Ben Casey

Ben Casey was the greatest exemplar on TV of sixties confrontational characters. A dynamic professional above and beyond normal standards. If you were going to use him as a role model for your own career, you'd better be as brilliant as he was. You also have to have a brilliant mentor like Dr. Zorba who fully understands how brilliant you are and sees your career as virtually indispensable to the profession. I agree with the other member who compared him to Capt. Kirk. Kirk was in a more professionally secure place as captain of his own ship. If they served together, Ben might have physically intimidated him since he dominated scenes with such great actors as George C. Scott. Spock would have had a much better relationship with Casey than he did with McCoy. Neither of them suffered fools gladly. Casey would have known Vulcan, Klingon and Romulan physiology and psychology enough to impress Spock. Spock and Kirk would seek his advice on more than just medical matters.

Ben Casey is the chief neurosurgeon in County Hospital in a large city. He is surrounded by a well-trained staff of doctors and nurses. Each show focuses on a different aspect of life in the hospital. One show features Casey being sued for slander by an incompetent doctor. Casey is brilliant, but has an opinion about everything, so he stays in trouble with the front office.

Sam Jaffe stars as Dr. David Zorba, Caseys mentor and friend. Zorba advises him in important matters both as his superior, and his friend.

There are many guest stars seen over the years that this show ran. Jack Klugman, Brett Sommers, Franciot Tone, Ed Begley, Sr, Telly Savalas (with hair!) Cliff Robertson, Bruce Dern, just to name a few. The drama is well-told and engrossing.

Not everything is pure drama. One episode has Casey helping out one night in the emergency room dealing with crackpot people with imaginary problems.

Casey and Dr. Maggie Graham have an on-and-off relationship throughout the series.

If you get a chance to see Ben Casey, try to catch it with show #1, where Casey gets stuck with a needle after it was used in a test on a girl with rabies! You will be hooked.

If you are looking for the ultimate medical role model, then look no further. It's right here with Ben Casey. Dr. Casey is stalwart, resolute, ethical, courageous and above all clinically competent. He is everything a doctor should be. He's all business but he's compassionate too. Ben Casey is the greatest medical drama in the history of television broadcasting. All the other medical shows are in second place. One important reason for the show's excellence is the star of the show, Vincent Edwards. Mr. Edwards IS Ben Casey. Mr. Edwards took this character and made it into a television icon. He is to Ben Casey what William Shatner is to Star Trek. Both characters command respect, and earn it episode after episode. It's too bad that Dr. Casey and Captain Kirk never served together on the Starship Enterprise. THAT would have made for an interesting show.

The year 1961 brought two outstanding medical dramas to television even though they aired only a week apart. One was "Dr. Kildare" that premiered over at NBC. The other was the medical drama series "Ben Casey" that premiered a week after "Dr. Kildare". "Ben Casey" upon its premiere on October 2,1961 became one of the biggest television hits at ABC spanning five seasons and 153 episodes all in black and white until March 21,1966. "Ben Casey" was just that...a gritty riveting medical drama that was so realistic that it brought on superior acting from it's guest stars not to mention the astounding writing and big production values made this show such a colossal hit and a ratings winner for ABC. Interesting note about this show...Actor Vince Edwards was discovered by Bing Crosby whose production company Bing Crosby Productions produced this series and was filmed at Desilu Studios. Vince Edwards took the character of "Ben Casey" and made him into one of the biggest television icons of the early-1960's. Vince Edwards appeared in all 153 episodes of the series. Veteran actor Sam Jaffe who played Casey's mentor and friend Dr. David Zorba appeared in 127 episodes of the series,and was replaced in the show's final season by Franchot Tone(Dr. Niles Freeland),and also by Harry Landers(Dr. Ted Hoffman). Actress Jeanne Bates(Nurse Willis) appeared in 42 episodes of the series from 1961-1966. "Ben Casey" came at a time when America was at a crossroads within itself especially with the subject of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the confrontations in the Southern states against Jim Crow,and the sudden death of President John Kennedy.

