page_title: The Fugitive (1963 TV series)
section_title: Lt. Philip Gerard
hierarchical_section_title: The Fugitive (1963 TV series) / Cast and characters / Main characters / Lt. Philip Gerard
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Barry Morse as Lieutenant Girard from the television program The Fugitive.
context_page_description: The Fugitive is an American crime drama television series created by Roy Huggins. It was produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television. It aired on ABC from September 1963 to August 1967. David Janssen starred as Dr. Richard Kimble, a physician who is wrongfully convicted of his wife's murder and sentenced to receive the death penalty. En route to death row, Dr. Richard Kimble's train derails over a switch, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.
  The Fugitive aired for four seasons, and a total of 120 episodes, each 51 minutes, were produced. The first three seasons were filmed in black and white, while the final season was filmed in color.
  The Fugitive was nominated for five Emmy Awards and won the Emmy for Outstanding Dramatic Series in 1966. In 2002, it was ranked No. 36 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. TV Guide named the one-armed man No. 5 in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.
context_section_description: Dr. Richard Kimble is pursued by the relentless Stafford police detective Lt. Philip Gerard (Morse), a formidably intelligent family man and dedicated public servant. Gerard directly appears in 37 episodes and also in the main title sequences of all 120 episodes; Barry Morse is also listed in the closing credits of every episode.
  Morse portrayed Gerard as a man duty-bound to capture Kimble. Guilt or innocence was of no consequence to Gerard, whose own beliefs have been stated as follows:
  "I enforce the law. The law pronounced him guilty; I enforce the law. ... Whether the law was right or wrong [in convicting him] is not my concern. Let others debate and conclude; I obey ... and when I begin to question, doubt – I can't permit it. Others found him guilty; others were about to execute him. I was merely an instrument of the law ... and am." ("Fear in a Desert City", 1963.)
  In "Never Wave Goodbye Pt. I", he states again, "The law pronounced him guilty, not me." In "Nightmare at Northoak" and "Wife Killer", he states with certainty that the one-armed man does not exist and that Kimble is guilty; in "Corner of Hell", even after his own Kimble-like experience, he still scoffs at the existence of the one-armed man. ("Still the same fairy tale", he sneers.) He also tells Kimble, "The truth is, you're still guilty before the law."
  Contributing to Gerard's obsession with re-capturing Kimble is the personal responsibility he feels for Kimble's escape, which happened while he was under Gerard's custody. As he remarks to an LA police captain in "The Judgment, Part 1", the show's penultimate episode, "I've lost a lot of things these past four years ... starting with a prisoner the state told me to guard."
  Over time, Gerard also appeared to have gained some doubts as to Kimble's guilt. In one episode, when a woman witness remarks that Kimble killed his wife, Gerard simply replies, "The law says he did." But there is a tone of doubt audible in his voice. In the episode "Nemesis", the local sheriff (John Doucette) states, "You said he's a killer." To this, Gerard sharply replies, "The jury said that." Gerard's doubts are augmented after Kimble rescues Gerard in episodes such as "Never Wave Goodbye", "Corner of Hell", "Ill Wind", "The Evil Men Do", and "Stroke of Genius". "The Evil Men Do", in particular, played on the respect that develops between the two men when Gerard is pursued by former Mob hitman Arthur Brame (James Daly), who is rescued from a runaway horse by Kimble; Kimble rescues Gerard from Brame. When Kimble escapes from Gerard, the lieutenant, instead of pursuing Kimble, goes after, and kills Brame. In the epilogue, Gerard explains to Brame's widow Sharon (Elizabeth Allen) that he wanted to go after both men, but that Arthur was a career killer and far more dangerous while Kimble "has done the one murder he'd probably ever do." Gerard comes close to acknowledging Kimble's innocence when he concludes, "Until I find him, and I will, he's no real menace to anyone but himself."
  In the course of the series, Gerard's family becomes entangled in Gerard's obsession with finding Kimble. In "Nemesis", Kimble unintentionally kidnaps Gerard's young son Philip Junior (played by 12-year-old Kurt Russell). Though as concerned as any father should be, Gerard is confident that Kimble will not do his boy any real harm. After his experience with Kimble, Philip Junior questions whether he is guilty and his father openly admits that he could be wrong, though it does not change his duty. This almost inhuman dedication to his duty strains his relationship with his wife Marie (Barbara Rush) almost to the breaking point and causes her to leave him in season three's two-part episode "Landscape with Running Figures;" her actually coming into contact with Kimble (unknowingly at first) causes an emotional collapse when she realizes who he is, with her screaming at Kimble, "It began with you – it'll END with you!" It is clear that Gerard does indeed love his wife when he finally chooses to go and find her over chasing Kimble. (Gerard admits to Marie, how
caption: Barry Morse as Gerard in the pilot episode, 1963.
exif: {}