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Run For Your Life
Starring Ben Gazzara
Episode:
The Word Would Be Goodbye
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To contact us, click Homepage link above
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Synopsis: A surprising encounter on the road brings Nicole Longet (Claudine Longet) back into Paul's life, complications in hers hindering their fragile attempts to let their love blossom again. With Albert Paulsen as Emile Marnet, Patrick Horgan as Hank Rodgers, Emile Genest as Georges Corot, Ted Roter as Charles Pradier, Alex Hassilev as the First Mechanic, Louis de Farra as the Second Mechanic, Pamela Shuler as the Young Woman
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Episode 60
Season 2 - #30
First broadcast on
April 24, 1967
Television Story & Teleplay by Don Balluck
Based on a Teleplay by John W. Bloch
and Story by Patrick Kennedy
Directed by Alf Kjellin
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SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS OF ENTIRE CAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

Creative Team
Producer
Paul Freeman
Music
Pete Rugolo
Director of Photography
William Margulies A.S.C.
Art Director
Robert MacKichan
Film Editor
Carl Pingitore
Unit Manager
Hilton A. Green
Assistant Director
George Bisk
Set Decorators
John McCartey &
Robert C. Bradfield
Sound
James N. Moriarty
Color Coordinator
Robert Brower
Color by Technicolor
Editorial Dept. Head
Richard Belding
Musical Supervisor
Stanley Wilson
Costumes by Grady Hunt
Makeup
Bud Westmore
Hair Stylist
Larry Germain
Assistant to Executive Producer
Robert Foster
Links to Other Episodes
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Hank Rodgers takes Paul out in his race car
Paul's racing car is overtaken
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The Plot:
Paul has arrived in France to watch a motor race on the Mediterranean. His friend Hank Rodgers is expected to win, and takes him out for a spin in the car, then tempts Paul to drive it on his own, saying that he knows that Paul isn't motivated by a death wish, prone to risking his life for fun and profit like everyone else Hank knows. He adds that he believes that Paul cares very much about waking up the next day in one piece, so trusts him with the race car.
Still against the mechanic's advice, Paul takes the machine out and is soon plagued by a driver behind him, sounding their horn in an effort to overtake the racing car, and eventually, virtually running Paul off the road, and flying away. Livid, he takes after the vehicle at the high speeds of which the race car is capable, and finally tracks down the other fast vehicle. As they reach the cliffs over the sea the other driver, attempting to stay ahead, mismanages a tricky bend, and loses control of the car, ending up in some bushes by the side of the road.
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Nicole catches Paul approaching
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His anger not quite spent, Paul jumps out of his car to lend assistance, but just as eager, if the other person is all right, to deliver a piece of his mind for the dangerous driving exhibited.
His brisk step slows down when he sees a woman sitting at the wheel, and he calls out, “are you all right?”
She has obviously seen him walking up in her rear-view mirror and then recognized his voice, so it is with some composure that she turns to him and says hello.
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Nicole alights from the car in a detached manner
Paul is dazed as Nicole embraces him
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“Nicole!” he says, dumbfounded to see the face of the woman he'd asked to marry him, and she responds with pain, “I never thought I'd see you again.”
“You know I could never resist a race,” he answers, lightening the moment.
Ostensibly speaking of the driving incident, Nicole says that she should probably apologize, but says that she's not sorry, and Paul replies that he isn't either.
He opens her door, and Nicole gets out, then pauses as they regard one another almost as if the only history they have is the episode on the road, then she walks over to Paul's car.
He retrieves the suitcases out of her vehicle, and takes a few paces towards Nicole who remains standing, watching him.
Then she runs into his arms, and buries herself in his embrace, telling Paul how much she missed him. His expression is a mixture of pain and bewilderment. She turns away before he attempts to kiss her, but he really looks too dazed to have even thought of it.
