The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

tic series starring Reed Hadley

Reed Hadley

Reed Hadley was an American movie, television and radio actor.Reed Hadley was born Reed Herring in Petrolia in Clay County near Wichita Falls, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one sister, Bess Brenner. He was reared in Buffalo, New York...

 (1911-1974) as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 from March 11, 1954

1954 in television

The year 1954 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1954.-Events:*January 1 – NBC broadcasts the Rose Parade in NTSC color on 21 stations.*January 3 – RAI launched in Italy....

 to June 23, 1955

1955 in television

The year 1955 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1955.-Events:*March 5 – Elvis Presley appears on television for the first time...

, a season and a half.

Premise

When this series was created by Mort R. Lewis and Sam Shayon, the concept of the public defender

Public defender

The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...

 was little known in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 except in capital cases. A 1932 United States Supreme Court decision Powell v. Alabama

Powell v. Alabama

Powell v. Alabama was a United States Supreme Court decision which determined that in a capital trial, the defendant must be given access to counsel upon his or her own request as part of due process.-Background of the case:...

clarified the need for public defenders for suspects accused of crimes which if convicted might lead to execution. The use of public defenders was broadened in 1962 in another high court case, Gideon v. Wainwright

Gideon v. Wainwright

Gideon v. Wainwright, , is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history. In the case, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who are unable to afford their own...

to include public defenders for all suspects charged with any level of felony

Felony

A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...

, a broadening of the Powell ruling. The Public Defender purportedly based each episode on true cases, and each segment closes with a tribute to a public defender. Hadley portrays the stoic but driven public defender Bart Matthews, whose clients cannot otherwise afford expensive legal representation.

Guest stars

John Close appeared in seven episodes as a detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

. Jeri Lou James appeared five times as Julie Saunders. Ann Doran

Ann Doran

Ann Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...

 and Hugh Beaumont appeared three times each as Bonnie Landis and Ed McGrath, prior to their casting on National Velvet and Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...

, respectively. The McGrath character is also portrayed in two episodes by Dick Foran

Dick Foran

John Nicholas 'Dick' Foran was an American actor, known for his performances in western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.-Life and career:...

. Russ Conway

Russ Conway (actor)

Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor who appeared on film and television between 1947 and 1975.-Early years:...

 appeared three times as Chief Paul Carter. Frances Rafferty

Frances Rafferty

Frances Rafferty was an American actress, dancer, World War II pin-up girl and MGM contract star.-Early life:Frances Anne Rafferty was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Maxwell Lewis Rafftery, Snr...

, also appearing with Spring Byington

Spring Byington

Spring Byington was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:Byington was born Spring Dell Byington in Colorado Springs,...

 on the CBS sitcom December Bride

December Bride

December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953.-Overview:...

, was cast in two segments as Barbara Norton. Character actor

Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

 Denver Pyle

Denver Pyle

Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard .-Early life:...

 appeared twice in the role of George Hansen.

In the premiere episode entitled "The Case of the Parolee", Bart Matthews defends an ex-convict suspected of robbing his boss. In the second season premiere in the episode entitled "Return of the Dead", Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...

 portrays the character Rene Marchand, with Robert Bice

Robert Bice

Robert Bice , was an American television and film actor. Bice was born in Dallas, Texas, United States.-Career:Bice appeared in 199 films and television programs between 1943 and 1967...

 as Lieutenant Davis and Gladys Holland as Collette Marchand. Bice appeared twice on the program; Holland, three times.In the episode entitled "The Ring", Matthews defends a carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

 worker charged with grand theft

Grand theft

Grand theft or grand larceny is a category used to rank the severity of crime associated with theft.Generally, in the United States it is defined as intentional taking property of others in an amount exceeding the state statutory amount....

. In "Love and Conscience", Matthews attempts to prove the innocence of a truck driver, who is wrongly implicated in a hijacking.

Other guest stars included: Merry Anders

Merry Anders

Merry Anders is an American actress who has appeared in a number of television programs and films since the 1950s. In 1954, she succeeded Ann Todd as Stuart Erwin's daughter in the final season of his TV series, The Stu Erwin Show.In the 1955-1956 season, she joined Janis Paige in the 26-week CBS...

, Paul Brinegar

Paul Brinegar

Paul Brinegar was an American character actor.Brinegar made over 100 appearances between 1946 and 1994, appearing in many western films, and played the barman in Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter in 1973...

, Robert Bray

Robert Bray

Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...

, Steve Brodie

Steve Brodie (actor)

Steve Brodie was an American movie and television actor.Born John Stevenson in El Dorado, Kansas, he took his screen name from the Steve Brodie who claimed that he jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived...

, Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...

, Sally Brophy

Sally Brophy

Sally Cullen Brophy was a Broadway and television actress and college theatre arts professor.Brophy was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She studied at the Royal Academy in London, and then pursued a career on Broadway. In 1951 she was an understudy in Second Threshold. In 1954-1955, she starred as the...

, Argentina Brunetti

Argentina Brunetti

-Biography:Brunetti was born Argentina Ferrau in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She began her show business career at the age of three with a walk on role in the opera, Cavalleria Rusticana and followed Mimi Aguglia, her famous mother's footsteps in the theater performing supporting roles on stages...

