Jack Webb- Wasn't above bending the rules.

Jack Webb, performed as a crime lab technician in the film, He Walked by Night(1948), based on the real-life murder of a California Highway Patrolman. The film was done in semidocumentary style with technical assistance by Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn. The film gave Webb the idea for Dragnet.

With help from Sgt. Wynn and LAPD chief William H. Parker, Dragnet became a radio show in 1949 (running until 1954). It was a TV show from 1951 to 1959. Webb played Sgt. Joe Friday, and Barton Yarborough co-starred as Sgt. Ben Romero.

Webb, believed viewers wanted "realism" and tried to give it to them. Webb had a lot of respect for people in law enforcement. He intended to perform a service for the police by showing them as working class heroes.

Dragnet began each show with the narration "The story you are about to see is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." At the end of each show, the trial verdict of the suspect was announced by Hal Gibney.


Webb continued to perform in movies, one of his best known performances was the best friend of William Holden's character in the film, Sunset Boulevard. In 1950, Webb performed with his future 1960's Dragnet partner Harry Morgan in the film noir Dark City, which also featured the first screen appearance of, Charlton Heston. In contrast to the pair's straight-arrow image in 'Dragnet', Webb played a card-shark in Dark City and Morgan a ex-fighter who tries to talk Heston back into a straight-and-narrow life.

In 1951, Webb introduced a short-lived radio series, Pete Kelly's Blues. That show became the basis for a 1955 movie of the same name. Neither the radio series or the movie did very well.

In the early 1960s Webb (along with actor Jeffrey Hunter) formed Apollo Productions. They made the TV series Temple Houston!

In 1963, Webb took over from William T. Orr as executive producer of the ABC detective series 77 Sunset Strip. Ratings fell and the series was cancelled in its sixth season.

In early 1967, Webb produced and starred in a new color version of Dragnet, this time for Universal Television. Harry Morgan co-starred as Officer Bill Gannon. The shows pilot, originally produced as a made-for-TV movie in 1966, but did not air until 1969. The TV movie was based on the Harvey Glatman serial killings. The TV series ran through 1970.

In 1968, with the help of Robert A. Cinader, Webb produced NBC's popular Adam-12, which focused on uniformed LAPD officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord), which ran until 1975.

In the 1970s Webb began to expand his Mark VII Limited into other shows. The most successful was, Emergency! On air from 1972–79. Webb cast his ex-wife, Julie London, as well as her second husband and Dragnet performer, Bobby Troup, as nurse Dixie McCall and Dr. Joe Early.

He Walked By Night (1948)- A True Story.

He Walked by Night (1948). Police Procedural film noir. Director: Alfred L. Werker. In reality, most of the film was directed by western/film noir director Anthony Mann. The film, shot as a semidocumentary, was based on the real-life story of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker. During filming, Jack Webb, began a friendship with the police technical advisor, Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn, and was inspired by Wynn to create the radio and television program Dragnet. Cast: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell and Jack Webb.


The story begins, when one night on his way home, Officer Hollis, a patrolman, stops and questions a man and is shot and wounded and later dies after giving a description of his attacker. Two police detectives, Sergeants Marty Brennan and Chuck Jones, are assigned to the case.

Roy Morgan, with no known criminal past is hiding in a small apartment listening to police calls on his radio, with his only friend.. his dog.

He makes a living, consigning stolen electronic equipment, to Paul Reeves, and is almost caught when he shows up to collect his money. Reeves tells police that the suspect is, Roy Martin. Brennan and Jones, stake out Reeves' office to arrest Roy. Roy, suspects a set up and in a shootout, shoots Jones. Jones wounds Roy, who performs surgery on himself to remove the bullet to avoid going to a hospital.

Roy soon, becomes an armed robber. During one robbery he fires his pistol, and the police find the casing. Lee, a forensics specialist, matches the marks on the casing to those found in the killing of Officer Hollis and the wounding of Sgt. Jones, connecting all three shootings to Roy.

Captain Breen, questions all of the witnesses to the robberies. They help Lee in making a composite photo of the killer. Reeves then identifies Roy from the photo. Roy hides in Reeves' car and attempts to scare him into telling him what Reeves knows of the investigation.

Using the photo, they learn name of the man they are looking for, is Roy Morgan. Who worked for a local police department as a radio dispatcher before being drafted into the Army. Brennan tracks him down through the post office and disguises himself as a milkman, to get closer to Morgan.

The police surround the apartment, but Morgan, is warned by the barking of his dog. He then escapes through the attic and the sewer pipes. Roy is cornered by the police and tries to shoot his way out.
Click to view the movie: He Walked By Night .

Viewers of 1950s low-budget science fiction, horror films and B movies know him as one of "those actors" (perhaps the actor) that always shows up somewhere in such movies. Some of the most well-known of these roles were as a mad scientist in the 1957 film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, as well as Professor Frankenstein in I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957). He also played the doctor who treats Kevin McCarthy's character in the 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and in the original 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon. In 1957, Bissell played Larry Sands in the Perry Mason episode The Case Of The Crooked Candle.