How many of us watch Dr. Kildare with a very young Richard Chamberlain. My family and I never missed a Show. I fell in Love with Yvette Mimieux when I was about 10. I saw her on TV in Tiger Tiger. Her smile, her vulnerability, resonated with my soul. They went on to star in the film Joy In The Morning. Both are beautiful souls.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Kildare is an NBC medical drama television series which originally ran from September 28, 1961, until August 30, 1966,[4] for a total of 191 episodes over five seasons.[5] Produced by MGM Television, it was based on fictional doctor characters originally created by author Max Brand in the 1930s and previously used by MGM in a popular film series and radio drama. The TV series quickly achieved success and made a star of Richard Chamberlain, who played the title role. Dr. Kildare (along with an ABC medical drama, Ben Casey, which premiered at the same time) inspired or influenced many later TV shows dealing with the medical field.[4][6] Dr. Kildare aired on NBC affiliate stations on Thursday nights at 8:30–9:30 p.m. until September 1965, when the timeslot was changed to Monday and Tuesday nights at 8:30–9:00 p.m. through the end of the show’s run.[7]
Plot
Like the 1938–1942 MGM film series, the TV series initially told the story of young intern Dr. James Kildare (Richard Chamberlain) working at the fictional large metropolitan “Blair General Hospital” and trying to learn his profession, deal with patients’ problems, and win the respect of the senior Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Raymond Massey). In the series’ third episode, “Shining Image”, Gillespie tells the earnest Kildare, “Our work is to keep people alive. We can’t tell them how to live any more than how to die.”[8] Kildare ignores the advice, which provides the basis for stories over the next four seasons, many with a soap opera touch. By the third season, Dr. Kildare was promoted to resident and episodes began to focus less on him and his medical colleagues, and more on the stories of individual patients and their families.[7]
In order to create realistic scripts, the series’ first writer, E. Jack Neuman, spent several months working alongside interns in a large hospital. Episodes frequently highlighted diseases or medical conditions that had not been widely discussed on television, including drug addiction, sickle cell anemia and epilepsy. Episodes about venereal disease (personally requested by President Lyndon B. Johnson) and the birth control pill were written, but never produced due to network objections.[9] Technical advice was provided by the American Medical Association, whose name appeared in the end credits of each episode.[4][6]
The series was initially formatted as self-contained one-hour episodes, aired once per week. In later seasons, a trend towards serialized drama, inspired by the success of the prime time soap opera Peyton Place, caused the network to develop some Dr. Kildare storylines over multiple episodes and, in the final season, to air two separate half-hour episodes each week instead of a single one-hour episode.[7][10]
Cast
An unsold and unaired pilot, directed by John Newland, was shot in 1960 featuring Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare and (Joseph) Joe Cronin as Dr. Grayson.[11][12] As a younger man, Ayres had played the role of Kildare for many years in the earlier MGM film and radio series.[13][14] Later, a second, successful pilot was made with Richard Chamberlain as Kildare and Raymond Massey as Gillespie.
Before the little-known Chamberlain was cast, the Kildare role was offered to William Shatner and James Franciscus, who both turned it down.[15] (Shatner would go on to make several guest appearances on the show.) The role catapulted Chamberlain to fame.[16][17] In 2006, Chamberlain reprised the Kildare role in a parody of Grey’s Anatomy (along with other famous TV doctors from Julia, St. Elsewhere, M*A*S*H and The Love Boat) on the 2006 TV Land Awards.[18][19]
Massey accepted the role of Dr. Gillespie thinking that it would last only one season, leaving him time to accept feature film roles. Instead, the time demands of appearing in a multiple-season hit series prevented Massey from appearing in any films for the duration of the series’ run.
Supporting cast
Supporting cast members with recurring roles included Ken Berry as Dr. John Kapish, Jean Inness as Nurse Beatrice Fain, Eddie Ryder as Dr. Simon Agurski, Jud Taylor (who also directed several episodes) as Dr. Thomas Gerson, Steve Bell as Dr. Quint Lowry, Clegg Hoyt as Mac, Sam Reese as Dr. Dan Shanks (first season), Jo Helton as Nurse Conant, and Lee Kurty as Nurse Zoe Lawton.[7][11]
Guest cast
Over the years, numerous well-known or soon-to-be well-known actors appeared as guest stars, including:[4][15][20][21]
- Eddie Albert
- Jack Albertson
- Fred Astaire
- Ed Asner
- Mary Astor
- Jerry Ayres
- Lauren Bacall
- Barbara Barrie
- Anne Baxter
- Ed Begley
- Fred Beir
- Russ Bender
- Charles Bickford
- Joan Blondell
- Tom Bosley
- Hank Brandt
- Beau Bridges
- Charles Bronson
- Robert Burton
- James Caan
- Conlan Carter
- Lawrence P. Casey
- John Cassavetes
- John Cliff
- Sidney Clute
- Marian Collier
- Noreen Corcoran
- Joseph Cotten
- Robert Culp
- Kim Darby
- Ossie Davis
- Ruby Dee
- Bob Denver[22]
- Angie Dickinson
- Kem Dibbs
- Don Dubbins
- Olympia Dukakis
- Barbara Eden
- Linda Evans
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
- Peter Falk
- Dick Foran
- Anne Francis
- Elisabeth Fraser (as Elizabeth Fraser)[22]
- Beverly Garland
- Thomas Gomez
- Harold Gould
- Herman Hack
- James Hampton[22]
- Arthur Hanson
- Peter Helm
- Tim Herbert
- Bern Hoffman
- Celeste Holm
- Ron Howard
- Clark Howat
- Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.
