Mr. Terrific

I also remember this sitcom fondly. I remember the balding man who was the superhero's mentor. That was the man who invented the pill. Mr. Terrific pops a pill, then his face turns one color after another, then he gets super powers. I've always thought the pill was the reason this show got axed. It was a good show! But with all the pill-popping going on during the psychedelic sixties, I would imagine the network caught some blowback.

I can't believe someone else remembers this show! For twenty five years I've had a picture in my head of a portly guy in a suit talking across a desk to a skinny guy with a cape. They were in a high-rise building and the skinny guy flew out the window. I remembered he was some sort of secret agent. No one else remembered it and they thought I was thinking of Get Smart. I finally found it! I can now die in peace!

I have vague memories of this show, but I knew the opening credits by heart. . "The pill would turn a lamb into a lion/like an eagle he'd be flyin'..." I also remember Stephen Strimpell turning up on some game show one summer day when I happened to be home from school, and thinking, "Hey, that's Mr. Terrific!" Little did I know that when I was 18 I'd end up at HB Studio studying acting and that Mr. Terrific would be my first--and only worthwhile--acting teacher.

I learned today that Stephen died this past weekend.

His dedication, his rock bottom, practical approach to acting, free of any method clap trap and rooted firmly in the kind of nuts and bolts reality that almost all other teachers seemed to overlook, sustained and intrigued me as a kid and still does to this day. That a cold beverage should be handled differently from a hot beverage, that careful attention should be paid to one's environment, that no action on stage should ever be undertaken unless it flowed from a logical place within the context of a scene may not seem revelatory, but very few other people taught that way. Even when I'd see veteran actors at work I'd marvel at how even they would gloss over this kind of basic stage craft. And I'd think, "Wow, Stephen would NEVER let ME get away with that."

Also, there was an bonus when you studied with Stephen--he was one of the funniest people I ever knew. He was a sweet and compassionate man, but every once in a while the rapier came out, and the result was that you were still sputtering while the next two student actors were trying to set up their scene. Mostly, he was his own favorite target, along with members of his own family.

I pretty much worshiped him as a young actor. And now he's not here anymore.

To me, and who knows how many others, he really was Mr. Terrific.

I was a big fan of Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific. I have some video of the Captain Nice program and after much searching, I recently bought the pilot for Mr. Terrific. Here's the big surprise - Alan Young, not Stephen Strimpell was the original Stanley Beamish, alias Mr. Terrific! Yes, the Alan Young from Mr. Ed. Mr Ed finished in 1966, so he must have filmed the pilot right after. Young was 47 when this was shot, but appeared to be trying to play someone in their late twenties or early thirties. He just seemed to be a little to old for the role, perhaps that's why Strimpell ended up with it.

It was very enjoyable to watch, regardless. It WAS silly. But I'll take that over the garbage that passes for comedy today!

Like the previous comment, no one I know has any memory of "Mr. Terrific" whatsoever. I was five years old when this show aired, but remember that "Mr. Terrific" had to take some abnormally large pill to get his superpowers, which he kept secreted in his ring. He would make several funny faces when he swallowed it, which of course was hysterically funny to a five-year-old! He always had to wear his "flying jacket" when he flew, and he would flap his arms as he did so. Whenever his boss called for "A-C-T-I-O-N", Mr. Terrific would swallow that pill & save the day. I thought I was the only guy on Earth who remembered it!