Given the support and assistance from the American Medical Association which was behind some of the scenes during production, the series "Ben Casey" was groundbreaking for it's era with some tough issues and hard hitting drama especially with some of the medical issues that each week Dr. Casey and his staff at fictional County General Hospital had to face. The success of "Ben Casey" brought 11 Prime-Time Emmy Nominations winning the Prime-Time Emmy in 1963 for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role(Kim Stanley),and also Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role(Glenda Farrell)Big time name directors ranging from Leo Penn, Irvin Kershner, Sydney Pollack, John Meredyth-Lucas, Mark Rydell, Arthur Hiller, Alvin Ganzer, Marc Daniels, Richard C. Sarafian, Alan Crosland, to Jerry Lewis, Gerald Mayer and even Joesph Pevney and Paul Wendkos contribute to some of the great episodes not to mention superior writing from the show's creator(James E. Moser for all 153 episodes),along with Jack Laird, Chester Krumholz, Don Brinkley, Alvin Sargent, Al C. Ward, Lester Pine, Wilton Schiller, Ken Kolb, Harry Julian-Fink, Dean Riesner, Norman Katkov and William Bast.

Big name guest stars ranging from Peter Falk, Shelley Winters, Cesar Romero, Millie Perkins, Eddie Albert, Tom Bosley, Stella Stevens, Dick Clark, Mary Astor, Ricardo Montalban, Anne Francis, Davy Jones, Barry Sullivan, Bradford Dillman, Brett Somers to George C. Scott, Jerry Lewis, Roddy McDowell, Robert Culp, Greg Morris, Eartha Kitt, Percy Rodriguez, Antoinette Bower, Ellen Burstyn, Jack Warden, to Carroll O' Connor, James Best, Hari Rhodes, Peter Breck, Jack Klugman, Telly Savalas, Bruce Dern, Cliff Robertson, Beau Bridges, Sally Kellerman, Norman Fell, Neville Brand, Patricia Barry, Brooke Bundy, Suzanne Pleshette, Piper Laurie, and even Richard Basehart, Ray Walston, Larry Hovis, Ivan Dixon, Yvonne Craig, William Windom, Patricia Blair, Marlo Thomas, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Simon Oakland not to mention Tuesday Weld, Pippa Scott and James Caan and even Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis,Jr. made a special guest appearances.

The best episodes from this Emmy award winning series starts with the pilot episode "To The Pure" to "I Remember A Lemon Tree", "The Sweet Kiss of Madness", "And If I Die", "A Little Fun to Match the Sorrow", "And Even Death Shall Die", "Behold a Pale Horse", "When You See An Evil Man", to the two-part "A Cardinal Act of Mercy". Other great episodes were "If There Were Dreams to Sell", "The Echo of a Silent Cheer", "A Certain Time, A Certain Darkness", "But Linda Only Smiled", "Courage At Three-AM", "A Woods Full of Question Marks", "Where Did All The Roses Go?", "Every Other Minute,It's The End of the World", "Dress My Doll Pretty", "In Case of Emergency,Cry Havoc","One Nation Indivisible" to "A Falcon's Eye, A Lion's Heart, A Girl's Hand", "The Fireman Who Raised Rabbits", "A Horse Named Stravinsky", "If You Play Your Cards Right,You Too Can Be A Loser", "Allie", "A Hundred More Pipers", "Between Summer and Winter,The Glorious Season", along with "Legacy from a Stranger" were some of the great episodes that this series produced during its astounding five season run.

