The Lieutenant
Encyclopedia
The Lieutenant is an American television series
, the first created by Gene Roddenberry
. It aired on NBC
on Saturday evenings in the 1963-1964 television schedule. It was produced by Arena Productions, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most successful in-house production companies of the 1960s. Situated at Camp Pendleton, the West Coast base of the U.S. Marine Corps, The Lieutenant focuses on the men of the Corps in peace time with a Cold War
backdrop. The title character is Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a rifle platoon leader and one of the training instructors at Camp Pendleton. An hour-long drama, The Lieutenant explores the lives of enlisted Marines and general officers alike.
The series is scheduled to be released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection some time in 2011.
Prior to his selection as The Lieutenant, Lockwood had appeared as magazine
research
er Eric Jason in the ABC
series Follow the Sun
during the 1961–1962 season.
played Captain Raymond Rambridge, Rice's company commander, an up-from-the-ranks officer. Richard Anderson
, better known to 1970s television audiences as Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man
and The Bionic Woman
, had a recurring role as battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland, and Linda Evans
, better known to 1980s audiences as Krystle Grant-Jennings-Carrington in Dynasty
, appeared in several early episodes as Colonel Hiland's daughter Nan, who flirted with Rice.
In character, Rice himself was a young, attractive, educated, idealistic professional man who still had much to learn from an older mentor, the way John Kennedy had been on his way to the office of President of the United States. Kennedy's assassination followed the premiere of the series program by two months, and an ongoing war in Vietnam would soon escalate.
, who had participated in Mister Roberts and Picnic and whose middle name was Lockwood. A former UCLA college football player who could be violent and quick-tempered, and who had seriously injured a man in a brawl at a party, Lockwood had a higher-than-average opinion of his own intelligence and attractiveness. He tried to withdraw from the series program at the last moment, hoping instead to concentrate on films. He did not do so because the producers and network executives convinced him that there would be unpleasant payback if he did. Lockwood later compared being a series program star to being a jet pilot: many experts, he said, worked behind the scenes and then the pilot entered the hot seat and made it all work.
Lockwood told TV Guide
magazine that he eventually wanted to be an actor, a writer, a producer, and a director. Warren Beatty
, whom Lockwood had acted alongside in Splendor in the Grass
, would eventually go on to achieve that ambition; Lockwood himself would not. Lockwood, during that interview, also displayed contempt for "insecure" women, an accusation he would not be able to level against eventual castmate Sally Kellerman
or the woman he later married, the very secure Stephanie Powers.
, and he had even received an Oscar nomination for The Young Philadelphians
. This meant that he might have considered being second to Lockwood in the cast something of a climb-down. Vaughn had political aspirations and, indeed, was then working on his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Southern California
. (He would later publish this dissertation, which was his examination of the devastating negative effects McCarthyism
had had on 1950s entertainment, as the book Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting. The title he used for the book was taken from a statement Dalton Trumbo
made that the blacklist period produced "only victims.") Vaughn asked both MGM Television and Norman Felton (under whose Arena Productions banner The Lieutenant was being produced) for his own series program during the run of The Lieutenant. The result was The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, which began the next season and proved to be highly successful.
One episode of The Lieutenant was never even transmitted, nor would the network pay for it. That installment, titled "To Set It Right
" and written by Lee Erwin
, was about race prejudice, and featured Nichelle Nichols
as the fiancee of a black Marine. The subject of race was considered taboo in entertainment television in 1964, and because the network refused to transmit or even pay for "To Set It Right," MGM had to eat the entire cost of production. Viewing the episode at The Paley Center for Media in New York City became possible in more modern times.
on CBS. The program had occupied the time slot previously held by the legal drama
Sam Benedict
starring Edmond O'Brien
and Richard Rust
. Rust also guest starred in an episode of The Lieutenant. Despite its success and promise, The Lieutenant was nevertheless canceled after only one season because, according to Roddenberry, the Vietnam War had made present-day military dramas toxic for television. In the final episode of the series, Rice is sent to a fictitious Asian country based on Vietnam as an advisor, mirroring the same real-life situation that the series had been canceled for.
Roddenberry recruited Lockwood one more time, in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot installment for Star Trek
, as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell.
A middle name would be reused for Star Trek: The title character in The Lieutenant was Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice; on Star Trek the title character would be Captain James Tiberius Kirk
.
The Lieutenant also brought together several other actors—amongst them Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols
, and Majel Barrett
—who would later join Roddenberry in Star Trek
.
