Markham (TV series)

*Markham*
Markham
	Milland as Markham.
Genre	Crime drama
Starring	Ray Milland
Theme music composer	Stanley Wilson
Composers	Juan Esquivel (as: ESQUIVEL); John Williams ("Woman of Arles"); Nathan Scott ("The Seamark")
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	60
Production
Producers	Warren Duff; Joseph Sistrom
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Markham Production Company; Revue Studios
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	May 2, 1959 –; September 15, 1960

Markham is an American crime drama series starring Ray Milland, which aired on CBS from May 2, 1959 until September 22, 1960,^[1] following Gunsmoke on Saturday nights (later appearing on Thursday nights at 9:30 P.M. Eastern, after January 1960), under the sponsorship of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. At the beginning of the second season, Liggett & Myers became an alternate sponsor, succeeded by Renault when the series moved to Thursdays.

Plot

Milland played private investigator and attorney Roy Markham (previously introduced in a June 1958 Suspicion episode, "Eye For An Eye", itself based on a Leigh Brackett novel). In that Markham had been a successful lawyer, he had the leisure to take detective cases based on his own interest. His fees could vary from the very considerable for his wealthier and corporate clients, to nothing for those who desperately needed his services but had few financial means. Markham's cases could take him almost anywhere in the world, although he was based in New York City.^[2]

In the early episodes of this program, Markham had an assistant, John Riggs (Simon Scott), but the Riggs character was written out after only eight programs had aired, leaving Markham to solve crimes solo.^[2]

Guest stars

Dayton Lummis appeared as Howard Fulton in the 1959 episode titled "The Father". Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., played Chief Gomez in the 1959 episode "The Bay of the Dead". Carole Mathews appeared as Jan Van Pelt in another 1959 episode, "The Glass Diamond". Elen Willard—as Ellen Willard—appeared as Markham's niece, Deidre Waugh, in the series' penultimate episode, "The Bad Spell", in September 1960.^[3]

Episodes

Season 1 (1959)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"A Princely Sum"	Richard Bartlett	Story by : Joel Murcott Teleplay by : Robert C. Dennis	May 2, 1959 (1959-05-02)
2	2	"Woman of Arles"	Gerd Oswald	Jo Swerling	May 9, 1959 (1959-05-09)
3	3	"Paris Encounter"	Bretaigne Windust	Story by : Oscar Millard Teleplay by : Robert C. Dennis	May 16, 1959 (1959-05-16)
4	4	"The Marble Face"	Bretaigne Windust	Story by : Charles Beaumont & Richard Matheson Teleplay by : John Kneubuhl	May 23, 1959 (1959-05-23)
5	5	"The Human Factor"	Don Weis	Charles Larson	May 30, 1959 (1959-05-30)
6	6	"The Seamark"	Robert Florey	Stirling Silliphant	June 6, 1959 (1959-06-06)
7	7	"Three Steps to Murder"	Robert Florey	Stirling Silliphant	June 13, 1959 (1959-06-13)
8	8	"The Glass Diamond"	Herschel Daugherty	Story by : Kathleen Hite Teleplay by : John Kneubuhl & Jean Holloway	June 20, 1959 (1959-06-20)
9	9	"Vendetta in Venice"	Robert Florey	Jonathan Latimer	June 27, 1959 (1959-06-27)
10	10	"The Last Bullet"	Robert B. Sinclair	Story by : Robert C. Dennis Teleplay by : Robert C. Dennis & David P. Harmon	July 4, 1959 (1959-07-04)
11	11	"Forty-Two on a Rope"	Douglas Heyes	Douglas Heyes	July 11, 1959 (1959-07-11)
12	12	"The Duelists"	Don Medford	Stirling Silliphant	July 18, 1959 (1959-07-18)
13	13	"The Counterfeit Stamp"	Bretaigne Windust	Story by : Judy & George W. George Teleplay by : David Evans and Judy & George W. George	July 25, 1959 (1959-07-25)
14	14	"We Are All Suspect"	Bretaigne Windust	Story by : Ed Lacy Teleplay by : Stanford Whitmore & Robert C. Dennis	August 1, 1959 (1959-08-01)
15	15	"The Bay of the Dead"	Bretaigne Windust	Story by : Alvin Pevehouse Teleplay by : Herschel Berard	August 8, 1959 (1959-08-08)
16	16	"The Other Side of the Wall"	Unknown	Unknown	August 15, 1959 (1959-08-15)
17	17	"Deadline Date"	Richard Bartlett	Norman Jolley	August 22, 1959 (1959-08-22)
18	18	"Girl on the Rocks"	Frank Arrigo	Richard Morgan	August 29, 1959 (1959-08-29)

