Nero Wolfe (1981 TV Series) - Production

Production

In March 1980, Nero Wolfe was one of half-a-dozen new series being considered by the team of Brandon Tartikoff and Fred Silverman at NBC, according to Peter Boyer of the Associated Press. "The idea has been tried unsuccessfully on TV before, most recently by ABC," Boyer reported. "But NBC has an angle going that will certainly make this Nero Wolfe worthy of notice — the distinct possibility that Orson Welles will play the lead role." The pilot episode was to be written by Leon Tokatyan (Lou Grant).

When filming the TV series was under way later that year, columnist Marilyn Beck wrote that Nero Wolfe had been planned as a starring vehicle for Welles until he decided that he wanted NBC to change the concept from a one-hour weekly series to a series of 90-minute specials, and that he wanted his scenes filmed at his Los Angeles home. Some 20 years later, in a story about the A&E Nero Wolfe series, the Toronto Star reported that Welles had bowed out of the NBC series because he was unable to learn the dialogue. Other reports had it that Welles had refused to work with Paramount's producers, who wanted to "make Nero Wolfe more human." Welles and Paramount had already had creative differences over the Rex Stout adaptations; Paramount had purchased the entire set of Nero Wolfe stories for Welles in 1976, but in 1977 Welles had bowed out of Paramount's first effort to bring Nero Wolfe to television, in an ABC-TV movie.

On June 30, 1980, the Associated Press reported that William Conrad would play the title role in NBC's Nero Wolfe.

"I've loved the novels for 25 years," Conrad said. "And I love his life-style. I don't have to run any more. My poor feet are still aching from all the running I had to do in Cannon."

In December 1980 NBC announced that Nero Wolfe would being airing in January 1981, as "an ideal alternative to the competition in this time period" — The Dukes of Hazzard. The Dukes of Hazzard was then ranked #2 in the Nielsen ratings.

"American Nero Wolfe fans had their dreams come true in 1981, when the NBC network allowed viewers on a weekly, prime time visit to the infamous New York brownstone on West 35th Street," wrote Brian Sheridan in the Spring 2008 issue of The Gazette: The Journal of the Wolfe Pack. Sheridan interviewed Lee Horsley, who found his first major role when he was cast as Archie Goodwin. Horsley recalled an enjoyable relationship with William Conrad, whose off-screen demeanor was a perfect fit for the character. "He was definitely Nero Wolfe down to the toes," Horsley said.

"I remember the days when he would shoot the final scene (of an episode) when Wolfe called all the suspects together," says Horsley. "Bill (Conrad) had in his contract that he would only work so many hours a day. If the clock struck whatever, and it was time for him to go, he'd put on his bedroom slippers and he was gone. It didn’t matter if we were in the middle of a scene or not. He loved the work but he was that way. When he decided he didn’t want to play anymore, that was it. We'd have to figure it out how to shoot the rest of the scene just to get it done."

Horsley spoke of his love for Rex Stout's books and characters, and credited the care taken with the production's art direction, set design and wardrobe in creating the atmosphere of the stories. "It was so great to go into work," he said.

The sets for Nero Wolfe were designed by John Beckman, whose credits include Casablanca, Lost Horizon and The Maltese Falcon. The plant rooms were stocked by Zuma Canyon Orchids of Malibu, California, which on the eve of the series registered the hybrid Phalaenopsis Nero Wolfe with the Royal Horticultural Society.