12/11/58. There was a crime program, "Seven Against The Wall" on Playhouse 90 (CBS). This story was about the incidents that led into the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
4/20/59 and 4/27/59. There was a two part pilot show of the "Untouchables" on Desilu Playhouse (CBS).
10/10/59 - 9/10/63. The Untouchables aired on ABC.
It was the #8 program, 27.0 rating, Oct. 1960-Apr. 1961.
Season 1 1959-1960
The Empty Chair (10/10/59) A barber, Enrico Rossi (Nicholas Georgiade), witnesses Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) machine gunning down people in a barbershop. He kills the hood that was with Nitti, with a razor blade. He agrees to testify against Nitti and he also joins the Untouchables. Eliot Ness (Robert Stack), Brandy La France (Barbara Nichols), Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon), Norma Guzik (Betty Garde), Martin Flaherty (Jerry Paris), Enrico Rossi (Nicholas Georgiade), William Youngfellow (Abel Hernandez), Jake Guzik (Nehemiah Persoff), Gus Raddi (Peter Mamakos), Tony Volpe (Herman Rudin), "Fur" Sammons (Richard Benedict), Phil D'Andrea (Wally Cassell), Beecher Asbury (Frank Wilcox), Narrator (Walter Winchell). First episode.
Ma Barker and Her Boys (10/22/59) Ma Barker can't seem to accept that her boys are getting into trouble so their lives continue to go in the wrong direction. Eliot Ness (Robert Stack), Ma Barker (Claire Trevor), Pa Barker (Vaughn Taylor), Lloyd Barker (Adam Williams), Fred Barker (Joe Di Reda), Herman Barker (Robert Ivers), Arthur "Doc" Barker (Peter Baldwin), Martin Flaherty (Jerry Paris), William Youngfellow (Abel Hernandez), Eloise (Louise Fletcher), Narrator (Walter Winchell)
The Jake Lingle Killing (10/29/59)
The George "Bugs" Moran Story (11/5/59) Lawrence Halloran (Jack Warden) is president of the United Trucker's Union. Gangster George "Bugs" Moran (Lloyd Nolan) tries to infiltrate that union by kidnapping the president's son, Larry Halloran, Jr. (Robin Warga).
Ain't We Got Fun (11/12/59)
Vincent 'Mad Dog' Coll (11/19/59)
Mexican Stakeout (11/26/59)
The Artichoke King (12/3/59)
The Tri-State Gang (12/10/59)
The Dutch Schultz Story (12/17/59)
You Can't Pick a Number (12/24/59)
The Underground Railway (12/31/59)
Syndicate Sanctuary (1/7/60)
The Noise of Death (1/14/60)
Star Witness (1/21/60)
The St. Louis Story (1/28/60)
One-Armed Bandit (2/4/60) Agent Cam Allison (Anthony George) was brought in from St. Louis to replace Martin Flaherty (Jerry Paris), and was recently promoted to direct the Cleveland Office of the Bureau of Prohibition.
Little Egypt (2/11/60)
The Big Squeeze (2/18/60)
The Unhired Assassin: Part 1 (2/25/60)
The Unhired Assassin, Conclusion: Part 2 (3/3/60)
The White Slavers (3/10/60)
3000 Suspects (3/24/60)
The Doreen Maney Story (3/31/60)
Portrait of a Thief (4/7/60)
Underworld Bank (4/14/60)
Head of Fire, Feet of Clay (4/21/60)
The Frank Nitti Story (4/28/60) The Capone mob wants extortion money from movie theatre owners. They chose Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) to execute the plan.
Season 2 1960-1961
The Rusty Heller Story (10/13/60) Appearing in this episode are David White and Elizabeth Montgomery that were later in ABC's "Bewitched". Paul Picerni is introduced as Untouchable Lee Hobson.
