1967: 'Fugitive' Richard Kimble Stops Running
On this day in 1967, Richard Kimblel stopped running.
For four seasons, the ABC drama series The Fugitive followed Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) as he searched for the man who killed his wife. Falsely accused of the murder himself and unable to prove his innocence, Kimble gets a lucky break when the train that's transporting him to death row crashes, and he escapes.
Audiences were captivated by the saga of the innocent man who criss-crossed the country searching for the killer while evading police — most notably Barry Morse's relentless detective Lieutenant Philip Gerard.
Part two of The Fugitive finale ranks as the third most-watched television series episode in TV history, behind the series finale of M*A*S*H and the episode of Dallas that answered the cliffhanger question, "Who shot J.R.?"
The two-part finale ends with Kimble's exoneration, and narrator William Conrad delivering the final line: "Tuesday, August 29th: The day the running stopped." (Except in markets where the show was pre-empted by regional baseball games. In those cities, the second episode was bumped to the following week, and the show ended with the words: "Tuesday, September 5: The day the running stopped.")