Zeus

Director:

 Stuart Rosenberg

Writers:

 Ranald MacDougall (teleplay), Tiffany Thayer (novel)

Stars:

 Anthony Franciosa, Jill St. John, Jack Klugman

 

Originally telecast November 26, 1966, Fame is the Name of the Game was the first official entry in NBC-TV "Project 120" series of made-for-TV movies (after two false starts in 1964). Tony Franciosa plays a magazine writer investigating the suicide of a beautiful girl. He uses the girl's address book as a key to piecing together the mystery of her self-destruction--and in so doing discovers that she'd actually been murdered. Advertised as an "original" for television, Fame is the Name of the Gamewas actually a remake of the 1949 Alan Ladd melodrama Chicago Deadline, right down to the identity of the mystery killer. Jill St. John and Jack Klugman co-star, with Jack Weston, Robert Duvall, Nanette Fabray and Jay C. Flippen popping up in supporting roles. This film served as the pilot for the 1968-71 TV series Name of the Game, with cast members Tony Franciosa and Susan St. James retained for the series proper.