The Green Hornet (TV series)

The Green Hornet
Genre
Created by
Directed by
Starring
Narrated byWilliam Dozier
Theme music composerNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Opening theme"Flight of the Bumblebee", arranged by Billy May
conducted by Lionel Newman
performed by Al Hirt
Composers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producerWilliam Dozier
Producers
  • Richard M. Bluel (23 episodes)
  • Stanley Shpetner (2 episodes)
Cinematography
  • Jack Marta
  • Carl Guthrie
  • Charles Clarke
Editors
  • Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
  • Noel Scott
Running time30 min.
Production companies
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 9, 1966 (1966-09-09) 
March 17, 1967 (1967-03-17)

The Green Hornet is an American action television series broadcast on ABC during the 1966–1967 television season, starring Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato. It was produced and narrated by William Dozier, and filmed by 20th Century-Fox.

The single-season series premiered September 9, 1966, and ran through March 17, 1967, lasting 26 episodes; ABC repeated the series after its cancellation by the network, until July 14, 1967, when The Green Hornet had its last broadcast on network television. With the later success of Lee as a premiere star of the martial arts film genre, the series has become a cult favorite.

The Van Williams–Bruce Lee The Green Hornet remains unavailable for home video because of licensing issues. 20th Century-Fox has always had the broadcast rights, so the series can be shown today on broadcast and cable television. The non-television rights were controlled by the owner of the character, George W. Trendle (as licensing agent The Green Hornet, Inc.); this entity survived Trendle's death in 1972 and still functions today.