Ellery Queen Episode Guide

Too Many Suspects

First aired: Mar/23/1975
Director: David Greene
Guest star: Ray Milland (Carson McKell), Kim Hunter (Marian McKell), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), John Larch (District Attorney), Tim O'Connor (Ben Waterson), Nancy Kovack (Monica Gray), Warren Berlinger (Eddie Carter), Monte Markham (Tom McKell), Gail Strickland (Gail Stevens), Victor Mohica (Ramon), Dwan Smith (Cora Edwards), John Finnegan (Matthew Thomas Cleary), Rosanna Huffman (Radio Actress), James Lydon (Radio Announcer), Basil Hoffman (Fingerprint Expert), Ross Elliott (Judge), Frannie Michel (Penny), Harry Von Zell (Announcer), Paris Themmen (Boy Defacing Poster)

In this pilot episode, author/amateur detective Ellery Queen tries to track down the killer of a noted fashion designer who pulled the plug out of her clock and her television set as a cryptic dying message.

1 :01x01 - The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne

First aired: Sep/11/1975
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
Director: David Greene
Guest star: Joan Collins (Lady Daisy Frawley), David Doyle (Don Becker), Farley Granger (Paul Quincy), Ray Walston (Howard Pratt), Thayer David (Marcus Halliday), Charles Knox Robinson (Lewis Halliday), Guy Lombardo (Himself), Barbara Rush (Emma Zelman), Peggy Rea (Madge Velie), George Wyner (Joe Kemmelman), Lou Gus (McCoy), William Lanteau (Avery Dickson), Arch Johnson (Deputy Commissioner Hayes), Herb Edelman (Taxi Driver), Karen Machon (Kitty McBride)

On New Year's Eve, at a posh celebration, a wealthy man is murdered after excusing himself to make a phone call to his attorney. The murder occurs only moments after he announced his plans to disinherit his companions. Ellery and Inspector Queen are soon on the scene and the solution hinges on a clue left by the dead man.

2 :01x02 - The Adventure of the Lover's Leap

First aired: Sep/18/1975
Writer: Robert Pirosh
Director: Charles S. Dubin
Guest star: Don Ameche (Dr. Norman Marsh), Anne Francis (Evelyn Chandler), Jack Kelly (J. T. Latimer), Ida Lupino (Stephanie Talbot Kendrick), Craig Stevens (Jonathan Kendrick), Susan Strasberg (Cathy Kendrick), Basil Hoffman (Fingerprint Man), James Lydon (Radio Actor), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Nina Roman (Grace), Jason Wingreen (Roy Miller), John Lawlor (Radio Technician)

While reading an Ellery Queen novel, a fountain pen heiress begins having all the experiences as a character in the book such as having an overwhelming urge to jump off the balcony. Soon afterwards, she's found dead at the bottom of the balcony. Did she jump or was she pushed?

3 :01x03 - The Adventure of the Chinese Dog

First aired: Sep/25/1975
Director: Ernest Pintoff
Guest star: Orson Bean (Warren Wright), Geraldine Brooks (Tilda MacDonald), Katherine Crawford (Julia Wright), Murray Hamilton (Henry Palmer), Eugene Roche (Sheriff Oscar Eberhardt), Robert Hogan (Gordon Wilde), Robert F. Simon (Eben Wright), Jerry Fogel (Deputy Brown), Hal Smith (Coroner Will Bailey), Bill Quinn (Reverend J. P. Dell), Dee Wallace Stone (Mimi), Stuart Nisbet (Taxi Driver), Nina Roman (Grace)

On vacation in the town of Wrightsville, Inspector Queen and Ellery are dragged into the murder investigation of a man who's head was bashed in by an ornamental dog figurine worth half a million dollars and meant as a wedding gift for his daughter.

4 :01x04 - The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader

First aired: Oct/02/1975
Writer: Robert Van Scoyk
Director: Peter H. Hunt
Guest star: Tom Bosley (Bud Armstrong), Lynda Day George (Alma Van Dine), Donald O'Connor (Kenny Freeman), Ken Swofford (Frank Flannigan), Eddie Firestone (Phil Collins), George Sperdakos (Vincent Porter), Joseph Maher (Lyle Shannon), Alan Landers (Ronald Himes), Herbie Faye (Moe Fletcher), Arch Johnson (Deputy Commissioner Hayes), Maggie Nelson (Vera), Sandy Ward (Guard)

Ellery himself is a suspect in the murder of a comic book publisher with whom he'd just had a heated disagreement. Especially when a dying clue appears to point towards him. Muckraking reporter Frank Flannigan makes his first appearance to try and "aid" the investigation.

