959 of the ABC/Desilu television series ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Ear ...
,
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and producer best known for her starring role as Jeannie in the sitcom '' I Dream of Jeannie'' (1965-1970). Other notable roles include Roslyn Pierce opp ...
,
Yvonne Lime Fedderson
Yvonne is a female given name. It is the feminine form of Yvon, which is derived from the French name Yves and Yvette. It is from the French word ''iv'', meaning "yew" (or tree). Since yew wood was used for bows, Ivo may have been an occupatio ...
,
Virginia Field
Virginia Field (born Margaret Cynthia Field; 4 November 1917 – 2 January 1992) was a British-born film actress.
Early years
An only child, born in London, her father was Sir John Field. He was the judge of Leicester County Court Circuit. H ...
,
Dick Foran
John Nicholas "Dick" Foran (June 18, 1910 – August 10, 1979) was an American actor, known for his performances in Western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.
Early years
Foran was born in Flemington, New Jer ...
,
Beverly Garland
Beverly Lucy Garland (née Fessenden; October 17, 1926 – December 5, 2008) was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action or science-fiction movie ...
,
Lisa Gaye
Leslie Gaye Griffin (March 6, 1935 – July 14, 2016), better known as Lisa Gaye, was an American actress, and dancer.
Early years
Gaye was born in Denver, Colorado to Frank Henry Griffin, a painter, and Margaret Allen Griffin (née Gibson) ...
,
James Gleason
James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold."
Life and career
Gleason w ...
,
Don Gordon,
Frank Gorshin,
Peter Graves
Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 ...
,
George Grizzard
George Cooper Grizzard Jr. (April 1, 1928 – October 2, 2007) was an American stage, television, and film actor. He was the recipient of a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award, among other accolades.
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Grizzard ...
,
Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino (December 23, 1925 – July 17, 1995) was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s.
Biography
Guardino was born to an Italian family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised in Bro ...
,
Murray Hamilton,
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
,
Frieda Inescort
Frieda Inescort (born Frieda Wrightman, 29 June 1901 – 26 February 1976) was a Scottish-born actress best known for creating the role of Sorel Bliss in Noël Coward's play ''Hay Fever'' on Broadway. She also played the shingled lady in Joh ...
,
David Janssen
David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...
,
Jack Kelly,
Robert Knapp,
Nan Leslie
Nanette June Leslie (June 4, 1926 – July 30, 2000) was an American actress. She was known for playing Martha McGivern in the American western television series '' The Californians''.
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Leslie was born in Los Angeles, Cali ...
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Margaret Lindsay
Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies; September 19, 1910 – May 9, 1981) was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in successf ...
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Jack Lord
John Joseph Patrick Ryan (December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998), best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer. He starred as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television progra ...
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Celia Lovsky
Celia Lovsky (born Cäcilia Josefina Lvovsky, February 21, 1897 – October 12, 1979) was an Austrian-American actress. She was born in Vienna,Nora Marlowe
Nora Marlowe (September 5, 1915 – December 31, 1977) was an American film and television character actress.
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Marlowe was an actress best known for her role from 1973 to 1977 as boardinghouse owner/operator ...
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Frank McHugh
Francis Curry McHugh (May 23, 1898 – September 11, 1981) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor.
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Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents, Edward A. ...
,
Joyce Meadows
Joyce Meadows, born Joyce Johanna Burger (born April 13, 1933) is a Canadian-American film and television actress.
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Meadows was born in Arrowwood, Alberta, moving with her family to Montana and then California. She worked as a ...
,
Lee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss America 1955 pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daught ...
,
Martin Milner
Martin Sam Milner (December 28, 1931 – September 6, 2015) was an American actor and radio host. He is best known for his performances on two television series: '' Route 66'', which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964, and ''Adam-12'', which a ...
,
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...
,
Joanna Moore
Joanna Moore (born Dorothy Joanne Cook, November 10, 1934 – November 22, 1997) was an American film and television actress, who, between 1956 and 1976, appeared in 17 feature films and guest-starred in nearly a hundred television series episod ...
,
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...
,
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. Noted for her work across different areas of the entertainment industry, she has appeared in numerous film, television, and thea ...
,
Lori Nelson
Dixie Kay Nelson (August 15, 1933August 23, 2020), known professionally as Lori Nelson, was an American actress and model mostly active in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had roles in the TV series ''How to Marry a Millionaire (TV series), How to ...
,
Susan Oliver,
Larry Pennell
Lawrence Kenneth "Larry" Pennell (February 21, 1928 – August 28, 2013) was an American television and film actor, often remembered for his role as "Dash Riprock" in the television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies''. His career spanned ha ...
,
Paul Picerni
Horacio Paul Picerni (December 1, 1922 – January 12, 2011) was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit televisio ...
,
Kent Smith
Frank Kent Smith (March 19, 1907 – April 23, 1985) was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theatre and television.
Early years
Smith was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Smith. He was born in New York City and was educated ...
,
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 June 23, 2006) was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the TV series ''Family'' (1976–1980), '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), ''The Love Boat'' (1977–1986 ...
,
Olive Sturgess
Olive Sturgess (born October 8, 1933) is a Canadian former actress who worked in films, television shows, and theatre in the 1950s and 1960s. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Sturgess. Leonard hosted his own radio show. She came to Hollywood ...
