Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama, created by Blake Edwards, which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.
Running time
30 minutes
United States
English
- Blake Edwards
- Harvey Easton
- William P. Rousseau
- Blake Edwards
- Jaime del Valle
April 24, 1949 –
September 20, 1953
"Leave It to Love"
Call Mr. D
- Thomas Carr
- Don McDougall
- Tom Gries et al
- Frank DeVol (seasons 1 & 2)
- Pete Rugolo (season 3)
- Richard Shores (season 4)
United States
English
4
77 (list of episodes)
- Mark Sandrich Jr.
- David Heilweil
- Vincent M. Fennelly
- Richard Carr
- Arthur Hilton
- Chandler House et al
24–25 minutes per episode
- CBS Television (1957–59)
- NBC (1959–60)
July 1, 1957 –
September 6, 1960
Radio[edit]
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.
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, 1949, 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, to June 29, 1951, with Rexall returning for a run from October 5, 1951, until June 27, 1952. Substituting for Amos 'n' Andy, it aired Sunday evenings on CBS (again, for Rexall) from May 31, 1953 until September 20, 1953.[1]
Adaptations[edit]
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.