5 :01x05 - The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express

First aired: Oct/09/1975
Writer: David H. Balkan, Allyn Folsom
Director: Jack Arnold
Guest star: Dina Merrill (Harriett Manners), Kip Niven (Arthur Van Dyke), Pat Harrington, Jr. (Mitch McCully), Sandy De Bruin (Sally), Ken Swofford (Frank Flannigan), John Finnegan (Fred Durnhoffer), Kristin Larkin (Dorothy), George Furth (Albert Klinger), Tyler McVey (Henry Manners), Paul Stewart (Thornton Johns), Suzanne Arnold (Judy Adams), Ruth McDevitt (Zelda Van Dyke), Bill McLean (Security Guard)

There's all kinds of suspects when a newspaper mogul is found murdered in an express elevator to the 12th floor with no one inside but the victim. Suspects include the victim's sister, an editor being forced into retirement, a Red-baiting columnist for the paper, a disgruntled obituary writer and a lawyer for the paper. Then there's the matter of ole Frank Flannigan who's snooping around making a nuisance of himself trying to beat the Queens to the solution.

6 :01x06 - The Adventure of Miss Aggie's Farewell Performance

First aired: Oct/19/1975
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
Director: James Sheldon
Guest star: Eve Arden (Vera Bethune), Nan Martin (Olivia Burns), John McGiver (Mr. Pearl), Bert Parks (Lawrence Denver), Paul Shenar (Wendell Warren), Betty White (Louise Demery), Joseph Sicardi (Gus Geropolis), Gerald Hiken (Alvin Burns), Hilda Haynes (Nurse Frawley), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Beatrice Colen (Mary Lou Gumm), Sidney Miller (Morgue Attendant), Penelope Windust (Anita Leslie), Nina Roman (Grace), Don Keefer (Fence), Ralph Montgomery (Reporter)

Radio star Vera Bethune is poisoned during a taping of her show. At the hospital, she asks Ellery and the Inspector to stay on the case but soon afterwards she's found shot to death. Simon Brimmer is on the scene too desperately trying to beat the Queens to the solution so as to win back a lost sponsor for his radio program.

7 :01x07 - The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs

First aired: Oct/23/1975
Writer: Robert Swanson
Director: Seymour Robbie
Guest star: Rene Auberjonois (Marcel Fourchet), Lloyd Bochner (Colonel Alec V. Niven), Gretchen Corbett (Jenny O'Brien), Robert Loggia (Alexei Dubrenskov), Pernell Roberts (Rosh Kaleel / Barney Groves / Major George Pearson), Nina Van Pallandt (Sonya Dubrenskov), Peter Bromilow (Colin Esterbrook), Caryn Matchinga (Glenda Dunlap), Jonathan Hole (Dress Shop Manager), Claude Earl Jones (Mounted Officer)

A former spy, Colonel Alec Nivin, is in New York for a book signing of his memoirs in which he accuses numerous people of war crimes and treasonous acts. Ellery's galpal, Jenny O'Brien, Nivin's publicist, finds the author stabbed to death in his club office with an antique Kashmir dagger and becomes the primary suspect.

8 :01x08 - The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party

First aired: Oct/30/1975
Director: James Sheldon
Guest star: Edward Andrews (Spencer Lockridge), Jim Backus (Howard Biggers), Rhonda Fleming (Laura Lockridge), Larry Hagman (Paul Gardner), Julius Harris (Doyle), Carmen Mathews (Letitia Allingham), Patricia Smith (Diana Gardner), Julie Sommars (Emmy Reinhart), Lew Brown (Lt. Carr), Olan Soule (Conductor), George Janek (Johnny Lockridge), William Benedict (Cabbie), Nina Roman (Grace)

Ellery and his agent travel to the estate of wealthy eccentric Spencer Lockridge to try to get financial backing to turn one of Ellery's novels into a play. Not long after their arrival, Lockridge disappears and thrusts Ellery into another mystery.

