Beacon Hill

1 9 7 5 (USA)
1 x 120 minute episode
13 x 60 minute episodes

Blending drama, virtuoso acting, social commentary and soap opera, the British series Upstairs Downstairs drew crowds of viewers to the American PBS channel.

This short-lived but lavish period drama series from CBS was ostensibly an adaptation of the superb UK series, but placed in an American setting.

The various storylines revolved around the lives of the wealthy Lassiter family in 1920s Boston and their household staff.

Ben Lassiter (Stephen Elliott) was a hard-driving industrialist and political boss, and the powerful patriarch of a family that included his worry-prone wife, Mary (Nancy Marchand), their suicidally depressed son, Robert (David Dukes) – who had lost an arm in the war – and four daughters of widely differing personalities.

Fawn Lassiter (Kathryn Walker) was the “free-spirited” Bohemian offspring who drank too much, stripped at parties, and lived with poets; Emily Bullock (DeAnn Mears) had discovered alcohol; Maude Palmer (Maeve McGuire) was married into a thoroughbred family, and Rosamond Lassiter (Kitty Winn) was plain and unmarried.

The household staff, directed by the head butler Arthur Hacker (George Rose), had its own set of problems, and their lives, as one might suspect, were totally enmeshed with those of their employers.

His wife, Emmeline Hacker (Beatrice Straight), was something of a heartless slave-driver, having none of the sympathetic qualities that endeared the character of Mrs Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs.

Brian Mallory (Paul Rudd) was a brash lad who was determined to rise in the world in a hurry.

The cast was huge (and recruited mostly from the Broadway stage), the sets, costumes and production values were the best, and a special two-hour advanced premiere on 2 August 1975 received top ratings.

Despite being a show of the highest quality, the audience steadily declined, and the series (which aired on Tuesdays at 10:00 pm) was largely unsuccessful.

CBS cancelled the programme after only 13 episodes.

Benjamin Lassiter 
Stephen Elliott
Mary Lassiter 
Nancy Marchand
Mr Hacker 
George Rose
Mrs Hacker 
Beatrice Straight
Trevor Bullock 
Roy Cooper
Robert Lassiter 
David Dukes
Richard Palmer 
Edward Herrman
Maude Palmer 
Maeve McGuire
Emily Bullock 
Deann Mears
Giorgio Bellonci 
Michael Nouri
Betsy Bullock 
Linda Purl
Terence O’Hara 
David Rounds
Brian Mallory 
Paul Rudd
Harry Emmet 
Barry Snider
Eleanor 
Sydney Swire
Marilyn Gardiner 
Holland Taylor
Fawn Lassiter 
Kathryn Walker
William Piper 
Richard Ward
Rosamond Lassiter 
Kitty Winn