Trivia / Cannon

• Billing Displacement: "Revenge" lists Gary Merrill, Hari Rhodes, Frank DeKova and Bert Freed as the guest stars in the opening titles. Jesse Dizon, who plays the Big Bad of the episode and has a bigger role than any of them, is relegated to the end credits.
• California Doubling: Cannon lives in LA and does most of his crime-solving there, but Southern California also stands in for—
  • Texas in the pilot.
  • Tennessee in “Country Blues”.
  • An unnamed Caribbean country in “Triangle of Terror”.
  • Mexico in several episodes, as well as The Return Of Frank Cannon.
  • Idaho in “Flashpoint”.
  • Florida in “Coffin Corner”.
  • Portland, Oregon very briefly in “Nightmare”.
  • Switzerland very briefly in "Fall Guy".
  • But they really traveled to Colorado in “Sky Above, Death Below” and to Nevada County in “He Who Digs a Grave”.
• Cast the Expert: The two-hour episode "The Star" sees Cannon hired by a famous veteran movie star, hence the presence of Joan Fontaine as Thelma Cain.
• Creator Backlash: William Conrad was not a fan of the tuba in John Parker's theme.
• Edited for Syndication: The syndicated version of "The Deadly Conspiracy" cuts out Diana Douglas' role as Alex Parks (although she's still listed in the opening titles) and also has a different ending in which McKenna survives an attempt on his life by Corcoran rather than being thrown out of a high window by Parks, and agrees to testify against the villain so the episode can be shown as a one-parter rather than leave it on a Cliffhanger as it was on its original airing, with the story continuing immediately afterwards on Barnaby Jones. Unfortunately the Barnaby Jones version continues on the original path, as it begins with a recap of the original Cannon episode and climaxes with the poor guy's killing. It also means that whereas Corcoran is shot and killed at the end of the Cannon syndicated version, Corcoran survives and does a Heel–Face Turn at the end of the Barnaby Jones version to testify.
• Executive Meddling: It almost happened here. Before the series aired, Quinn Martin approached then-CBS executive Fred Silverman and told him he wanted to do a series with Bill Conrad. Silverman said, "Fine, go ahead". Martin showed Silverman the dailies, and Silverman began hyperventilating as if he were in medical distress. Martin asked him what was wrong, and Silverman responded, "Who IS that fat guy running around all over the place?" "That's Bill Conrad!" "BILL Conrad? I thought you said 'BOB Conrad'! This show will NEVER air!" Silverman was wrong about that last statement...when CBS President William Paley (a long-time William Conrad fan) heard this, he said "We're gonna do the show!" Of course, after it became a hit, Silverman took the credit, saying "We're changing the face of television".
  • Conrad couldn't have been too mad at Silverman, as years later, when Silverman became a producer in his own right, Conrad accepted the starring role in Jake and the Fatman, co-produced by Silverman.
  • QM Productions did eventually do a series with Robert Conrad, unfortunately the show was A Man Called Sloane (which got a lot of Creator Backlash, and was a Short-Runner lasting 12 episodes^note It began its run in September 1979 was cancelled in December of the same year that suffered from Executive Meddling and turned out be the final series from QM Productions).
• Fake Nationality: Harold Gould, a Jew, Cal Bellini (born in Singapore), and Brit Harvey Jason as Arab terrorists in "Tomorrow Ends At Noon" and in the same episode, Americans Ayn Ruymen and Charles Cioffi play Italians. British Pamela Franklin plays a Fake American in "The Predators" and "Where's Jennifer?"
  • A surprising aversion in American media for John Vernon, whose character in "Hard Rock Roller Coaster" is specifically stated to be Canadian.
• Real-Life Relative: Vera Miles' daughter in "Fall Guy" is played by her real daughter Kelley Miles.
• Similarly Named Works: No, Cannon does not meet up with a Canadian police unit in the episode "Flashpoint".
• You Look Familiar: As is the case with most QM series, many instances, but just limiting it to the pilot film and the first ten episodes...
  • Vera Miles in the pilot film, "To Kill a Guinea Pig" and "Fall Guy".
  • John Fiedler in the pilot film and "Flight Plan".
  • Murray Hamilton in the pilot film, "He Who Digs a Grave" and "The Deadly Conspiracy".
  • Barry Sullivan in the pilot film, "He Who Digs a Grave" and "The Deadly Conspiracy".
  • Keenan Wynn in the pilot film and "The Island Caper".
  • Tom Skerritt in "The Salinas Jackpot", "Nobody Beats the House" and "The Conspirators".
  • Sharon Acker in "The Salinas Jackpot", "Death of a Hunter" and "The Deadly Conspiracy".
  • Stewart Moss in "Death Chain", "To Ride a Tiger" and "Trial By Terror".
  • Don Gordon in "Death Chain" and "The Wrong Medicine".
  • Patricia Smith in "Call Unicorn" and "The Reformer".
  • Charles Cioffi in "Call Unicorn" and "Tomorrow Ends At Noon".
  • Joe Maross in "Call Unicorn" and "Revenge".
  • Clu Gulager in "Country Blues", "Child of Fear" and "Vengeance".
  • Joan Van Ark in "Country Blues" and "Duel in the Desert".
  • Tim O'Connor in "Scream of Silence", "Death of a Stone Seahorse", "He Who Digs a Grave" and "The Reformer".
  • Jason Evers in "Scream of Silence", "Murder For Murder", "The Limping Man" and "Voice From the Grave".
  • Mitchell Ryan in "Fools' Gold", "Murder By Moonlight" and "Perfect Fit For a Frame".
  • Andrew Duggan in "Fools' Gold", "The Endangered Species" and "The Quasar Kill".
  • L.Q. Jones in "Fools' Gold" and "The Perfect Alibi".
  • Vic Tayback in "Fools' Gold", "The Limping Man" and "The Wedding March".
  • Lynne Marta in "The Girl in the Electric Coffin" and "Deadly Heritage".
  • Andrew Prine in "The Girl in the Electric Coffin" and "The Sounds of Silence".
  • Frank Aletter in "The Girl in the Electric Coffin" and "Vengeance".
  • Brooke Bundy in "Dead Pigeon" and "Killer on the Hill".
  • John McLiam in "Dead Pigeon" and "Nightmare".
  • James Wainwright in "Dead Pigeon", "Duel in the Desert" and "Search and Destroy".
  • Harold Gould in "A Lonely Place to Die", "Prisoners" and "Tomorrow Ends At Noon".
  • Linda Marsh in "No Pockets in a Shroud" and "The Set-Up".
  • Someone put together a video compiling all the series intros to underline the point.