Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series starred Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan. It was produced by MTM Enterprises. The first broadcast was on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic comedy, drama, and detective procedural. Remington Steele is best known for starting the career of Pierce Brosnan. It also was a forerunner of the similar series Moonlighting, and was also an influential part of television history in its own right.
Remington Steele | |
---|---|
Genre | comedy-drama-detective |
Created by | Robert Butler Michael Gleason |
Presented by | MTM Enterprises 20th Century Fox |
Starring | Stephanie Zimbalist Pierce Brosnan Doris Roberts |
Narrated by | Stephanie Zimbalist in character as Laura Holt (Season 1 titles only) |
Theme music composer | Henry Mancini; incidental music by Richard Lewis Warren |
Opening theme | "The Remington Steele Theme," composed by Henry Mancini |
Ending theme | "Laura Holt's Tune," composed by Henry Mancini |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 94 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer | Michael Gleason |
Producers | Kevin Inch Gareth Davies Richard DeRoy |
Production location | Los Angeles |
Running time | 60 minutes. |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | October 1, 1982 April 17, 1987 | –
Remington Steele's premise is that Laura Holt, a licensed private detective, opened a detective agency under her own name. She then found that potential clients would not hire a woman. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fake male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events in the first episode a former thief and con man takes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura stays firmly in charge.
Cast
change- Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt
- Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele
- Doris Roberts as Mildred Krebs (from third season, recurring second season)
- Janet DeMay as Bernice Foxe (first season)
- James Read as Murphy Michaels (first season)
- Jack Scalia as Tony Roselli (fifth season)
Other recurring actors included:
- Cassandra Harris (first wife of Pierce Brosnan) as Felicia, one of Steele's old flames, and Anna, a mysterious woman from Steele's past.
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (father of Stephanie Zimbalist) as Daniel Chalmers, a charming con man who was Steele's mentor and surrogate father (revealed to be his biological father in the end) and whose real name was unknown. He died in the last episode, "Steeled With A Kiss, Part Two."
- Beverly Garland as Abigail Holt, Laura's mother.
- Gary Frank as Detective James Jarvis, a somewhat incompetent police detective who more often than not falsely accused the principal characters and their clients of murder.
- Michael Constantine as George Edward Mulch, a business man with far-fetched ideas only looking for fame and fortune.
- James Tolkan as Norman Keyes, an insurance investigator bent on proving Steele to be a fraud. He died in the fifth season.
Guest stars included:
- Louie Anderson, "Steele Spawning", season 4
- Tom Baker, "Hounded Steele", season 2
- Delta Burke, "Altared Steele", season 2
- Geena Davis, "Steele in the Chips", season 3
- Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, "Second Base Steele", season 3
- Conrad Janis, "Stronger Than Steele", season 3
- Jeffrey Jones, "A Steele at Any Price", season 2
- Jane Kaczmarek, "Altared Steele", season 2
- Dorothy Lamour, "Cast of Steele", season 3
- John Larroquette, "Breath of Steele", season 3
- Rose Marie, "Steele in the Spotlight", season 4
- A Martinez, "High Flying Steele", season 2
- Virginia Mayo, "Cast of Steele", season 3
- Lloyd Nolan, "Cast of Steele", season 3
- Annie Potts, "Steele Crazy After All These Years", season 1
- Paul Reiser, "A Good Night's Steele", season 1
- Peter Scolari, "Steele Waters Run Deep", season 1
- Jean Smart, "Steele in the Chips", season 3
- Sharon Stone, "Steele Crazy After All These Years", season 1
- Barry Van Dyke, "Steele Belted", season 1