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, the first created by Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
. It aired 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...
on Saturday evenings in the 1963-1964 television schedule. It was produced by Arena Productions, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most successful in-house production companies of the 1960s. Situated at Camp Pendleton, the West Coast base of the U.S. Marine Corps, The Lieutenant focuses on the men of the Corps in peace time with a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
backdrop. The title character is Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a rifle platoon leader and one of the training instructors at Camp Pendleton. An hour-long drama, The Lieutenant explores the lives of enlisted Marines and general officers alike.
The series is scheduled to be released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection some time in 2011.
Regulars
- Gary LockwoodGary LockwoodGary Lockwood is an American actor probably best known for his iconic 1968 role as the astronaut Dr. Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey.-Early life:...
- Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice - Robert VaughnRobert VaughnRobert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
- Captain Raymond Rambridge - John MilfordJohn MilfordJohn Milford was an American actor in theatre, television, and films, playing scores of roles, often as a western villain....
- Sergeant Kagey - Henry BeckmanHenry BeckmanHenry Beckman was a Canadian stage, film and television actor. He appeared in well over 100 productions in the United States and Canada, including recurring roles as Commander Paul Richards in the 1954 Flash Gordon space opera television series, Bob Mulligan in the ABC sitcom I'm Dickens, He's...
- Major Al Barker - Richard AndersonRichard AndersonRichard Norman Anderson is an American actor in film and television, known to TV audiences as Steve Austin's and Jaime Sommers' boss, Oscar Goldman, in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman TV series and their three subsequent TV movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man...
- Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland - Don Penny - Lieutenant Harris
- Carmen PhillipsCarmen PhillipsCarmen Phillips was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 61 films between 1914 and 1926...
- Lily - Steven FrankenSteven FrankenSteven Franken, sometimes spelled Stephen Franken is an American actor who has appeared on screen and television for a half century. He is the cousin of Al Franken.-Career:...
- Lieutenant Samwell 'Sanpan' Panosian [Season 1, 1963] - Chris Noel - the regular female cast member, who never had a regular "character;" Gene RoddenberryGene RoddenberryEugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
had her acting out different characters each week
Prior to his selection as The Lieutenant, Lockwood had appeared as magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
er Eric Jason in the 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...
series Follow the Sun
Follow the Sun (TV series)
Follow the Sun is an American drama series which ran for thirty episodes on the ABC television network from September 17, 1961, through April 8, 1962.-Synopsis:...
during the 1961–1962 season.
Guest stars
- Edward Asner - Walter Perry
- Barbara BainBarbara BainMillicent Fogel , known professionally as Barbara Bain, is an American actress.-Early life:Bain was born in Chicago. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She moved to New York City, where she was a dancer and high fashion model. Bain studied with...
- Cissie Van Osten - Ina BalinIna BalinIna Balin was an American actress on Broadway and in film.Born as Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, she first appeared on television on The Perry Como Show...
- Jan Everest - Henry BeckmanHenry BeckmanHenry Beckman was a Canadian stage, film and television actor. He appeared in well over 100 productions in the United States and Canada, including recurring roles as Commander Paul Richards in the 1954 Flash Gordon space opera television series, Bob Mulligan in the ABC sitcom I'm Dickens, He's...
- Major Barker - Bill BixbyBill BixbyWilfred Bailey Everett “Bill” Bixby III was an American film and television actor, director, and frequent game show panelist.His career spanned over three decades; he appeared on stage, in motion pictures and TV series...
- character name unknown, one of Rice's old high school friends, now assigned to his platoon, who tries to take advantage of the relationship to get out of work - Neville BrandNeville BrandNeville Brand was an American television and movie actor.-Early life:Neville Brand was born in Illinois. He was born to Leo and Helen Brand as one of seven children. Leo, was an electrician and bridge building steel worker in Detroit, where Neville was raised...
- character name unknown, a brilliant, arrogant USMC major general to whom Rice is assigned as an aide in one installment - Paul BurkePaul Burke (actor)Paul Burke was an American actor best known for his lead roles in two 1960s ABC television series, Naked City and Twelve O'Clock High...
- Captain Thomson, an ineffectual Marine captain required to leave the Corps for serving too long in his rank if he is not promoted to major - Eddie CarrollEddie CarrollEddie Carroll was a Canadian voice actor who moved to Hollywood in the 1950s to become an actor. He took over the role of Jiminy Cricket in 1973 after the death of original voice Cliff Edwards in 1971.-Filmography:...
- Sgt. Perry - Russ ConwayRuss Conway (actor)Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor who appeared on film and television between 1947 and 1975.-Early years:...
