Expert: Mike Hensel - 9/19/2009

Question
I'm am trying to recall an old television program from the 60's or early 70's.  It's name was something like Blue Corona or Corona Blue. It was about some guy who lost his memory, and was being sought by som4e group.  His only memorywas a shot of a blue corona sympbol on a car door i believe. Ant idea?

Answer
Jim, you've touched on one of my all time favorite shows...

The show was, "Coronet Blue", shown on the CBS Television Network from May 29th, 1967 thru September 4th, 1967...

The show starred Frank Converse as "Michael Alden", a man who lost his memory when he was beaten up and tossed from a ship.. the only words he can remember are, "Coronet Blue"...

He spent the series trying to find his identity, while keeping a step ahead of the people trying to finish the job of his demise...

The show was actually filmed in 1965, for a fall '66 premiere, but CBS got cold feet; calling the show, "too cerebral"...

Because it was a summer replacement series, an ending was never filmed, so he never regained his memory, and we never found out what those words meant...

Larry Cohen, the creator of the series, gave his biographer this story about the show...

"The actual secret is that Converse was not really an American at all. He was a Russian who had been trained to appear like an American and was sent to the U.S. as a spy. He belonged to a spy unit called 'Coronet Blue.' He decided to defect, so the Russians tried to kill him before he can give away the identities of the other Soviet agents. And nobody can really identify him because he doesn't exist as an American. Coronet Blue was actually an outgrowth of 'The Traitor' episode of The Defenders."...

I hope this answers your Query !!!

Thanks for a Great Question !!!
Take Care,
Mike