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Combat!

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Cool!

On behalf of my late Dad(Robert Pirosh), it is really gratifying to see how "Combat!" had a positive effect, besides being great entertainment.
He wrote from personal experience: as an Infantry Sergeant in the Ardennes, I believe he based the Sgt. Saunders character on himself, although he would deny it.

Thanks!

Steve Pirosh
 
Yeah, "Combat"!--I was 9 years old in 1965, and I watched that show every week. Loved it. We used to play "war" all the time--on weekends we'd play from early morining till the sun went down. Lemme tell ya, patrolling the wilds of suburban New Jersey was HELL man, HELL.

My how times have changed. Kids would get locked up now for running around with toy guns. Thank God, I was able to live as a child in better times.


Trivia tidbit: Jennifer Jason Leigh is Vic Morrow's daughter (Mother is Janet Leigh).
 
It was my favorite show.

Rick Jason ... Lt. Gil Hanley
Vic Morrow .... Sgt. Chip Saunders
Pierre Jalbert .... Caje
Jack Hogan .... Pvt. William G. Kirby
Dick Peabody .... Cpl. Littlejohn

Rest of cast listed alphabetically
William Bryant .... McCall (1966-67)
Conlan Carter .... Doc (1963-67)
Shecky Greene .... Braddock (1962-63)
Tom Lowell .... Billy Nelson (1962-64)
Steven Rogers .... Doc (1962-63)

And thank you Hans.

Robert Pirosh
Date of birth (location)1 April 1910. Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Date of death (details) 25 December 1989
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Writer, Director, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Composer, Himself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writer - filmography
(1970s) (1960s) (1950s) (1940s) (1930s)

"Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The" (1977) TV Series (writer)
"Ellery Queen" (1975) TV Series (writer)
... aka "Adventures of Ellery Queen, The" (1975)
"Harry O" (1974) TV Series
Twice in a Lifetime (1974) (TV)
"Barnaby Jones" (1973) TV Series


"Hawaii Five-O" (1968) TV Series
... aka "McGarrett" (1984) (USA: rerun title)
What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
"Mannix" (1967) TV Series (teleplay) (episode "Broken Mirror") (teleplay) (episode "Days Beyond Recall") (teleplay) (episode "Time Out of Mind") (teleplay) (episode "A World Without Sundays")
"Ironside" (1967) TV Series (writer) (episode "Return of the Hero")
... aka "Raymond Burr Show, The" (1967) (USA: syndication title)
"Guns of Will Sonnett, The" (1967) TV Series (writer)
"Fugitive, The" (1963) TV Series (writer)
Gathering of Eagles, A (1963)
"Combat!" (1962) TV Series (writer)
Hell Is for Heroes (1962) (also story)
"My Three Sons" (1960) TV Series (writer)


"Bonanza" (1959) TV Series (four episodes)
... aka "Ponderosa" (1972) (USA: rerun title)
Spring Reunion (1957)
Girl Rush, The (1955)
Valley of the Kings (1954)
Washington Story (1952)
... aka Target for Scandal (1952) (UK)
Go for Broke! (1951)


Battleground (1949)
Up in Arms (1944)
I Married a Witch (1942)
Rings on Her Fingers (1942) (story)
Song of the Islands (1942) (screenplay)
Night of January 16th (1941)
Quarterback, The (1940)


Day at the Races, A (1937) (story)
Winning Ticket, The (1935) (story)





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Writer, Director, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Composer, Himself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Director - filmography

Spring Reunion (1957)
Girl Rush, The (1955)
Valley of the Kings (1954)
Washington Story (1952)
... aka Target for Scandal (1952) (UK)
Go for Broke! (1951)





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Writer, Director, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Composer, Himself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Producer - filmography
(1960s) (1940s)

"Combat!" (1962) TV Series (producer) (pilot episode)


Battleground (1949) (associate producer)





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Writer, Director, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Composer, Himself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Miscellaneous Crew - filmography

"Combat!" (1962) TV Series (series developer)





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Writer, Director, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Composer, Himself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Composer - filmography

Spring Reunion (1957) (song "Central High")





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Writer, Director, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Composer, Himself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Himself - filmography

Marx Brothers In a Nutshell, The (1982) (TV) .... Himself
 
Combat, Rat Patrol, and the cool M-16 toy with the real live action sound.
Wow it was great being a kid. We'd play at combat all day. Little plastic toy soldiers with tanks and artillery and barbed wire. I remember something called the Monkey Patrol as well. Damn that brings back happy memories. Wow, what fun we had!:D
 
Hell Yeah!