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Paul says they should stop running away from one another
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He drives Nicole to her hotel, and she asks him obliquely about his situation, referring to the decision “they” made to part, and Paul's reply indicates that his prognosis is unchanged, “but maybe we don't have to run away from each other any more,” he adds. Before getting quickly out of the car, she indicates agreement.
In his room Paul opens his window and drapes, while Nicole does the opposite in hers. Moments in their love affair run through his mind, and hers as well, and her reverie is broken by the phone ringing, Paul at the other end, asking her to dinner.
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Nicole gives Paul a copy of her new book
Paul introduces Hank to Nicole
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After their drinks are served in the restaurant, Nicole places a package in front of Paul. Inside is a pre-publication copy of her new novel, “Le Mot Serait Adieu” (“The Word Would Be Goodbye”), a phrase she had used when they parted in Spain the previous year. Paul toasts the success of her new book.
Hank, who is with a woman at the bar, sees Paul, and goes over to say hello.
He is introduced to Nicole, and recognizes her name, but mistakes the title of her earlier novel to be The Happiness of a Sad Time instead of the Sadness of a Happy Time, saying he thought it was about people being only happy when times are sad.
“That only proves that you haven't read it,” she replies teasingly.
Hank asks Nicole if she is in town for the motor race, and he says he'll have to win for her. Paul invites Hank to join them, but he indicates his companion at the bar
When Paul and Nicole arrive at the door to her hotel, she kisses him, but quickly slips inside after declaring her love.
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Paul thinks about what Nicole said about leaving him
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As Paul walks away, a man emerges from the shadows, and goes into Nicole's hotel.
After their declaration that afternoon, Paul had expected to be with Nicole this night, and when he returns to his room, he takes out her new book, looking at the title as his mind floods with all the things she said about why she couldn't stay with him, and how he would see his fate in her eyes each time he looked at her, and never be able to forget.
He jumps up from the sofa, grabs his jacket, and races over to Nicole's hotel.
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Nicole sobs on the bed
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Voices are coming from her room, causing him to step back before knocking.
A man is speaking accusingly in French, and Nicole can be heard sobbing. He is telling her that she is foolish, and acting as if her life was a novel she was writing.
Then, apologetically, he attempts to embrace her, but is put off.
Paul walks away, but then there is a sudden crash in the room, and he turns back and bursts in the door.
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Nicole pleads with Paul to wait
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“Marvelous. Enter the hero,” declares the man sarcastically. Paul first asks if Nicole is all right, and the man says, “you think that she is hurt? No. I am hurt …. And possibly you are hurt. But she, she's only crying.”
Paul walks over to Nicole and asks, “who is he?” She only sobs, but the man says, “I'm her husband.”
At that Paul turns and leaves. Nicole gets up and runs out into the hall after him, calling, “Paul, please!” He stops, and she says that she was going to tell him.
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Paul has made up his mind to leave
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But he replies tersely, “what we said this afternoon, we were kidding ourselves. I came here to tell you that. I'm leaving in the morning.”
He turns to go then, but she stops him, and says, “oh no, don't go …. not until we talk. You came here to see a race. Stay at least until then. Please.”
Paul doesn't reply, but turns and leaves. Nicole returns to the room, regarding her husband from the doorway.
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Paul admits Nicole's husband into his room
"She's your wife," Paul says
Marnet advises Paul to listen to him
Paul listens with barely supressed loathing
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In the morning Paul calls Hank to say that he'll now be leaving right after the race, so the driver suggests he drop by the garage for a while.
As he hangs up from the call there is a knock on Paul's hotel door, and the visitor is Nicole's husband. He says that he must talk to Paul, then asks, “do you know who I am?” Paul replies that he's Nicole's husband, but the man says, “besides that?”
When Paul says no, his visitor identifies himself as Emile Marnet, and Paul indicates that in any other circumstances, he'd be honored.
Marnet apologizes about the previous night, and asks to sit down, then says that the purpose of his visit is to explain the nature of his relationship with Nicole.
“She's your wife,” states Paul sourly, as if to say that there is nothing more to explain.
