
David Janssen
David Janssen was born David Harold Meyer in 1931 in Naponee, Nebraska, to Berniece Mae (Graf) and Harold Edward Meyer, a banker. He was of German, and some Swiss-German and Ulster-Scots, descent. David took the surname of his stepfather, Eugene Janssen. The Janssen family settled in Hollywood when he was a teenager and he attended Fairfax High School, where he developed an interest in acting. His film debut was a bit part in It's a Pleasure (1945), and at the age of 18 signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox. However, the studio dropped him after allegedly becoming disenchanted with his odd hairline and big prominent ears. Janssen had better luck at Universal, where he signed on in the early 1950s and became a supporting player in 32 films before appearing on TV as the star of Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956). He resumed his movie career in 1961, a year after the series ended. His biggest success came from his lead in the series The Fugitive (1963), playing the haunted, hunted Dr. Richard Kimble, on the run for a murder he didn't commit. After the series ended, Janssen launched himself into a grueling schedule by appearing in lead and supporting roles in movies, but he had better luck with made-for-TV-movie roles and a short-lived series, O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971). He had another hit series with the cult favorite Harry O (1973). Janssen continued appearing in lead roles in nearly 20 made-for-TV-movies during the 1970s as well as other TV projects. He died in 1980 from a sudden heart attack at his Malibu home at the age of 48. Unfounded speculation holds that Janssen succumbed to alcoholism, a problem that plagued him most of his adult life. There were even unfounded rumors about drug use. However, a much more reasonable explanation for David Janssen's sudden demise is that this intense, dedicated, determined actor simply worked himself to death.
From an IMDB Mini-Bio for David Janssen
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.122 |
Birthday | 1931-03-27 |
Place of Birth | Naponee, Nebraska, USA |
Also Known As | Dave Janssen, David Harold Meyer, |

1955

Chief Crazy Horse
5.6/23
When young Crazy Horse, of whom great things were predicted, wins his bride, rival Little Big Man goes to villainous traders with evidence of gold in...
Watch Now
Chief Crazy Horse

1968

The Green Berets
5.7/173
Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for two missions in South Vietnam. The first is to strengthen a camp that is trying to be taken...
Watch Now
The Green Berets

1976

Two-Minute Warning
6.2/90
A psychotic sniper plans a massive killing spree in a Los Angeles football stadium during a major championship game. The police, led by Captain Peter...
Watch Now
Two-Minute Warning

1969

Marooned
5.9/93
After spending several months in an orbiting lab, three astronauts prepare to return to Earth only to find their de-orbit thrusters won't activate. Af...
Watch Now
Marooned

1955

Cult of the Cobra
6/35
While stationed in Asia, six American G.I.'s witness the secret ritual of Lamians (worshipers of women who can change into serpents). When discovered...
Watch Now
Cult of the Cobra

1961

King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein
6/4
Gambler Arnold Rothstein marries an actress, avenges his buddy and meets an underworld fate.
Watch Now
King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein

1960

Hell to Eternity
6.6/16
Based on the story about Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family. After Pearl Harbor, his fo...
Watch Now
Hell to Eternity

1976

The Swiss Conspiracy
4.9/11
A Swiss bank discovers some of its clients are becoming the victim of a brilliant blackmailer. The bank's president contacts David Christopher, a form...
Watch Now
The Swiss Conspiracy

1955

Francis in the Navy
5.5/22
In the U. S. Army intelligence office, bumbling lieutenant Peter Stirling receives a coded message from his friend, Francis, a talking mule. The note...
Watch Now
Francis in the Navy

1955

To Hell and Back
6.5/60
The true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in th...
Watch Now
To Hell and Back

1977

Golden Rendezvous
4.9/8
Action-packed suspense thriller finds innocuous-looking purser Carter (Harris) the unlikely hero when the floating casino on which he works is hijacke...
Watch Now
Golden Rendezvous

1972

Moon of the Wolf
4.7/39
After several locals are viciously murdered, a Louisiana sheriff starts to suspect he may be dealing with a werewolf.
Watch Now
Moon of the Wolf

2004

Los Angeles Plays Itself
7.7/52
From its distinctive neighborhoods to its architectural homes, Los Angeles has been the backdrop to countless movies. In this dazzling work, Andersen...
Watch Now
Los Angeles Plays Itself

1961

Man-Trap
5.833/15
Helmed by Edmond O'Brien, this slick crime thriller stars Jeffrey Hunter as naïve Matt Jameson, whose Korean War pal Vince Biskay talks Matt into help...
Watch Now
Man-Trap

