Episodes cast for
"Murder, She Wrote" (1984)

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Season: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
Year: 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996

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Season 1

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Season 1, Episode 0: The Murder of Sherlock Holmes: Pilot

30 September 1984
In this Pilot episode we are introduced to Jessica Fletcher, a recent widow, who lives in Cabot Cove, Maine. Jessica is an English teacher who becomes a mystery book author thanks to her nephew, Grady Fletcher. Grady submits his Aunts manuscript to a publishing company who loves it and publishes it immediately. It is a best-seller and Jessica goes to New York City to promote her new book. While there Jessica gets involved in a murder while at her publishers home for a costume party. When her nephew becomes a suspect of the murder, Jessica must find the real killer.

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Eddie Barth	...	Bernie
	Jessica Browne	...	Kitty Donovan
	Bert Convy	...	Peter Brill
	Herb Edelman	...	NYPD Lt. Artie Gelber
	Anne Francis	...	Louise McCallum (as Anne Lloyd Francis)
	Michael Horton	...	Grady Fletcher
	Tricia O'Neil	...	Ashley Vickers
	Dennis Patrick	...	Dexter Baxendale
	Raymond St. Jacques	...	Doctor
	Ned Beatty	...	Roy Gunderson
	Arthur Hill	...	Preston Giles
	Brian Keith	...	Caleb McCallum
	Rosanna Huffman	...	Eleanor Thmpson
	Paddi Edwards	...	Lois Hoey
	Ellen Crawford	...	Muriel
	David Byrd	...	Davis
	Richard Erdman	...	Eggman
	Danny Wells	...	Talk Show Host
	John Hancock	...	Daniel
	Jay Fenichel	...	Cellini
	Stanley Brock	...	Marvin
	Hap Lawrence	...	Young Deputy
	Kat Sawyer-Young	...	Feminist Interviewer
	Joseph V. Perry	...	Heavy Set Crude Man (as Joseph Perry)
	Howard Mann	...	New Holvang Cabbie
	Freddye Chapman	...	Jane
	Russell Curry	...	Black Youth
	Johnny Venocur	...	2nd White Tough
	Andy Garcia	...	1st White Tough
	Anne Ramsey	...	Bag Lady
	Jimmy Joyce	...	Tom
	Ken Olfson	...	TV Book Critic
	Paula Victor	...	Agnes Peabody
	Billie Hayes	...	Peter Pan
	Cathey Paine	...	Young Woman
	Beau Starr	...	Policeman on Boat
	Larry McCormick	...	TV Reporter
	Dan Chambers	...	Cab Driver
	Sallee Young	...	Performer
	Donald Elson	...	Bookstore Owner
	Daniel Zippi	...	Mailman

Season 1, Episode 1: Deadly Lady

7 October 1984
A mysterious man who briefly stops by Jessica's house turns up dead -- supposedly swept overboard during a hurricane before Jessica even met him.

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Claude Akins	...	Capt. Ethan Cragg
	Tom Bosley	...	Sheriff Amos Tupper
	Doran Clark	...	Nancy Earl
	Howard Duff	...	Ralph / Stephen Earl
	Marilyn Hassett	...	Maggie Earl
	Richard Hatch	...	Terry Jones
	Anne Lockhart	...	Grace Earl Lamont
	Dack Rambo	...	Brian Shelby
	Cassie Yates	...	Lisa Earl Shelby
	Tom Bower	...	Jonathan Bailey
	Carol Swarbrick	...	Deputy Emma
	John Petlock	...	Nils Andersen
	Robert Beecher	...	Elias Cobb

Season 1, Episode 2: Birds of a Feather

14 October 1984
Jessica visits her cousin Victoria 'Vicky' Brandon in San Francisco, who tells her fiancé, New York would be-actor Howard Griffin, isn't working in life insurance as he pretended. The ladies go to Mr. Drake's night-club which Vicky found out he's somehow connected to, see he's performing there as drag-queen, and worse: during star Michèle Dupont's act Howard runs out in panic after finding Drake's shot corps. Vicky believes in Howard's innocence unconditionally, even accepts his weird job, so Jessica is determined to help initially unappreciative SFPD Detective Lt. Floyd Novack find the real killer. The club proves a viper's nest full of motives both in showbiz, including promising performer Freddy York, who would miss out on a dream contract because held him to a lousy contract and later gets wounded in an intentional 'accident' on stage, and the Drake family's (adulterous) love life. It all hangs on the tiny details only Jessica notices and makes sense of..