9 :01x09 - The Adventure of Veronica's Veils

First aired: Nov/13/1975
Writer: Robert Pirosh
Director: Seymour Robbie
Guest star: Julie Adams (Jennifer Packer), George Burns (Sam Packer), Jack Carter (Risky Ross/Joey Flanders), William Demarest (Alexander Denny), Don Porter (Gregory Layton), Barbara Rhoades (Veronica Vale), Hayden Rorke (Marcus Brady), John Dennis (Tolson), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Peter Hobbs (Dr. Steiner), John Lawlor (Director), Joshua Shelley (Dick Bowie), Romo Vincent (Gus Banana), Pat Sturges (DoDo), Derrel Maury (Page Boy)

Producer Sam Packer is found dead of an apparent heart attack but leaves behind a video saying that he was about to be murdered and asking Simon Brimmer to look into things. Packer's widow, knowing that Simon doesn't know his buttocks from third base, then asks Ellery for his help in the case.

10 :01x10 - The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse

First aired: Dec/11/1975
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
Director: Seymour Robbie
Guest star: June Lockhart (Claudia Wentworth), Ross Martin (Dr. Otis Tremaine), Nehemiah Persoff (Mustafa Haddid), Simon Oakland (Norris Wentworth), Nancy Belle Fuller (Margie Coopersmith), Charles Macaulay (Art Critic), John Larroquette (Bellboy), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Nedra Deen (Lois Gordon), Wallace Rooney (Harry), Gerald Peters (Gilbert), Joel Steadman (Bud Wentworth)

Norris Wentworth brings an Egyptian sarcophagus from Germany to display at a museum but there's a curse on it that's killed its six previous owners. Sure enough, Wentworth assumes room temperature and becomes victim number seven. Simon Brimmer once again appears on the scene to best Ellery and once again comes up short.

11 :01x11 - The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument

First aired: Dec/18/1975
Director: Ernest Pintoff
Guest star: John Dehner (George Tisdale), Eva Gabor (Magda Szomony), Richard Jaeckel (Nick McVey), Dean Stockwell (Cliff Waddell), Ellen Weston (Mary Parks), Joanna Barnes (Camelia Justice), Keene Curtis (Edgar Manning), Robert Casper (Melville), Clyde Kusatsu (Mateo), Robert Cornthwaite (Osterwald), Peter Paul Eastman (Fingerprint Man), Arthur Tovey (Man on Dais), Francis DeSales (Presenter)

At a dinner party, arrogant mystery author Edgar Manning is presented with the Blunt Instrument Award, awarded annually by the Crime Writers of America, for his book "The Shanghai Solution." Fellow nominee Ellery Queen is not present at the dinner due to a bad head cold so Manning calls him afterwards on the telephone to gloat. He is murdered while speaking to our hero.

12 :01x12 - The Adventure of the Black Falcon

First aired: Jan/04/1976
Writer: Marc Ray
Director: Walter Doniger
Guest star: Howard Duff (Eddie Morgan), Signe Hasso (Flora Schumann), Tab Hunter (John Randall), Roddy McDowall (The Amazing Armitage), William Schallert (Alexander), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Rosanna Huffman (Nancy McGuire), George Skaff (Maitre'D), Bob Basso (Waiter), Susan Stafford (Hat Check Girl), Lewis Charles (Nick Kingston), Leoda Richards (Nightclub Patron)

Simon Brimmer invites the Queens to a live remote broadcast of his radio show at a restaurant where he promises to reveal the results of a murder investigation. Then one of the restaurant owners ends up dead by poisoning. If you think Simon can beat Ellery to the solution in this one you must own the Brooklyn Bridge.

