A client who hired Remington Steele Investigations to protect a shipment of rare jewels insisted that Steele himself oversee the operation. Pierce's shady character, who was hanging around looking for profitable opportunities, well-knowingly steps into the role of Remington Steele against Laura Holt's wishes. The gems involved, the royal lavulite, had recently been discovered. This episode was shot after the original pilot, to offer details on the backstory. GUEST STARS: Joseph Hacker, Philip Casnoff, Robert Darnell, John Francis

Film reference: Tea and Sympathy, North by Northwest (obliquely)

Laura tackles a case of industrial espionage in a family-owned business while Steele enlists an old pal to help him install a burglar alarm, but when the house is burglarized and Steele's friend murdered it becomes personal. GUEST STARS: Arlen Dean Snyder, David Hayward, Diana Douglas, Brenda King, Curt Lowens
Film references: Casablanca, The Thin Man.

Note: This was the pilot episode.

A video game genius disappears just before a merger, with five million dollars and the plans for his company's latest video game. GUEST STARS: Peter Scolari, George Wallace, Betty Kennedy, Roxanne Hart, Rae Allen, Blake Clark

Film reference: North by Northwest.

Laura and Steele spend the weekend trying to keep a CIA researcher alive and on time for his wedding. GUEST STARS: Thom Bray, Philip Sterling, Alexandra Johnson, Christopher Lofton, Buddy Powell

Film references: The In-Laws (obliquely)

A woman from Steele's past asks him to help her steal a valuable painting that Laura has already agreed to protect (and that he had stolen once already), while Laura also has to deal with her visiting mother. GUEST STARS: Beverly Garland, Cassandra Harris, James Blendick, Peter MacLean, Kurt Christian, Benjamin Slack, Ben Mittleman

Film references: The Maltese Falcon (obliquely)

A loser asks the agency to help him, but his alibi witness is found dead in Steele's apartment and his lawyer seems more interested in Laura than in the case, which for once forces Steele and Murphy to work together. GUEST STARS: Andrew Bloch, Barry Van Dyke, Raymond Singer, Ilene Graff, Lora Staley, Ernest Emling

Film reference: D.O.A..

A popular author's steamy books mirror her own life, including the murder of her husband. GUEST STARS: Shannon Wilcox, George Morfogen, Richard Cox, Joel Colodner, Lyman Ward

Film reference: The Shining.

While trying to solve a murder case, Laura and Steele clash with the Yakuza. GUEST STARS: Keye Luke, Marc Hayashi, Sab Shimono, Reid Shelton, Emily Kuroda, Richard Stanley, Stephen Lee.

Film references: Enter the Dragon, The Yakuza, The Third Man, Charade.

Laura's former boss is murdered during a reunion of her former colleagues. GUEST STARS: Carlene Watkins, Philip Charles Mackenzie, Arthur Rosenberg, Jeff Pomerantz

Film reference: Witness for the Prosecution

To find out why a client committed suicide, Laura and Steele go undercover to an island party, where people are being murdered one by one. GUEST STARS: Lynne Randall, Paul Hecht, Bruce Kirby, Brandis Kemp, Diane Stilwell.

Film references: Citizen Kane, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, And Then There Were None, The Philadelphia Story.

An aging B-movie actress believes that someone is trying to kill her, and only Steele believes her. GUEST STARS: Bibi Osterwald, Frances Lee McCain, Peter Jurasik.

Film reference: Psycho.

Steele gets involved with the murder of a naturalist when he serves on a committee to save the bald eagle. GUEST STARS: Francine Lembi, Michael Goodwin, Michael McGuire.

Film references: The Big Sleep, Chinatown, The Maltese Falcon, Murder Most Foul.

Steele poses as an insomniac in order to find a murderer in a sleep disorder clinic. Paul Reiser guest stars.

Film references: The Big Sleep, Coma.

The detectives pose as a bickering couple while investigating attempts on a divorce attorney's life. GUEST STARS: Mark Hutter, Susan Kellermann, Linda Carlson, Caren Kaye, Alexandra Borrie, Mary Joan Negro.

Film references: Casablanca, Murder on the Orient Express, Notorious.

Laura and Steele wind up working for opposite sides of a jewelry theft when the frightened thief looks for help when someone else beats him to the jewel. GUEST STARS: Cliff Norton, Michael C. Gwynne.

Film references: The Thomas Crown Affair, To Catch a Thief.