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Bart Braverman	...	Bill Patterson
	Jeff Conaway	...	Howard Griffin
	Genie Francis	...	Victoria Brandon
	Richard Gautier	...	Mike Dupont (as Dick Gautier)
	Harry Guardino	...	Lt. Floyd Novack
	Gabe Kaplan	...	Freddy York
	Martin Landau	...	Al Drake
	Carol Lawrence	...	Candice Drake
	Barbara Rhoades	...	Barbara Stevenson
	Robin Bach	...	Maitre d'
	John O'Leary	...	Minister
	William Phipps	...	Charlie (as William Edward Phipps)
	Brian Avery	...	Nightclub M.C.
	Gary Pagett	...	Security Guard
	Herndon Jackson	...	Waiter #2
	Tony Ballen	...	Waiter
	Nick Savage	...	Leather Guy

Season 1, Episode 3: Hooray for Homicide

28 October 1984
When Jessica hears on TV that director-producer Jerry Lydecker is turning the movie after her respectable mystery book The Corps Danced At Midnight into cheap slash junk with sex and gore, she flies to Hollywood to protest, but studio boss Marty Strindberg, who sends her a junior lawyer, and Lydecker have a contract clause she signed waving her rights to object. When Jessica intends to apologize to Lydecker, she finds him killed on he set, and becomes the only obvious suspect. Fortunately LAPD Detective Mack Brody, an amateur mystery writer himself, has enough faith in Jessica to encourage her snooping and believe she saw evidence which disappeared during the minute she talked to the security guard. Lydecker's ruthless behavior and romantic affair with the unexperienced female co-star provide several possible motives...

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Claude Akins	...	Capt. Ethan Cragg
	Melissa Sue Anderson	...	Eve Crystal
	John Astin	...	Ross Hayley
	Samantha Eggar	...	Marta Quintessa
	James MacArthur	...	Allan Gebhart
	Virginia Mayo	...	Elinor
	Ron Palillo	...	Norman Lester, Esq.
	José Pérez	...	Lt. Mike Hernandez (as Jose Perez)
	John Saxon	...	Jerry Lydecker
	Morgan Stevens	...	Scott Bennett
	Lyle Waggoner	...	Marty Strindberg
	Marianne McAndrew	...	Sunny Finch
	Wayne Powers	...	1st Assistant Director
	Erik Holland	...	Detective Mack Brody
	Hank Rolike	...	Paddy
	Paul Ryan	...	Ted Lafferty
	Barbara Lynn Block	...	TV Newswoman (as Barbara Block)
	Michael Milhoan	...	Security Guard
	R.J. Adams	...	TV Newsman #2
	Jack Scalici	...	TV Newsman #1
	Lisa Hope Ross	...	Tour Guide

Season 1, Episode 4: It's a Dog's Life

4 November 1984
While Jessica attends a hunting party, someone tampers in the stables with the normally quiet horse of the rich host, Denton Langley, which suddenly goes wild and causes him to have a fatal fall, yet the drug test Jessica suggests is negative. The will on videotape gives his shocked relatives and estate staff peanuts, $15,000,000 goes to Denton's pet hound Teddy, who is shortly after found drugged after biting old local Isaiah Potts. Family lawyer Marcus Boswell, who is constantly called by his broker, is challenged by the human heirs' lawyer on account of the dog's mental competence. Then Trish Langley is found killed by the security gate, the button which operates it from security guard Barnes's closed room has Teddy's paw print on it, he must have been trained to do do. Jessica works out precisely what ties in, how, and what doesn't..

