Police dramas have been flourishing within the Nineteen Seventies (and later parodied within the Eighties) because of “Dragnet” when tv author Robert L. Collins stumble on what counted as a genius notion on the tail finish of the Richard M. Nixon administration: what if as an alternative of “policeman,” “policelady?” NBC mentioned “Present us,” and Collins responded with the buzzy “Police Girl” starring Angie Dickinson as Sergeant Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson.
“Police Girl” was about as progressive as you may anticipate from an hour-long community drama within the ’70s when it was uncommon for a drama of any style to be headed up by a girl. As soon as per week, Dickinson struck a quasi-feminist determine as an ultra-capable officer of the legislation with a penchant for dressing in tight-fitting shirts in pants. Not less than as soon as she went undercover in a swimsuit. And as she complained to the press years later, the writers preferred to have her character get referred to as into motion whereas taking a shower.
Regardless of these concessions to horned-up viewers, the sequence nonetheless had a constructive affect on legislation enforcement in that it drove a spike in feminine functions to the nation’s police departments (although it is value noting that, in line with the Bureau of Justice Help, as of 2023 ladies solely make up 12% of all sworn officers). And whereas it was by no means a Nielsen scores smash exterior of its first season, it carried out effectively sufficient till it was moved to an unfavorable time slot for its fourth and closing season.
“Police Girl” would possibly’ve been a big-time star automobile for Dickinson, however it labored due to the camaraderie of its ensemble. Dickinson’s Pepper had terrific chemistry with the lately handed Earl Holliman as her superior Sergeant Invoice Crowley in addition to the undercover duo of Charles Dierkop’s Pete Royster and Ed Bernard’s Joe Types.
On condition that the present has been off the air for 46 years, it should not come as a shock that we have misplaced greater than Holliman. However you will be happy to study that two of the sequence’ common gamers are nonetheless with us!
Ed Bernard (Joe Types)
If you happen to’ve by no means seen “Police Girl,” essentially the most correct description I can muster is that it was a extra sober-minded “Charlie’s Angels.” The undercover investigations thrust upon Pepper and the fellas have been sometimes severe stuff, however you’d by no means confuse the sequence for “Dragnet,” not to mention “Serpico.” It was low-stress watching throughout its preliminary run on NBC and performs as camp these days. That is my means of claiming that Ed Bernard’s Joe Types was nobody’s concept of a badass detective like, say, Richard Roundtree’s John Shaft.
When “Police Girl” concluded its run in 1978, Bernard instantly segued to taking part in Principal Jim Willis on Bruce Paltrow’s briefly standard highschool basketball sequence “The White Shadow.” A couple of years later, he landed a sequence common function as Lieutenant Invoice Giles on “Hardcastle and McCormick.” After that, he settled into one-off appearances as a police officer or a choose in motion pictures and reveals like “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” “Homeward Certain: The Unbelievable Journey,” and “NYPD Blue.” His final credit score was as Moody Brown on “Chilly Case” in 2005, so it seems the 85-year-old Bernard has retired from performing.
Angie Dickinson (Sergeant Suzanne ‘Pepper’ Anderson)
Angie Dickinson is, no hyperbole, a Hollywood legend. The one-time magnificence queen broke by way of to tv in her early 20s by way of appearances on reveals like “Dying Valley Days,” “Gunsmoke,” and “Wagon Prepare.” She made her movie debut in 1954’s “Fortunate Me,” and obtained her first starring function alongside James Arness in 1956’s “Gun the Man Down.” Taking part in the plucky gambler Feathers reverse John Wayne in Howard Hawks’ Western masterpiece “Rio Bravo” turned her right into a full-blown film star in a single day. She went on to seem as Frank Sinatra’s spouse Beatrice in “Ocean’s 11,” the femme fatale in Don Siegel’s noir basic “The Killers,” and a special type of harmful dame in John Boorman’s nasty “Level Clean.”
After an up-and-down early Nineteen Seventies, Dickinson was in the hunt for one thing each high-profile and regular. That undertaking turned out to be “Police Girl.” As famous, her Sgt. Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson was each a intercourse image and an aspirational determine at a time when the feminist motion in America was fired up. Dickinson additionally obtained three Primetime Emmy nominations for her portrayal of Pepper, which might infuriatingly be the final time she ever earned severe awards recognition (we’d’ve nominated her for out-Janet-Leigh-ing Janet Leigh in Brian De Palma’s crackling erotic thriller “Dressed to Kill”).
Dickinson continued to behave in movie and tv all through the Eighties and into the 2000s. Notable TV appearances included sequence like “The Larry Sanders Present,” “Ellen,” and “Saturday Night time Dwell” (she hosted in 1987), whereas in motion pictures she was memorable in “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” “Sabrina,” and “Pay It Ahead.” Her final efficiency got here within the Hallmark movie “Mending Fences” in 2009. Since then, the 93-year-old has been having fun with life and sometimes granting interviews to fortunate saps like me.