13 :01x13 - The Adventure of the Sunday Punch

First aired: Jan/11/1976
Writer: Larry Alexander
Director: Seymour Robbie
Guest star: Pervis Atkins (Rocky), Richard Bakalyan (Knuckles O'Neill), Art Aragon (Eddie), Juanita Moore (Mrs. Douglas), Dane Clark (Sam Hatter), Jerry Quarry (Kid Hogan), John Furlong (Dave), Ken Swofford (Frank Flannigan), Lloyd Nolan (Dr. Sanford), Maggie Nelson (Vera), Terrence O'Connor (Melinda Sanford), Otis Young (Joe Adams), Robert Alda (Frank Anthony), Janet MacLachlan (Corinne Ogden)

Ole Frank Flannigan is on the scene again making the usual first class nuisance of himself when a prizefighter is killed while training for a championship bout. The finger of guilt points towards the boxer's sparring partner whose fiancee asks Ellery to step in and clear her man.

14 :01x14 - The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer

First aired: Jan/18/1976
Writer: Booker Bradshaw, Dave Lewis
Director: Peter H. Hunt
Guest star: Arthur Godfrey (Claude Stilwell), David Hedison (Roger Woods), Dorothy Malone (Carol Farnsworth), Ed McMahon (Lamont Franklin), Ann Reinking (Lorelei Farnsworth), Bobby Sherman (Doug Carmichael), Dick Van Patten (Billy Geeter), John Fujioka (Restaurant Manager), Art Balinger (Newscaster), Patricia Wilson (Bridget), Ellen Madison (Emily Woods)

When a formerly brilliant, now seemingly senile inventor is murdered in his workshop, investigators are stumped. It appears as though nobody could have come in or out of the workshop during the period in which the murder must have taken place. It's a classic locked room puzzle for Ellery and the Inspector.

15 :01x15 - The Adventure of the Wary Witness

First aired: Jan/25/1976
Writer: Peter S. Fischer
Director: Walter Doniger
Guest star: Michael Constantine (Leo Campbell), Dwayne Hickman (Linville Hagen), Sal Mineo (Johnny Danello), Michael Parks (Terry Purvis), Cesar Romero (Armand Danello), Dick Sargent (D. A. Calabrese), Myron Natwick (First Reporter), Katherine Woodville (Priscilla Hagen), James Demopoulos (Nick Danello), Robert Stoneman (Second Reporter), Tricia O'Neil (Yvonne Danello), Ollie O'Toole (Hobby), Richard Young (Dr. Kemp), Sam Gilman (Judge), Jackie Russell (Virginia), Ken Swofford (Frank Flannigan), Cosmo Sardo (Spectator), Arthur Tovey (Spectator)

An old college chum of Ellery's is accused of murdering a mobster and the case hinges on a missing witness. Ole Frank Flannigan is on the scene too hoping to get a scoop.

16 :01x16 - The Adventure of the Judas Tree

First aired: Feb/01/1976
Writer: Martin Roth
Director: Walter Doniger
Guest star: Dana Andrews (Lewis Marshall), Bill Dana (Salvatore Mercadonte), Clu Gulager (Father Devlin), Jack Kruschen (Gunther Starr), George Maharis (Dr. Bender), Diana Muldaur (Paulette Sherman), Michael Pataki (Al Russo), James Shigeta (Stephen Yang), Peter Hobbs (Medical Examiner), Nina Roman (Grace), Ted Gehring (Buford)

Industrialist and war profiteer George Sherman is stabbed to death with a ceremonial Chinese dagger then dragged out of his house and hung from a tree with a crown of thorns on his head. What makes things even more mysterious is when it's discovered that Sherman was dying of a blood disease and had only six months at the most remaining.

17 :01x17 - The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario

First aired: Feb/08/1976
Writer: Robert Pirosh
Director: Peter H. Hunt
Guest star: Noah Beery, Jr. (Lionel Briggs), Don DeFore (Dave Pierce), Troy Donahue (Gilbert Mallory), Vincent Price (Michael Raynor), Rod Porter (Assistant Director), James Sikking (Mike Hewitt), Carole Cook (Gossip Columnist), Karl Lukas (Sgt. Harris), Susan Damante (Pamela Courtney), Jack Murdoch (Al Garvin), Paul Carr (Lt. Carr), Paul Fox (Captain Blake), Jack De Mave (Sonny North), Barbara Rush (Claire Mallory)

The Queens travel to Hollywood to watch the filming of one of Ellery's novels and get involved in the investigation when the leading man is found murdered.

