September
1975-January
1976
When
Dr.
Daniel
Westin
becomes
permanently
invisible,
he
agrees
to
use
his talents
to
spearhead a dangerous
government
missions.
Daniel
uses
a
human
mask
and
gloves
enabling
to
interact
with
the
outside
world
without
revealing
his
unique
condition.
Meanwhile
the
KIae
Research
Corporation
sponsors
Westin's
efforts
to
find
a cure
his
condition.
Cast:
Dr.
Daniel
Westin
(David
McCallum);
Dr.
Kate
Westin
(Melinda
Fee);
Walter
Carlson
(Craig
Stevens).
Based
on
the
novel
by
H.G.
Wells;
Created
by:
Harve
Bennett,
Steven
Bochco
Producers:
Leslie
Stevens,
Robert
F.
O'Neill
Frank
Telford;
Executive
Producer:
Harve
Bennett
Music
Theme:
Henry
Mancini;
NBC/Universal
60
minutes.
"The
Invisible
Man
was
really
a
one-joke
show,"
laments
producer
Robert
O'Neill.
"The
minute
you've
taken
the
wrapping
off
his
head,
you've
seen
the
joke.
The
joke
was
met
with
sheer
terror
in
1933
when
Claude
Rains
portrayed
the
Invisible
man
in
the
Universal
picture.
Some
movie
patrons
fainted
as
the
sinister
scientist:
unwrapped
the bandages around his head to reveal ... nothing. Rains' invisible man sets out on a campaign of terror before his footprints in the snow give him away and he's shot down.
David McCallum's invisible man was a decent fellow who worked with his wife to find a cure for his condition. The Invisible Man series first appeared as a 90-minute TV film in the spring of 1975. The film received good ratings, and a weekly series was announced for the fall. The series coincided with new technology, a combination of film and video," recalls creator Harve Bennett. "By today's standards it was very crude, but in 1975 it allowed us tremendous opportunities It was a very noble experiment, and I'm very proud of the series."
So is Melinda Fee, who played the wife of the Invisible man, Kate Westin. "I wish I had a nickel for every time I wished I could be invisible," laughs Fee. "It's the greatest theme of all time. Talking to an invisible David McCallurn was delicious. I'd practice a lot at home, jerking my body to simulate his grabbing my arm. Or cocking my head, listening to him talk, with my eyes focused on his direction. It's a skill that had to be learned." Kate Westin often pitched in to help her husband corner the bad guys. "1 was thrilled to land the role," Fee says. "Kate Westin came along just about the time Womens Lib was making headway. She represented what women were striving for: separate professions, equality, recognition of intelligence and education. I loved Kate's brightness, intuition and humor And I adored playing such a wide range of characters in disguises." Fee, however, was relieved that the series didn't follow the lead of the pilot movie.
"The pilot was geared more to the lurking Feds scrambling to steal the formula of invisibility. It had the proverbial car chase, ending in a huge crash-and-burn sequence. The series centered on the relationship of Daniel and Kate. We traveled outside of that dreary lab, and I loved the personal scenes with David. It showed that scientists did have private lives."
The
big
challenge
for
the
actress
was
the
special
effects.
She
was
relating
to
a
leading
man
who
wasn't
there.
"Doing
the
effects
today
would
be
nothing.
Back
then,
passing
a
syringe
to
an
invisible
David
McCallum
would
take
half
a
day's
work.
These
effects
would
be
checked
right
after
shooting
on
a
video
recorder
on
the
set.
They
had
to
be
sure
that
the
invisible
man
wasn't
casting
shadows
and
shadows
weren't
falling
on
him.
We'd
often
do
a
small
piece
of
business
over
and
over.
It
would
take
75
takes
at
least.
Forget
acting!
We
were
exhausted
by
the
time
the
technical
stuff
was
completed.
It was
frustrating
and
the
cost was
astronomical."
Producer
Robert
ONeill
agrees.
"Because
the
mechanical
and
physical
limitations
there
were
many
disappointments.
At
first,
it
sounded
like
The
Invisible
Man
was
going
to
be
a
lot
of
fun.
I
thought
we'd
have
a
tremendous
action
show.
We
also
had
David
McCallum,
who
had
been
popular
on
The
Man from
U.N.C.L.E.,
and
he
wanted
to
recapture
some
of
that
magic.
Problem
was,
unless
you
have
a
really
big
budget,
science
fiction
shows
are
hard
to
produce.
Networks
generally
don't
want
to
pay
the added
expense
for
the
technical
things
necessary.
