David Janssen

The Hundred-Dollar Contract

David Janssen never needed to shout to fill the frame. A hangdog look and a jaw that always seemed about to snap under tension were enough. Before becoming the most recognizable face on American television, he worked as a delivery driver and gas station attendant.

He signed with Universal in the 1950s for a salary of one hundred dollars a week. He was a studio actor, a working-class performer who piled up supporting parts in forgettable movies. But his luck changed in 1957 when he landed the lead role in Richard Diamond, Private Detective.

That series got him out of minor supporting roles. Most importantly, it gave him the experience he needed to keep up with the pace of commercial television at the time.

The Man Who Ran Too Much

In 1963, he accepted the role of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. The premise was simple: an innocent man on the run from the law while hunting for the killer of his wife. Janssen appeared in almost every shot across the 120 episodes of the production.

The shoot was physically brutal. The actor insisted on running the chase scenes himself and ended each day completely exhausted, a fatigue that came through the screen. In 1967, the series finale reached a 72 percent share.

He was the most wanted man on television.

That success was a golden trap. Janssen tried to make the leap to big-budget movies with The Green Berets in 1968, alongside John Wayne. But critics savaged the film, and audiences still saw him as the fugitive from the small screen.

The Bullet in the Back

He found a comfortable spot in crime drama again with Harry O in 1974. This time he played a private investigator who lived in a beach house and had a bullet lodged near his spine. The character walked with a subtle limp that Janssen kept up with great discipline throughout the show's two seasons.

The pace of work did not let up for the rest of the decade. In 1979, he shot the miniseries The Centennial and appeared in the TV movie City in Fear. His lifestyle included marathon shooting days and heavy drinking that was starting to take a toll on his health.

His body simply said enough.

He died of a heart attack at his home in Malibu in February 1980. He was only 48 years old and left unfinished the filming of a movie about the life of a golfer. At the time of his death, he had amassed more than one hundred credits across film and television.

The autopsy confirmed that his heart was severely damaged by chronic stress.