takes a part in the ensemble suspense film "Two Minute Warning" for Universal. Though the role is not strong on paper, he accepts on the basis of the already-cast Gena Rowlands who he would be playing scenes with.

He also reprises the role of Harry Orwell one last time, for the taping of a Bob Hope special called "Joys' which will air on March 5 (taping date unknown). In it, Janssen appears with these other TV detectives: Angie Dickinson (Police Woman), Mike Connors (Mannix), Jim Hutton (Ellery Queen), Telly Savalas (Kojak), and Abe Vigoda (Fish).

On the cover of TV GUIDE for the last time, this time with Anthony Zerbe, during re-run season.

attends an ANTA tribute to Helen Hayes with wife Dani.

a production deal is announced with CBS.

Plans call for a 5th TV series to be developed for David for the 77-78 season. He has in mind that it be 'a combination of comedy and drama in equal proportions'. Also that his company, David Janssen Enterprises, and CBS will partner in television films. He is quoted as saying, "“I don’t want to be just an actor now. I want a part in production”.

However nothing materializes from this and the office he is given at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City (where he filmed a season of "Richard Diamond" years earlier) is seldomly used real estate. (Victor: who was his secretary here?)

last network airing of "Harry O" concluding its 2-season run.

beginning of filming on TV film "Stalk the Wild Child" for NBC (shooting title "Farrell"). Explaining why he was doing an NBC film with his CBS deal just announced, he explains, “Oh, you know me, I’ll open supermarkets if they ask.” Some of the shooting occurs in the Monterrey Peninsula in Northern California.

has (another?) celebrity tennis tournament at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. (check)

tapes an episode of "Dinah!" and appears with with Bob Hope, Fred Mc Murray, Harriet Nelson, and Sally Struthers. In Janssen’s segment, a clip from “Two Minute Warning” is shown.

is in Philadephia for a week to co-host on "The Mike Douglas Show"

travelled to Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) to film a commercial.

on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. Janssen follows Frank Sinatra and appears with Don Rickles. He talks about his recent trip to Japan and shows a clip from “Two Minute Warning”

attends the wedding of Marisa Berenson and Jim Randall with out wife Dani. This fuels separation rumors with members of the tabloid press.

A few days later Dani reportedly attends Thanksgiving dinner at Harold Robbins house without David.

mixed signals in the Janssen marriage: Dani says David's Christmas present is a beach house purchase (underway but not yet closed) in the exclusive Carbon Beach section of Malibu. Newspapers report that David has moved out of the Century City condo and into friend Wes Farrell's house for a time and then into the L'Ermitage hotel. Army Archerd's column reports they are together on Dani's December 19th birthday. But there are also rumors he is spending time with songwriter Carol Connors. Gossip columnist Rona Barrett goes on the air on December 20 and proclaims the marriage has come to an end.

David tapes an episode of "Circus of the Stars" at the Santa Monica Civic Center (exact date unknown).

flies to Las Vegas to see Liza Minnelli in concert

may have been in Europe at the first of the year

confusion about the state of the marriage continues. Army Archerd reports David and Dani are back together. David prepares for the start of a new TV movie and reports to the press, “I’m home and happy about it. It’s too bad our temporary trouble got so much attention”.

He is particularly candid in an interview about his nervousness before starting a film project, "I start getting traumatic about a week before the starting date. I run around getting the decks cleared so I won’t be bothered by external duties after a picture or a TV job begins. And the day before--like this--I’m a minor wreck”

begins production on "A Sensitive Passionate Man" opposite Angie Dickinson. This film about a man's alcoholic downward spiral is viewed as an ironic choice of material by those who are concerned Janssen is having his own struggles with the disease. Janssen will give a disturbing performance which will gain poignancy when he succumbs to his hard-living lifestyle in just over 3 years.

The film is directed by John Newland whose roots with Janssen go back to 1950 Summer Stock. They were both actors in Ogunquit, ME that summer.

Connors asks Janssen to be her date for the Academy Awards, She is nominated for "Rocky". He declines.

Wife Dani hosts a Oscar party at the Century City condo (a tradition which continues to the present) . It is assumed Janssen remains home this evening. At this party, Andy Warhol attends and writes about it in his diaries. Also attending: Roman Polanski, Burgess Meredith, James Caan, Jacqueline Bisset, Lee Grant, Linda Evans and Michael Douglas with his week-old bride, Diandra with ex-girlfriend Brenda Vaccaro awkwardly attending as well.

Connors loses to the song "Evergreen" by Barbra Streisand.

David breaks things off with Carol Connors right before Memorial Day weekend.

