I Led 3 Lives

1 9 5 3 – 1 9 5 6 (USA)
117 x 30 minute episodes

Herb Philbrick (Richard Carlson) is a man leading three lives: private citizen, Communist and undercover FBI man.

Stories depict his life as a counterspy and his efforts to infiltrate the American Communist Party and inform the US government officials so the bad guys can be rounded up – typically just as they’re on the verge of discovering his identity and killing him.

Other regular characters include Herb’s wife, Eva (Virginia Stefan); their daughter Constance (Patricia Morrow); and FBI agents Steve Daniels (John Beradino), Jerry Dressler (John Zaremba) and Joe Carney (Charles Maxwell).

I Lived 3 Lives was based on a book by the real-life Herbert Philbrick, who really was an undercover operative for the FBI for nine years and really did help bring down enemy agents.

The show was seen on 157 stations and rated among the top ten shows in the US in 1954 but eventually collapsed into obscurity, as anti-communist paranoia gradually became something most Americans snickered at rather than feared.

Herbert A. Philbrick
Richard Carlson
Eva Philbrick
Virginia Stefan
Constance Philbrick
Patricia Morrow
Special Agent Jerry Dressler
John Zaremba
Special Agent Steve Daniels
John Beradino
Special Agent Joe Carney
Charles Maxwell