- Col. Curtis Morley in episode "In the Highest Tradition" - Patricia Crowley - character name unknown, Captain Rambridge's ex-wife
- Bob Davis - Farley Crosse
- Andrew DugganAndrew Duggan-Career:During World War II, Duggan was in the 40th Special Services Company, led by actor Melvyn Douglas in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His contact with Douglas later led to his performing with Lucille Ball in the play Dreamgirl. He developed a friendship with Broadway...
- character name unknown, the heroic commander of Rice's platoon during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a man who might not really have been a hero - Linda EvansLinda EvansLinda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley...
- Nan Hiland - Jerry Fujikawa - role unknown
- Frank Gardner - Private Matthews
- James GregoryJames Gregory (actor)James Gregory was an American character actor noted for his deep, gravelly voice and playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate , the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller...
- Sgt. Horace Capp - Dennis HopperDennis HopperDennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
- Corporal Peter Devlin, a bigot who is giving a tough time to a black man in his squad - Robert KarnesRobert KarnesRobert A. Karnes was a prolific television actor who also appeared in some films early in his career, including mostly uncredited parts in The Best Years of Our Lives , Miracle on 34th Street , Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye , and From Here to Eternity...
- Vilardi in episode "Operation Actress" - Richard Jeffries - Lieutenant Tait
- Anna Lisa - Maria
- Leonard NimoyLeonard NimoyLeonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
- Character name unknown, a flamboyant actor who wants to make a movie on the Marine Corps base - Nichelle NicholsNichelle NicholsNichelle Nichols is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting...
- Norma Bartlett, "To Set it Right" (never aired) * - Pilar SeuratPilar SeuratPilar Seurat was a Filipina-American film and television actress in the 1960s.-Life and career:Born as Rita Hernandez in Manila, Seurat began her Hollywood career as a dancer in Ken Murray's "Blackouts", the popular postwar variety show at the El Capitan Theatre...
- role unknown - Madlyn RhueMadlyn RhueMadlyn Soloman Rhue was an American character actress.Rhue was born in Washington, D.C. From the 1950s to the 1990s, Rhue appeared in some twenty films, including Operation Petticoat and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...
- Jackie Madian - Yale Summers - Lieutenant Barry Everest
- Nita Talbot - role unknown
- Joan TompkinsJoan TompkinsJoan Tompkins, legally known as Joan Swenson was an American actress of television, film, radio, and stage, who co-founded with her husband, Karl Swenson, an acting company in Beverly Hills, California...
- Mrs. Wade in "The Two-Star Giant" (1963) and Elsie Hammond in "Gone the Son" (1964) - Rip TornRip TornElmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
- character name unknown, a tough drill sergeant who may, indeed, be so tough that he is actually killing his own trainees - Martin West - role unknown
Synopsis
Gary Lockwood starred as USMC Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, a recent graduate of the United States Naval Academy who had been assigned his first command, that of a rifle platoon. Robert VaughnRobert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
played Captain Raymond Rambridge, Rice's company commander, an up-from-the-ranks officer. Richard Anderson
Richard Anderson
Richard Norman Anderson is an American actor in film and television, known to TV audiences as Steve Austin's and Jaime Sommers' boss, Oscar Goldman, in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman TV series and their three subsequent TV movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man...
, better known to 1970s television audiences as Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
and The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman is an American television series starring Lindsay Wagner that aired for three seasons between 1976 and 1978 as a spin off from The Six Million Dollar Man. Wagner stars as tennis pro Jaime Sommers who is nearly killed in a skydiving accident. Sommers' life is saved by Oscar Goldman ...
, had a recurring role as battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steve Hiland, and Linda Evans
Linda Evans
Linda Evans is an American actress. She is known primarily for her roles on television, and rose to fame playing Audra Barkley in the 1960s Western TV series, The Big Valley...
, better known to 1980s audiences as Krystle Grant-Jennings-Carrington in Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
, appeared in several early episodes as Colonel Hiland's daughter Nan, who flirted with Rice.
In character, Rice himself was a young, attractive, educated, idealistic professional man who still had much to learn from an older mentor, the way John Kennedy had been on his way to the office of President of the United States. Kennedy's assassination followed the premiere of the series program by two months, and an ongoing war in Vietnam would soon escalate.