18 :01x18 - The Adventure of the Two-Faced Woman

First aired: Feb/29/1976
Writer: Robert Swanson
Director: Jack Arnold
Guest star: Theodore Bikel (Sergio Vargo), Dr. Joyce Brothers (Lillian McGraw), Victor Buono (Dr. Friedland), Vera Miles (Celeste Wakefield), Forrest Tucker (Clint McGraw), Edward Mulhare (Myles Prescott), James Andronica (Eddie Hummell), Michael Arthofer (Sound Effects Man), Woodrow Parfrey (Dr. Saltzman), Alfred Ryder (Claude Gravette), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Diana Chesney (Edna), Ben Wright (Anton Lucek)

The murder of a socialite who just purchased $350,000 worth of paintings has its underpinnings in events that happened years before in 1922 France. It's a hard road to the truth and Ellery takes the correct one while Simon Brimmer once again crashes and burns.

19 :01x19 - The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley

First aired: Mar/07/1976
Writer: Robert Van Scoyk
Director: Seymour Robbie
Guest star: Polly Bergen (Dina Carroll-Wyner), Ken Berry (Buddy Parker), Michael Callan (Gary Swift), Norman Fell (Errol Keyes), Albert Salmi (Herbie Morrow), Rudy Vallee (Alvin Wyner), Vince Howard (Charlie), John Hillerman (Simon Brimmer), Brad David (Dan Murphy), Billy Varga (Security Guard), Dori Brenner (Laura Schramm), Harold Ayer (Studio Engineer), Renne Jarrett (Penny Carroll)

Popular songwriter Alvin Wyner is murdered during the musical interlude on a radio interview show when he goes to the station's library to find a record. A waiter who had previously accused Wyner of stealing one of his songs is the leading suspect but Ellery thinks differently and once again gets in a battle of wits with the nearly unarmed Simon Brimmer.

20 :01x20 - The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep

First aired: Mar/14/1976
Director: Richard Michaels
Guest star: Edward Albert (Lee Marx), Bibi Besch (Edie Allen), Michael V. Gazzo (Benny Franks), Jan Murray (Ralph Caesar), Kevin Tighe (Jim Millay), Stuart Whitman (Erwin Murphy), Arch Johnson (Deputy Commissioner Hayes), Elizabeth Lane (Ruth Caesar), Stanley Ralph Ross (Gabe), Timothy Carey (Jay Bonner), Erica Hagen (Melody Todd)

A star witness at the trial of a mobster is murdered while in the custody of Inspector Queen's office and the finger soon points to none other than Sgt. Velie. It's up to the Inspector to get his subordinate off the hook as well as fend off criticism from his superiors that he's over the hill and relies too much on Ellery.

21 :01x21 - The Adventure of the Hard Hearted Huckster

First aired: Mar/21/1976
Writer: Robert Swanson
Director: Edward M. Abroms
Guest star: Eddie Bracken (Horace Manley), Bob Crane (Jerry Crabtree), Herb Edelman (Max Sheldon), Carolyn Jones (Rita Radcliffe), Ken Swofford (Frank Flannigan), Juliet Mills (Florence Ames), Danny Wells (Waiter), Wonderful Smith (Superintendant), Charles Bergansky (Chauffeur), Larry Block (Floor Director), Fred Beir (James Bevin Long), Maggie Nelson (Vera), Andrea Howard (Receptionist)

Ole Frank Flannigan is made to look foolish in the infant medium known as television in this episode about a nasty tobacco company marketing executive who gets murdered just before agreeing to sponsor a television show starring our favorite muckraking reporter.

22 :01x22 - The Adventure of the Disappearing Dagger

First aired: Apr/04/1976
Writer: Robert Van Scoyk, Stephen Lord
Director: Jack Arnold
Guest star: Gary Burghoff (Jerry Hacker), Ronny Cox (Buck Nolan), Mel Ferrer (Brandon Chiles), Walter Pidgeon (Hamilton Drew), Dana Wynter (Alyssa Childs), Tom Lacy (Ray Vogel), R. G. Armstrong (Sam Buffo), Michele Marsh (Norma Lee Burke), Nina Roman (Grace), Tom Brown (Broadcaster), Kristin Lakin (Assistant)

Ellery and the Inspector investigate the murder of a retired detective who was killed while investigating a five year old unsolved murder case.