“Dr. Kildare” vs. “Ben Casey”

Looking Back At Classic TV’s “Kind-of-Twin” Top Doctors

I pattern my actions and life after what I want. No two people are alike. You might admire attributes in others, but use these only as a guide in improving yourself in your own unique way. I don’t go for carbon copies. Individualism is sacred! — Richard Chamberlain

Doctor, Doctor

We all know the commercial.

“I’m not a doctor. I just play one on TV.”

That certainly was and remains the case for a number of actors best known for portraying physicians on television’s most prominent medical shows through the years, beginning with Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey, from the early 1960s all the way up to more contemporary ventures like ER and House.

But certainly, Kildare and Casey, side by side, if not on the same network (or even in the same medical facility) were two of the first TV doctors to earn a strong medicinal-like following from the home viewer. Both premiering in the fall of 1961, Kildare, starring Richard Chamberlain (on NBC) and Casey, starring Vince Edwards (a.k.a. Vincent Edwards) (on ABC) proved to be a one-two thumpity-thump on the hearts of TV fans across the country.