''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'' is an American detective drama, created by

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts ...

, which aired on radio from

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, and on television from

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

to 1960.

Radio

Dick Powell starred in the ''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'' radio series as a wisecracking former police officer turned private detective. Episodes typically open with a client visiting or calling cash-strapped Diamond's office and agreeing to his fee of $100 a day plus expenses, or Diamond taking on a case at the behest of his friend and former partner, Lt. Walter Levinson. Diamond often suffers a blow to the head in his sleuthing pursuits. Most episodes end with Diamond at the piano, singing a standard, popular song, or showtune from Powell's repertoire to Helen Asher (his girlfriend) in her penthouse at 975

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

. Levinson was played variously by Ed Begley, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ted DeCorsia and Alan Reed. Helen was played by Virginia Gregg and others. Another regular cast member was Wilms Herbert as Walt's bumbling sergeant, Otis, who also "doubled" on the show as Helen's butler, Francis. Many of the shows were either written or directed by Edwards. Its theme, "Leave It to Love", was whistled by Powell at the beginning of each episode. It began airing on NBC Radio on April 24,

, picked up Rexall as a sponsor on April 5, 1950, and continued until December 6, 1950. With Camel cigarettes as a sponsor, it moved to ABC from January 5,

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, to June 29, 1951, with Rexall returning for a run from October 5, 1951, until June 27,

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

. Substituting for '' Amos 'n' Andy'', it aired Sunday evenings on CBS (again, for Rexall) from May 31, 1953 until September 20, 1953.

Television series

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

bought the program from Powell as a summer replacement for '' December Bride'' in 1957. The television debut of Richard Diamond occurred on November 22, 1956, when Don Taylor portrayed the character in the "Double Cross" episode on '' Chevron Hall of Stars''. Powell's company, Four Star Television, produced the television version of ''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'', which premiered in the summer of 1957 on CBS. It returned to CBS in January 1958 for the second season and in February 1959 for the third season, again on CBS. In the fall of 1959, the fourth and final season aired on NBC.

David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer; March 27, 1931 – February 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 a ...

, before '' The Fugitive,'' starred as Diamond, a former officer of the

New York Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

and a hard-boiled private detective in the

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

tradition. Don Taylor played the title role in a 1956 television pilot, broadcast as an episode of the anthology series '' Chevron Hall of Stars''. The first two television seasons followed radio's characterization the most closely (several episodes were adapted from the radio series). Diamond, known for his charm and wisecracks as much as his virility, was still based in New York, though Janssen never sat at a piano and sang, as Powell had typically ended most of the radio episodes. In the ''noirish'' opening sequence, clad in hat, suit, and tie, he walks down a dimly lit street toward the camera and lights up a cigarette, the light revealing his face. After the first season when the sponsor was Maxwell House, the show was sponsored by Kent cigarettes, and Frank DeVol’s playfully mysterious theme was heard underneath an announcer hawking either "Maxwell House – Good to the Last Drop" or “Kent with the Micronite filter.” In syndicated rebroadcasts of the series, the revised title, ''Call Mr. D.'', flashes on the screen, and DeVol's music is replaced by Pete Rugolo’s far more recognizable theme—although that did not appear until Season 3. Following the second season, the setting was switched from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and the production was entirely redesigned. The 18 episodes comprising Season 3 aired from February to mid-June of 1959, and Diamond’s character now bore only slight resemblance to his California-based ''noirish'' predecessors Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. By the late 1950s, the glamour of Hollywood was becoming an irresistible fantasy for millions of viewers, and the popularity of Warner Brothers’ '' 77 Sunset Strip''—which involved a good deal of location shooting and began airing four months before Diamond's third season—undoubtedly influenced a newer P. I. image that often seemed more inspired by

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the ''Playboy ...

than by Dashiell Hammett. Diamond no longer occupied a low-rent, cloistered office, but now operated from a modern, beautifully appointed ranch house—complete with a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

—in the Hollywood Hills. With panoramic sliding glass doors providing views of the mountains and the city, his sunken living room featured a bar and a loveseat, where he could be found many evenings entertaining young women before a fire. Following the lead of the ''Sunset Strip'' private eyes, he also drove a convertible—in this case a 1959 DeSoto Fireflite. The Hefner-like fantasy was enhanced by gadgets, especially Diamond's

car phone A car phone is a mobile radio telephone specifically designed for and fitted into an automobile. This service originated with the Bell System and was first used in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 17, 1946. Overview United States The original equ ...

