As an actor, Ben Gazzara was probably best known for his film career but his television roles were arguably often just as interesting.
Like many actors in the 1950s, Gazzara made a number of appearances in live television dramas and police shows. So at the same time he was starring on Broadway on "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and in films in "Anatomy Of A Murder," he was also doing guest spots on "Treasury Men In Action," "Danger," "Justice," "Playhouse 90," "The United States Steel Hour" and "Kraft Theatre."
But after some defining movie roles and a successful stint on Broadway, Gazzara returned to television to star in several influential if not especially successful mid-1960s shows.
The 1963-1964 law drama "Arrest And Trial" is a direct precursor to the long-running "Law & Order." The novel split hour format starred Gazzara as a police detective who caught the bad guys and Chuck Connors as an attorney. Connors was coming off the success of "Rifleman" and the show received a lot of press ahead of its premiere. But it was in a terrible time slot-opposite "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Bonanza" and "The Judy Garland Show."
But what probably killed the show were the legendary arguments behind the scenes. Connors and producer Frank P. Rosenberg engaged in massive off-camera battle over the scripts. So much so that press reports at the time estimated that Universal bought as many as a dozen fully written scripts and twice as many outlines that were never filmed. The battles ultimately spilled over to include the studio and in one memorable moment, Connors walked off the show until the crew was given free coffee and donuts.
Despite all the arguments, the acting on the show was often stellar and it included a large number of memorable guest stars. But the scripts that ended up being filmed are often laughable and as a result no one seemed to care when the show was dropped by ABC after one season.
Gazzara's next television experience was much more memorable. He starred as Paul Bryan in the 1965-1968 "Run For Your Life," a series which is unfortunately little known by modern television audiences. In the pilot, Gazzara plays a lawyer who is told he will die in one to two years. He then decides to do all the things he had never had time for and each episode found him somewhere new, meeting everyone from gigolos to hobos. The acting was top-rate, the scripts were often very inventive for their day and it's a show that holds up when you watch it today.
By the late 1960s, Gazzara's acting career in both films and television had settled into a rhythm of primarily character roles, although he was often very good in roles that didn't have much to recommend them.
One television highlight of this period was 1985's ground-breaking made-for-TV film "An Early Frost." He played Nick Pierson, father of a closeted lawyer who is diagnosed with AIDS (played by Aiden Quinn). Gazzara managed to bring a grace and dignity to an often unlikable role and the movie is arguably one of the best made-for-television movies of the decade.
Unfortunately many of his later television roles were ones where he played cookie-cutter mobster roles and protagonists in true crime TV movies. With those forgettable roles it's easy to forget that at his best he was an actor who could be extraordinary when he had the right role.
Gazzara died on Friday in Manhattan at the age of 81. His lawyer told the press the cause was pancreatic cancer.
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