Joe Friday

Infobox character
colour =#bfdfff
name =Joe Friday


caption =
first ="Dragnet"
last ="Dragnet" "2003"
cause =
alias =
gender =Male
age =
born =
death =
occupation =Los Angeles Police officer
title =
family =
spouse =
children =
relatives =
episode =
portrayer =Jack Webb
Dan Aykroyd
Ed O'Neill
creator =
lbl21 = Rank
data21 = Sergeant
Detective III (2003)

Detective Sergeant Joe Friday is a fictional character created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb (1920–1982) on "Dragnet". The series ran on radio (1949–1956) and television (1951–1959 and 1967–1970), and there was also a theatrical film (1954) and a TV-movie (1969).

His final partner (on the late 1960's TV series) was Officer Bill Gannon, played by actor Harry Morgan. Over the earlier run of the series, Friday was partnered with Sgt. Ben Romero (played by Barton Yarborough), Sgt. Ed Jacobs (played by Barney Phillips), Officer Frank Smith (played first by Herbert Ellis and then by Ben Alexander), and ultimately Gannon.

During the 1958–1959 season Friday was promoted to lieutenant. However, when the show returned in 1967 he was back to the sergeant rank without any on-screen explanation. (Webb later explained that in reality the lieutenant rank was more of a supervisory position and involved less investigatory time in the field, which would change the structure of the show.)

Friday made famous the line "My name is Friday—I'm a cop," (the latter part later changed to "I carry a badge") said in the introductory narration of every TV episode. Supposedly, he also made the line, "Just the facts, Ma'am," famous. In fact, what Friday actually said in an early episode is "All we want are the facts." However, Friday, as portrayed by Webb, never actually said the oft-repeated phrase.

"Dragnet" used Joe Friday's police badge as its title logo. When Webb died in 1982, Chief Darryl Gates of the Los Angeles Police Department officially retired Joe Friday's shield number, which was 714. In reality, the badge was actually that of LAPD Sergeant Dan Cooke who lent it to the series. "Dragnet" and "Adam-12" were the only television shows to use real LAPD badges.

In 1987, actor Dan Aykroyd starred as Joe Friday, supposedly the original Joe Friday's nephew, in the comedy film "Dragnet".

Ed O'Neill starred as Joe Friday in Wolf Films' 2003 revival of "Dragnet". Since LAPD had discontinued the rank of Detective Sergeant, replacing it with the rank of Detective Three, or D-3, the rank banner on Friday's badge now said "Detective" instead of "Sergeant," and Friday was referred to as "Detective Friday" instead of "Sergeant Friday." During the first season of the series, Friday's partner was named "Frank Smith," but unlike the character played by Alexander and Ellis on the original series, this Frank Smith, as played by Ethan Embry, was not an experienced, veteran officer, but a young detective being mentored by Friday. On this show, Friday spoke the phrase, "Just the facts."

References

* [http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/dragnet.htm Snopes.com]