THE LAZARUS MAN
Something has happened to me which I
do not understand. All I know for certain is I am alive.
How I got here? Who I am? I do not know, but I must've seen or
done something, something terrible to be buried alive,
to be left for dead. I can remember nothing of my life, my
friends or my enemies, but the key to my identity lies
somewhere out there. I will search until I find the man I
was...and hope to be again.
In the fall
of 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War, an amnesiac claws his way out
of a shallow grave outside the town of San Sebastian, Texas. He is wearing a
Confederate uniform and carrying a U.S. Army revolver. His one haunted memory
is of being attacked by a man wearing a derby. Taking the name Lazarus—after
the man Jesus resurrected from the dead—he sets out to discover his true
identity and the reason why he was buried alive. Along the he runs into people
who still want to kill him, and begins to regain fragments of memory about the
night President Lincoln was killed—and the possibility he was in on the plot.
Near the end
of the series, Lazarus is revealed to be James Cathcart, a captain in the US
Army and a member of President Abraham Lincoln's personal bodyguard detail. The
memories plaguing are from the night of
April 14, 1865, when Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre. Cathcart, realized the
President was in danger and ran to stop the assassin. However, he was attacked
from behind by his superior, the treasonous Major Talley, who wanted to see
Lincoln dead.
Starring the eminently
likeable Robert Urich, the first season of The
Lazarus Man ranked high enough in the ratings for TNT to order a second
season. Urich was a veteran of numerous movies and TV series, including starring
in the private eye series Spenser based on the bestselling novels by Robert B.
Parker. He was also a recipient of a Golden Boot Award for his work in Western
television series and films.
In late 1996,
before filming resumed for season two, Urich was diagnosed with synovial cell
sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Despite having TNT’s order for the second
season in hand, Castle Rock Entertainment (the show’s production company) decided
to not to proceed and refused to pay Urich the $1.47 million he was due for the
second season. Urich sued for breach of contract, stating he was indeed undergoing
cancer treatments, but never informed Castle Rock he would be unable to fulfill
his performance contract.
Urich persisted
in receiving treatment for his illness while working
to raise money for cancer research. In 1998, he was declared cancer and
returned to TV in the UPN series, Love
Boat: The Next Wave. In 2000, he made his Broadway debut as Billy Flynn in
the musical Chicago. His last role
was in the NBC sitcom Emeril in 2001,
as in the autumn of that year, his cancer returned. He died at age 55. The Lazarus Man had a lot of potential before it was
given short shrift by Castle Rock. There was also the interesting parallel of
Urich’s own resurrection from his first cancer diagnosis as he truly carried
the story of a man raised from the dead on his own shoulders and charisma.
In February, 2018, The Lazarus Man: The Complete Series was released on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection.
Thanks for the excellent synopsis of The Lazarus Man, Paul. I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Ulrich in the lead role. And, I liked the story lines, as well. I had forgotten all about it until I read your blog.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your mentioning this long forgotten show. I have tried, unsuccessfully in finding the complete series anywhere around my location(CHICAGO). do you know how I could obtain it besides AMAZON.
ReplyDeleteAnother good, Robert Urich role. Pity there was not a second series. Once again, thanks for the insights!
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