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Cathryn Damon	...	Morgana Cramer
	Dean Jones	...	Marcus Boswell
	Lenore Kasdorf	...	Trish Langley
	Jared Martin	...	Spencer Langley
	Roger Miller	...	Sheriff
	Dan O'Herlihy	...	Denton Langley
	Lynn Redgrave	...	Abby Benton Freestone
	Forrest Tucker	...	Tom Cassidy
	Gregory Walcott	...	Isaiah Potts
	Cherie Currie	...	Echo Cramer
	Byron Cherry	...	Dep. Will Roxie
	James Hampton	...	Veterinarian
	Sandy Ward	...	Barnes
	Robert Cornthwaite	...	Coroner
	Donna Anderson	...	Miss Sampson (as Donna Anderson Marshall)
	Greg Norberg	...	Gary
	Bernard McDonald	...	Master of the Hunt
	Brian Mozur	...	Anthony

Season 1, Episode 5: Lovers and Other Killers

18 November 1984
An intruder kills rich old lady Allison Brevard while burglarizing her townhouse. When Jessica goes to a college to give a mystery writing guest lecture, she takes a secretary for the first time, not an older woman as she expected but bright, charming, extremely efficient student David Tolliver. Just when they celebrated ending the work in a restaurant, the police gets David for questioning about Allison's murder, just because he was seen meeting her and accepted gifts and dinners. Jessica grants David the benefit of the doubt and follows up on a call to meet about an alibi for David with young married Lila Schroeder Kowalski, only to see her collapse murdered. David now has an alibi and admits he saw Lila, secretly because of her hunky but violently jealous husband Jack Kowalski, who claims David wasn't the threat to his marriage. Jessica tells dean Edmund Gerard's secretary Amelia she's not interested romantically in her host, who makes a surprising confession after Jessica is attacked in college after asking flirtatious professor Prof. Todd Lowery suspicious questions during her next lecture. Now she sets a trap...

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Grant Goodeve	...	Jack Kowalski
	Peter Graves	...	Dr. Edmund Gerard
	Greg Morris	...	Lt. Andrews
	Lois Nettleton	...	Amelia
	Andrew Prine	...	Prof. Todd Lowery
	Andrew Stevens	...	David Tolliver
	Lory Walsh	...	Lila Schroeder Kowalski

Season 1, Episode 6: Hit, Run and Homicide

25 November 1984
Jessica isn't looking forward to tell Cabot Cove that her historical research for Founder's Day proves the captain was actually a pirate and fought on the British side, against Washington's troops. Businessman Charles Woodley lands in hospital after the surging of a car without driver which seemed to be pursuing local Ethan Cragg. Local inventor Daniel O'Brien, who devised a remote control system for cars before he was fired, denies having agreed to a meeting with his former employer Woodley, shortly after the car under remote control strikes again, killing Woodley's 50% Boston business partner, Dean Merrill. Daniel's heir, Tony Holiday, is back in town to present his bride, Leslie Andler Sheriff Amos Tupper happily 'allows' Jessica to 'observe for her next book', in fact doing the sleuthing with and without Amos, who arrests Daniel just for being most likely to have controlled the killer car....

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Claude Akins	...	Capt. Ethan Cragg
	Edward Albert	...	Tony Holiday
	June Allyson	...	Katie Simmons
	Tom Bosley	...	Sheriff Amos Tupper
	Patti D'Arbanville	...	Leslie Andler
	Van Johnson	...	Daniel O'Brien
	Stuart Whitman	...	Charles Woodley
	Bruce Gray	...	Dean Merrill
	Lois Foraker	...	Eliza Bates
	Paddi Edwards	...	Lois Hoey
	Dee Croxton	...	Cora McIntyre
	Douglas Stevenson	...	Gas Station Attendant
	Harry Stephens	...	Doctor
	G.R. Smith	...	Deputy
	Roger Price	...	Local #1
	Ed Morgan	...	Local #2
	David Ashrow	...	Umpire
	Crystal Jenious	...	Mrs. Miley
	Michael Rogers	...	Policeman

Season 1, Episode 7: We're Off to Kill the Wizard

9 December 1984
When Jessica visits her Kansas relatives, police detective Lieutenant Bert Donovan's family, she is invited by theme park magnate Horatio Baldwin and firmly turns down his project for another one based on horror elements from her mystery books. Shirtly after Horatio is found dead in his self-locked office, apparently suicided, but actually got a fatal blow on the head before the shot. After Erica Baldwin becomes a rich widow for the fourth time, she hires Jessica to prove it was murder so the life-insurance can be cleared. Horatio's secretary makes a false confession. Almost everybody had some reason to hate Horatio, who was quite dirty in business in various ways. Jessica soon finds out how the killer got in and out while stealing Horatio's secret files and more, while the murder makes another victim, then she sets a trap...

