When the conversation turns to who is the best James Bond is that there is a name that is often forgotten: David Niven. Niven plays the iconic character in 1967 Royal Casinoa non-canon entry that exists as a parody, released the same year as You only live twice. But three years before Niven took on the mantle of 007, he appeared on The Roguesa fun NBC television crime series that won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series in 1964, but it was canceled after its first and only season.
Con artists use their talents for good in ‘The Rogues’
The Rogues was produced by Four Star Televisiona production company made up of Hollywood stars Dick Powell, Ida Lupino, Carlos Boyerand David Niven in 1952. They would be the last two, accompanied by Young showwho appeared in the series as Englishman Alexander “Alec” Fleming (Niven), Frenchman Marcel St. Clair (Boyer) and American Tony Fleming (Young), a trio of con-artist ex-cousins, who use their tricks of the trusty trade for good. For a price, of course.
The series had a “con of the week” format, and with his cousin Timmy (Roberto Coote) and Aunt Margaret (Gladys Cooper) helping, the Rogues faced a series of scoundrels in often witty schemes. In “The Day They Gave Diamonds”, Tony, Marcel and Timmy sell a greedy mine owner who seeks to control the market by making his own diamonds, a worthless diamond-making machine. In “Hugger-Mugger, by the Sea”, Tony buys an entire batch of 22 ships from the US Navy and then tries to unload them on a corrupt shipping magnate, convincing him that one of the ships has $2 million in gold bars hidden. Aunt Margaret poses as Anastasia Romanov in “The Real Russian Caviar”, creating a ruse that tricks the Russian government into believing she knows where the family fortune is hidden, in an effort to collect a fee for handing over the fortune. And in “Mr. White’s Christmas”, the whole family works together to make a modern-day Scrooge see the error of his ways.
‘The Rogues’ wins best television series, but is canceled anyway
Typically, episodes of The Rogues are centered around one of its three big stars, with the others appearing occasionally in small roles to complement the protagonist’s story. Much of this was out of necessity, with Boyer and Niven juggling their time on the show with their active film careers (Boyer would be filming the 1965 romantic comedy). A very special favorwhile Niven would be filming comedies Where are the spies and Lady L), leaving most of the thirty episodes in Young’s hands (Niven himself took the lead in only three). This juggling of the lead role became problematic towards the end of the series, taking Larry Hagman to be introduced as another American cousin to replace Young in the final two episodes, according to Hagman’s autobiography.
This is perhaps one of the biggest reasons whydespite having won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series, The Rogues ended after a 30-episode season. Without consistent leadership, viewers never knew who would show up week after week, a problem if you’re trying to get viewers engaged and committed to watching. Another factor was NBC’s questionable decision to pit the show against ABC’s. Sunday night movie and two fer from CBS candid camera and What’s my line on Sunday nights. Fan reviewshowever, they largely attribute the cancellation to one factor: American humor.
The Rogues it was smartly written, with sharp humor placed in the hands of actors with extensive experience on stage and film, at a time when film and TV actors rarely cross-pollinated. As one reviewer perhaps unfairly argues, The Rogues was too good for American tastes, citing Beverly’s Hillbillies as a “more accurate barometer of the American public’s sense of humor.” Given that the series ran for nine seasons based on its fish-out-of-water premise – a family from the Ozarks got rich and moved to “the Beverly Hills” – it’s certainly plausible. Even so, the cast would move forward, with Hagman free to continue. I dream about Jeannie and Niven free to play James Bond in Royal Casinoaccompanied by co-star Bower, who plays Deuxième Bureau executive Le Grand.
Release date
1964 – 1965-00-00
Directors
Lewis Allen, Robert Ellis Miller, Hy Averback, Don Taylor, Ida Lupino, Richard Kinon, John Newland, William A. Graham
Writers
Warren Duff, Ivan Goff, Stephen Kandel, Charles Hoffman, Samuel A. Peeples, Carey Wilber, Roger H. Lewis, William Link, William Bast, Wells Root, Walter Black, Tom Waldman, Stephen Lord, Ron Bishop, Edmund H. North, Robert Buckner, Richard Levinson, Richard De Roy, Marion Hargrove, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Leonard Kantor, Jon Boothe, Frank Waldman, Francis M. Cockrell
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Carlos Boyer
Marcel St.
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Roberto Coote
Claire
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