1973

Birds of Prey
5/10
Harry Walker, a former military pilot, works as a helicopter pilot and traffic reporter for a Salt Lake City radio station. One day while working he o...
Watch Now
Birds of Prey

1952

Yankee Buccaneer
5.8/6
A United States Navy ship in the first half of the 19th century, under the command of Captain David Porter, is expecting to put ashore after a year on...
Watch Now
Yankee Buccaneer

1980

City in Fear
6.2/6
A psycho-on-the-loose story, about a burned-out newspaper columnist and his circulation-hungry publisher who wants him to turn the killer into Page On...
Watch Now
City in Fear

1974

Smile Jenny, You're Dead
6.1/6
David Janssen (The Fugitive) portrays dogged detective Harry in the telefilm that was the second of two pilots preceding his memorable Harry O series....
Watch Now
Smile Jenny, You're Dead

1980

S.O.S. Titanic
5.9/38
The Titanic disaster as seen through the eyes of one couple in each of the three classes on board.
Watch Now
S.O.S. Titanic

1969

Generation
4.5/2
Newlyweds shock the bride's father with plans for natural childbirth in a Greenwich Village loft.
Watch Now
Generation

1961

Twenty Plus Two
6/3
A famous movie star's fan club secretary has been brutally murdered. She has in her office old newspaper clippings regarding a missing heiress. Did th...
Watch Now
Twenty Plus Two

1967

Warning Shot
6.5/22
Hounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman works his own case.
Watch Now
Warning Shot

1975

Once Is Not Enough
5.2/16
An over-the-hill movie producer marries a wealthy, spiteful woman and closeted lesbian just to please his spoiled daughter who then, in an attempt to...
Watch Now
Once Is Not Enough

1969

Where It's At
2/1
A "Sixties Generation" comedy about an offbeat father-son relationship. Dad runs a Las Vegas hotel-casino and his son is a college student with a diff...
Watch Now
Where It's At

1974

Fer-de-Lance
5.75/6
An American submarine leaves Tierra Del Fuego, and one of its crew has secretly brought aboard a container full of poisonous snakes which escape stora...
Watch Now
Fer-de-Lance

1955

The Private War of Major Benson
6.7/13
A Major noted for advancing with his mouth before thinking is given a choice: to be drummed out of the Army, or take command of and shape up the ROTC...
Watch Now
The Private War of Major Benson

1961

Ring of Fire
5.8/16
In Oregon, two sheriff deputies arrest three teenagers for robbery but are overpowered and taken hostage while forest fires rage all around them.
Watch Now
Ring of Fire

1978

Covert Action
0/0
Janssen plays an ex-CIA agent who has become an author, writing both non-fiction exposes (Phillip Agee was in the news at this time) and fiction spy n...
Watch Now
Covert Action

1981

Inchon
3.6/13
Gen. Douglas MacArthur leads a Korean War campaign, and the war tests a married couple's relationship.
Watch Now
Inchon

1956

Showdown at Abilene
5.2/9
Jim Trask, former sheriff of Abilene, returns to the town after fighting for the Confederacy to find everyone thought he was dead. His old friend Dave...
Watch Now
Showdown at Abilene

1958

Lafayette Escadrille
4.6/14
A hotshot young flyer falls for a French prostitute during World War I.
Watch Now
Lafayette Escadrille

1952

No Room for the Groom
5.6/7
A young GI elopes to Las Vegas with his housekeeper’s daughter, but delays to their wedding night arise from illness, her manipulative mother, and a h...
Watch Now
No Room for the Groom

1961

Dondi
3.7/6
World War II GIs adopt an Italian war orphan.
Watch Now
Dondi

1956

Never Say Goodbye
6.6/16
In present-day U.S., Dr. Michael Parker, a prominent surgeon, unexpectedly runs into his German-born wife whom he thought was dead. Victor, an artist...
Watch Now
Never Say Goodbye

1980

High Ice
5.8/4
A grizzled veteran forest ranger finds himself in conflict with a decisive but impatient Army Search and Rescue officer who does not want to share com...
Watch Now
High Ice

1977

Warhead
3.3/6
A weapons expert is reluctantly sent on a mission to a middle-east warzone to locate a lost nuclear warhead and dismantle it before it falls into the...
Watch Now
Warhead

1963

My Six Loves
5.6/9
A celebrated actress discovers six runaway children living on her country property.
Watch Now
My Six Loves

1973

Pioneer Woman
4.8/9
A homesteading family in 1867 Wyoming faces a crisis when the husband is killed and the wife must decide whether to remain or take her son and daughte...
Watch Now
Pioneer Woman

1973

Hijack!
6.6/5
Two truck drivers are hired to transport a top-secret cargo from New York to Houston. Along the way they must evade attempts by a terrorist group to h...
Watch Now
Hijack!

