Hennesey is an American military comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from 1959 to 1962, starring Jackie Cooper and Abby Dalton.
Cooper played a United States Navy physician, Lt. Charles W. "Chick" Hennesey, with Abby Dalton as Navy nurse Lt. Martha Hale. In the story line, they are assigned to the hospital at the U.S. Naval Station in San Diego, California.
Extended cast
Jackie Cooper as Lt. (later Lt. Commander) Charles "Chick" Hennesey, M.D. Abby Dalton as Lt. (JG) Martha Hale, R.N. Roscoe Karns as Capt. (later Rear Admiral) Walter Shafer Henry Kulky as Chief Petty Officer Max Bronski James Komack as Harvey Spencer Blair, III, D.D.S. Arte Johnson as Seaman Shatz Herb Ellis as Dr. Dan Wagner Robert Gist as Dr. Owen King Stephen Roberts as Commander Wilker Harry Holcombe as William Hale Ted Fish as Chief Branman Frank Gorshin as Seaman Pulaski Norman Alden also as Seaman Pulaski
Episodes
Season 1: 1959–60
Season 2: 1960–61
Season 3: 1961–62
Guest stars
Actor and singer Bobby Darin was cast in the second episode (October 5, 1959) as "Honeyboy Jones". That same week Darin became famous with his version of the song, "Mack the Knife".
Prior to being cast as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, child actor Ron Howard played "Walker", a little boy temporarily left in Hennesey's care in the 1959 episode "The Baby Sitter". Gary Hunley, another child actor, appeared in the same episode.
Charles Bronson, en route to a long film career, was cast twice as Lt. Cmdr. Steve Ogrodowski, a Navy intelligence officer.
Don Rickles was cast in the 1961 episode "Professional Sailor" as CPO Ernie Schmidt. From 1976 to 1978, Rickles played the lead with the same rank in the NBC military sitcom, C.P.O. Sharkey.
Bandleader Les Brown and His Band of Renown and comedian Soupy Sales appeared in separate episodes as themselves.
Other guest stars:
Raymond Bailey
Roy Barcroft
Gertrude Berg
Ken Berry
Bill Bixby
Jolene Brand
Charles Bronson
Jean Byron
Jack Carter
Jack Cassidy
Phyllis Coates
Ellen Corby
Yvonne Craig
Robert Culp
Sammy Davis, Jr. Donna Douglas James Franciscus Robert Foulk Bob Hastings Marty Ingels Vivi Janiss Arch Johnson Helen Kleeb Ruta Lee Jimmy Lydon Doug McClure Jaye P. Morgan Ed Nelson J. Pat O'Malley Sue Randall Stafford Repp Chris Robinson Mickey Rooney Walter Sande William Schallert Johnny Seven Olan Soule Larry Storch Dick Wessel Grace Lee Whitney Meg Wyllie
Production notes
The series theme tune by Sonny Burke was a jazzy hornpipe played by tuba and piccolo. Hennesey was also innovative for being the first series to employ what has since become a standard device in television: beginning the dialog and action of each episode during opening credits.
Cooper starred in, produced, and directed the series, drawing upon his real-life experience as a World War II Navy veteran and his continuing service for many years as an officer in the United States Naval Reserve. He was a former child actor who starred in the Our Gang comedies of the early 1930s and then moved into feature films.
Beginning in 1960, scriptwriter Richard Baer wrote 38 of Hennesey's episodes, which earned him an Emmy nomination.
For the series finale, "I, Thee Wed", broadcast on May 7, 1962, characters Chick and Martha were married following their series-long romance.