The popular MGM movie series Dr.Kildare/Dr.Gillespie ran from about 1936 to
1946 and concerned the folks who practiced medicine and worked at New York
City's mythical Blair General Hospital. Lew Ayres played young idealistic James
Kildare who became the special protege of Dr.Leonard Gillespie played from his
wheelchair by Lionel Barrymore.
The Kildare series in fact was made for Barrymore to accommodate him now that infirmities confined him to the chair. After Ayres left more films were made right through the WW2 years with Gillespie and a string of young doctors he took under his wing.
In the early 60s NBC revived the Kildare series with Richard Chamberlain as Kildare and out of the wheelchair Raymond Massey as Gillespie. All the colorful characters that inhabited Blair General Hospital from the movies were not there.
Both Chamberlain who got his first public notice in this series and Raymond Massey filled their roles nicely, the idealistic intern and the savvy old pro of medicine. All medical shows seem to have the same plots, Kildare was no exception.
There was a rivalry between this show and Ben Casey on ABC which ran roughly in the same years. Who was better Chamberlain or Vincent Edwards as Ben Casey?
I kinda liked them both.
The Kildare series in fact was made for Barrymore to accommodate him now that infirmities confined him to the chair. After Ayres left more films were made right through the WW2 years with Gillespie and a string of young doctors he took under his wing.
In the early 60s NBC revived the Kildare series with Richard Chamberlain as Kildare and out of the wheelchair Raymond Massey as Gillespie. All the colorful characters that inhabited Blair General Hospital from the movies were not there.
Both Chamberlain who got his first public notice in this series and Raymond Massey filled their roles nicely, the idealistic intern and the savvy old pro of medicine. All medical shows seem to have the same plots, Kildare was no exception.
There was a rivalry between this show and Ben Casey on ABC which ran roughly in the same years. Who was better Chamberlain or Vincent Edwards as Ben Casey?
I kinda liked them both.