Ironside

Ironside
Premiere	pilot March 28, 1967 series September 14, 1967
Finale	January 16, 1975
Creator	Collier Young
Based on	characters created by Collier Young and by David Levy
Network/Provider	NBC
Style	60-minute crime drama
Company	Harbour Productions Unlimited, Universal Television
Distributor	MCA Television (1974-1996) Universal Television Enterprises (1996-1998) Studios USA (1998-2002) Universal Domestic Television (2002-2004) NBCUniversal Television Distribution (2004-2021) NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (2021- )
Seasons	8
Episodes	199 (3 unaired)
Origin	USA

For the 2013 reboot of this series, see Ironside (2013).

Ironside is a crime drama that aired on NBC.

The show revolved around former San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside, a veteran of more than twenty years of police service who was forced to retire from the department after a sniper's bullet paralyzed him from the waist down, confining him to a wheelchair. In the pilot episode, Ironside shows his strength of character and gets himself appointed a "special department consultant" by his good friend, Police Commissioner Dennis Randall. He does this by calling a press conference and then tricking Commissioner Randall into meeting his terms.

Ironside uses an attic floor room (for living and office space) at the SFPD headquarters and made use of a specially modified and equipped Ford police truck. This is replaced in the episode titled "Poole's Paradise" after the truck is destroyed by Sergeant Brown as part of a way to frame a corrupt sheriff. At the end of the episode, the truck is replaced by a modified day van to accommodate Ironside's wheelchair. In the pilot he requests that Ed Brown and Eve Whitfield be assigned to him. He later recruits the angst-filled African-American ex-con Mark Sanger to be his personal assistant after Mark is brought in as a suspect who wanted to kill Ironside. The show became a success as Ironside depended on brains and initiative in handling cases.

Following the end of the series in 1975, a reunion movie, The Return of Ironside, was produced and aired on NBC in 1993, reuniting all of the main cast from the show's eight-season run. Series star Raymond Burr's health was ailing at that point and he had to use a wheelchair in real life, thus making his portrayal of the wheelchair-bound Ironside more realistic by then. Burr's subsequent death from kidney cancer later in 1993 ended plans for further Ironside reunion movies.

Cast

Actor	Character	Duration
Main Cast		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Raymond Burr	Robert Ironside	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Don Galloway	Det. Sgt. Ed Brown	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Barbara Anderson	Eve Whitfield	*	*	*	*
Don Mitchell	Mark Sanger	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Elizabeth Baur	Fran Belding					*	*	*	*
Supporting/Recurring Cast		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Gene Lyons	Commissioner Dennis Randall	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Johnny Seven	Lt. Carl Reese				*	*	*	*
Joan Pringle	Diana Sanger								*

Pilot

Title	Network		Airdate
Ironside	NBC		March 28, 1967

Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale				#
NBC
Season One	September 14, 1967	April 4, 1968				28
Season Two	September 19, 1968	April 10, 1969				26
Season Three	September 18, 1969	April 9, 1970				26
Season Four	September 17, 1970	April 15, 1971				26
Season Five	September 21, 1971	March 9, 1972				25
Season Six	September 14, 1972	March 22, 1973				24
Season Seven	September 13, 1973	May 23, 1974				25
Season Eight	September 12, 1974	January 16, 1975				19

TV movie

Title	Network		Airdate
The Return of Ironside	NBC		May 4, 1993

In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series

DVD Releases

Title			Release			Discs
Season Sets  (Region 1)
Season 1			April 24, 2007	purchase		8
Season 2			October 16, 2007	purchase		7
Season 3			January 19, 2010	purchase		7
Season 4			October 19, 2010	purchase		7
Episode Collections  (Region 1)
Season 1, Volume 1			April 24, 2007	purchase		8

External Sites

• Ironside on IMDb

• opening credits for season oneon YouTube