The Immortal (1970 TV series)

Did You Know?

• The series music was composed by Dominic Frontiere, known for scoring The Outer Limits.
• Episodes were rerun by ABC in the summer of 1971, later on the American Forces Network in Europe in the 1980s, and on the Sci Fi Channel in the 1990s.
• Visual Entertainment Inc. released The Immortal - 'The Complete Collection' on DVD in Region 1 on November 9, 2017.

Series overview

Ben Richards works as a test car driver for a corporation owned by billionaire Jordan Braddock. At 43 years old, Richards appears much younger and has never been ill. His life changes after donating blood; when Braddock, near death, receives a transfusion of that blood and recovers, Dr. Matthew Pearce discovers that Richards' O-negative blood contains all known antibodies and immunities. This makes Richards immune to every known disease and gives him an estimated lifespan five to ten times that of a normal human, rendering him virtually immortal. Braddock, wanting to control Richards for his blood, tries to keep him captive, but Richards escapes. He tells his fiancée Sylvia Cartwright they cannot marry because she would also be imprisoned. The series' tension arises from the fact that Richards would never die from disease if he lived quietly, but his flight from Fletcher places him in constant danger from injury. The show primarily follows Richards' travels and the people he meets while evading capture. A secondary plot involves his search for a brother who may share his gift. In the episode "The Queen's Gambit," Richards is imprisoned by young billionaire Simon Brent. In "Man on a Punched Card," Maitland hires computer programmer Terry Kerwin, played by Christopher George's real-life wife Lynda Day George, to track Richards using a mainframe computer.