28 Original episodes, plus the feature-length pilot In March 1967, NBC broke new ground in television programming by using a world premiere, feature-length movie as the preview of a potential new series called Ironside. The response was overwhelming. From 1967 to 1975, Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) celebrated his second major television hit. Set during the turbulent '60s, Ironside confronted the hottest issues of its time—civil rights, drugs, hippies, rock 'n' roll—and gave television its first disabled hero. Left wheelchair-bound by a sniper's bullet, long-time San Francisco Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside (Burr), becomes the head of his own special police unit. Operating from a specially equipped office at SFPD headquarters, Ironside fights crime using intelligence and action. His crack team includes Sgt. Ed Brown (Don Galloway), ex-con-turned-assistant Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), and beautiful policewoman Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson, who won an Emmy® for this role). Ironside's inaugural season attracted many special guest stars—including Jack Lord, Susan Saint James, David Carradine and Gary Collins, among many others—as it began its eight-year run as destination television for millions of Americans.