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The Andersonville Trial

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The Andersonville Trial
GenreDrama
Written bySaul Levitt (play)
Directed byGeorge C. Scott
StarringCameron Mitchell
William Shatner
Jack Cassidy
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersLewis Freedman
Morris Chapnick (associate producer)
Edith Hamlin (supervising producer)
Production companyCommunity Television of Southern California
Original release
NetworkPBS
ReleaseMay 17, 1970

The Andersonville Trial was a television adaptation of a 1959 hit Broadway play by Saul Levitt, presented as an episode of PBS's on May 17, 1970 as part of the anthology series Hollywood Television Theatre.

The play was based on the actual 1865 trial of Henry Wirz, played by Richard Basehart, commander of the infamous Confederate Andersonville prison, where thousands of Union prisoners died of exposure, malnutrition, and disease. A notable cast included William Shatner as the Chief JAG Prosecutor Norton Parker Chipman, Jack Cassidy (who was nominated for an Emmy) as Wirz's defense counsel, Cameron Mitchell as Lew Wallace, a Union general and the future author of Ben-Hur, and Buddy Ebsen as a Georgia physician called in to testify about the fate of many of the Union prisoners.

The cast included two actors who had appeared opposite Shatner in Star Trek: The Original Series: Harry Townes, who played Col. Chandler, was "Reger" in The Return of the Archons, and Ian Wolfe, who was "Septimus" and "Mr. Atoz" in "Bread and Circuses" and "All Our Yesterdays", respectively, was a member of the trial board.

The television adaptation was directed by actor George C. Scott, who had played Chipman in the original stage version.

In Leonard Probst's 1978 compilation of celebrity interviews, Off Camera, Scott explained that what he found most difficult about playing Chipman onstage was that Henry Wirz, the defendant, came across as a tragic, sympathetic victim, although his negligence, according to the verdict, had a great deal to do with the deplorable conditions at Andersonville, and Scott found it very difficult to deal with the fact that the audience was compelled to dislike Chipman, who was, essentially, the hero of the piece.[1]

The TV production of the play won 1971 Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Single Program," for "Technical Direction and Electronic Camerawork," and for Levitt's adaptation. It was also honored with a Peabody Award.

Cast and characters

References

  1. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812824733
Bibliography


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