Dante (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The producer was Michael Meshekoff, the director was Richard Kinon, and the writer was Harold Jack Bloom.
• Dante was co-sponsored by the Alberto-Culver Company and the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
• A review in Variety complimented Duff's and Mowbray's facility with delivering fast lines but found the script flawed and said the sets looked "either phony or cheap".

Earlier version of Dante

Dick Powell first took on the role of Dante in episodes of Four Star Playhouse, with scripts initially by Blake Edwards—the same writer who had created the radio series Richard Diamond, Private Detective for Powell. In those earlier episodes, Willie runs a back-room illegal gambling operation at the "Inferno," which the police eventually shut down. The only actor from the Four Star Playhouse installments to appear as a regular in the later series was Mowbray, who originally portrayed a millionaire named Jackson who lost his fortune gambling and later worked as a waiter for Dante. Those original Dante episodes from Four Star Playhouse were later rebroadcast together under the title The Best in Mystery during the show's 1956 summer season.

Series synopsis

Willie Dante, a suave ladies' man, had previously run gambling establishments in different parts of the country. When he opened a San Francisco nightclub called Dante's Inferno, both the police and the criminal establishment believed he was still breaking the law. Two of Dante's long-time sidekicks worked with him at the nightclub: Biff, the bartender, and Stewart, the British maitre d', who continued to have an interest in criminal activities. Their interactions with Dante provided much of the show's humor. In a 1960 interview, co-star Alan Mowbray stated: "Our gimmick? Charming dishonesty."