Soldiers of Fortune is a 1955-1956 syndicated half hour American television adventure series. It starred John Russell as Tim Kelly and Chick Chandler as his sidekick Toubo Smith who were international adventurers. Episodes take place in different countries.[1] Many of the film crew had worked at Republic Pictures studios with the show filmed on Republic's backlot[citation needed] then used by television's Revue Productions.[2] The episodes ran for 52 weeks[3] and were constantly rerun on American television into the 1960s.
| Soldiers of Fortune | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure |
| Starring | John Russell Chick Chandler |
| Theme music composer | Paul Dunlap |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company | Revue Studios |
| Distributor | MCA TV |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndicated |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | January 10, 1955 (1955-01-10) – March 10, 1957 (1957-03-10) |
The series began as a television pilot called Adventure in Java that was shown on the Chevron Theatre on 10 February 1953.[citation needed] The show starred Tim Holt[4] and Charles Bronson then credited as Charles Buchinsky.[5]
The show was sponsored for two years by 7 Up soft drink with the firm also sending the stars out on national publicity tours.[6]
One year after Soldiers of Fortune was cancelled, John Russell went on to star as Marshal Dan Troup in the successful ABC/Warner Brothers western series Lawman.[7]
Timeless Media Group (TMG) released a Region 1 five disc DVD set titled Soldiers of Fortune: The Complete Television Series on November 30, 2010. It includes all 29 episodes of Season 1 and all 23 episodes of Season 2.[8]