,
Marshall Thompson
James Marshall Thompson (November 27, 1925 – May 18, 1992) was an American film and television actor.
Early years
Thompson was born in Peoria, Illinois. He and his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Laurence B. Thompson, moved to California when he was a ...
,
Regis Toomey
John Francis Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor.
Early life
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High ...
,
Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889 – June 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Career
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Truex learned acting at an early age after his father, a doctor, treated actor Edwin Melvin, who ...
,
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; the ...
,
Betty White
Betty Marion White (January 17, 1922December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of Golden Age of Television, early television, with a television career spanning almost seven decades, White was noted for her vast work i ...
,
Grant Williams,
DeForest Kelley
Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999), known to colleagues as "Dee", was an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer. He was known for his roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the in the televisio ...
, and
Dick York
Richard Allen York (September 4, 1928 – February 20, 1992) was an American radio, stage, film, and television actor. He was the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the ABC fantasy sitcom ''Bewitched''. He played teacher Bertram Cates in the ...
.
At least two professional athletes appeared on the show: basketball and baseball player
Chuck Connors
Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...
(who also had a career as an actor) and
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
baseball pitcher
Don Drysdale.
DVD Releases
Currently, there are no DVD releases of the show.
Episodes
Season 1 (1955)
Season 2 (1955–56)
Season 3 (1956–57)
Season 4 (1957–58)
Season 5 (1958–59)
Season 6 (1959–60)
Parodies
''The Millionaire'' was parodied in a 1958 episode of ''
The Jack Benny Program
''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...
'', in which
Dennis Day
Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent.
Early life
Day was born and raised in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, New York City, the ...
became a Tipton beneficiary, with Marvin Miller as Michael Anthony delivering the unexpected gift.
During its fourth season, ''
The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
'' was expanded to an hour. Rod Serling, upset at this change, wrote an episode that season called "
The Bard
A bard is a minstrel in medieval Scottish, Irish, and Welsh societies; and later re-used by romantic writers.
Bard, BARD, The Bard or Bård may also refer to:
People
* Bard (surname)
* Bård, Norwegian given name and surname
*William Shakespea ...
" about a hack television writer who was unable to come up with anything good until he inadvertently summoned the ghost of William Shakespeare. One of his bad ideas was an in-joke ... "We take ''The Millionaire'', expand it to an hour, and call it ''The Multimillionaire''!"
In 1978, the Canadian sketch comedy program ''
SCTV'' produced a parody of the show called ''The $Millionaire.'' In it, Tipton (played by
Joe Flaherty) has given away so much money over the years that he is practically broke. He now can only afford to give away $50 at a time, much to the embarrassment of Anthony (played by
John Candy
John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' seri ...
).
''
Mad Magazine
Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to:
Geography
* Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia
* Mád, a village in Hungary
* Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code
* Mad River (disambiguation), several r ...
'' included ''The Millionaire'' in a parody article during the run of the show. Miller's character approaches a subject and says, "My name is Michael Anthony, and I have been authorized to give you one million dollars!" The man tears up the check, saying, "My name is
Mike Todd
Michael Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; June 22, 1909 – March 22, 1958) was an American theater and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of ''Around the World in 80 Days'', which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Actr ...
, and ''I don't need it!''"
In the sitcom ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'', the episode "How to Marry a Mailman" opens with
Norm Peterson
Hilary Norman Peterson is a regular fictional character on the American television show ''Cheers''. The character was portrayed by actor George Wendt and is named Hilary after his paternal grandfather.
Norm appeared in all 275 episodes of '' ...
and
Cliff Clavin
Clifford C. Clavin, Jr. (born 1947 or 1949) is a fictional character on the American television show '' Cheers'' played by John Ratzenberger. A postal worker, he is the bar's know-it-all and was a contestant on the game show ''Jeopardy!'' Cliff ...
explaining ''The Millionaire'' and its premise to multi-millionaire
Robin Colcord
This is a list of characters from the American television sitcom, '' Cheers''.
Original main characters
Before the ''Cheers'' pilot, " Give Me a Ring Sometime", was finalized and then aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four emp ...
in an effort to get Colcord to give them a million dollars.
Similar productions
The 1932 film ''
If I Had a Million
''If I Had a Million'' is a 1932 American pre-Code Paramount Studios anthology film starring Gary Cooper, George Raft, Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields, Jack Oakie, Frances Dee and Charlie Ruggles, among others. There were seven directors: Ernst L ...
'' involves a dying businessman who leaves his money to eight strangers. The movie had seven directors and multiple screenwriters.
The 1983–1984
ABC-TV series ''
Lottery!
''Lottery!'' is an American anthologic drama that premiered on ABC on September 9, 1983. The series aired for one season of 17 episodes and starred Ben Murphy as Patrick Sean Flaherty, and Marshall Colt as Eric Rush. ''Lottery!'' centered on ...
'' also explored sudden wealth and its impacts upon its beneficiaries, as did the
NBC-TV
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
shows ''Sweepstakes'' in 1979 and ''
Windfall'' in 2006; all three had short runs. The 2013 television show ''
Lucky 7'' had an even shorter run.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Millionaire, The
1955 American television series debuts
1960 American television series endings
1950s American anthology television series
1960s American anthology television series
1950s American crime drama television series
1960s American crime drama television series
Black-and-white American television shows
Television series by CBS Studios
CBS original programming
English-language television shows