Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Law&Order’s Sam Waterston in “Q.E.D.”



Since it’s the slow season – not a lot of Law & Order news out there – I thought it was time to dig into the past roles of some of out favorite Law & Order actors.

Of course, first on the list has to be Sam Waterston, who may very well have the largest body of work out there of any of the Law & Order actors, unlike Vincent D’Onofrio who probably just has the largest body.

One role of Sam’s that often goes unnoticed is that of Professor Quentin E. Deverill in the show “Q.E.D.” (the show was also known as “Mastermind”). The adventure series ran for only 6 episodes in 1982. It was set in Edwardian England (prior to World War 1), and Professor Deverill was an American inventor and somewhat of a scientific detective. You know, like Sherlock Holmes but with bushy eyebrows.
The outraged eyebrows... Jack McCoy in training

The show’s name comes from Deverill’s initials, but it also stands for the Latin phrase Quod Erat Demonstrandum, which literally translates to "that which was to have been demonstrated". The initials QED are often noted at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument, signifying the last statement deduced was the one to be demonstrated, making the proof complete.


Behind every great man is...well, you know.

Like his current role of Jack McCoy, Waterston’s Deverill battled criminal plots, in this case of his arch-nemesis Dr. Stefan Kilkiss. Of course, Professor Deverill had help: a lovely secretary, Jenny Martin, a cockney chauffeur and manservant Phipps. and an American reporter called Charlie Andrews.


In the courtroom, even back then

Someone was kind enough to put a 9 minute clip from this hard to find show on YouTube, and I thought that Sam Waterston fans AND Law & Order fans everywhere would enjoy seeing a clip from this rarely seen show. Enjoy!

Sam Waterston in Q.E.D.












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Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That show is great. I have only seen a few episodes but it was really good. If you are looking for news Sam is doing Hamlet in NYC, he is Polonius. This address
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/118336.html has some pictures of the show, if you scroll down there are 2 pictures of Sam, with a short beard. Nice post.

Chris Zimmer said...

Thanks samfan. I got the news release from Playbill too, and have it on my "These Are Their Stories" blog this morning!

Anonymous said...

Man, I would give my left nut to get this series on DVD. I was a huge fan when I was ten.