, which connected him directly to an answering service overseen by the shapely, enigmatic “Sam.” Season 3's modern, more youthful ambience was complemented by a jazz score by composer/arranger Pete Rugolo, who created a set of big-band,

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...

-esque cues for each of the episodes. In the highly stylized opening sequence, Rugolo's robust theme is preceded by tense melodic fragments underscoring a series of frenetic, silhouette images of Diamond running, before walking forward—again in hat, suit, and tie—to light a cigarette, suggesting a re-boot of the original ''noirish'' conception. (Rugolo's score soon became so popular that in 1959 a full album of his ''Diamond'' cues, '' The Music from Richard Diamond'', was released on the Mercury label.) In the fourth season, which aired on NBC, the writers retained Los Angeles as the setting, but the Hefner-esque fantasy elements were considerably toned down. Now Diamond again operated from an office reminiscent of what he had known in New York, and his beautiful ranch house was replaced by an attractive—though more conventional—apartment. His car phone still connected him to Sam, but he now drove a 1959

Ford Galaxie The Ford Galaxie is a car that was marketed by Ford in North America from the 1959 to 1974 model years. Deriving its nameplate from a marketing tie-in with the excitement surrounding the Space Race, the Galaxie was offered as a sedan within the ...

convertible—absent the impressive tail fins of his DeSoto. Though the opening titles remained, Rugolo's score was replaced by a more sedate theme, "Nervous" by Richard Shores, later to be used during the highlight sequence that began every episode of ''The Dick Powell Show''. The CBS Season 3 re-boot had aired on Sunday nights at 10 pm, but NBC moved the time slot to 7:30 pm Monday, and Season 4 began airing on October 5, 1959, with a 17-episode run that concluded late in January. Because its numbers were no longer strong, the season's nine additional episodes were delayed, resuming only as a summer replacement on Tuesday, July 5, 1960, and concluding in early September. Though the old ''noirish'' elements were more prominent, the final season's look seems inspired more by cost-cutting than aesthetics, and the production values appear far less glamorous than Season 3. In addition to Janssen, the series had other recurring characters. Mirroring Diamond's history with the New York Police Department, the radio version featured his friend, police Lt. Walt Levinson (often played by Ed Begley, Sr.), and on TV, veteran actor Regis Toomey, portraying Diamond's former superior, Lt. Dennis "Mac" McGough, came aboard in the first episode, which aired in July 1957. Toomey then appeared intermittently in seven more, including “Snow Queen,” the final episode of Season 2, which aired on June 26, 1958. Radio's version also gave Diamond a steady girl friend, wealthy socialite Helen Asher (played by Virginia Gregg), a story arc that was neglected by television until the first episode of Season 3, when Diamond meets fashion designer Karen Wells, played by Barbara Bain. But this may have created a conundrum for the producers, since radio's Diamond was also an unrestrained flirt, and Powell's character often shamelessly ogled his beautiful clients before returning to Helen each week. In one TV episode, “Soft Touch,” Karen catches Diamond about to two-time her, and after five episodes, the “steady-girl-friend” arc had disappeared, with Diamond once again playing the field. When he first reached Los Angeles, Diamond had no history with the local police, and his encounters with them are often contentious. In Season 4, Russ Conway was cast as Lieutenant Pete Kile for five episodes, and their relationship soon turns to one of mutual respect, if not always warmth. The omnipresent Sam entered the picture (at least partially—viewers never saw much of her face) in Season 3 and remained for the duration of the series. She was played for most of Season 3 by Mary Tyler Moore in her first regular series role, and later replaced by Roxane Brooks.

Cast

as Richard Diamond * Regis Toomey as Lt. Dennis "Mac" McGough (seasons 1–2) * Russ Conway as Lt. Pete Kile (season 4) * Barbara Bain as Karen Wells (season 3) * Mary Tyler Moore as Sam (season 3) * Roxane Brooks as Sam (seasons 3–4)

Television guest stars

* Nick Adams * Philip Ahn * Charles Aidman * Claude Akins * Frank Albertson *

Jack Albertson Harold "Jack" Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981) was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in vaudeville. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor, which ranks him among a rare stature of 24 ...