, George Chandler

George Chandler

George Chandler was an American actor best known for playing the character of "Uncle Petrie" on the television series Lassie...

, Walter Coy

Walter Coy

Walter Darwin Coy was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, originally from Great Falls, Montana. He was best known for narrating the NBC western anthology series, Frontier, which aired early Sunday evenings in the 1955-1956 season.-Career:Coy performed on Broadway...

, Richard Deacon

Richard Deacon (actor)

Richard Deacon , born in Philadelphia, was an American television and motion picture actor.-Career:The bald and usually bespectacled character actor often portrayed pompous or imperious figures. He made appearances on The Jack Benny Show as a salesman and a barber, and on NBC's Happy as a hotel...

, William Fawcett

William Fawcett (actor)

William "Bill" Fawcett was a character actor in Hollywood B-films and in television. His career extended from 1946 until the early 1970s. He is probably best remembered for his role as the cantankerous, rusty-voiced Pete Wilkey of the Broken Wheel Ranch on the NBC series Fury, co-starring Peter...

, Douglas Fowley

Douglas Fowley

Douglas Fowley was an American movie and television actor.Fowley was born Daniel Vincent Fowley in The Bronx, New York. The 5'11" actor is probably best remembered for his role as the movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singin' in the Rain . The actor appeared in over 240 films and later in dozens of...

, James Gleason

James Gleason

James Austin Gleason was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.-Career:...

, Don Haggerty

Don Haggerty

Don Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...

, Peter Hansen

Peter Hansen (actor)

Peter Hansen is an American actor, best known for his role as a lawyer, Lee Baldwin, on the soap opera General Hospital. He played the role from 1965 to 1986 and again from 1992 to 2004...

, Richard Jaeckel

Richard Jaeckel

Richard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...

, Burt Mustin

Burt Mustin

Burton Hill "Burt" Mustin was an American character actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to W. I. and Sadie Mustin, Mustin was a 1903 graduate of the Pennsylvania Military College , earning his degree in civil engineering...

, John M. Pickard

John Pickard (American actor)

John M. Pickard was an American actor who appeared primarily in television Westerns.-Early life and career:...

, Lyle Talbot

Lyle Talbot

Lyle Talbot , born Lisle Henderson, was an American actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and...

, Marshall Thompson

Marshall Thompson

Marshall Thompson was an American film and television actor.He was born James Marshall Thompson in Peoria, Illinois. In 1943 Thompson, known for his boy-next-door good looks, was signed by Universal Pictures...

, Kenneth Tobey

Kenneth Tobey

Kenneth Tobey was an American stage, television, and film actor.-Early years:Born in Oakland, California, Tobey was headed for a law career when he first dabbled in acting at the University of California Little Theater...

, Ben Welden

Ben Welden

Ben Welden was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows...

, Peter Whitney

Peter Whitney

Peter Whitney, was an American actor in film and television. Born as Peter King Engle in Long Branch, New Jersey, Whitney's corpulent, heavy build qualified him to play villains in many Hollywood movies in the 1940s and 1950s.From the late 1950s, he was more prolific playing character roles in...

, Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...

, and Will Wright

Will Wright (actor)

William Henry "Will" Wright was an American character actor. He was frequently cast in curmudgeonly roles. He was sometimes credited as Will J. Wright....

.

Production

The series was filmed by Hal Roach Studios

Hal Roach

Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...

 in Culver City

Culver City, California

Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.The Public Defender aired at 10 p.m. EST on Thursdays from March to June 1954, having preceded the quiz show Place the Face

Place the Face

Place the Face is an American game show that aired on CBS and NBC from 1953 to 1955. The series was hosted by Jack Smith, Jack Bailey, and then Bill Cullen. Jack Narz was the announcer.-Synopsis:...

, hosted by Jack Bailey and then Bill Cullen

Bill Cullen

William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...

. From September 1954 to June 1955, The Public Defender ran opposite Kraft Television Theater on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 and Lux Video Theatre

Lux Video Theatre

Lux Video Theatre, is a weekly television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....

on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

.From July to September 1954, it aired at 9 p.m. Mondays.

In the 1951-1953 seasons, Hadley had starred as the fictional Captain John Braddock of San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 in Racket Squad

Racket Squad

Racket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, a fictional detective working for the San Francisco, California Police Department....

, which was narrated by Hugh Beaumont. Similar to The Public Defender is the 1954-1956 NBC legal drama Justice

Justice (1954 TV series)

Justice is an NBC half-hour drama television series about attorneys of the Legal Aid Society of New York, which aired from April 8, 1954 to March 25, 1956. In the 1954-1955 season, Justice starred Dane Clark as Richard Adams and Gary Merrill as Jason Tyler. In the 1955-1956 season, William Prince...

, starring Dane Clark

Dane Clark

Dane Clark was an American film actor who was known for playing, as he labeled himself, "Joe Average".-Early life:...

 and Gary Merrill

Gary Merrill

Gary Fred Merrill was an American film and television character actor whose credits included more than fifty feature films, a half-dozen mostly short-lived TV series, and dozens of television guest appearances....

.

Home video

Selected episodes of The Public Defender have been available on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

since 2005.