Marnet says that he and Nicole were married for three days, but decided to keep it a secret, then adds, “what we didn't know was that it was a secret even to us,” and that it was never consummated and a marriage only in the official sense, now being annulled.
“You want something from me,” responds Paul hostilely. “Tell me what it is.”
Marnet replies that what he has to say is difficult enough without having to deal with Paul's impatience. Pointing his finger at Paul, he adds, “what I have to say is important for you to understand.”
He tells Paul that throughout the world he is known for his writings, but in France, he has the misfortune of being regarded as an ambulatory national monument - not for his ideas, but the work he did in the Underground during World War II - and that people have difficulty thinking of him as flesh and blood, Nicole included. Throughout this speech Paul is looking darkly at his visitor.
Marnet asks Paul if he is familiar with his writing, and when Paul answers affirmatively, Marnet says that he must be aware of his belief that when one is able to identify with some cherished value, then one must live for that value and nothing else.
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Marnet declares that he cherishes Nicole
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“And I cherish Nicole,” he declares passionately.
“So do I!” interjects Paul.
“But in a different way,” insists Marnet.
“Which brings me to my first question,” replies Paul, “what do you want from me?”
“I want Nicole,” Marnet answers, “I love her. More than my own life …. And I think she loves me.” He says his uncertainty is because Nicole, though in so many ways a woman, is also in many ways a child.
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Marnet believes the woman in Nicole loves him
Marnet says something in Paul hurt Nicole
Paul is enraged at Marnet's request
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“The woman in her loved me, and …. I think, still does,” he adds with consternation, then says that he's come to Paul to ask him to leave.
“I think you'd better leave,” responds Paul with barely suppressed anger.
“Please hear me out!” insists Marnet
But Paul rises, saying, “I've heard you.”
“Not the most important part, you haven't - why you should leave.”
Marnet says that he knows that Paul and Nicole were in love before he met her, and that their romance ended as abruptly as it began.
He says that Paul hurt her deeply.
Marnet says that he doesn't know what happened or why, but he feels sure that the cause of the breakup was because of something in Paul.
Turning away, Paul acknowledges that Marnet is right, and the something that caused Nicole to part from him was in himself, and nothing has changed. Paul says he is therefore leaving right after the motor race.
“But it has nothing to do with you,” declares Paul antagonistically, “as a matter of fact, if I had a choice, I'd stay because of what you just said.”
Marnet says that he doesn't understand, and Paul retorts, “you're a fraud! You're not interested in protecting Nicole. You're interested in protecting Emile Marnet.”
On that line Paul's visitor departs.
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Nicole tells Paul she's asked Emil to leave
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At the race Nicole comes and sits next to Paul. She thanks him for staying, and apologizes for embarrassing him with the problems of herself and Emile.
“Less embarrassed than angry,” Paul replies, asking her, in a very neutral and ambivalent tone, to give Emile his apologies, Paul's attention remaining on the race. Nicole says that she won't be seeing Emile, and that he has left for Paris. These remarks draw Paul's interest, and he says that he doesn't understand, having informed Emile that he was leaving the city.
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Hank shows Nicole that he's reading her book
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She says it's because she asked him to, and told him that she wouldn't change her mind, and there was no reason to stay.
They don't speak again, and Paul concentrates on the race which suddenly takes a terrible turn when Hank's car loses a wheel and crashes. He's just managed to stagger from the vehicle when it explodes in fire.
Paul and Nicole go to visit the badly injured driver in the hospital, but he is in good spirits, and reading “The Sadness of a Happy Time.”
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Hank says nothing would stop him racing cars
Paul offers to bring Hank some drink
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He compliments Nicole lavishly, and she says that she might send him others, but he says they won't be as good if they don't have her picture on the back cover.
Paul discovers that Hank hopes to be back on the race track in a couple months, but says he thought that the driver might have considered giving up the sport. However, Hank says that he'd rather die first, and that risking his life is part of the game.