Murphy's college homecoming is marred by a murder that awakens memories of a bombing on campus ten years before. GUEST STARS: Annie Potts, Todd Susman, Allyce Beasley, Tony Plana, Sharon Stone.^[b]

Film references: The Third Man, The Uninvited

Laura searches for a vanished artist whose works have suddenly appreciated in value, for both her husband and the owner of an art gallery. STARS: Phil Rubenstein, Marilyn Jones, Reid Smith.

Film references: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Laura.

The detectives try to solve a case of sabotage and murder on the set of a television news program. GUEST STARS: J. D. Cannon, John Reilly, Maggie Roswell, Ron Frazier, Jenny O'Hara, Tracy Scoggins, Macon McCalman.

Film references: Foreign Correspondent, Peyton Place, Network.

Laura's former flame asks her help when he discovers a corpse in the trunk of his car, a corpse that keeps returning as they check out a winery he's involved with.
The corpse is the Abbot of St. Costello's Monastery!

Film references: The Trouble with Harry, Rasputin and the Empress, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

A prospector's journal stolen during a party leads Laura and Steele on a wild gold hunt through the desert.

Film references: Metropolis, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Daniel Chalmers, Steele's mentor back in the days when Steele was a rogue, comes to California to ask for Steele's help in dealing with a vindictive crook and winds up romancing Laura's mother. GUEST STARS: Beverly Garland, John Orchard, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
NOTE: This episode reveals the name in which Remington Steele was previously known by, Harry Chalmers. His true name is never revealed in the series.

Film references: The Sting, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.

After preventing a man from committing suicide, Steele tries to find out who had tricked the man into stealing over two million dollars. GUEST STARS: John Doolittle, Gina Gallego, Richard Kuss, Patsy Pease.

Film references: Anna Karenina, Gaslight, The Music Lovers, Pennies from Heaven, A Star Is Born.

In this two-part episode, Steele and Laura go after diamond smugglers in Acapulco. Associate detective Murphy Michaels and secretary Bernice Fox have left the agency, while Mildred Krebs (Doris Roberts), an IRS agent hot on Steele's tail, ends up teaming with Laura and Steele. GUEST STARS: Vincent Baggetta, Ray Girardin, Jack Blessing, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., David Warner.

Film references: Bride of Frankenstein, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Key Largo, Notorious.

Holt and Steele are hired by a woman who thinks someone is trying to destroy her late husband's aircraft company. GUEST STARS: Barbara Cason, Joel Polis, Audrie J. Neenan, Lewis Arquette.

Film reference: It Happened One Night.

The detectives try to find out which one of an amnesiac's five wives is trying to kill him. GUEST STARS: Fred McCarren, Monique van de Ven, Delta Burke, Jane Kaczmarek, Carole Ita White, Clara Perryman, Sam Anderson.

Film reference: Mirage, Robin Hood, Sands of Iwo Jima, Spellbound.

Someone is trying to frame Steele for murder. GUEST STARS: Guy Boyd, Gary Frank, Archie Hahn.

Steele re-introduces Laura to the thrill of thievery during a case involving stolen paintings. GUEST STARS: Michael Cornelison, Jeffrey Jones, Susan Bay, Stefan Gierasch, Gillian Eaton, Ernest Harada.

Film references: Charade, The Sting.

The detectives find themselves in the middle of a mystery involving all the previous owners of a vintage car. GUEST STARS: Clive Revill, Susan French, Peter Hobbs, Al Ruscio.

Film references: Splendor in the Grass, Tom Jones, The Yellow Rolls-Royce.

Steele and Laura investigate attempted murder on the set of a frozen-food commercial. GUEST STARS: Barrie Ingham, Bibi Besch, Gwen Humble, Paul Kreppel, Faith Prince.

A mysterious baby plays a central part in a case involving gangsters and professional boxing that draws upon Steele's past as "The Kilkenny Kid". Steele is heard to sing softly "Oh, me name is MacNamara, I'm the leader of the band". GUEST STARS: Bert Remsen, Paul Stewart, Ken Foree, Julie Carmen, George McDaniel, Len Lesser.

Film reference: Little Caesar.

The detectives try to find a kidnapped heiress with the help of her previously unknown twin sister. GUEST STARS: Stephen Elliott, Ann Dusenberry, Joanna Barnes, Thomas Hill, Judith Chapman, Ian Wolfe.

Film references: Pygmalion, My Fair Lady.

