Alias Smith and Jones

File:Alias Smith and Jones 1971.jpg

Left to right: Pete Duel, William Windom and Ben Murphy in Alias Smith and Jones (1971)

Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western television series that originally aired on ABC from January 1971 to January 1973.

Cast and characters

Template:Expand section In the early morning hours of December 31, 1971, series star Pete Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. He was reportedly suffering from depression and had been drinking heavily when he shot himself. Upon learning of Duel's death, executive producer Jo Swerling Jr. initially wanted to end the series, but ABC refused.<ref name= "go on">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Swerling later stated:

ABC said, "No way!" They said, "You have a contract to deliver this show to us, and you will continue to deliver the show as best you can on schedule or we will sue you." Hearing those words, Universal didn't hesitate for a second to instruct us to stay in production. We were already a little bit behind the eight ball on airdates. So, we contacted everybody, including Ben (Murphy), and told them to come back in. The entire company was reassembled and back in production by one o'clock that day shooting scenes that did not involve Peter — only 12 hours after his death.<ref name= "go on" />Template:Rp

Series writer, director, and producer Roy Huggins contacted actor Roger Davis (who provided narration for the series, and who had also appeared in episode 19 "Smiler with a Gun") the day of Duel's death to fill the role of Hannibal Heyes, and actor/voice man Paul Frees came in to loop Duel's unfinished ADR on "The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg".<ref>episode 33, "The Men Who Corrupted Hadleyburg"</ref> Davis was fitted for costumes the following day, and began reshooting scenes Duel had previously completed for an unfinished episode the following Monday. According to Swerling, the decision to continue production so soon after Duel's death was heavily criticized in the press at the time.<ref name= "go on" />Template:Rp

Production

Template:Expand section Joan Hackett played a character called Clementine Hale; a character with the same name appeared in two Alias Smith and Jones episodes, played by Sally Field.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Universal contract player Ben Murphy was offered to the producers because he was considered a Paul Newman lookalike.<ref>Glen A. Larson, audio commentary on Alias Smith and Jones, Season One, Disc One, the pilot, Universal DVD, 2007.</ref>

Parts of the television series were filmed at Castle Valley and Professor Valley in Utah.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Episodes

Template:Main List of Alias Smith and Jones episodes

Home media

The entire series has been released on DVD.<ref>DVD release info Template:Webarchive at TVShowsOnDVD.com</ref>

DVD set	Episodes	Release date	Company
Alias Smith and Jones: Season 1	15	Template:Start date<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Universal Home Video
Alias Smith and Jones: Seasons 2 & 3	35	Template:Start date<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Timeless Media Group
Alias Smith and Jones: The Complete Series	50	Template:Start date<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Timeless Media Group

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the complete first season of Alias Smith and Jones in Region 2 on June 11, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:IMDb title
• Alias Smith & Jones Collection
• Alias Smith & Jones Image Library