The social awareness series (created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey) was concerned with race relations and the Civil Rights movement in the American South during the late 1950s.
In spite of attempts by critics and fans alike to keep this award-winning NBC series on the air, I’ll Fly Away never attracted a sizable enough audience to warrant its continuance for longer than two years.
It starred Sam Waterston as Forrest Bedford, an idealistic liberal-minded prosecuting attorney in Bryland County, who later became a US Attorney. Other characters regularly seen in the series were Bedford’s black housekeeper, Lily Harper (Regina Taylor), Bedford’s older son, Nathan (Jeremy London), his daughter, Francie (Ashlee Levitch), and his younger son, John Morgan (John Aaron Bennett).
Kathryn Harrold played Bedford’s love interest, lawyer Christina Le Katzis. His wife had been institutionalised after suffering a nervous breakdown.
Following the cancellation of the show in 1993, the 38 episodes were purchased by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and shown as reruns during their 1993-1994 season.
Forrest Bedford Sam Waterston Lily Harper
Regina Taylor
Nathan Bedford
Jeremy London Francie Bedford
Ashlee Levitch
John Morgan Bedford
John Aaron Bennett
Christina Le Katzis
Kathryn Harrold