Dani Janssen who has survived 6 months of marital uncertainty will, a decade later, espouse on being a celebrity wife, something she prides herself on doing well. It requires, according to her, putting the celebrity first (“The star always gets top billing”).

She offers some other advices:

-Forget visiting him on the set (“If you married a doctor, would you watch him cut people open?”)

-Allow him time to hang out with his male friends.

-Give him the freedom to have flirtations with other women. If a serious extramarital affair developes, take the offensive. Get him back or see a good divorce lawyer.

It's not know if it came to seeing a divorce lawyer, but she got David back.

the CBS deal announced last year comes to an end without a series coming to fruition.

filming "Covert Action" in Rome and Greece. Previously announced Catherine Bach has dropped out. Corinne Clery, a French actress, is the female lead and Arthur Kennedy rounds out the cast.

As in other recent overseas work experiences, the cache of working in a foreign locale is somewhat dampened by a frustrating production experience. Janssen is vocal about his displeasure. Italian filmmakers adamantly refuse to use live sound and hence non-English speaking actors speak in their own language while playing scenes with him.

Also, a new Italian ordinance prohibits the firing of guns in Italian movies in production as it is said to be linked to a rise in domestic violence. Therefore, gunfire scenes are shot in Greece.

production on "The Word" begins in Amsterdam after 5 weeks in Italy. Filming takes place at the 17th-century Westerkerk church.

Another high-profile television project will also soon require Janssen -- as narrator for the entire NBC "Centennial" miniseries. Cast as Paul Garrett, one of the present day characters in the story which spans many generations in the life of the James Michener-created town, he will narrate the 1st 11 episodes and then film the 12th concluding one. Though the 26-1/2 hour saga will begin airing on October 1st with some of his voiceover work already recorded, he will not begin filming his segment until November.

5 days of London filming commences on "The Word" which marks the end the European portion of filming. Production moves back to the States on July 6th. Janssen is routed thru New York City to do some small unit establishing shots including the final shot in the broadcast - that of reunited lovers Janssen and Bolkan walking through the concrete canyons of the city.

filming on "The Word" is at the docked Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.

Janssen completes work on "The Word" shooting his beach house scenes and sporting a fake beard.

Producer Fries will have good things to say about his star, “Sure he had to leave the set promptly at five every day because he had to get back to his motor home where he had his booze set up, but he worked hard to finish on time and he worked every single day, six days a week, sometimes seven, and he didn’t have the entourage....”

evening entertainment- -watches the Ali-Spinks fight at the Playboy Mansion in California.

is a presenter on the 30th Annual Emmy Awards. In a particularly slow and gravelly delivery, he gives the award for best writing in a drama series. Friend Steve Allen is nominated but Gerald Green wins for “Holocaust”. When it becomes clear the winner is not present to accept, Janssen has an awkward moment and is caught with egg on his face.

is in California lunching at his Beverly Hills Tennis Club.

airdate of part one of "The Word" which is shown on the next 4 consecutive nights.

Work in Colorado precludes his watching the show and so he has wife Dani videotape it for him. When he gets around to seeing it he is disappointed, as he has been for much of his recent work :

“I seemed to spend all my time on that one saying, ‘Whose got the papyrus?’ Eight hours of that can get pretty tedious. And when I finally saw it....I turned it off after the first episode. To be honest with you, I just couldn’t understand it.”

starts shooting a TV movie in San Francisco called "The Golden Gate Murders". Director is a frequent "Fugitive" helmer, Walter Grauman. Female co-star is Susannah York. The film locations for a short time in San Francisco, then moves back to Universal Studios. During the shoot, Janssen has a few rough afternoons. Grauman has to have a pep talk with his actor as he is concerned that David's lunchtime drinking will jeopardize their finishing the picture on time. Though at first Janssen kids that he's not concerned if they go over - - he'll get an overage payment -- he does acquiesce and pulls it together.

in England filming his part for director Billy Hale ("Stalk the Wild Child") as John Jacob Astor in "S.O.S. Titanic" . Film has been in production for a week and this is most likely Janssen's 1st shooting day. He films at London's Waldorf Hotel. Janssen stays at the Anthenium while here. His schedule will allow him some time to explore. He'll visit Roger Moore in Ireland filming "Ffolkes", during some off time.