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	James Coco	...	Horatio Baldwin
	George DiCenzo	...	Michael Gardner
	Gene Evans	...	Nils Highlander
	Richard Sanders	...	Arnold Megrim
	John Schuck	...	Capt. Davis
	James Stephens	...	Police Det. Lt. Bert Donovan
	Kristoffer Tabori	...	Phillip Carlson
	Eric Server	...	Ned O'Brien
	Joaquin Phoenix	...	Billy Donovan (as Leaf Phoenix)
	Henry G. Sanders	...	Skycap
	Vince Howard	...	Guard #2 (as Vincent Howard)
	Ivan Saric	...	Security Guard
	Christine Belford	...	Erica Baldwin
	Kim Darby	...	Laurie Bascomb
	Anne Kerry	...	Carol Donovan
	Laura Leyva	...	Clerk
	Summer Phoenix	...	Cindy Donovan

Season 1, Episode 8: Death Takes a Curtain Call

16 December 1984
Invited by Leo Peterson, a former dancer who defected long ago, Jessica attends a Boston performance of the famous Soviet Russian Rostoff ballet. She guesses something is up when Leo gets a program from the bottom of the pile with a code; after the performance they are joined in his car by defecting star dancers Alexander and Natalia Masurov but hear on the radio that KGB security agent Serge Berensky has been found dagger-murdered in their dressing room, so Jessica gives them short-term sanctuary at her home while she snoops. KGB Major Anatole Karzof declares to be a fan of her books and joins her, defending he thesis the defectors did it, while FBI Agents O'Farrell and Dewey Johnson conduct the official investigation. She discovers there is more...

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Claude Akins	...	Captain Ethan Cragg
	Tom Bosley	...	Sheriff Amos Tupper
	Dane Clark	...	FBI Agent O'Farrell
	William Conrad	...	Major Anatole Karzof
	George De La Pena	...	Alexander Masurov
	Hurd Hatfield	...	Leo Peterson
	James Carroll Jordan	...	Skip Fleming
	Paul Rudd	...	Palmer Eddington
	Patrick Thomas	...	FBI Agent Dewey Johnson (as Courtney Burr)
	Anthony De Longis	...	Serge Berensky
	Adam Gregor	...	Nagy
	Steve Arvin	...	TV Reporter
	Read Morgan	...	Sgt. Kevin Hogan
	Kerry Armstrong	...	Irina Katsa
	Vicki Kriegler	...	Natalia Masurov
	Jessica Nelson	...	Velma Rodecker

Season 1, Episode 9: Death Casts a Spell

30 December 1984
English hypnotist Cagliastro is fired by casino-hotel-owner Joe Kellijian, because he does his glamorous wife Regina. Jessica saves her editor's assistant Joan Germaine's bacon covering for making a date for her with Cagliostro as inspiration for another mystery book. They overhear the master dare local press journalists Bud Michaels and rookie Andy Townsend to be hypnotized before a revealing interviewer so they won't remember a word unless he's a charlatan as they claim, Joan gets them invited too but they're late; when the door is opened after a scary bang, Cagliostro lies dead, the six journalists (Bud sent Andy in his place) are hypnotized motionless. Fortunately for the startled police detective Lt. Bergkamp, Jessica is as resourceful and inspired as ever after Dr. Yambert proves hypnosis works even on her, but nobody seems to have both motive and opportunity...

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	José Ferrer	...	Cagliostro
	Murray Hamilton	...	Bud Michaels
	Robert Hogan	...	Lt. Bergkamp
	Conrad Janis	...	Dr. Yambert
	Brian Kerwin	...	Andy Townsend
	Robert Loggia	...	Joe Kellijian
	Mayf Nutter	...	Zack Bernard
	Rance Howard	...	Fillmore
	Ritchie Montgomery	...	Busboy
	Alex Rebar	...	Jay Colucco
	Lee Duncan	...	Policeman #1
	Gay Hagen	...	Hypnotized Person #4
	Bob Tzudiker	...	Clerk
	Hartley Silver	...	Hypnotized Person #2
	Bill Shick	...	Hypnotized Person #3
	Robert Balderson	...	Hypnotized Person #1
	Elvia Allman	...	Elderly Lady
	Diana Canova	...	Joan Germaine
	Joy Ellison	...	Hypnotized Person #5
	Elaine Joyce	...	Sheri Diamond
	Marylou Kenworthy	...	Liz
	Michelle Phillips	...	Regina Kellijian
	Dianne Turley Travis	...	Helsema (as Diane Turley-Travis)