“If you need something, you'd be only half alive without it. It really doesn't matter what the risks are,” he philosophizes. Paul and Nicole exchange serious glances, causing Hank to lament that he's depressed them when they came to cheer him up.
Paul changes the subject and declares that he'll watch Hank's next race if the driver promises to win it, adding that they didn't come just to talk to him, but would like to know what they could bring him. Hank makes a joke about getting him a bottle of local wine, but when they turn to go, he points out that a small bottle will require only one of them to carry it, and Nicole can stay and keep him company while Paul fetches the secret package.
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Paul and Nicole laugh with joy
Declaring his love, Paul whirls Nicole around
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Later Nicole and Paul go to the beach together, and as he thinks about Hank's comment about living with risk, Paul bursts out laughing, saying that he thought he'd asked all the questions about life and death, and believed he'd found the answer.
But then he discovered that he hadn't at all, and it took a race driver to find it for him. Paul laughs that Hank turned out to be the greatest thinker and philosopher when he said, “if you want something badly enough - you're only half alive without it - it really doesn't matter what the risks are.”
Nicole tells him that, if he is willing to accept the risk, she is too.
They both jump up and embrace. “Oh, I love you,” he declares intensely, and after kissing her, Paul picks Nicole up in his arms, and whirls her around and around, shouting out “I love you, I love you, I love you” over and over, obviously as happy as in love.
Nicole rings Emile at the home of his friend Charles Pradier. What she tells him leaves the writer shaken and weak.
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They share a renewal of their happiness in Spain
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Paul and Nicole depart France for Spain, and return to the pension where they stayed together the previous year in a Catalonian beach town
On the terrace in front of their rooms, she remarks with joy how nothing has changed.
They walk through a market, and Nicole's eye catches a bird. The seller brings it down for her and Paul purchases it. Nicole watches the bird in the cage, then takes it out in her hand and releases it.
They are happy and in love.
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Marnet's friend gives them a tip to his whereabouts
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The couple are only a short time in Spain when news arrives for Nicole that Emile Marnet has gone missing, most likely as a result of her phone call. Paul and Nicole travel to Paris, and visit Marnet's publisher and best friend, Georges Corot, who is aware of the marriage and annulment. He says that he's already told the police everything he knows, but prodded by Paul's implication that Marnet's life is at stake, Geneste reveals awareness that his friend's childhood home in Paris remains vacant, and having checked into the matter, came to the conclusion that Marnet still owned it.
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Nicole is in tears when she sees Paul
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With that tip Paul and Nicole race to the address given by Geneste, and find Marnet near death from a possible combination of alcohol and sleeping tablets, his wedding ring clutched tightly in his hand.
The brief time Paul and Nicole have had together is over, and he is at the airport, checking in for a flight to Rome when he hears Nicole call him. He hurries to her
“I know that I shouldn't have come,” she says, and then breaks down, repeating her words.
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They kiss goodbye
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He looks into her eyes kindly. She then throws her arms around him desperately, and they kiss.
“Nicole,” he murmurs softly, “Nicole, come with me.”
She pulls away, and he implores again gently, “come with me now.”
“I can't,” she sobs, and explains that Marnet would try and kill himself again if she left him. “He told me he would,” she says, “and that no one would be able to prevent it.”
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"I couldn't live with it"
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Paul looks at her gravely, almost incredulously.
“And I couldn't live with it,” she says tearfully, then asks, “could you, Paul?”
The last call is made for his flight. Distracted for a moment, he turns back to her, and she asks again helplessly, “could you?”
She embraces him again, and he puts his hand to her head, and holds her close and lovingly, then turns and walks towards the gate without looking back.
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Claudine Longet
as Nicole Longet
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Albert Paulsen
as Emile Marnet
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Patrick Horgan
as Hank Rodgers
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Emile Genest as
Georges Corot
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Alex Hassilev as
the 1st Mechanic
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Louis de Farra as
the 2nd Mechanic
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Pamela Shuler as
the Young Woman
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