The Jack 'Legs' Diamond Story (10/20/60)
Nicky (11/3/60)
The Waxey Gordon Story (11/10/60)
The Mark of Cain (11/17/60)
A Seat on the Fence (11/24/60)
The Purple Gang (12/1/60)
The Kiss of Death Girl (12/8/60)
The Larry Fay Story (12/15/60)
The Otto Frick Story (12/22/60)
The Tommy Karpeles Story (12/29/60)
The Big Train, Part 1: (1/5/61)
The Big Train, Conclusion: Part 2. (1/12/61)
The Masterpiece (1/19/61)
The Organization (1/26/61)
Jamaica Ginger (2/2/61)
Augie 'The Banker' Ciamino (2/9/61)
The Underground Court (2/16/61)
The Nick Moses Story (2/23/61)
The Antidote (3/9/61)
The Lily Dallas Story (3/16/61)
Murder Under Glass (3/23/61)
Testimony of Evil (3/30/61)
The Ring of Terror (4/13/61)
Mr. Moon (4/20/61)
Death for Sale (4/27/61)
Strangle Hold (5/4/61)
The Nero Rankin Story (5/11/61)
The Seventh Vote (5/18/61)
The King of Champagne (5/25/61)
The Nick Acropolis Story (6/1/61)
The 90-Proof Dame (6/8/61)
Season 3 1961-1962
The Troubleshooter (10/12/61)
Power Play (10/19/61) Lee Hobson (Paul Picerni) and Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) in a gun battle.
Tunnel of Horrors (10/26/61)
The Genna Brothers (11/2/61)
The Matt Bass Scheme (11/9/61)
Loophole (11/16/61)
Jigsaw (11/23/61)
Man Killer (12/7/61)
City Without a Name (12/14/61)
Hammerlock (12/21/61)
Canada Run (1/4/62)
Fall Guy (1/11/62)
The Gang War (1/18/62)
The Silent Partner (2/1/62)
The Whitey Steele Story (2/8/62)
The Death Tree (2/15/62)
Takeover (3/1/62)
The Stryker Brothers (3/8/62)
Element of Danger (3/22/62)
The Maggie Storm Story (3/29/62)
Man in the Middle (4/5/62)
Downfall (5/3/62)
The Case Against Eliot Ness (5/10/62)
The Ginnie Littlesmith Story (5/17/62)
The Contract (5/31/62)
Pressure (6/14/62)
Arsenal (6/28/62)
The Monkey Wrench (7/5/62)
Season 4 1962-1963
The Night They Shot Santa Claus (9/25/62)
Cooker in the Sky (10/2/62)
The Chess Game (10/9/62)
The Economist (10/16/62)
The Pea (10/23/62)
Bird in the Hand (10/30/62)
The Eddie O'Gara Story (11/13/62)
Elegy (11/20/62)
Come and Kill Me (11/27/62)
A Fist of Five (12/4/62)
The Floyd Gibbons Story (12/11/62)
Double Cross (12/18/62)
Search for a Dead Man (1/1/63)
The Speculator (1/8/63)
Snowball (1/15/63)
Jake Dance (1/22/63)
Blues for a Gone Goose (1/29/63)
Globe of Death (2/5/63)
An Eye for an Eye (2/19/63)
Junk Man (2/26/63)
Man in the Cooler (3/5/63)
The Butcher's Boy (3/12/63)
The Spoiler (3/26/63)
One Last Killing (4/2/63)
The Giant Killer (4/9/63)
The Charlie Argos Story (4/16/63)
The Jazz Man (4/30/63)
The Torpedo (5/7/63)
Line of Fire (5/14/63)
A Taste for Pineapple (5/21/63) Eliot Ness goes blind. Eliot Ness (Robert Stack), Elroy Daldran (Jeremy Slate), Dr. Samuels (Edward Binns), Danny Mundt (Tom Tully), Lee Hobson (Paul Picerni), Enrico Rossi (Nicholas Georgiade), Bill Youngfellow (Abel Fernandez), Jack Rossman (Steve London), Morrie (Raymond Guth), Dino (Robert Yuro), Customer (Roy Engel), Counterman (E.J. Andre), Angie (Paul Sorenson), Al Gross (Buck Kartalian), 1st Nurse (Maris Wrixon), Fuse Man (Ed Peck), Narrator (Walter Winchell). Last episode.
2/20/91. In an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" hosted by Robert Stack, there's a story about the real Eliot Ness trying to solve multiple murder cases in Cleveland.
December 1993. The book, The Untouchables, by Eliot Ness, Oscar Fraley is available at amazon.com
11/5/96. Television's Greatest Hits, Vol.4: Black & White Classics [SOUNDTRACK] - audio CD - has vintage Untouchables theme music from Nelson Riddle
July 2000. The book, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions, by Kenneth Tucker, is available at amazon.com.