A guy illegally snaps pictures of a fashion designer's latest works, and hides the film in a custom-tailored jacket done by the designer's estranged brother. However, another person intercepts and murders the courier to claim the jacket. GUEST STARS: Joshua Shelley, Lara Parker, Dean Santoro, John van Dreelen, Carl Weintraub.

Steele is selected for a magazine campaign's "five most eligible bachelors" but during the festivities, the bachelors are being killed off one by one. GUEST STARS: Roy Dotrice, Mimi Kuzyk, D. D. Howard, Frank Luz, Richard Backus.

Film reference: Rear Window, The A.B.C. Murders (obliquely)^[c]

Mildred's guilty pleasure in a sleazy circus séance draws Laura and Steele into an investigation of an old circus "accident" where they join in as trapeze artists. GUEST STARS: Lisa Pelikan, Michael McGuire, A Martinez, Joy Garrett, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson.

Laura and Steele must protect the rather obnoxious children of a Federal witness by taking them on a road trip to Arizona. GUEST STARS: Eric Brown, Carolyn Seymour, Bridgette Andersen, Jack Betts, Ted LePlat.

Film references: The Bad Seed, The Gauntlet, Stagecoach.

Laura's sister Frances suspects her husband Donald is cheating on her at a dental convention. But things get complicated when Steele is not informed of the situation, and the secretary and Donald's associate is murdered. GUEST STARS: Maryedith Burrell, Michael Durrell, Patrick Collins, James O'Sullivan.

Film references: Boom Town, The Lost Weekend, The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Major Descoine (Guy Boyd) the villain from the episode "Steele Framed" (No. 27) returns and promises that Laura and Steele will die within an hour. GUEST STARS: Guy Boyd, Quinn Cummings, Michael Fairman, Peter Jason.

Film references: The Major and the Minor, Neptune's Daughter.

Laura and Steele go to a small town to investigate the disappearance of an author who was doing research on the area and apparently found something he shouldn't have. GUEST STARS: Paul Gleason, Ben Slack, Jacques Aubuchon, Carolyn Coates, Ford Rainey.

Film references: Bad Day at Black Rock, In the Heat of the Night.

Laura and Steele help a woman who has been constantly receiving obscene phone calls, but the suspected placer of the sexual personals ad is soon found murdered. GUEST STARS: Pippa Scott, Bill Morey, Ellen Regan, John Bedford Lloyd, Ellen Tobie, Andrea Moar.

Film reference: Peyton Place.

The reputation of the agency is at stake again when the gems that first brought them together are switched with fakes as Laura and Steele are transporting them. GUEST STARS: Judith Light, Woodrow Parfrey, Jack Gwillim, Robert Harper.

Film reference: Ocean's Eleven.

A woman from Steele's past arranges for the agency to handle the security on an exhibition at an art museum, and contacts Steele with a desperate plea for help. GUEST STARS: Cassandra Harris, James Laurenson, Christopher Stone, Eve Roberts.

Film references: Obsession, Vertigo.

Mildred rescues an abducted dog and brings it to the office. When the pursuer takes the dog back at gunpoint, Laura and Steele track the pursuer, but find he was killed and was carrying an Interpol badge. They discover the owner is actually a famous jewel thief named Le Renard. Mildred is abducted. Steele, Holt, and Le Renard must break into the gem exchange to retrieve the gem in exchange for Mildred's life. GUEST STARS: J. D. Cannon, Tom Baker, Nita Talbot, Sarah Marshall, Doris Belack, Freddie Weber, Paddi Edwards.
Film reference: Old Yeller.

Note: Tom Baker is famous for portraying the Fourth Doctor on the BBC science-fiction television series Doctor Who.

Someone is using mystery buffs portraying Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Miss Marple, and Mr. Moto to solve a make-believe case to find a murderous embezzler. GUEST STARS: Lynne Randall, Peter Evans, Keone Young, Barry Jenner, David Garrison, Pearl Shear.

Film references: The Big Sleep, Death Race 2000.

Laura is ready for romance as she goes on a vacation on the French Riviera accompanied by Remington Steele, but old friends needing his help in stealing a dagger distract Steele. GUEST STARS: André Maranne, Jacques Maury, Mark Burns, Marianne Lawrence, Bob Sherman, Claude le Saché.

Film references: Beau Geste, Goldfinger, The Maltese Falcon, To Catch a Thief.

