Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law

Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
Marshall (Arthur Hill) with clients. From left: Michael Witney, Sharon Gless, John Davidson, Louise Sorel, 1972.
Created by	Jerry McNeely David Victor
Starring	Arthur Hill Reni Santoni David Soul Lee Majors Joan Darling Christine Matchett
Theme music composer	Elmer Bernstein[1]
Composer	Lyn Murray
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	69 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Groverton Productions Universal Television
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 16, 1971 (1971-09-16) – August 24, 1974 (1974-08-24)

Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former speech professor Jerry McNeely,^[2] that starred Arthur Hill.^[3] The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974; Victor and McNeely produced it under the "Groverton Productions" banner through Universal Television, then an MCA company. A two-hour pilot movie, titled "A Pattern of Morality," had aired as a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week entry prior to the beginning of the series run.^[4]

Synopsis

Hill starred as Owen Marshall, a former prosecutor turned compassionate defense attorney, who defended various clients in Santa Barbara, California, with the help of his young assistants. During the series run, several actors appeared as Marshall's assistants, including Reni Santoni,^[5] David Soul, and Lee Majors.^[6]

Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law had two crossovers with Marcus Welby, M.D., another series in whose creation and production David Victor was directly involved. In the first, "Men Who Care," Welby (Robert Young) persuades Marshall to defend a man who is accused of killing his daughter's boyfriend, the daughter being one of Welby's patients. In the second, "I've Promised You a Father," Marshall defends Welby's colleague Dr. Steven Kiley (James Brolin) in a paternity suit filed by a young nurse, who claims that Kiley is the father of her child.

Cast

The cast in 1973.

• Arthur Hill as Owen Marshall
• David Soul as Ted Warrick
• Reni Santoni as Danny Paterno
• Lee Majors as Jess Brandon
• Joan Darling as Frieda Krause
• Christine Matchett as Melissa Marshall

Guest stars

The series marked one of director Steven Spielberg's earliest television directing stints and boasted many well-known guest stars, including:^[7]

• Christine Belford
• Lane Bradbury
• Pat Boone
• Rory Calhoun
• John David Carson
• John Davidson
• Gloria DeHaven
• John Denver
• Micky Dolenz
• Patty Duke
• Richard Eastham
• Farrah Fawcett
• Paul Fix
• Arthur Franz
• Sharon Gless
• Louis Gossett Jr.
• Mark Hamill
• Pat Harrington Jr.
• Darby Hinton
• Sam Jaffe
• Russell Johnson
• Kathleen Lloyd
• Donald Mantooth
• Randolph Mantooth
• Scott Marlowe
• Tim Matheson
• Darren McGavin
• Donna Mills
• Vic Morrow
• Ricky Nelson
• Gerald S. O'Loughlin
• Michael Parks
• Dennis Patrick
• Larry Pennell
• Edward Platt
• Michael Rupert
• Susan Sarandon
• Dick Sargent
• Tom Selleck
• William Shatner
• Martin Sheen
• O. J. Simpson
• Richard X. Slattery
• Susan Strasberg
• Joan Tompkins (thricely)
• John Travolta
• Lindsay Wagner
• Jane Wyman
• Dana Wynter

Episodes

Main article: List of Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
Television film			September 12, 1971 (1971-09-12)
1	23		September 16, 1971 (1971-09-16)	March 2, 1972 (1972-03-02)
2	23		September 14, 1972 (1972-09-14)	March 14, 1973 (1973-03-14)
3	23		September 12, 1973 (1973-09-12)	April 6, 1974 (1974-04-06)

References

1. "From the Archives: Elmer Bernstein, 82; Composer Who Won Oscar 'Could do It All'". Los Angeles Times. August 19, 2004.
2. "Jerry McNeely, Creator of TV's 'Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law,' Dies at 86". The Hollywood Reporter. July 18, 2014.
3. "Died October 22". Legacy.com. October 21, 2021.
4. "Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law". Prod-www.tcm.com. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
5. "Reni Santoni (1939–2020), actor who played Poppie in "Seinfeld"". Legacy.com. August 4, 2020.
6. "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (TV Series)". Radio Times. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
7. "How Steven Spielberg Got His Start on Television". March 7, 2020.

External links

• Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law at IMDb
• Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law at epguides.com