Spy drama that should have lasted more than one season. Robert Lansing is Peter Murphy. He’s an exact double for a multi millionaire.
1966 pilot episode: Peter gets on a ferry and gets some pictures from a contact in East Berlin. When the man leaves he’s gunned down. Peter makes a few karate moves and the killer is in the water where there’s a boat waiting to pick him up and get him away.
Peter gets his girlfriend and tells her they have to get through the wall to the West. The gunman spots them and the chase is on. Their luck runs out when the girl is killed. Peter runs into a bar and sees a man who looks just like him. He runs up to the roof and sees his double gunned down. He puts his ID on the body. A chauffeur approaches him and asks if he’s okay. Peter passes out.
He wakes up in a luxury hotel suite. A woman comes in and berates him about his behavior and reminds him of an appointment they have that night. Meanwhile his boss, Colonel Forbes (Murray Hamilton) learns of the killing. Forbes knows that Peter is an exact double of Mark Wainwright. He tracks him down to the hotel suite. He tells him it’s the perfect cover since Wainwright knows everyone in politics and business and Peter can get a lot of knowledge the country needs. Peter agrees to the deception and becomes the man who never was.
The woman is Marks’s wife Eva (Dana Wynter). She’s had it with his playboy behavior. They’re to see a lawyer that night. In the elevator going up she asks him who he really is. He tipped her off by showing her courtesy like opening her car door and she knew that’s not Mark. In front of the lawyer she signals Peter not to sign anything. It’ll have a negative effect on his business.
Both agree to the deception and a show is born.
This was a good one even though the premise is out there but shows like this are supposed to skirt reality and that’s part of the fun.
Robert Lansing-Dana Wynter
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