Here are photos of Gregoire Aslan and Joseph Barnard. It’s easy to see how I confused them after 40 years:
I was surprised that this wasn’t listed on the imdb, so I went back to check – I think it is, but under the title of the pilot – The Killer Who Wouldn’t Die. The description matches yours, except that the detective’s name is Karl Ohanian, not Kirk. It looks like James Shigeta (not Keye Luke) might be the diplomat
You and me, both. In my head, that role was being played by Harold J. Stone!
Well, he’s listed in the cast. I just chose Shigeta as the most familiar appropriate name in the cast, and thus possibly the likeliest.
As soon as I saw his name, my memory kicked in. The two Asian actors I would immediately recognize from that period are Luke and Ahn (“that **other **Asian guy”).
I don’t recall Shigeta being in it at all, but I don’t remember Mariette Hartley being in it either. THAT is odd!
Actually Connors had a number of injuries, at least during the first season, from doing his own stunts. I think broken bones were mentioned.
(Long about the second or third commercial break, my dad used to say "it’s about time for Mannix to get hit over the head, isn’t it?)
This was my initial reaction. We used to love watching the show. And waiting for the obligatory hit-by-a-car (tumbling over the hood) scene ! I think he must hold the record among TV PI’s for the number of such hits he’d sustained !
More than Jim Rockford? :dubious:
Rockford was only on for six seasons; two more and they might have tied, but I doubt either one would remember it.
The last panel of the Mad TV satire (Mann-eccch, IIRC) had Mannix pulling off a mask to show how he covered up all the injuries he sustained in the show