1956

Francis in the Haunted House
5.1/7
A Ha-Ha-Haunted House Has Got 'Em! ...and it's every ghost for himself!
Watch Now
Francis in the Haunted House

1956

Toy Tiger
6.2/3
Advertising executive Gwen Taylor sends her art director Rick Todd on a mission to bring an artist back to the commercial fold. Meanwhile, Gwen's fath...
Watch Now
Toy Tiger

1978

Nowhere to Run
7/3
Harry's married to Marian and things are not going all that well, so he wants out but somehow feels that a divorce is not the answer. After developing...
Watch Now
Nowhere to Run

1977

Mayday at 40,000 Feet
6.5/4
The co-pilot and engineer of a passenger jet struggle to keep the plane airborne after a marshal onboard, transporting a murderer to prison, has a hea...
Watch Now
Mayday at 40,000 Feet

1978

Superdome
4.2/11
It's the biggest event of the year — the Super Bowl! But the star players for the Cougars, gathered in New Orleans for the big game, are preoccupied w...
Watch Now
Superdome

1968

The Shoes of the Fisherman
6.7/69
All eyes focus on the Vatican, watching for the traditional puffs of white smoke that signal the election of the next Pope. This time much more is at...
Watch Now
The Shoes of the Fisherman

1955

The Square Jungle
6/6
Grocery clerk Eddie Quaid, in danger of losing his father to alcoholism and his girl Julie through lack of career prospects, goes into boxing.
Watch Now
The Square Jungle

1962

The New March of Dimes Presents: The Scene Stealers
7/1
A TV movie with intertwining music numbers and sketches.
Watch Now
The New March of Dimes Presents: The Scene Stealers

1971

Macho Callahan
4.3/16
A man tricked into enlisting in the Confederate army is later thrown into a hellish stockade on desertion charges. He eventually breaks out of the pri...
Watch Now
Macho Callahan

1977

A Sensitive, Passionate Man
5.5/2
The marriage of a wealthy, outwardly happy couple is threatened by the husband's alcoholism.
Watch Now
A Sensitive, Passionate Man

1955

All That Heaven Allows
7.3/307
Two different social classes collide when Cary Scott, a wealthy upper-class widow, falls in love with her much younger and down-to-earth gardener, pro...
Watch Now
All That Heaven Allows

1970

Night Chase
5.5/4
A man fleeing the scene after shooting his wife's lover forms an unexpected relationship with the tough cab driver he hires to drive him to the Mexica...
Watch Now
Night Chase

1956

The Girl He Left Behind
4/3
A young man is drafted and goes through the rigors of basic training, ultimately discovering the experience is also character-building. Director David...
Watch Now
The Girl He Left Behind

1973

Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On
0/0
David Janssen plays Harry Orwell, a retired L.A. cop who was shot during a robbery and whose partner was killed in the incident. Harry is in constant...
Watch Now
Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On

1956

Away All Boats
5.1/17
The story of USS 'Belinda', a U.S. naval ship, and its crew during the battle of the Pacific 1943-1945, as it prepares for action and landing troops o...
Watch Now
Away All Boats

1952

Francis Goes to West Point
5.8/12
Francis the talking mule gets his owner in and out of trouble while he is taking basic training at West Point.
Watch Now
Francis Goes to West Point

1979

The Golden Gate Murders
8/3
An elderly, venerable priest goes over the side of the Golden Gate Bridge and everyone except his nurse, Sister Benecia, believes that it was suicide....
Watch Now
The Golden Gate Murders

1976

Joys
4/0
Over fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where each of them is systematically killed (and their bodies t...
Watch Now
Joys

1972

The Longest Night
6.2/4
The daughter of a wealthy family is kidnapped and imprisoned underground in a custom-built, ventilated coffin while her family and the police search f...
Watch Now
The Longest Night

1962

Belle Sommers
0/0
A woman recording artist with a past tries to shake off a gangster syndicate.
Watch Now
Belle Sommers

1971

O'Hara, United States Treasury: Operation Cobra
10/1
Suddenly widowed by an accident, a deputy sheriff from the Midwest becomes a customs agent and cracks a narcotics ring. Pilot movie for the series "O'...
Watch Now
O'Hara, United States Treasury: Operation Cobra

1976

Stalk the Wild Child
0/0
A young boy who had been abandoned as a child and raised by wild dogs is taken to a university where a team attempts to teach him civilized behavior.
Watch Now