Production and transmission progress
Actor Gary Lockwood was twenty-six years of age and still an apprentice actor at the time the series program premiered. Lockwood received his stage "family" name from early mentor Joshua LoganJoshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, who had participated in Mister Roberts and Picnic and whose middle name was Lockwood. A former UCLA college football player who could be violent and quick-tempered, and who had seriously injured a man in a brawl at a party, Lockwood had a higher-than-average opinion of his own intelligence and attractiveness. He tried to withdraw from the series program at the last moment, hoping instead to concentrate on films. He did not do so because the producers and network executives convinced him that there would be unpleasant payback if he did. Lockwood later compared being a series program star to being a jet pilot: many experts, he said, worked behind the scenes and then the pilot entered the hot seat and made it all work.
Lockwood told TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
magazine that he eventually wanted to be an actor, a writer, a producer, and a director. Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
, whom Lockwood had acted alongside in Splendor in the Grass
Splendor in the Grass
Splendor in the Grass is a 1961 romantic drama film that tells a story of sexual repression, love, heartbreak, and manic-depression, which the character Deanie suffers from...
, would eventually go on to achieve that ambition; Lockwood himself would not. Lockwood, during that interview, also displayed contempt for "insecure" women, an accusation he would not be able to level against eventual castmate Sally Kellerman
Sally Kellerman
Sally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...
or the woman he later married, the very secure Stephanie Powers.
Controversy
Robert Vaughn, thirty years of age at the time, received the same compensation for each installment as Lockwood did, even though he was usually in only one scene per installment. Vaughn had already been one of The Magnificent SevenThe Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
, and he had even received an Oscar nomination for The Young Philadelphians
The Young Philadelphians
The Young Philadelphians is a 1959 drama film starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush and Alexis Smith, and directed by Vincent Sherman. Robert Vaughn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film is based on the novel The Philadelphian by Richard P...
. This meant that he might have considered being second to Lockwood in the cast something of a climb-down. Vaughn had political aspirations and, indeed, was then working on his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. (He would later publish this dissertation, which was his examination of the devastating negative effects McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
had had on 1950s entertainment, as the book Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting. The title he used for the book was taken from a statement Dalton Trumbo
Dalton Trumbo
James Dalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry...
made that the blacklist period produced "only victims.") Vaughn asked both MGM Television and Norman Felton (under whose Arena Productions banner The Lieutenant was being produced) for his own series program during the run of The Lieutenant. The result was The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, which began the next season and proved to be highly successful.
One episode of The Lieutenant was never even transmitted, nor would the network pay for it. That installment, titled "To Set It Right
To Set It Right
To Set It Right was an episode of the television series The Lieutenant produced by Gene Roddenberry. Written by Lee Erwin, and featuring Nichelle Nichols in the cast, it was about racial prejudice. The network declined to air a television program with that subject matter...
" and written by Lee Erwin
Lee Erwin
Lee Erwin was a television writer from the 1950s to the 1970s. Erwin wrote for Mr. & Mrs. North, The Millionaire, Have Gun, Will Travel, The New Adventures of Charlie Chan and many other 1950s and 1960s TV shows...
, was about race prejudice, and featured Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting...
as the fiancee of a black Marine. The subject of race was considered taboo in entertainment television in 1964, and because the network refused to transmit or even pay for "To Set It Right," MGM had to eat the entire cost of production. Viewing the episode at The Paley Center for Media in New York City became possible in more modern times.
After The Lieutenant
The Lieutenant performed well in the ratings, considering the competition from The Jackie Gleason ShowThe Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of popular American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.-Cavalcade of Stars:...
on CBS. The program had occupied the time slot previously held by the legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...
Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....
starring Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
and Richard Rust
Richard Rust
Richard Rust was an American actor of stage, television, and film born in Boston, Massachusetts, probably best remembered for his role as a young lawyer in NBC's Sam Benedict series. Rust's mother died when he was five, and his father was an officer in the United States Navy...
. Rust also guest starred in an episode of The Lieutenant. Despite its success and promise, The Lieutenant was nevertheless canceled after only one season because, according to Roddenberry, the Vietnam War had made present-day military dramas toxic for television. In the final episode of the series, Rice is sent to a fictitious Asian country based on Vietnam as an advisor, mirroring the same real-life situation that the series had been canceled for.
Roddenberry recruited Lockwood one more time, in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot installment for Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell.
A middle name would be reused for Star Trek: The title character in The Lieutenant was Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice; on Star Trek the title character would be Captain James Tiberius Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
.
The Lieutenant also brought together several other actors—amongst them Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting...
, and Majel Barrett
Majel Barrett
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was an American actress and producer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nurse Christine Chapel in the original Star Trek series, Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for being the voice of most onboard computer interfaces throughout the series...
—who would later join Roddenberry in Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
.