Classic Television - Special

Gideon 

Original Air Date

March 26, 1971

Original Channel

NBC

Staring

Peter Ustinov

José Ferrer

Arnold Moss

 Eric Christmas

Little Egypt

Booth Colman

Harry Davis

Gideon, a play by Paddy Chayefsky, is a seriocomic treatment of the story of Gideon, a judge in the Old Testament. The play had a successful Broadway run in 1961 and was broadcast on NBC in 1971 as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special.

 In the television adaptation, Peter Ustinov played Gideon and José Ferrer played "The Angel of the Lord."

 TV Guide noted that Ustinov played Gideon as "a lumbering Hebrew" in the NBC adaptation.

The 90-minute Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation on NBC aired in the United States on Friday, March 26, 1971 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. It pre-empted Name of the Game.

Chayefsky's Broadway script was adapted for television by Robert Hartung. George Schaefer produced and directed the TV version.