Trivia for
"The Fugitive" (1963) More at IMDbPro »

• It is commonly given that this show was based on the Dr. Sam Sheppard murder case of 1954. While the show does feature some similarities to the case, Roy Huggins consistently denied that he based Richard Kimble on Sheppard or the fictional murder on the real one. Claiming that he was unfamiliar with the Sheppard case until the series began, he said the show was actually influenced by his love for Westerns, and he wanted to do a series about a modern character roaming around the country in a similar fashion to a mythic cowboy.
  
  
• Until the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of "Dallas" (1978), the finale of this series where Kimball finally catches the "One Armed Man" was the highest-rated episode in the history of television.
  
  
• At times guest actresses would try to flatter Bill Raisch by speaking about how special effects allowed him to fake missing an arm - unaware that Raisch actually only had one arm.
  
  
• Some sources incorrectly state that an alternate ending for the series was planned in which Kimble would be seen removing a false arm, revealing him as the true killer. In the book "The Fugitive Recaptured" (and its later audio adaptation) Barry Morse reveals that this rumor may have started with a never-realized plan that he and David Janssen had for pulling a "false arm" gag at public appearances. Janssen also often joked that Kimble killed his wife because "she talked too much". Morse also said that he and Janssen conceived for fun an alternate epilogue to the series finale, in which Kimble awakens in bed with his wife Helen, and reveals to her that he "just had the most horrible nightmare". Janssen also gave an interview to TV Guide at the time of the finale in which he said that his idea for resolving the show was to have a final scene in which Kimble is seen on a beach reading a newspaper account of how the one-armed man has just been executed for the murder. Then, with his trademark half-grin, Kimble would stand up, detach his prosthetic arm and walk off into the surf. It's not known whether he was serious or just kidding.
  
  
• According to the book The Fugitive Recaptured, ABC announced in April 1966 that the series would film episodes in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. This never came to pass but may have occurred had the series gone to an originally-planned fifth season, a plan vetoed by David Janssen because he was physically worn out from the demanding shooting schedule. At this April 1966 announcement ABC also disclosed that they would add a young son for Kimble for the show's fourth season, in an attempt to draw more younger viewers. This plan was aborted in a May 1966 press conference when ABC realized the idea would not work given the specter of Lieutenant Gerard.
  
  
• Richard Kimble was originally fleeing his hometown in Wisconsin until the producers discovered that Wisconsin did not execute murderers. The locale was quickly changed to Indiana.
  
  
• The train transporting Richard Kimble to death row in the series' opening credits is clearly a French one, not American.
  
  
• The show was so popular that a German magazine wanted to stage a contest in which David Janssen would be stalked by its readers through the streets of Berlin.
  
  
• ABC executives initially objected to the idea of a series finale because they feared that it would hurt the show's syndication profits.
  
  
• David Janssen was working on The Green Berets (1968) when the final episode of this series aired; when Part Two of the episode was aired, he was interviewed on Joey Bishop's ABC nighttime program from Fort Benning, Georgia, where he commented on the series' finale.
  
  
• Robert Lansing, James Franciscus and Anthony Franciosa were all considered for the role of Richard Kimble.
  
  
• Roy Huggins originally intended to have a villain with red hair, but he felt that it was such a common characteristic that he decided against it. Instead, he chose to have a one-armed man.
  
  
• Legend has it, that after completing the first episode, David Janssen walked up the road with Barry Morse and said, "Do you think we will get a couple of weeks work out of this?"
  
  
• Roy Huggins initially had great difficulty selling the series to potential producers. Many thought that a series based on a wrongfully convicted man running from the law would be too perverse, as well as a slap in the face to the American justice system. Producers felt that no one would want to watch such a series and urged Huggins to give up on the concept.
  
  
• This was the first series to feature a "final episode" in which all the plot lines were resolved and all questions answered.
  
  
• The theme music and its variations was recorded in London at the CTS Studios in Bayswater, using around 50 musicians from the Ted Heathand London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Conductor was Harry Rabinowitz. Sound Engineer was Eric Tomlinson.
  
  
• In the final 2 "Judgment" episodes as well as a few other episodes in the last year, music cues that were composed by Dominic Frontiere for The Outer Limits, "12 O'Clock High (1962)', and 'Branded (1964)'were added to the tracking of those episodes though he was not credited for that in the End Credits.
  
  

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