A shady building manager tries to convince Laura to move out of her apartment just as she's on the verge of uncovering a corporate embezzlement plot. GUEST STARS: Gregg Henry, Joe Lambie, Ron O'Neal, Armin Shimerman, James David Hinton.
Film references: The Great Escape, Moby Dick (multiple versions).

Laura and Steele search for a missing body on the island of Malta, but find an insignificant piece of brass that could get them killed. GUEST STARS: Susan Penhaligon, Frederick Jaeger, John Malcolm, Derek Benfield, Ian Tyler, Bruce Boa.
Film references: The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man.

A reunion of high-school athletes at an adult baseball camp is marred by a series of "accidents" that Laura and Steele are hired to investigate; Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford guest-star. Other guests: Louis Giambalvo, Michael McManus, Marco St. John, Lionel Smith, Patricia McCormack, Elizabeth Baur.
Film references: The Alphabet Murders, And Then There Were None, Fear Strikes Out, The Pride of the Yankees, That Championship Season.

Daniel Chalmers enters Steele's life again when it appears that he is about to inherit an English title, its fortune and some enemies.
GUEST STARS: Merete Van Kamp, David Byrd, Irene Tedrow, Maurice Roeves, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Film reference: The Fuller Brush Man.

Laura flies off to help an amnesiac Steele recall why he came to Ireland and why someone is trying to kill him.
GUEST STARS: Marie Conmee, Chris O'Neill, Frank Kelly, Tom Jordan
Film references: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, A Day at the Races, From Russia with Love, Gone with the Wind, Laura, The 39 Steps, Wait Until Dark.

Steele tries to help a street-wise kid who picks his pocket and grabs evidence that a loan shark will do anything to retrieve.

Film reference: Boys Town, The Big Sleep (obliquely).

Laura and Steele accept the invitation of an eccentric millionaire to compete in finding a missing journalist but the game soon turns deadly.

Film reference: The Wizard of Oz.

Three aging film stars — Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Lamour, and Lloyd Nolan as themselves — hire Steele and Laura to find out who is behind their curious fan mail and the attempts on their lives.

Film references: Dirty Harry, The Fan, The Godfather, Johnny Apollo, The Maltese Falcon, Moon Over Burma, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Road to Singapore, St. Louis Blues, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Somewhere in the Night, Three Days of the Condor, Typhoon, White Heat.

Laura and Steele try to protect two singing-telegram girls who witnessed a murder while they also hunt for the killers.

Film reference: Little Murders.

Laura and Steele get lots of advice and help when they investigate the embezzlement of a mystery-writers guild's treasury.

Film references: Arsenic and Old Lace, Jaws.

Steele inadvertently goes undercover as the restaurant critic they've been hired to find, and who has incensed several restaurant owners with his blistering reviews.

Film reference: The Thin Man.

Laura has a personal stake in the investigation of the death of a movie producer who was planning on making a movie of an old TV series without the original star.

Film references: Gone with the Wind, Heaven's Gate.

Mulch returns with a new business venture that his partner is using to swindle an investor.

Film references: Blood Alley, The Day of the Jackal.

The unexpected success of singer Rocky Sullivan (from episode No. 44, "Elementary Steele") threatens a little scheme cooked up by her managers and might get her killed.

Film reference: The Producers.

Mildred's nephew comes to her for some help in hiding the body a hit man needs to confirm his contract with his employers.

Film reference: The Corpse Came C.O.D.

An investigator from an insurance company digs into Steele's past after the agency loses their money in an effort to buy back stolen jewels.

Laura feels used by a client when she finds out an importer commits suicide after she unknowingly delivers a blackmail message to him.

Film references: The Barefoot Contessa, T-Men.

A young cartoonist finds his life threatened as the events of his strip start happening to him.

Film references: Gaslight, How to Murder Your Wife, Psycho.

Laura and Steele get involved in the search for the inventor of a no-cal cookie and his only batch of prototypes. Guest stars: Geena Davis as a tennis pro, Jean Smart as the inventor's fiancée, G. W. Bailey as a cookie manufacturer.

Film references: Bambi, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Mr. Steele's plans for a romantic weekend in San Francisco are upset when his imaginary case turns into a real one.

Film reference: The Lost Weekend.

Laura investigates the background of a senatorial candidate while Steele dodges an investigator from the state licensing board.

