''Probe'' is a 1972 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

produced as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

for a science fiction detective series, originally to have continued under that title. Created by

Leslie Stevens Leslie Clark Stevens IV (February 3, 1924 – April 24, 1998) was an American producer, writer, and director. He created two television series for the ABC network, '' The Outer Limits'' (1963–1965) and '' Stoney Burke'' (1962–63), and ''Sea ...

, it starred

Hugh O'Brian Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC Western (genre), Western television series ' ...

as Hugh Lockwood, one of a group of high-tech private eyes working for the organization "World Securities Corp." When picked up for series production, the title was changed to ''

Search Searching may refer to: Music * "Searchin', Searchin", a 1957 song originally performed by The Coasters * Searching (China Black song), "Searching" (China Black song), a 1991 song by China Black * Searchin' (CeCe Peniston song), "Searchin" (C ...

'', because ''Probe'' was the name of an existing

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series. The film originally aired February 21, 1972 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. The investigators, called Probes, were outfitted with various electronic implants including a button-sized "scanner" containing a miniaturized video camera, microphone and transmitter linked to a team of technicians and experts who constantly monitored the Probe's surroundings, actions and vital signs; they were able to supply the Probe with encyclopedic information on any subject. Lockwood was designated "Probe One." In the pilot, he sets out for Europe to track down a multimillion-pound stash of gemstones amassed by

Hermann Goering Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Mis ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The pilot has been released as a publish-on-demand

DVD-R DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are a collection of optical disc formats that can be written to by a DVD recorder and by computers using a DVD writer. The "recordable" discs are write-once read-many (WORM) media, where as "rewritable" discs a ...

on August 1, 2011.

Cast

as Hugh Lockwood *

Elke Sommer Elke Sommer (; née Schletz, 5 November 1940) is a German actress. She appeared in numerous films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in ''The Pink Panther'' sequel '' A Shot in the Dark'' (1964), the Bob Hope comedy '' Boy, Did I ...

as Heideline "Uli" Ullman *

Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed radio, theater, film, and television. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" ...

as V.C.R. Cameron *

Lilia Skala Lilia Skala (née Sofer; 28 November 1896 – 18 December 1994) was an Austrian and American architect and actress known for her role in the film '' Lilies of the Field'' (1963), for which she received critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomina ...

as Frieda Ullman *

Angel Tompkins Angel Tompkins is an American actress and model. She appeared in several films and television shows, and is a Golden Globe nominee. Career Angel Tompkins's performance in the comedy ''I Love My Wife'' (1970), resulted in her being nominated for ...

as Gloria Harding *

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

as Harold L. Streeter *

Kent Smith Frank Kent SmithGordon, Dr. Roger L. (2018). Supporting Actors in Motion Pictures: Volume II'. Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing. pp. 130, 131. . "Kent Smith: Frank Kent Smith was born on March 19, 1907, in New York City. ..He was marrie ...

as Dr. Edward Laurent *

Alfred Ryder Alfred Ryder (born Alfred Jacob Corn; January 5, 1916 – April 16, 1995) was an American television, stage, radio, and film actor and director, who appeared in over one hundred television shows. Career Ryder began to act at age eight and later ...

as Cheyne * Ben Wright as Kurt van Niestat *

Robert Boon Robert Boon (October 26, 1916 – January 13, 2015) was a Dutch-born American film, television, and theater actor. His film credits included '' The Tanks Are Coming'' in 1951 and ''Queen of Blood'' in 1966. Boon's television credits included '' ...

as Felix Ernst *

Albert Popwell Albert Popwell (July 15, 1926 – April 9, 1999) was an American stage, television, and film actor and dancer with a career spanning six decades. Life and early career Albert Popwell was born in New York City to South American and West India ...

as Dr. Griffin *

A Martinez Adolfo Larrue Martínez III (born September 27, 1948), credited as A Martinez, is an American actor and singer. He had roles in the daytime soap operas '' Santa Barbara'', ''General Hospital'', ''One Life to Live'', ''The Bold and the Beautiful ...

as Carlos Lobos * Byron Chung as Kuroda * Ginny Golden as Ginny Keach * Jules Maitland as Reinhardt Brugge

Probe Control

Probe agents reported to V.C.R. Cameron (

), the "director" of the investigations, who ran Probe Control Unit One, a center patterned on the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Mission Control Center A mission control center (MCC, sometimes called a flight control center or operations center) is a facility that manages spaceflight, space flights, usually from the point of launch until landing or the end of the mission. It is part of the gr ...

. "Cam" was the leader of the expert team who monitored and provided the agent with intelligence. Early in the series the Probe Control set was placed in a darkened isolated space, alluding to a large-scale operations center. By the middle of the season, the control room was scaled down and relocated to a well-lit but smaller "bunker rush" room. According to the show's credits, the computer equipment was provided by

Control Data Corporation Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer company that in the 1960s was one of the nine major U.S. computer companies, which group included IBM, the Burroughs Corporation, and the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), the N ...

. The building used as the headquarters for World Securities Corporation is currently the headquarters for Bank of America in San Francisco.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=tt0069125
''Probe'' title sequence 1972
1972 television films 1972 films 1970s science fiction thriller films American science fiction thriller films NBC original films Television films as pilots Films scored by Dominic Frontiere Films directed by Russ Mayberry 1970s American films 1972 science fiction films 1970s English-language films English-language science fiction thriller films