Created by Blake Edwards
While a rumpled Philip Marlowe may have been the typical private detective of the 1940's, Peter Gunn was definitely the epitome of a private eye in the 1950's. Cool, composed and never, ever with a wrinkle in his Italian suit, Peter Gunn was as sophisticated as they come. When he was not solving crimes he was dating the beautiful lounge singer, Edie Hart, or sipping a martini at his favorite jazz club, Mother's.
Created by the talented Blake Edwards for television, Peter Gunn relied on a talented cast of actors to bring the characters to life. Strong, debonair and wickedly handsome, Craig Stevens, was cast as detective Peter Gunn. The lovely Lola Albright played Gunn's ever loyal girlfriend, Edie, while humor was added with the addition of character actor, Herschel Bernardi, as Police Lt. Jacoby.
Purely designed to capture a younger, hipper audience, the theme music for Peter Gunn was created by Henry Mancini and became a hit in its own right. Of course, Blake Edwards would go on to create the cool cat, Pink Panther, for the big screen and again tap the genius of Mancini to come up with a hit theme song for that film.
The scripts for the Peter Gunn television show featured dialog that was short and snappy and had as much style as substance. The show which ran for two years on NBC and for one year on ABC proved that it is not only important to solve a crime, but it was just as important that you look good while doing it, too.