Laura races with Scotland Yard to locate Steele, who has become involved in murder while searching for a man with a clue to his past. Steele masquerades as an assassin hired by Daniel Chalmers to kill the Earl of Claridge. However, evidence indicates that the Earl is Steele's own father.

Film references: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Smokey and the Bandit.

See Part 1, above.

Film reference: The Day of the Jackal.

Laura protects a photographer (Kenneth Mars) and his files from angry clients and the FBI even after her doctored photo appears in a porno magazine. Guest star: Nana Visitor (near the end of the episode)

Film reference: Hide in Plain Sight.

Laura and Steele are hired to protect a professional wrestler who has been receiving death threats and having mysterious "accidents."

Film reference: A Bill of Divorcement (1932).

Steele awakens from a 36-hour blackout to find that he has apparently gambled away the agency.

Film references: The Great Impostor, North by Northwest, 36 Hours.

Laura and Steele look into the disappearance of some prized breeding pigs from an experimental farm in Iowa.

Film references: Easy Rider, North by Northwest, Witness.

Laura and Steele try to discover why phony obituaries are being printed about people like poor garlic farmer Lester Shane.

Film references: D.O.A., Gaslight, Gone with the Wind, The List of Adrian Messenger.

Laura and Steele fly the unfriendly skies to learn why the body of a hired killer turned up on the baggage carousel of a luxury airline.

The agency Christmas party is interrupted by three gun-wielding Santas who take everyone hostage and threaten to blow up the building.

Film references: The Shanghai Cobra, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

A traffic reporter dies while aloft in a helicopter and the two prime suspects are the disc jockeys, who were on the air at the time.

Film references: Body Heat, The Third Man.

Mulch's latest brainstorm to franchise the agency gets an unfortunate investigator killed by an angry client.

Film reference: The Maltese Falcon.

Laura and Steele are hired by the spoiled son of a caviar importer to find a missing shipment before daddy returns home.

Film reference: The Macomber Affair.

Laura's sister finds a dead body on her kitchen floor and asks for help from a reluctant Laura and Steele.

Film reference: Beverly Hills Cop. The A-Team.

One of the phony Santas from the ill-fated Christmas party (in episode No. 75, "Dancer, Prancer, Donner and Steele") returns to persuade a witness not to testify against him.

Film references: Dirty Harry, Rear Window.

A woman is afraid her father may need help but Laura and Steele learn he knows exactly what he's doing.
Airport scene filmed at Indian Dunes Park, location used in numerous other films and TV shows.

Film reference: Going in Style.

Laura and Steele go undercover at a self-improvement spa to find out why there have been a series of mysterious accidents.

Film references: Save the Tiger, Hamlet.

The search for a singer from the 1950s has unexpected, deadly consequences.

Film references: Out of the Past, Sunset Boulevard.

The servants of the wealthy Wellingtons hire Laura and Steele to find out who killed the former butler, who had planned on publishing his memoirs.

Film reference: Blowup.

Laura is assaulted while running in a triathlon after a desperate woman switches numbers with her.

Laura and Steele return from the East to find reports of their murder on the news and Mildred arrested for the crime.

Film reference: Death Takes a Holiday.

A man who framed himself so his wife could collect the reward learns he isn't terminally ill and wants Laura and Steele to clear him.

Film reference: Convicted.

Laura has her hands full trying to discover why an accountant at a huge corporation was killed. However, Steele's desire to quickly wed a call girl (Nancy Everhard) so as to avoid being deported distracts Laura from her murder investigation. Steele eventually ends up marrying Laura herself.

Film references: Bride of Frankenstein, Casablanca, Death Takes a Holiday, The Happy Hooker, They Won't Believe Me.

Steele is arrested for the murder of Norman Keyes while he and Laura try to honeymoon in Mexico.

Film reference: Romancing the Stone, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, And Then There Were None, Beverly Hills Cop.

Their phony marriage faces a real test when a woman from Steele's past shows up, pretending to be married to him, and the archaeologist from Mexico returns, this time as an immigration officer. In London, Tony blackmails Steele into delivering a dangerous package, while Laura delves into Shannon's past.

Film reference: Arsenic and Old Lace.

Laura and Steele visit the Irish castle he's inherited and decide to hide Tony there until he can prove he isn't a double agent. Daniel Chalmers must turn him over to the KGB as part of a scam he is running to help the daughter of an old friend. Daniel Chalmers does reveal himself as Steele's biological father. Remington and Laura do indeed get to settle their marriage.