Back
then,
we
used
the
blue
screen
process,
which
was
very
complex
and
time-consuming.
It
became
a
tremendous
problem
for
the
cameraman
directors
and
crew,
especially
on
such
a
tight
budget."
Working
with
special
effects
was
nothing
new
for
O'Neill.
He
had
previously
produced
the
ESP
series
The
Sixth
Sense.
"Steve
Bochco
had
written
the
90 minute
Invisible
Man
film
, and
someone
got
the
notion
to
make
it into
a
series."
"By
that
time
Bochco
and
Harve
Bennett
were
busy
on
other
things.
Universal
came
after
me
and
Leslie Stevens.
We
were
the
firemen
they
brought
in
at
the
ninth
inning.
Science
fiction
wasn't
my
forte,
but
since
I
had
done
Sixth
Sense,
Universal
felt
I
could
handle
all
of
the
trick
things
on
Invisible
Man."
The
other
challenge
O'Neill
had
was
the
basic
concept.
"It
was
very
frustrating
because
we
were
dealing
with
a
very
narrow
parameter.
Since
David
was
supposed
to
be
wearing
a
mask
to
hide
his
invisibility,
we
were
faced
with,
'How
do
you
make
a
mask
react
wth
sorrow,
pain,
grief
and
joy?'
It
wasn't
that
David,
as
a
performer,
wasn't
being
responsive
to
the
audience.
It
was
that
when
the
mask
came
off,
the
joke
was
over.
The
audience
is
used
to
looking
at
someone's
face.
How
can
you
show
emotions
on
the
face
of
someone
who
is
invisible?
We
also
faced
the
problem
of
telling
the
audience
where
the
invisible
man
was.
We'd
have
him
brushing
up
against
furniture
and
bumping
into
potted
plants
He
ended
up
as
the
c!umsiest
guy
in
the
world!
We
also
found
that
invisibility
made
him
invincible.
Unless
he
was
walking
in
the
sand
or
snow,
he
was
unbeatable.
The
very
nature
of
the
show
defined
the
action
because
he
was
really
a super
man. It
was
hard
to
work
in
jeopardy.
"The
show
never
had
a
chance,"
claims
story
editor
Seeleg
Lester.
"My
objections
were
to
the
tenor
of
the
plots,
which
approximated
The
Six
Million
Dollar
Man.
It
was
a
shame
because
the
invisibility
theme
had
have
been
an
intriguing
element.
Instead
it
was
a
devised
used
to
capture
a
James
Bond
villain
or
an
international
terrorist.
The
original
premise
was
subverted
into
ordinary
melodrama
with
predictable
plots.
I
asked
for
my
release
from
the
series
before
the
year
was
over."
Melinda
Fee,
however,
felt
a
special
magic.
"Sometimes
we
did
get
off the
track
with
the
hero
and
villains,"
she
says,
"and
that
did
become
predictable
and
boring.
But
the
series
had
a
lot
of
charm
and
wisdom."
As
the
series
progressed,
the
humor
flourished.
As
a
guest
on
The
Mike
Douglas
Show
two
weeks
before
The Invisible
Man
premiered,
David
McCallm
commented
with
a
hint
of
bewilderment,
"We
started
out
doing
a
very
serious
show,
but
it's
turned
into
something
of a
comedy."
The
capper
to
the
comedy
turned
out
to
be
an
episode
titled
Pin
Money.
Inept
bank
robbers
with
Frankenstein
monster
masks
gave
the
invisible
man
some
grief.
The
episode's
writer,
James
Parriott,
chuckles
when
he
recalls
the
show.
"The
InvisibleMan
was
my
baptism
by fire,"
he says.
"I
was
writing "T'he
Six
Million
Dollar
Man"
for
Harve
Bennett
when
he
was
having
trouble
with
the
Invisible
Man.
They
were three
three
weeks
away
from
production
and
they
were
getting
behind
schedule.
He
asked
me
to
pitch
some
script
ideas,
and
I
started
writing.
So
we
were
writing
them
and
shooting
them
fast
and
furious.
"'Pin
Money'
turned
out
very
funny.
Toward
the
end,
we
felt
that
humor
was
working
better
than
the
other
thing.
But
the
premise
of
an
invisible
man
is
funny
in
itself.
Look
at
the
Chevy
Chase
film
(Memoirs
of
an
Invisible
Man}.
Rather
than
a
spine-tingling
drama,
they
made
a
comedy
out
of
it.
We
realized
that
there
was
something
very
funny
about
invisible
people."
The
series
was
axed
in
January
1976
after
12
segments.