Season 2 (1959–60)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
19	1	"Grave and Present Danger"	Unknown	Unknown	September 19, 1959 (1959-09-19)
20	2	"Double Negative"	Unknown	Unknown	September 26, 1959 (1959-09-26)
21	3	"The Nephews"	John Rich	Stirling Silliphant	October 3, 1959 (1959-10-03)
22	4	"The Long Haul"	Unknown	Unknown	October 10, 1959 (1959-10-10)
23	5	"Mutation"	Herschel Daugherty	Stirling Silliphant	October 17, 1959 (1959-10-17)
24	6	"The Father"	Unknown	Unknown	October 31, 1959 (1959-10-31)
25	7	"Incident in Bel Air"	Robert Florey	Oscar Millard	November 7, 1959 (1959-11-07)
26	8	"Round Trip to Mozambique"	Robert Florey	Story by : Bob Williams Teleplay by : Oscar Millard	November 14, 1959 (1959-11-14)
27	9	"Strange Visitor"	Unknown	Unknown	November 21, 1959 (1959-11-21)
28	10	"The Altar"	Herschel Daugherty	Stirling Silliphant	December 5, 1959 (1959-12-05)
29	11	"No Flies on Friday"	Robert Ellis Miller	Story by : Kem Bennett Teleplay by : Oscar Millard	December 19, 1959 (1959-12-19)
30	12	"Candy Store Jungle"	Unknown	Unknown	January 9, 1960 (1960-01-09)
31	13	"Sing a Song of Murder"	Unknown	Unknown	January 16, 1960 (1960-01-16)
32	14	"The Ambitious Wife"	Unknown	Unknown	January 23, 1960 (1960-01-23)
33	15	"Events Leading Up to the Crime"	Unknown	Unknown	January 28, 1960 (1960-01-28)
34	16	"A Coffin for Cinderella"	Unknown	Unknown	February 4, 1960 (1960-02-04)
35	17	"Deadly Promise"	Unknown	Unknown	February 11, 1960 (1960-02-11)
36	18	"One for the Money"	Unknown	Unknown	February 25, 1960 (1960-02-25)
37	19	"Image of Love"	Unknown	Unknown	March 3, 1960 (1960-03-03)
38	20	"The Long Search"	Unknown	Unknown	March 10, 1960 (1960-03-10)
39	21	"The Shape of Evil"	Unknown	Unknown	March 24, 1960 (1960-03-24)
40	22	"The Phantom Archer"	Unknown	Unknown	March 31, 1960 (1960-03-31)
41	23	"The Searing Flame"	Unknown	Unknown	April 7, 1960 (1960-04-07)
42	24	"Fateful Reunion"	Unknown	Unknown	April 14, 1960 (1960-04-14)
43	25	"The Last Oasis"	Unknown	Unknown	April 21, 1960 (1960-04-21)
44	26	"The Anixous Angel"	Unknown	Unknown	April 28, 1960 (1960-04-28)
45	27	"The Sitting Duck"	Unknown	Unknown	May 5, 1960 (1960-05-05)
46	28	"The Snarled Web"	Unknown	Unknown	May 12, 1960 (1960-05-12)
47	29	"Coercion"	Unknown	Unknown	May 26, 1960 (1960-05-26)
48	30	"The Man from Salzburg"	Mitchell Leisen	Ronkel Adams	June 2, 1960 (1960-06-02)
49	31	"The Silken Cord"	Unknown	Unknown	June 9, 1960 (1960-06-09)
50	32	"Escorts a La Carte"	Mitchell Leisen	Donald S. Sanford	June 16, 1960 (1960-06-16)
51	33	"The Crueliest Thief"	Unknown	Unknown	June 30, 1960 (1960-06-30)
52	34	"13 Avenida Muerte"	Unknown	Unknown	July 7, 1960 (1960-07-07)
53	35	"A Cry from the Penthouse"	Mitchell Leisen	Story by : Henry Slesar Teleplay by : Stephen Burl	July 21, 1960 (1960-07-21)
54	36	"The Young Conspirator"	Unknown	Unknown	August 4, 1960 (1960-08-04)
55	37	"The Country Mouse"	Unknown	Unknown	August 11, 1960 (1960-08-11)
56	38	"Crash in the Desert"	Unknown	Unknown	August 18, 1960 (1960-08-18)
57	39	"Counterpoint"	Unknown	Unknown	August 25, 1960 (1960-08-25)
58	40	"The Snowman"	Unknown	Unknown	September 1, 1960 (1960-09-01)
59	41	"The Bad Spell"	Unknown	Unknown	September 8, 1960 (1960-09-08)
60	42	"A Matter of Identity"	Unknown	Unknown	September 15, 1960 (1960-09-15)

