Emergency - "Messin' Around" - 5:00 pm Wednesday, December 24 on WSWB MeTV

Robert Fuller (Actor) .. Dr. Kelly Brackett

Born: July 29, 1933
Birthplace: Troy, New York, United States

Trivia: Robert Fuller spent his first decade in show business trying his best to avoid performing. After his film debut in 1952's Above and Beyond, Fuller studied acting with Sanford Meisner at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse but never exhibited any real dedication. He tried to become a dancer but gave that up as well, determining that dancing was "sissified." Fuller rose to nominal stardom fairly rapidly in the role of Jess Harper on the popular TV western Laramie (1959-63). Once he found his niche in cowboy attire, he stuck at it in another series, Wagon Train, turning down virtually all offers for "contemporary" roles. When westerns began dying out on television in the late 1960s, Fuller worked as a voiceover actor in commercials, earning some $65,000 per year (a tidy sum in 1969). On the strength of his performance in the Burt Topper-directed motorcycle flick The Hard Ride, Fuller was cast by producer Jack Webb as chief paramedic Kelly Brackett on the weekly TVer Emergency, which ran from 1972 through 1977. In 1994, Robert Fuller was one of several former TV western stars who showed up in cameo roles in the Mel Gibson movie vehicle Maverick.

Julie London (Actor) .. Nurse Dixie McCall

Born: September 26, 1926
Died: October 18, 2000

Trivia: Sultry blues vocalist Julie London began her film career long before she achieved fame as a recording artist. In 1945, 18-year-old London was selected to play a bargain-basement jungle princess, appearing opposite a gorilla in the PRC cheapie Nabonga. She was pretty bad, but no worse than the film itself. By the time she was cast as a sexy teenager in The Red House (1947), her acting had improved immensely, and by the time she played the female lead in the 1951 programmer The Fat Man, it looked as though she actually had a future in films. Still, London's greatest claim to fame was her long string of hit records ("Cry Me a River" et. al.) of the 1950s; many male admirers bought her albums simply to gaze upon her come-hither countenance on the dust jacket. Her status as every red-blooded American boy's wish dream was gently lampooned in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956), in which she appears as a spectral vision who transfixes a wistful Tom Ewell. Her best dramatic film appearances of this period include her leading-lady gigs in Voice in the Mirror (1958) and Man of the West (1958). From 1945 through 1955, Julie London was the wife of actor/producer Jack Webb; years after the divorce, London played Nurse Dixie McCall on the popular Jack Webb-produced TV series Emergency, in which she co-starred with her second husband, actor/jazz musician Bobby Troup.

Kevin Tighe (Actor) .. Roy DeSoto

Randolph Mantooth (Actor) .. John Gage

Born: September 19, 1945

Michael Norell (Actor) .. Capt. Stanley

Born: October 04, 1937

Tim Donnelly (Actor) .. Chet Kelly

Born: September 03, 1944

Mike Stoker (Actor) .. Fireman Stoker

Paul Sorenson (Actor) .. Mike

Died: July 17, 2008

Ann Prentiss (Actor) .. Margaret

Born: November 27, 1939

Lance Kerwin (Actor) .. Wheeler Boy

Born: November 06, 1960

Trivia: Juvenile actor Lance Kerwin's first regular TV stint was on the 1975 Waltons clone The Family Holvak. When the series was cancelled after six weeks, 15-year-old Kerwin was back to free-lancing in such made-for-TV films as Amelia Earhart (1975) and The Loneliest Runner (1976, playing a young Michael Landon). In 1977, Kerwin starred in the critically acclaimed "coming of age" series James at 15, the title of which was altered to James at 16 when the title character had his first sexual experience. Lance Kerwin's post-James work has included the supporting role of Wooster in the offbeat science fiction film Enemy Mine (1985).

J. Pat O'Malley (Actor) .. Bill

Born: March 15, 1904
Died: February 27, 1985
Birthplace: Ireland

Trivia: The background of Irish-born comic actor J. Pat O'Malley has frequently been misreported in source books because his credits have been confused with those of silent film star Pat O'Malley. J. Pat started out in the British musical halls, then came to the U.S. at the outbreak of WWII. Achieving radio fame for his versatile voicework, O'Malley carried over this talent into the world of animated cartoons, providing a multitude of vocal characterizations in such Disney cartoon features as Alice in Wonderland (1951) and 101 Dalmatians (1961), among others. The portly, leprechaunish O'Malley essayed on-camera character parts in films like Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Mary Poppins (1965). He was a near-habitual TV guest star, with appearances in several fondly remembered Twilight Zone episodes; he also worked extensively on Broadway. J. Pat O'Malley had regular roles on the TV sitcoms Wendy and Me (1964) and A Touch of Grace (1973).

Joan Shawlee (Actor) .. Wife

Born: March 05, 1929
Died: March 22, 1987

Trivia: Though she reportedly played a bit in the 1937 version of A Star Is Born, actress Joan Shawlee's first confirmed professional work was as a model, singer, and nightclub performer. While appearing in New York, Shawlee was discovered by comedian Lou Costello, who put her under personal contract. She was billed as Joan Fulton in her first appearance with Abbott and Costello in the 1947 film Buck Privates Come Home. She reverted to "Shawlee" once she'd gained a reputation as a wisecracking, gum-chewing comedienne, a reputation enhanced by her many appearances on the popular TV sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Her films ranged from trash like Prehistoric Women (1950) to treasures like From Here to Eternity. Her best screen role was as dictatorial bandleader Sweet Sue in the Billy Wilder classic Some Like It Hot (1959); Wilder would cast Shawlee in choice supporting roles in his later films, The Apartment (1960), Irma La Douce (1963), and Buddy Buddy (1981). Outside of her work on Abbott and Costello's various television ventures, Joan Shawlee's TV career included regular roles on such series as The Betty Hutton Show, McHale's Navy, The Dick Van Dyke Show (as Morey Amsterdam's wife Pickles), and The Feather and Father Gang.

Karl Swenson (Actor) .. Gus

Born: October 08, 1978
Died: October 08, 1978
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States

Trivia: Karl Swenson was one of the busiest performers in the so-called golden days of network radio. Swenson played the leading role in the seriocomic daily serial Lorenzo Jones, and was also heard on Our Gal Sunday as Lord Henry, the heroine's "wealthy and titled Englishman" husband. He carried over his daytime-drama activities into television, playing Walter Manning in the 1954 video version of radio's Portia Faces Life. From 1958 onward, Swenson was seen in many small roles in a number of big films: Judgment of Nuremberg (1961), How the West Was Won (1962), and The Birds (1963). One of his more sizeable movie assignments was the voice of Merlin in the 1963 Disney animated feature The Sword in the Stone. One of his last roles was the recurring part of Mr. Hansen on TV's Little House on the Prairie. Karl Swenson was married to actress Joan Tompkins.

Carol Lawson (Actor) .. Mrs. Wheeler

Dick Hammer (Actor) .. Capt. Hammer

Sam Lanier (Actor) .. Dispatcher

Emergency: Messin' Around

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Wednesday, December 24 on WSWB MeTV (38.2)

Messin' Around

Season 3, Episode 16