Saturday, June 6, 2015

Roberta Collins & ADAM-12 1969

Log # 153 FIND ME A NEEDLE
Season 2 Episode 2 - Original Air Date Sept. 27 1969

     Here's future 70's exploitation star Roberta Collins in a very early appearance (and her first speaking role) getting hassled by the man in an episode of ADAM -12 from 1969. Appearing in FIND ME A NEEDLE she plays "Sally"a stranded party-goer whose broken down car helps give the police a clue to a missing female hitchhiker..
    One of the more grim and darker episodes of the series, it concerns the hunt for a fugitive known as the "Mulholland Masher" who's been raping and killing young female hitchhikers. The episodes plot is unique in that it focuses on only one crime for the entire duration of the episode and the usual light humor and comic banter between Reed and Malloy is absent. It's also probably one of the earliest times on prime time TV that the word rape was freely used.
   IMDB incorrectly states that Collin's name is switched in the closing credits with blond actress Astrid Warner. Warner (who was later in the biker movies HELL'S BELLES and THE GLORY STOMPERS) plays Mary Gallagher, the young mini-skirted hitchhiker who runs afoul of Reed and Malloy earlier in the episode as they warn her against the dangers of hitchhiking on the streets of Los Angeles (or at the very least the Universal backlot). Since Collins is a redhead here rather then her later blond perhaps that's where the confusion lays.






    Collins would go on to appear  in such bona fide 70's classics as THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (mud wresting with Pam Grier ! - "Their bodies were caged, but not their desires !"), WOMEN IN CAGES,  UNHOLY ROLLERS, DEATH RACE 2000, SWEET KILL, CAGED HEAT, WONDER WOMEN, EATEN ALIVE, THE ROOMMATES & THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA. She would sadly pass away in 2008 at the age of 63 from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. The recent Gorgon blu-ray release of THE ROOMMATES (paired with A WOMAN FOR ALL MEN) has a short but very delightful interview with her recorded shortly before her passing. She is very much missed.




  

2 comments:

  1. I really like Dragnet these days - but other than vague childhood memories of it I don't know Adam-12 at all. I'm sure I'd enjoy it though, so it's on the list for me to track down and watch when I can. Roberta Collins was a babe and a half, so this episode will jump out when I get to it.

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    1. Hi Craig

      I love both those shows - especially Dragnet. The 1966 pilot movie (which is on Shout Factory's season 2 set) is really good. Roberta Collins was a babe. Ever check out The Roommates with her, Marki Bay, Pat Woodell & Christina Hart ?

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