Longstreet
Longstreet was a crime drama series that ran on ABC for just one season, in 1971-1972. It was launched by a 90-minute pilot that aired as an ABC Movie of the Week.
The show starred James Franciscus as insurance investigator Mike Longstreet, who pursued and brought to justice the men who killed his wife with a bomb hidden in a bottle of champagne (blinding him in the process). Despite his blindness he continued in his career as an insurance investigator. Longstreet's seeing-eye dog was a white German Shepherd named Pax. The show was set in New Orleans, but filmed in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, exactly ten years earlier, Franciscus had starred as another insurance investigator, Russ Andrews, in a 13-week CBS series — The Investigators. Both shows aired on Thursdays at 9 PM.
Mystery novelist Baynard Kendrick received creator's credit for Longstreet, but Kendrick's protagonist, Captain Duncan Maclain, shared little with the Franciscus character other than the fact that both were blind private eyes.
Bruce Lee made four appearances in the show as Li Tsung, an antiques dealer and Jeet Kune Do expert who becomes Longstreet's martial arts sensei.
Twenty-three episodes were produced.
Cast list:
- Mike Longstreet — James Franciscus
- Nikki Bell — Marlyn Mason (22 episodes)
- Duke Paige — Peter Mark Richman (20 episodes)
- Mrs. Kingston — Ann Doran (17 episodes)
- Li Tsung — Bruce Lee (4 episodes)
