TV WESTERNS
THE LAZARUS MAN
Something has happened to me which I do not understand. All
I know for certain is I am alive. How I got here? Who I am? I do not know, but
I must've seen or done something, something terrible to be buried alive, to be
left for dead. I can remember nothing of my life, my friends or my enemies, but
the key to my identity lies somewhere out there. I will search until I find the
man I was...and hope to be again.
In the fall of 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War,
an amnesiac claws his way out of a shallow grave outside the town of San
Sebastian, Texas. He is wearing a Confederate uniform and carrying a U.S. Army
revolver. His one haunted memory is of being attacked by a man wearing a derby.
Taking the name Lazarus—after the man Jesus resurrected from the dead—he sets
out to discover his true identity and the reason why he was buried alive. Along
the he runs into people who still want to kill him, and begins to regain
fragments of memory about the night President Lincoln was killed—and the
possibility he was in on the plot.
Near the end of the series, Lazarus is revealed to be James
Cathcart, a captain in the US Army and a member of President Abraham Lincoln's
personal bodyguard detail. The memories plaguing are from the night of April 14, 1865, when
Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre. Cathcart, realized the President was in
danger and ran to stop the assassin. However, he was attacked from behind by
his superior, the treasonous Major Talley, who wanted to see Lincoln dead.
Starring the eminently likeable Robert Urich, the first
season of The Lazarus Man ranked high enough in the ratings for TNT to order a
second season. Urich was a veteran of numerous movies and TV series, including
starring in the private eye series Spenser based on the bestselling novels by
Robert B. Parker. He was also a recipient of a Golden Boot Award for his work
in Western television series and films.
In late 1996, before filming resumed for season two, Urich
was diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Despite having
TNT’s order for the second season in hand, Castle Rock Entertainment (the
show’s production company) decided to not to proceed and refused to pay Urich
the $1.47 million he was due for the second season. Urich sued for breach of
contract, stating he was indeed undergoing cancer treatments, but never informed
Castle Rock he would be unable to fulfill his performance contract.
Urich persisted in receiving treatment for his illness while
working to raise money for cancer research. In 1998, he was declared cancer and
returned to TV in the UPN series, Love Boat: The Next Wave. In 2000, he made
his Broadway debut as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago. His last role was in
the NBC sitcom Emeril in 2001, as in the autumn of that year, his cancer
returned. He died at age 55.
The Lazarus Man had a lot of potential before it
was given short shrift by Castle Rock. There was also the interesting parallel
of Urich’s own resurrection from his first cancer diagnosis as he truly carried
the story of a man raised from the dead on his own shoulders and charisma.
In February, 2018, The Lazarus Man: The Complete Series was
released on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection.
robert urich was n still is one of my favorite actor,s of all time as an actor his acting was lacking nothing his portrayal of the role,s he played was so profound .so real he semed 2/b prepared 4 every eventuality he performed with the grace n professinalty ofm a real artist he had 2 love his craft
ReplyDeletehe was truly a man apart very artistic n charismatic he left 2 soon 4 me but he live,s on n his film n beautiful memorie,s RIP my friend
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