Genre: | Adventure |
Starring: | John Russell Chick Chandler |
Theme Music Composer: | Paul Dunlap |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Num Seasons: | 2 |
Num Episodes: | 52 |
Camera: | Single-camera |
Runtime: | 22–24 minutes |
Company: | Revue Studios |
Channel: | Syndication |
Soldiers of Fortune is a syndicated half hour American television adventure series that ran from 1955 to 1956. It starred John Russell as Tim Kelly, and Chick Chandler as his sidekick Toubo Smith, who were international adventurers. Episodes take place in different countries.[1] Many of the film crew had worked at Republic Pictures studios with the show filmed on Republic's backlot then used by television's Revue Productions.[2] The series ran for 52 episodes,[3] and was constantly rerun on American television into the 1960s.
The series began as a television pilot called Adventure in Java that was shown on the Chevron Theatre on 10 February 1953. The show starred Tim Holt[4] and Charles Bronson then credited as Charles Buchinsky.[5]
The show was sponsored for two years by 7 Up soft drink with the firm also sending the stars out on national publicity tours.[6]
One year after Soldiers of Fortune was cancelled, John Russell went on to star as Marshal Dan Troop in the successful ABC/Warner Brothers western series Lawman.[7]
Timeless Media Group (TMG) released a Region 1 five disc DVD set titled Soldiers of Fortune: The Complete Television Series on November 30, 2010. It includes all 29 episodes of Season 1 and all 23 episodes of Season 2.[8]