The Dain Curse

In the novel the lead character is known only as the Continental Op but for the series he is named as Hamilton Nash and played by James Coburn. It was decided to retain the 1920s period setting of the original novel, although the location was shifted from San Francisco to New York City.

Made on a budget of $5 million, it was the first time British actress Jean Simmons appeared in a miniseries. It was nominated for three times at the 1978 Primetime Emmy Awards as well as an Edgar Award.

Coburn later spoke proudly of The Dain Curse. He was quoted: "We went for a mood piece and a lot of it worked. For television, it was pretty good. Still, we had to fight the network (CBS) to make it the way we intended to do it. We didn’t want too many close-ups. They didn’t understand. They said this is television and that’s not the way to shoot it Well, I said, ‘fuck ‘em, let’s shoot it like a film’, and you know what?, we did for the most part.”