Season 1, Episode 10: Capitol Offense

6 January 1985
US Congressman Wendell Joyner gets a fatal heart-attack at 's party, arranged by Congressman Dan Keppner and dodgy lobbyist Harry Parmel, actually at a party for a potential successor, officially in his bed. The governor of Maine demands Jessica to fill in as federal legislator for a few weeks till the party can officially select a new Congressman. She keeps on Joyner's staff for her short tenure, notably helpful driver-press agent Joe Blinn and administrative assistant Diana Simms. Detective Lieutenant Avery Mendelsohn tails Jessica and explains he suspects Joyner to be murdered after finding out his corps was moved. She decides to help him sleuthing on and around Capitol Hill, including dirty lobbying, after suspiciously well-housed nobody Martha Craig is found murdered and recovering alcoholic Keppner was drugged and robbed on the street, believing he was framed clumsily and discovering if it all ties in to a legislature vote on a cannery in Maine...

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Edie Adams	...	Kaye Sheppard
	Herschel Bernardi	...	Det. Lt. Avery Mendelsohn
	Linda Kelsey	...	Diana Simms
	Stephen Macht	...	Congressman Dan Keppner
	Nicholas Pryor	...	Harry Parmel
	Mitch Ryan	...	Ray Dixon (as Mitchell Ryan)
	Gary Sandy	...	Joe Blinn
	Mark Shera	...	Thor Danziger
	Frank Aletter	...	Congressman Wendell Joyner
	Colby Chester	...	Harold DeWitt
	David Hooks	...	Chairman Olsen
	Jensen Collier	...	Clerk
	Jade McCall	...	Driver's Partner

Season 1, Episode 11: Broadway Malady

13 January 1985
Grady Fletcher invites aunt Jessica to be his guest at a Broadway show he's doing the bookkeeping for and meet both his girl-friend and has-been movie star Rita Bristol, whose prima donna-attitude and drinking endanger the show that was to be her come-back and the launch of daughter Patti Bristol. They all dine with others including son Barry Bristol, director Marc Faber and banker Si Parrish, the principal investor. On the way home, Pati is shot in the spine by street mugger Manny Farkus, who gets a fatal bullet from Barry. To reluctant Barry's surprise, the show isn't canceled but LA star Lonnie Valerian takes recovering Pati's part. NYPD Detective Sergeant Moreno didn't feel like investigating further, but Jessica does dig into past and present of the Bristol family, the show people, the mugger who she recognizes as unemployed actor Morley Farmer and some New York street witnesses.

	Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
	Milton Berle	...	Lew Feldman
	Gregg Henry	...	Barry Bristol
	Michael Horton	...	Grady Fletcher
	Robert Morse	...	Marc Faber
	Patrick O'Neal	...	Si Parrish
	Gregory Sierra	...	NYPD Det. Sgt. Moreno
	Ed Bakey	...	Monsignor Kelly
	Roberto Roman	...	Taki
	Johnny Seven	...	Manny Farkus / Morley Farmer
	Edson Stroll	...	Dr. Peter Weber
	Joe Nesnow	...	Doorman
	Dante D'Andre	...	Captain
	Bob Gorman	...	Jimmy Finley
	Vivian Blaine	...	Rita Bristol
	Irma García	...	Veronica
	Elaine Giftos	...	Lonnie Valerian
	Sharee Gregory	...	Kate Metcalf
	Victoria Harned	...	Newscaster
	Bert Hinchman	...	Carlin Nash
	Lorna Luft	...	Patti Bristol
	Barbara Whinnery	...	Gretchen Pashko

Season 1, Episode 12: Murder to a Jazz Beat

3 February 1985
Jessica is invited to New Orleans by TV station WDX, but arrives two days early by mistake, so her host Jonathan Hawley has 48 hours to show her the 'Cajun paradise' (French quarter). Jessica soon notices the jazz show circuit can be nastily competitive; then clarinetist Ben Coleman dies from an apparent heart-attack during a recording, as she presumed actually curare-poisoning, but why and how exactly? NOPD Detective Lt. Simeon Kershaw gets help from Jessica investigating Ben's private, artistic and business context, even smuggling...