David when interviewed at the beginning of his romantic relationship with Dani in 1973 playfully commented, "I’ve always loved Gucci, tall looking ladies and here I wind up with a big-titted Lilliputian.” Dani, on a visit from LA, asks the studio driver who picks her up to describe the physical attributes of David's co-star Beverly Ross. When told of her non-busty frame, Dani comments, "I'm in trouble..."

filming "City in Fear" (retitled from "Panic On Page One"). In it, Janssen plays a burned-out (and alcoholic) newpaper columnist battling his circulation-driven publisher (Robert Vaughn) over how to cover a local serial killer story. Publicized as Janssen's final performance it was the last to be televised though not the last to be filmed.

begins work on the TV movie "High Ice" made in the Darrington, WA area. In a heroic role, he plays a ranger who rescues people trapped on a mountain but dies from exposure in the process. The beard which he shaved off for "City In Fear" is re-grown for this role.

Janssen reports clean-shaven to work in South Korea for "Inchon!". This will be his last completed work.

He again plays a journalist as he did in "The Green Berets" and "The Shoes of the Fisherman" and is relegated to not being key to the main action, but a commentator on it.

General Douglas MacArthur is played by Sir Lawrence Olivier who Janssen expected to play a lot of scenes with when he signed up, but didn't. Instead he works mostly with non-actor Rex Reed and the director's girlfriend Sabine Sun. All actors are given generous salaries. Others who take the payday bait are Jacqueline Bisset and Ben Gazzara (Ben Gazzara quote). By all reports much money was hemmoraged in the making of this film and the source of that money is the real footnote in the "Inchon!" debacle. The financing seems to be tied to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church.

Janssen may have returned to Korea more than once to complete his role.

attended book party at the Mailbu home of Paul and Mickey Ziffren for Mickey's book "A Political Affair".

ABC network airing of David's "S.O.S. Titanic" 3-hour TV movie.

Janssen is announced for a TV film project called "Damien of Hawaii" about the leper priest of Molokai. It will not start for several months, and this will be the longest he is off between filming assignments since awaiting his start date on "O'Hara, US Treasury" 9 years earlier.

He tells "People" magazine, "It’s harder and harder to get up in the morning.” He adds he might prefer the life of a film producer: "Get up at ten, have two-hour lunch breaks, fire everybody in the afternoon, and be ready for cocktails at 4:30.”

Among his producer-like leisure activities, he attends with other Rolls Royce owners a dedication by Princess Margaret of a West Los Angeles garage.

David's TV movie "High Ice", airs on NBC. It's airdate is moved up as the last minute replacement for the cancelled Democratic debate.

First day of shooting on "Father Damien" (new title) which had cast him back in October. Filming takes place at the Hunter Ranch in Agoura, CA where a recreation of the Molakai Church and town is built.

The production company is Tomorrow Entertainment whose head of production Tom Moore was an ABC exec in the early 60's. He'd criticized Roy Huggins' "Fugitive" story pitch almost 20 years earlier. Moore's daughter Jean Edwards produces this current film.

Day two on "Father Damien". Janssen has several scenes including one with actor Manu Tupou as the company continues to work at Hunter Ranch.

At right is David on camera in this, his final day of work.

After work Elliott Shapiro, his movie Teamster driver for 5-1/2 years, takes him home to the Malibu beach house at 21958 Pacific Coast Highway. He has a quiet dinner at home with Dani.

In the early morning hours, David awakens and starts gasping and choking (had he gotten up for a cookie?). Dani calls the paramedics at 4:19A.

Malibu Fire Captain Keno Devarney is among those responding and discovers David not breathing and without a heartbeat.

Actor Stuart Whitman happens to be driving by and, seeing emergency vehicles parked outside, stops. His recollection to the press afterwards: "Dani was walking around the living room in circles. She pointed inside the bedroom and said, ‘David’s in there’. They had taken him out of bed and they were working on him and working on him. It must have been a half hour altogether.”

This is reportedly a revival of the heartbeart.

David is transported by ambulance the 11 miles to the nearest hospital in Santa Monica. Whitman drives Dani. Family physician Dr. Rex Kennamer is notified.

At 5:36 am he's admitted. Whitman continues, "There was a chaplain at the hospital. Then Dr. Kennamer called me out of the room and said ‘I think we’re just going through the motions, I believe he’s gone’.

Elsewhere, Elliott Shapiro makes the drive to Malibu to pick up David for day 3 of shooting on "Father Damien". He does not have the radio on this morning. He rings the house via the hidden phone in the brick column out front.

Mother Berniece Janssen is putting on her makeup in her San Fernando Valley townhome. She is getting ready to return to 20th Century-Fox Studios as an extra on the office set of the Jane Fonda movie "Nine To Five". The phone rings.

Ex-wife Ellie Janssen is startled awake in her apartment by friend Patti Hartland's phone call in another part of L.A.

Friends, peers, other family, and fans alike are waking up to learn what Dr. G. Sugarman has pronounced at 5:55am. David Janssen has died at the age of 48.