Matlock: Diary of a Perfect Murder
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Robert Day
Andy Griffith
Lori Lethin
Steve Inwood
Kene Holliday
Alice Hirson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Andy Griffith's portrayal of Ben Matlock, a genial but wily good-old-boy, Harvard-bred lawyer from Georgia, was embraced by critics and enthusiastic audiences (based on high ratings for this film on its premiere) and convinced him to return to series television with the character beginning in the fall of 1986. In the pilot, he had his associate, daughter Charlene Matlock (played in the film by Lori Lethin and in the subsequent series by Linda Purl) defend a top TV journalist accused of bumping off his ex-wife, an Atlanta television anchorwoman. Kene Holliday is Matlock's private investigator here and in the series that followed.
Hailed as one of the best TV lawyer shows this side of Perry Mason, it probably is not coincidental that the executive producers of the well-received Perry Mason reunion movies of the '80s, Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove, have similar roles in this productions. Although the pilot film was shot primarily on location in Atlanta, the subsequent series called "Matlock" (the initial title for this movie) was to be done entirely in Los Angeles.
Director
Robert Day
Cast
Andy Griffith
Lori Lethin
Steve Inwood
Kene Holliday
Alice Hirson
Lawrence Pressman
Jack Bannon
James Mceachin
James Ingersoll
Al Ruscio
Robert Schlitt
Erica Yohn
Fred Marcell
Dennis Lipscomb
Katherine Cannon
James V. Christy
Alan Haufrect
Caroline Schlitt
Nadya Starr
Richard Lineback
Peter White
Ted Sorel
Richard Newton
Irene Aranga
Billy Green Bush
James Hardy
Robin Thomas
Darrell Zwerling
Crew
Del Armstrong
Robin Clark
Judith A. Cory
Richard Debenedictis
Edwin F England
Dean Hargrove
Dean Hargrove
Robert L. Kimble
Jeff Peters
Edward R Plante
Marty Price
Fred Silverman
Joel Steiger
Ray Storey
Coye Vanover
Pat Welch
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Aired in United States March 3, 1986
Original title: "Matlock."