4/10/07. The Untouchables - Season 1, Vol. 1
9/25/07. The Untouchables - Season 1, Vol. 2
9/25/07. The Untouchables - Season 1, Vol. 1-2
1/22/08. There was a book written about the Untouchables TV series called "The Untouchables" by Tise Vahimagi, published by BFI publishing. The book is available at amazon.com
3/18/08. The Untouchables - Season Two, Vol. 1
8/26/08. The Untouchables: Season 2, Vol. 2
8/25/09. The Untouchables - Season Three, Vol. 1
11/10/09. The Untouchables - Season Three, Vol. 2
Robert Stack as the master crime-fighter, Eliot Ness (More information on Robert Stack). Paul Picerni as agent Lee Hobson. Steve London as agent Jack Rossman (former telephone company lineman from New York, now a wiretap expert). Abel Fernandez as agent William Youngfellow (full blooded Cherokee, second team All American in 1924, All American at Carlyle University, largely responsible for the breakup of the Oklahoma City booze ring). Nicholas Georgiade as agent Enrico Rossi (witness against the Capone gang)
Jerry Paris as agent Martin Flaherty (former Boston police officer with an outstanding bureau arrest record)
Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti (the enforcer)
Anthony George as agent Cam Allison (brought in from St. Louis to replace Martin Flaherty, recently promoted to direct the Cleveland Office of the Bureau of Prohibition)
Chuck Hicks as LaMarr Kane (of the Richmond bureau, law school graduate, married, two children)
Narrator: Walter Winchell
Based on the novel The Untouchables by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley
Executive Producer, Quinn Martin
Musical Theme composed by Nelson Riddle
A Desilu Production in association with Langford Productions
Filmed by Desilu
This show was based on the life of real treasury dept. gangbuster Eliot Ness, who had in fact played an important part in stopping the power of the notorious Al Capone in 1931 Chicago. The Ness autobiography served as the basis of a two-part semidocumentary dramatization of the Capone affair, presented on a 1959 Desilu Playhouse. It was a huge hit that turned into a regular series the next fall. It followed Ness and his small band of incorruptible agents (called the "Untouchables" by a Chicago newspaper) as they battled the worst people in organized crime. (Ness had in real life disbanded the Untouchables after cracking the Capone case, and had nothing to do with most of the cases dramatized on TV.) The Untouchables went after hoods like Bugs Moran, in whose garage the St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place.
The estate of Al Capone sued the show for $1 million, not for inaccuracy, but for using the Capone name and likeness for profit.
Some of the fine character actors who played gangsters on the show were: Bruce Gordon (Frank Nitti), Neville Brand (Al Capone), Nehemiah Persoff (Jake Guzik), William Bendix (Legenza), Lloyd Nolan (Bugs Moran) and Clu Gulager (Mad Dog Coll).
The Untouchables original Desilu pilot and the initial episodes of the series were supervised by a young staff producer named Quinn Martin, starting a long string of TV crime show hits (The Fugitive, Barnaby Jones, The FBI, The Invaders, Most Wanted, The Streets Of San Francisco and Twelve O'Clock High)
According to the book "Total Television" Fourth Edition, the Eliot Ness role was offered to actors Van Johnson and Van Heflin but they turned it down.
My family and I went to see Bruce Gordon along with Marie Wilson of "My Friend Irma" fame, at a play at the Windmill Dinner Theatre years ago. After the play, I went backstage with my father with a camera to see if Mr. Gordon would let me take his picture. He declined. My father and I still talk about that and I think about that when I watch Untouchables reruns. But I guess I have to remember actors get hundreds of requests everyday for autographs and pictures. It would have been nice to have archived that picture in my collection, but I don't hold it against Mr. Gordon, and I enjoy his show just the same.
If you have the answer to this, please send it to me at the email address near the bottom of the page. I am trying to verify a quote that I understand may be from the original television version of The Untouchables. The quote is Ness saying to Nitti "maybe your memory will improve."
In the episode "Mr. Moon" (4/20/61), the character Mr. Moon was played by Victor Buono. Was Mr. Moon fictional or nonfictional? If nonfictional, what was his full name? If you have the answer to this, please send it to me at the email address near the bottom of the page. (question posted 2/27/06)
If you have the answer to this, please send it to me at the email address near the bottom of the page. (posted 6/3/07) What did the graphic illustration appearing at the end of the early season episodes stand for? The illustration I'm referring to is 5-6 men standing facing a backdrop of a darkened city silhouette. I can forward you a copy of this illustration (poor quality) if you don't know what I'm talking about.
More on the Untouchables from Tim's TV Showcase
Episode list for The Untouchables from tv.com
"The Untouchables" last updated 10/31/12