Great show, I used to watch it all the time.
Havent seen any reruns of it in awhile.
I always loved his machine gun.
Remember the "MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.", Great guns (P38?).
Sadly Vic Morrow was killed during the filming of the "TWILIGHT ZONE" movie.
 
Ah yes, I was a kid back then. My friends and I would watch it at home, and then we'd all get together the following day to re-enact the episode -- with a little twist involving water balloons, heh, heh!

Great memories. I hope they put the series out on DVD soon.
 
I remember "COMBAT!" and a couple of other war shows from back then . . . "The Rat Patrol" (where I learned that .50 BMGs could knock out Jerry tanks.) . . . "12 O'Clock High" (with Robert Lansing as Gen. Savage and later, someone else playing Col. Gallagher). . . "The Dirty Dozen" (the latter two TV shows were clearly based on movies.) And they used to have "Victory at Sea" on all the time. And I vaguely remember something called "Gallant Men" but can't seem to remember many details . . . too young I guess.

Strangest thing about COMBAT! was that their French soldier, Caje, didn't drop his rifle, wet his pants, and run fleeing at the first sign of "krauts." Hollywood license, I guess . . . :neener:
 
Maybe I am retarded or something, but the few episodes I saw of "Combat", I was not impressed. And I was into all that WWII history, action and weapons.

However, I like "Battleground" quite a bit and have rented it several times.

Interesting story I read years ago about the US Army and camouflage uniforms. Seems that during WWII they were tried out but quickly rejected.

Seems American troops were being attacked by other American troops because they thought they were Waffen SS, who often wore camouflage smocks. Cannot remember if the SS also wore camouflaged helmet covers too.
 
Strangest thing about COMBAT! was that their French soldier, Caje, didn't drop his rifle, wet his pants, and run fleeing at the first sign of "krauts." Hollywood license, I guess . . .
Click to expand...

He was a Cajun from Louisiana, not French.


I also loved the show in reruns of course. I used to fall asleep at night with my black and white tv with the brightness turned all the way down so the screen was black and listen to it with a speaker that went under my pillow that was attached to the 1/8" headphone jack on the TV.

Ironically it was the #1 show during the Viet Nam war.
 
RCL454-039_23090.jpg
 
Sidebar/Morrow's death

As you probably know, Vic Morrow was cut in two by the helicopter blade(as were the two young child actors)during late night filming by "Twilight Zone; the Movie" director, John Landis.

On the fatal "shoot", Landis was breaking many union rules and the pyrotechnics specialist and chopper pilot warned him of the dangerous conditions: like many egomanics, he ignored the warnings: the explosives knocked the chopper into "Sgt. Saunders" and the two kids. Landis walked . I'll never forget the smirk on his face leaving the courtroom in the L.A. Times photo.
 
When you think about it, even the tune for Combat! was a catchy little tune that was appropriate for time era too.
 
Thanks, guys for all the replies. Combat! was also responsible for me joining the Army (and possibly making a career of it).

Yeah, the Man From UNCLE was pretty cool, too!
 
I watched Combat reruns in the '80s. The sergeant wore the camo cover so as the lead star he stood out from the rest (like the Thompson wasn't enough?)


Good show for the time. Anybody remember the one where they had to find the crashed reconnaisance model P38? That was...interesting as it was a proper-model one.
 
Regarding Rat Patrol

Actually Eric Braeden was NOT in Rat Patrol. His name was still Hans Gudegast back then. He didn't change it to Eric Braeden until later.

While Rat Patrol was somewhat entertaining, it's not in the same league as Combat.



Fudgie Ghost, while Jennifer jason Leigh IS Vic Morrow's daughter, her birth name is Jennifer Lee Morrow, her mother is NOT Vivian Leigh.

Perhaps you are confusing her with Jamie Lee Curtis daughter of Vivian Leigh and Tony Curtis?
 
Correction: Bluesbear, Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of Janet Leigh (Psycho) and Tony Curtis. :D
 
Wow. Looking at that picture makes me really feel my age. I'm 47, so when I was watching Combat in prime time television in 1964 I thought the guys on the show looked so "old" and battle weary. Now, looking at that picture, they look like kids!

RCL454-039_23090.jpg
 
James Arness was in 'Battleground' - he was badly wounded at Anzio, if you watch his old shows carefully, you can see him swing one of his legs around before he gets up - a result of his wound.

And I remember seeing the movie when it first came out - 1949 - long time ago. Fine movie then, fine movie now. The IMDB has a good link to it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041163/

Owen
 
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