The Lieutenant: Operation: Actress

The LieutenantNBC airs the 26th episode of the military drama The Lieutenant, created and produced by future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and starring Gary Lockwood (2001: a space odyssey) and Robert Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE). Read more


The LieutenantRice serves as a technical advisor for a recruiting film featuring rising starlet Toni Kaine, who is generously donating her time to the Marine Corps (and raising her public profile at the same time). But she’s less appreciative of Rice’s technical advice, complaining that he demands too many retakes and too many changes to the simple script she thought she’d be following. After hours, Rice finds himself watching somewhat helplessly as Toni mingles with the wrong crowd, with potentially career-destroying results. When her agent suggests salvaging her career by marrying a clean-cut, all-American gentleman like Rice, she suddenly wants more than his technical advice.

written by Robert J. Shaw
directed by Leonard Horn
music by Jeff Alexander

Cast: Gary Lockwood (Lt. William Rice), Richard E. Butler (Lt. Wilson), Leora Dana (Edith Kaine), Bob “Alabama” Davis (Sergeant), Lee Delano (Sheeter), Molly Dodd (Mrs. Vilardi), Wayne Heffley (USMC Director), Robert Karnes (Lt. Col. A.J. Vilardi), Oliver McGowan (Martin Norman), Dallas Mitchell (Capt. Parker Hanes), Susan Oakes (Karen), Leslie Parrish (Toni Kaine), Don Penny (Lt. Stan Harris), Carmen Phillips (Lily), John Rayner (Arnold Brecher), Richard X. Slattery (Police Sergeant), Robert Winston (Johnny)

Notes: Leslie Parrish would return on Star Trek as Lt. Carolyn Palamas in Who Mourns For Adonis? Though not written directly by Gene Roddenberry, this script probably did hit close to home; he began his television career as a police “technical advisor” on such early television series as Mr. District Attorney and Highway Patrol.

LogBook entry by Earl Green