Production

Warren Duff and Joe Sistrom were the show's producers.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 519. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
^ ^a ^b Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (1999). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (7th ed.). New York: The Ballentine Publishing Group. p. 630. ISBN 0-345-42923-0.
^
"Tonight's Viewing: Booby Traps Plague Markham". Fort Lauderdale News. September 8, 1960. p. 10-B. Retrieved January 12, 2026. "[T]onight's Markham features some intricate booby traps. [...] In this one, Ray Milland gets a niece (Ellen Willard) who walks around in a towel and almost steps into a booby trap herself." See also:
- "Tonight's TV Tips". The Los Angeles Mirror. September 15, 1960. pt. II, p. 10. "Slipping in a rerun in what has otherwise been a Summer series of new films. This one, first shown March 3, finds private investigator Roy Markham at the mercy of an insanely jealous husband."
- "The Journal Pre-Views Tonight's TV". The Jersey Journal. September 22, 1960. p. 23. "9:30 2 MARKHAM: Last year a winner, and this year a man with a dropped option. That's the fate of Ray Milland who bids adieu with Markham this week, the victim of a switch in time slot. The last show is based very loosely on the Anastasia caper with Erika Peters, a Swiss actress, putting in a winning performance."

External links

Markham at IMDb

[tt-1] McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 519. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.

[brooks-2] Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (1999). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (7th ed.). New York: The Ballentine Publishing Group. p. 630. ISBN 0-345-42923-0.

[3] "Tonight's Viewing: Booby Traps Plague Markham". Fort Lauderdale News. September 8, 1960. p. 10-B. Retrieved January 12, 2026. "[T]onight's Markham features some intricate booby traps. [...] In this one, Ray Milland gets a niece (Ellen Willard) who walks around in a towel and almost steps into a booby trap herself." See also:
"Tonight's TV Tips". The Los Angeles Mirror. September 15, 1960. pt. II, p. 10. "Slipping in a rerun in what has otherwise been a Summer series of new films. This one, first shown March 3, finds private investigator Roy Markham at the mercy of an insanely jealous husband."

"The Journal Pre-Views Tonight's TV". The Jersey Journal. September 22, 1960. p. 23. "9:30 2 MARKHAM: Last year a winner, and this year a man with a dropped option. That's the fate of Ray Milland who bids adieu with Markham this week, the victim of a switch in time slot. The last show is based very loosely on the Anastasia caper with Erika Peters, a Swiss actress, putting in a winning performance."

[4] "Tonight's TV Tips". The Los Angeles Mirror. September 15, 1960. pt. II, p. 10. "Slipping in a rerun in what has otherwise been a Summer series of new films. This one, first shown March 3, finds private investigator Roy Markham at the mercy of an insanely jealous husband."

[5] "The Journal Pre-Views Tonight's TV". The Jersey Journal. September 22, 1960. p. 23. "9:30 2 MARKHAM: Last year a winner, and this year a man with a dropped option. That's the fate of Ray Milland who bids adieu with Markham this week, the victim of a switch in time slot. The last show is based very loosely on the Anastasia caper with Erika Peters, a Swiss actress, putting in a winning performance."

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