The Immortal (1970 TV series)

The Immortal is an American television series, starring Christopher George as a man whose blood chemistry and resistance to almost all diseases (including old age) makes him both almost immortal and a target of several wealthy men who would basically use him as a personal blood bank, aired on ABC from September 24, 1970 to January 14, 1971. The series is based on a pilot film of the same name, which aired on September 30, 1969 as an ABC Movie of the Week. The pilot is based on the science fiction novel The Immortals, by James Gunn. The series music was composed by Dominic Frontiere, who is primarily known for scoring the sci-fi anthology series The Outer Limits. Although The Immortal was canceled at midseason, episodes were rerun by ABC in the summer of 1971. It was later rerun on the Armed Forces Network in Europe in the 1980s and on the Sci Fi Channel in the 1990s.

Opening sequence

 * Narrator: This man has a singular advantage over other men. Ben Richards is immune to every known disease, including old age. Periodic transfusions of his blood can give other men a second, a third lifetime, perhaps more.
 * Voice #1: Find Ben Richards!
 * Voice #2: The effects of the transfusion are only temporary. I must therefore control Ben Richards' life permanently.
 * Voice #3: He's the most valuable man in the world, but he's no good to me dead.
 * Voice #4: His brother may have the same kind of blood. We've got to find him before Richards does!
 * Voice #5: If you had million dollar blood, where would you hide?
 * Ben Richards: I didn't ask for this. I was a test driver. I liked the job. One day, the doctor told me I had some kind of... special blood. I don't understand it, but I know this: everything they're offering... I don't want. I gotta live free!
 * Narrator: Ben Richards will live longer than anyone has ever lived, but a transfusion to the wrong man could make him a prisoner for all time. And so he runs from the hunters, the human hounds who would cage him.

Cast

 * Christopher George — Ben Richards
 * Don Knight — Fletcher
 * David Brian — Arthur Maitland
 * Carol Lynley — Sylvia Cartwright
 * Barry Sullivan — Jordan Braddock
 * Jessica Walter — Janet Braddock
 * Ralph Bellamy — Dr. Matthew Pearce
 * Nico Minardos — Simon Brent
 * Paul Frees — Narrator