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The Insider

THE INSIDER

Role: Danny Castle
Production #: TV-3167

Director: Elliot Silverstein
Producer: William Sackheim
Writer/Creator: Richard Alan Simmons

Cast:
Janssen (Danny Castle)
Polly Bergen (Belle Sommers)
Carol O'Connor (Griffith)
Jay Adler (Mr. Hiker)
Warren Stevens (Lew Burton)
Joan Staley

Notes:

After finishing RICHARD DIAMOND in February 1960, Janssen had a busy 10 months.

He completed 4 movies (HELL TO ETERNITY, DONDI, RING OF FIRE, KING OF THE ROARING TWENTIES), had a 2-week run in Chicago on stage in THE GAZEBO, then filmed this pilot for a prospective series.

A pilot called “MACAO” had been announced by Screen Gems in October in which Janssen was to have played the owner of a Hong Kong gambling casino/restaurant. This was to have filmed on location, but it never came to pass. Instead, Screen Gems offered Janssen the title role in THE INSIDER.

Signed by William Dozier, Janssen played Danny Castle, a Hollywood press agent who gets involved with client Belle Sommers’ family problems.

Filming began 12/29/60 and finished in early January. The pilot shot mostly in Los Angeles but there was a small portion filmed in New York City (at Wolman Rink in Central Park and the Sheraton East Hotel). Janssen was paid $3,500 for the show.

When the pilot did not sell, Screen Gems’ parent company, Columbia Pictures, decided to release it as a feature film. Instead of Janssen having the title role, the film went out as BELLE SOMMERS, the name of Polly Bergen’s character. Janssen received a payment of $13,125 for the theatrical release as per his original contract.

The movie was released by Columbia on 5/30/62.