Just a few short weeks after being on the well-regarded Kraft Television Theatre playing a doctor for the first time, Shatner appeared on the much more prestigious Westinghouse Studio One as a lawyer…again for the very first time in his career. Studio One started out in 1947 as a radio program, but after one year moved to CBS television where it aired under a variety of names from 1948-1958. Much like Kraft Television Theatre, over the years Studio One gained a fantastic reputation for mounting high-quality dramatic programs featuring some of the best writers, directors and actors working in live television. These included directors like John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet and Daniel Petrie, writers like Rod Serling, Reginald Rose and Gore Vidal, and yet another who’s who of great actors including Charlton Heston, Jack Klugman, Warren Beatty, Grace Kelly and James Dean.
Several of the productions even made the leap to the big screen, probably the most notable being “Twelve Angry Men.” That teleplay was first broadcast on Studio One in 1954, winning a number of Emmys before becoming the motion picture 12 Angry Men in 1957 and being nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture. The writer of Twelve Angry Men was Reginald Rose who returned to Studio One and to the courtroom setting with “The Defender,” featuring William Shatner performing with veteran actor Ralph Bellamy and future great (and King of Cool) Steve McQueen.
Continue reading “Westinghouse Studio One – “The Defender: Part 1” (02/25/1957)”