- Gary Hunley
- Kim Hunter
- Carolyn Jones
- James Earl Jones
- Victor Jory
- Brian Keith
- Ray Kellogg
- Richard Kiley
- Jess Kirkpatrick
- Ted Knight
- Harvey Korman
- Otto Kruger
- William Lanteau[22]
- John Lasell
- Cloris Leachman
- William Leslie
- Margie Liszt[22]
- Jack Lord
- Lisa Loring
- Dorothy Malone
- Lee Marvin
- James Mason
- Walter Matthau
- Ken Mayer
- Mercedes McCambridge
- Gavin McLeod
- Yvette Mimieux
- Sal Mineo
- Ricardo Montalbán
- Harry Morgan
- Jan Murray
- Barry Nelson
- Jack Nicholson
- Leonard Nimoy
- Ramon Novarro
- Margaret O’Brien
- Richard O’Brien
- Carroll O’Connor
- Dan O’Herlihy
- Susan Oliver
- Robert Phillips
- Walter Pidgeon
- Edward Platt
- Suzanne Pleshette
- Joe Ploski
- John Qualen
- Claude Rains
- Basil Rathbone
- Robert Redford
- Robert Reed
- Cyril Ritchard
- Cesar Romero
- Gena Rowlands
- Penny Santon
- Cosmo Sardo
- Joseph Schildkraut
- George Selk
- William Shatner
- Roy N. Sickner
- Jean Stapleton
- Gloria Swanson
- Kelly Thordsen
- Rip Torn
- Jack Tornek
- Arthur Tovey
- Paul Trinka
- Diane Varsi
- Lesley Ann Warren
- Sam Waterston
- Mary Webster[22]
- Dennis Weaver
- Elen Willard[23][24]
- Wilson Wood
- Joan Young[22]
- Robert Young
Reception
The series quickly became a top ten hit in its first season and remained in the top 20 during its second and third seasons, drawing as many as 12,000 fan letters each week.[25] Its success spawned a number of merchandising tie-ins featuring the likeness or endorsement of Chamberlain as Kildare, including novels, comics, toys and games, candy bars, and records of Chamberlain singing songs featured on the show. Chamberlain had a hit single, “Theme from Dr. Kildare (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight),” in which he sang romantic lyrics set to the music from the show’s familiar opening theme.[16] Largely as a result of the show, Chamberlain became a teen idol during the 1960s.
Richard Chamberlain
Yvette Mimieux
Richard Chamberlain
Yvette Mimieux
Richard Chamberlain
Yvette Mimieux
Yvette Mimieux continues her surfing. She and Kildare go to the beach at night and they “make out”. He is infatuated with her but cant get her to accept the epilepsy. She has many smaller siezures. Kildare meets all the beach bums and beatnicks of that time. Ultimately she goes for a surf, catches the wave off her life and has a grand mal siezure at the same time. She drowns and Kildare is there to pronounce her dead. GREAT episode with a sad ending.
Yvette Mimieux & Richard Chamberlain
Yvette Mimieux & Richard Chamberlain
Tyger-Tyger was my all time favorite episode of “Dr. Kildare”.
After 50+ years, Tiger Tiger is still firmly embedded in my mind as one of the most memorable TV shows of my pre-teen years. It had one of the most heartbreaking endings on TV for many decades, none other comes close.
This show has stood out in my mind for years ; of all of the Dr. Kildare series , it was my favorite one ever produced. I agree with Michael. I still remember it in vivid detail- even after all of this time. A tragic, heart-wrenching ending, that I have never been able to get out of my mind . The poem used has become one of my favorites as well. ” Tiger, Tiger burning bright, in the forest of the night…what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry ? “
The most beautiful man in the world.then and now. Intelligent, elegant, thoughtful, a brilliant actor, and particularly in the classics, I have loved him since “Hamlet” in the 1960s and I love him now, in 2018.
I still vividly remember the scene where the character played by Yvette Mimeux drowned. There was a camera shot of Mimeux floating under water with her eyes open and with such a dead look. I was struck then about how good an actor had to be to pull that off.
Even now, all of these years later, I still remember this.
Do you remember the song Kildare sings to her on beach in Tiger Tiger? “ listen to my call, my —
And kiss me tenderly, oh so tenderly.
Listen to my heart , my ——-
I have been trying to find the lyrics for 47 years.
I remember “ Hi lily hi lo”( a song of love is a sad song. I requested this song and got an Anne Murray version. Would like
the Yvette Mimeux version, if my memory is at all correct.
I, too, had a crush on Yvette Mimieux, although I was only a tender six or seven year old. Oh, yeah, and a girl, who was equally in love with Richard Chamberlain. I was hoping he’d wait until I was old enough to marry him.
They definitely had some great chemistry — which only goes to show that Chamberlain was a damn good actor and not just a pretty face (and body).
I also remember telling my parents that I wanted to learn how to surf. I’m not sure if it was to impress Mimeiux or Chamberlain. Either way, I was not taken seriously. I did learn after I graduated from college, and actually managed to stay up on the board for a good ten seconds.
Alas, neither Yvette or Richard noticed.
Yvette Mimieux passed away in her sleep of natural causes on January 24, 2022 at 80 years of age. I cried because, like so many others, I fell in love with her in 1962 when she played the surfer on the Dr. Kildare show. I was a young girl of twelve and I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, I still feel that way. I would have given anything to look even a little bit like her. Sadly, I knew I would never even get near that degree of beauty but I adored her anyway. Such a sad, romantic story, I watched every rerun. Had we been able to record programs back then, I guarantee, I would STILL be watching it. I met Richard Chamberlain in later years, he was still handsome and cordial, a nice man (yes, I knew by then) but it was her I would really have enjoyed meeting because I am not sure I ever really believed she could be real. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll meet her in Heaven, I always thought she looked like an angel. RIP beautiful lady.