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| Ross Martin as Charlie Chan. |
Mystery TV series were on the rise again in 1970 with NBC preparing to launch its
NBC Mystery Movie franchise
. That
umbrella series would feature sleuths who
were rumpled and sly (
Columbo), married to mischievous spouses (
McMillan & Wife), and transported from the West to the East (
McCloud). All of which may explain why NBC was interested in a potential TV series about an Asian American police detective--and a famous one at that.
Produced in 1970, the made-for-TV movie
The Return of Charlie Chan (aka
Happiness Is a Warm Clue) was intended to introduce Earl Derr Biggers' venerable detective to a new generation. However, it appears to have encountered trouble from the outset with the unlikely casting of
Ross Martin in the title role. The actor had amassed a reasonable amount of popularity as Robert Conrad's sidekick (and master of disguises) Artemus Gordon in
The Wild Wild West (1965-69). He seemed poised for a series of his own.
It wasn't the first time a non-Asian actor had played Charlie Chan. Warner Oland, arguably the screen's most well-known Chan, was born in Sweden and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. However, Oland's films were made in a different era. There's no evidence that NBC shelved
The Return of Charlie Chan due to concerns over a casting backlash. However, the network did promote the film in 1971 and then mysteriously decided not to broadcast it. It was eventually shown in Great Britain in 1973, but didn't make its U.S. premiere until 1979.
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| Suspect Richard Haydn and Martin. |
For the record, Ross Martin isn't a bad Charlie Chan once one realizes he's not playing Artemus in another disguise. And
The Return of Charlie Chan is a decent mystery about a Greek business tycoon, married to a younger woman, who narrowly survives a murder attempt. (I'm assuming any resemblance to Aristotle Onassis was intentional!) He convinces the "incorruptible, infallible, and unfortunately retired" Charlie Chan to take on the task of protecting him during his family's pleasure cruise off the coast of Vancouver. Charlie, accompanied by his daughter Doreen and No. 8 son Peter, makes little headway toward unmasking the culprit...until one of the tycoon's employees is found murdered in his stateroom.
There is no shortage of suspects, to include a physician, a winegrower, and an international playboy who may be a thief. All of their alibis eventually crumple under the power of Charlie's deductive reasoning, which still seems sharp despite ten years as a pineapple farmer. And, yes, Mr. Chan still offers wise sayings, such as: "Even a hair casts a shadow."
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| Leslie Nielsen as a Greek tycoon. |
The film's "special guest star" is Leslie Nielsen, who has a grand time overplaying the role of the "richest man in the world." It's interesting that most people today think of Nielsen as a comedian because of his success in
Airplane! and
The Naked Gun movies. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the busiest actors on television and in films. He played everything from a police detective in
The Bold Ones to the captain in
The Poseidon Adventure to the voice of a powerful, but never seen, movie executive in the TV series
Bracken's World.
Ross Martin never got his own TV series, though he remained in demand as an actor in the 1970s. He guest-starred on shows like
The Love Boat,
Hawaii Five-O, and
Vega$. He provided voices for several cartoon series and even reprised Artemus Gordon for two made-for-TV movies. Ross Martin died in 1981 after suffering a heart attack following a game of tennis.