Harve
Bennett,
who
describes
star
David
McCallum
as
"one
of
the
nicest
actors
with
whom
I
have
ever
worked,"
feels
that
perhaps
the
audiences
weren't
ready
for
McCallum
as
a
lead.
"I
loved
David
McCallum's
work
even
before
he
did
"The
Man
From
UNCLE,"
Bennett
says
warmly.
"David
was
also
very
caring,
very
considerate
of
the
people
who
worked
around
him,
very
literate
and
very
appreciative
of
material.
He
had
been
an
enormous
success
as
a
supporting
actor
on
U.N.C.L.E.
He
was
the
Mr.
Spock
on
that
show
to
Robert
Vaughn's
straight
character.
He
added
great
color
to
the
show.
But
when
we
put
him
in
the
role
of a
leading
man
on
Invisible
Man, it was
conceivable
that
two
things
happened:
First,
people
didn't
want
to
see
David
as
the
leading
man.
They
wanted
him
to be
the
'color'
man.
Secondly,
and
this
is
it
peculiar
thing,
we
went
in the
face
of an
old
saw
in
our
TV
industry.
That
is,
British
actors
don't
make
it
on
TV
as
the
leads.
That
was
at
the
time.
We
felt
the
success
of
the
Beatles
had
negated
that
old
wives'
tale."
Associate
producer
Richard
Milton
contends
that
McCallum
was
a
scapegoat.
"David
got
the
blame
when
the
network
decided
he
was
too
foreign
It
was
the
usual
crap.
David
was
a
fine,
talented
actor.
The
failure
of
The
Invisible
Man
had
nothing
to
do
with
him.
The
format
of
the
show
just
didn't
work.
They
never
got
the
concept
down."
"The
ratings
weren't
very
good,
but
that
could
have
been
the
time
slot,"
says
James
Parriott.
"I
respected
David
enormously
and
I
thought
he
was
well
cast."
"David
was
a
fine
actor,"
says
Robert
O'Neill.
"The
format
just
didn't
happen."
Melinda
Fee
believes
the
series
fell
victim
to
several
factors.
The
competition
on
the
other
networks,
preemptions
and
politics
at
the
network,"
she
says.
"Ironically,
right
after
we
were
canceled,
the
ratings
jumped,
We
were
catching
on--and
we
were
dead
in
the
water."
She
has
fond
memories
of
acting
with
her
co-star.
"David
was
an
absolute
joy
to
work
with,"
she
says.
He
was
inventive,
smart
and
funny.
Many
times
he'd
be
on
the
set
working
out
a
script
or
technical
problem.
It
was
if
he
really
were
Dr.
Westin.
He
helped
without
stepping
on
anybody's
toes.
He
was
never
late
or
demanding.
The
entire
cast
and
crew
loved
him.
David
was
also
marvelous
in
the
humorous
scenes
with
that
dry
British
wit."
Less
than
a
year
later,
The
Invisible
Man
returned
(with
the
same
production
team)
as
The
Gemini
Man,
starring
Ben
Murphy
as
a
secret
agent
who
can
become
invisible.
"I
was
in
Europe
promoting
The
Invisible
Man
at
the
time,"
Fee
recalls.
"I
never
saw
Gemini
Man,
but
from
what
I
understand,
it
was
a
direct
rip-off of our
show."
The
Invisible
Man
hasn't
faded
entirely
from
TV
screens.
The
series
is
occasionally
rerun
on
cable
and
has
enjoyed
success
in
Europe
"My
real
regret
was
that
the
show
didn't
survive
longer,"
says
Fee.
"It
was
a
wonderful
experience.
I'd
give
anything
to
do
it
again!"
CAST
Notes
David
McCallum
(Daniel)
Born
1933
.
The
Scottish
born
actor
was
popular
as
secret
agent
Illya
Kuryakin
on
The
Man
From
UNCLE
(1964- 1968).
In
the
1970.'s he
starred
in
the British
series
Sapphire
and
Steel.
Melinda
Fee
(Kate):
This
Los
Angeles
born
actress
was
busy
in
daytime TV
in
the
1970s
('The
Guiding
Light)
and
in
TV
movies
of
the
1980s
(The
Aliens
Are
Coming).
Craig
Stevens
(Carlson):
Born
1918.
Stevens
is
best
known
as
TV's
Peter
Gunn
(
1958.-
1961
).
"Craig
Stevens
was
a
true
gentleman"
says
Melinda
Fee.
"He
had
a
dry
wit,
and
he'd
rnake
subtle
cracks
which
were
appreciated
by
all."