* Chris Alcaide *

Merry Anders Merry Anders (born Mary Helen Anderson; May 22, 1934 – October 28, 2012) was an American actress who appeared in a number of television programs and films from the 1950s until her retirement from the screen in 1972. Early life Anders was born ...

* John Anderson * Eleanor Audley * Phyllis Avery * Joanna Barnes * Patricia Barry * Harry Bartell * Arthur Batanides * Barbara Baxley * Don Beddoe * Ed Begley * Harry Bellaver * John Beradino * James Best * Edward Binns *

Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a Talk ...

* Patricia Blair * Whitney Blake * Dan Blocker * Willis Bouchey * Lane Bradford * Jocelyn Brando * Steve Brodie * Charles Bronson * Hillary Brooke * Geraldine Brooks * Richard Carlyle * Jack Cassidy * Phyllis Coates * Joe Conley *

Ellen Corby Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an American actress and screenwriter. She played the role of List of The Waltons characters#Esther Walton, Esther "Grandma" Walton on the Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS television ...

* Jerome Cowan * Christopher Dark * Ted de Corsia *

Francis De Sales Francis de Sales, Congregation of the Oratory, C.O., Order of Minims, O.M. (; ; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Savoyard state, Savoyard Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Geneva and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He became n ...

* King Donovan * Richard Devon * Brad Dexter * Lawrence Dobkin *

James Drury James Child Drury Jr. (April 18, 1934 – April 6, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series '' The Virginian'', which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 ...

* Don Durant * Jack Elam * Ross Elliott * Tommy Farrell * James Flavin * Dick Foran * Robert Foulk * Douglas Fowley * Robert Gist * Ned Glass * Barry Gordon * Tom Greenway * Dabbs Greer * Virginia Gregg * Don Haggerty * Kipp Hamilton * Peter Hansen * Stacy Harris * Irene Hervey * Jonathan Hole * James Hong * Clegg Hoyt * John Hoyt * Robert Karnes * Don Keefer * DeForest Kelley * Sandy Kenyon * Gail Kobe * Charles Lane (actor, born 1905), Charles Lane * Joi Lansing * Harry Lauter * Ruta Lee * Peter Leeds * Bethel Leslie * Nan Leslie * Lisa Lu * Keye Luke * John Lupton * Ross Martin * Sean McClory * Howard McNear * Carole Mathews * Joyce Meadows * Eve Miller * John Mitchum * Rita Moreno * Vic Morrow * Jeanette Nolan * Jay Novello * Alan Reed * Richard Reeves (actor), Richard Reeves * Stafford Repp * Addison Richards * Mark Roberts (actor), Mark Roberts * Carlos Romero (actor), Carlos Romero * Hayden Rorke * Mort Sahl * Walter Sande * Gloria Saunders * William Schallert * Jacqueline Scott * Karen Sharpe * Doris Singleton * Lyle Talbot * Gloria Talbott * Vaughn Taylor (actor), Vaughn Taylor * Lee Van Cleef * Herb Vigran * June Vincent * James Westerfield * Jesse White (actor), Jesse White * Jean Willes * Gloria Winters

Television episode list

Season 1: 1957

Season 2: 1958

Season 3: 1959–60

Season 4: 1960

Adaptations

In 1968, Four Star president David Charnay announced a feature film revival starring David Janssen, but nothing came of the plans. A pair of unauthorized Richard Diamond short stories set in 1948 were published in book form in 2016.

References

External links

* *
''Richard Diamond, Private Eye''
at ''The Thrilling Detective'' web-site
''Richard Diamond Private Eye Podcast''
* {{InternetArchiveOTR, id=OTRR_Richard_Diamond_Private_Detective_Singles, title=Richard Diamond, Private Detective
''Richard Diamond, Private Eye''
theme by Pete Rugolo
Richard Diamond on Old Time Radio Outlaws
1957 American television series debuts 1940s American radio programs 1960 American television series endings 1950s American crime drama television series 1960s American crime drama television series American detective television series American radio dramas Black-and-white American television shows 1949 radio programme debuts 1953 radio programme endings NBC radio programs CBS Radio programs ABC radio programs Detective radio shows Radio programs adapted into television shows Television series based on radio series Television series by Four Star Television Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in New York City Television shows set in Los Angeles CBS television dramas NBC television dramas