Jefferson Keyes
Created by Larry Cohen

JEFFERSON KEYES (James Farentino) was an enterprising former CIA agent who set himself up in business as a private eye willing to take any case or solve any problem for a flat fee of one million dollars (refunded if he fails) in the short-lived 1972 TV series, Cool Million. His cases took him all over the world (Canada, the Riviera, Africa) and ranged from locating a woman in a photograph who can save a man from a murder rap to leading a nine man team to rescue a kidnapped billionaire to arranging an art theft to get back at the dictator who paid Keyes fee with a rubber check. Keyes was assisted in his endeavors by Tony Baylor (Ed Bernard, later, Felton Perry), who piloted Keyes' private jet.

The fanciful concept for Cool Million came from ubiquitous idea man Larry Cohen (the man who also gave the world Branded, Coronet Blue, Blue Light and The Invaders), but the series was produced under the auspices of Roy Huggins, who also plotted three of the four episodes, which appeared as part of NBC's Wednesday Mystery Movie. My memory's vague, but I seem to remember this as an enjoyable series, more an adventure than a traditional private eye series. In hindsight, it can be viewed as a precursor to The Rockford Files, in its breezy manner, in Keyes' penchant for utilizing con jobs to earn his mill, and in Huggins' involvement. You don't suppose Bret Maverick had a grandson named Keyes, do you?

UNDER OATH

• "Even James Farentino couldn't save this turkey" (Epi-Log)

TELEVISION

• COOL MILLION
  (AKA Mask Of Marcella)
  (1972, NBC)
  2 hour pilot
  Originally aired October 16, 1972
  Teleplay by Larry Cohen
  Director: Gene Levitt
  Starring James Farentino as JEFFERSON KEYES
  Guest Starring Lila Kedrova, John Vernon, Barbara Bouchet, Jackie Coogan, Christine Belford, Patrick O'Neal
  .
• COOL MILLION
  (1972, NBC)
  Series
  4 90-minute episodes
  Created by Larry Cohen
  Writers: Gene Levitt, Juanita Bartlett, John Thomas James (Roy Huggins), Richard Morris
  Directors: Gene Levitt, John Badham, Barry Shear, Daryl Duke.
  Executive producer: Roy Huggins
  Starring James Farentino as JEFFERSON KEYES
  Ed Bernard as Tony Styles
  Adele Mara as Elena
  Guest Stars: Ray Milland, Kim Darby, Pamela Franklin, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Nehemiah Persoff, Ilka Chase, Joanna Barnes, Barry Sullivan, Nico Minardos, Danielle DeMetz, Kent Smith, Carlos Romero, Felton Perry, Elaine Giftos, Ina Balin, Joseph Ruskin, Cliff Emmich, John Ragin.

• "Hunt for a Lonely Girl" (October 25, 1972)
• "Assault on Gavaloni" (November 22, 1972)
• "The Abduction of Bayard Barnes" (December 6, 1972)
• "The One Million Dollar Misunderstanding" (December 20, 1972)

Contributed by Ted Fitzgerald.