"Ben Casey" premiered on ABC's Monday night schedule in Prime-Time from October 2,1961 until May 13, 1963. The network moved the series to Wednesday nights in Prime-Time from September 9, 1963 until April 22,1964 in favor of another produced Bing Crosby series "Breaking Point". "Ben Casey" went back to Monday nights on September 14, 1964 and remained until the final episode of the series on March 21,1966 after five seasons and 153 black and white episodes. When "Ben Casey" was canceled in the Spring of 1966, the series was replaced by the espionage British import series "The Avengers" on March 28,1966. In the fall of that year it would be replaced by the Western-adventure series "The Big Valley".

Until his counterpart,Dr. Kildare,Ben Casey was a resident of a large hospital,a full-fledged doctor on staff who was a very prominent neurosurgeon who was under the supervision of his mentor,Dr. Zorba. But just like any other medical doctor,Ben Casey always had his patients confidentality and tender care and sometimes have him going against the medical establishment at times with was sometimes the case along with him and his mentor finding the cure and making the demands of the both the patients and the staff he works under.

Ben Casey was a gritty medical drama that was also realistic which starred Vince Edwards going against the establishment and the administration not to mention his patients at fictional Metro General Hospital. The series was produced by Bing Crosby's production company,BCP Productions(filmed at Desilu Studios),and amazingly ran for five seasons on ABC-TV from October 2,1961 until March 21,1966 for 153 episodes all in classic black and white.The series aired on Monday nights in Prime-Time from October 2,1961 until May 13,1963 when it moved to Wednesday nights for the 1963-1964 season in favor of another Bing Crosby produced series "Breaking Point" on September 9,1963 until April 22,1964 where it faced strong competition from "The Dick Van Dyke Show",and "The Beverly Hillbillies". The show went back to Monday nights for its final two seasons from September 14,1964 until March 21,1966. The series also starred Sam Jaffe(who appeared in 127 episodes),as Casey's mentor,Dr. David Zorba,and Franchot Tone as Casey's friend and assistant Dr. Niles Freeland,and Harry Landers as Dr. Ted Hoffman. Vince Edwards' character of Dr. Casey you may say was a precursor to the changes that were happening during the time,which in point during the show's run,the country was going through the motions of its time,especially with the Cuba Missile Crisis,the Civil Rights Movement and the violent confrontations that occurred within the South with the unjustice of the Jim Crow laws,the assassination of President John Kennedy,the march on Washington,the signing of the Civil Rights Act,and the escalating war that went on in Vietnam,and rioting that occurred in sections of the country including the Watts riots,and so forth. In other words,America was at war with itself,and this occurred during the show's five year run. "Ben Casey" was given great support from the assistance of the American Medical Association which was behind some of the scenes during its production.

But getting back to Ben Casey,it was a groundbreaking medical show that had it share of some tough issues of that era,but case in point,Casey had to work with a system that was a monolith that existed for its own purpose and within its own momentum. He knew he had to deal with the pressures of a major medical hospital,so he had to wrestle with it especially with the mediocrity around it to get the job done. But within its own frame of dealing with that,you had his mentor,Dr. Zorba who often appeared to be more of a matador than a mentor,trying to tame the raging bull that was inside Ben Casey,as he always called him. That was the case in various episodes where the good doctor had to overcome the impossible in order to accomplish his task. There were two examples of this,one which had the Dr. Casey and Dr. Zorba in a malpractice suit where guest star,Beau Bridges was the center of the settlement,which was a good two-parter episode,and the other where Casey is bitten by a rat and goes into shock,and the other episode dealt with racism where Casey and his associates defend a black doctor,played by Greg Morris,who is accused of neglecting a patient and Casey has to defend him during a run-in with a discriminatory administrative staff.

The success of "Ben Casey" garnered 11 Prime-Time Emmy nominations winning 2 Prime-Time Emmy award in 1963 for Outstanding Actress in a Dramatic Series and Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role. Vince Edwards along with Sam Jaffe received Emmy nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in a Prime Time Series. However,"Ben Casey" paved the way for the next great medical dramas which included "Marcus Welby", "Medical Center", "Chicago Hope", "Trapper John", "E.R." to "Gray's Anatomy"......