1 9 6 5 – 1 9 6 7 (USA)
85 x 60 minute episodes
“Paul Bryan, attorney at law, future full of promise until a medical examination reveals that he has only a short time to live; precious time to be used; time to squeeze 30 years of living into one or two.”
This NBC drama series, launched in September 1965, followed successful middle-aged attorney Paul Bryan (Ben Gazzara), who discovered he had, at most, two years to live before an incurable disease (myelocytic leukaemia) killed him and decided to make the most of his remaining time.
So Bryan closed up his law practice and hit the road in search of fun and deeper meaning, hoping to cram a lifetime of adventure and excitement into the limited time he had left while clinging to the slim hope of a medical breakthrough.
With money no problem, he went from one exotic and fascinating place to another and encountered all sorts of people. He had come to terms with his problem, and rather than running away from life, he ran toward it.
Funnily enough, for a show about a man with only two years to live, the show ran for three years!
Run For Your Life originally appeared in April 1965 as an episode on Kraft Suspense Theater entitled Rapture at Two Forty.
Paul Bryan
Ben Gazzara