November 6, 1977: "I, Claudius" Premieres On American Television

November 6, 1977: I, Claudius makes its American television debut, as part of PBS' anthology series Masterpiece Theatre.

Directed by Herbert Wise, and based on the 1934 novel of the same title, and its 1935 sequel Claudius the God, both by Robert Graves, the 13-part, 13-hour series had first aired on British network BBC2 from September 20 to December 6, 1976.

The series begins before the birth of the title character, in 24 BC, under the reign of the 1st Emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus (played by Brian Blessed), nephew of Julius Caesar. His wife, Livia (Siân Phillips), schemes to make Tiberius (George Baker), her son from a previous marriage, Augustus' heir, and it works, as Tiberius is proclaimed Emperor at Augustus' death in AD 14.

But he proves to be an unfit ruler, and when he dies in AD 37, his grandson, Caligula (John Hurt), becomes Emperor. He proves to be even more unfit, and, in 41, he is assassinated by his own guards. They name Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Claudius (Derek Jacobi, Ashley Knight as a boy), the new Emperor. He is Tiberius' nephew, Augustus' grandson, and therefore Caligula's uncle.

Julius, Augustus, Tiberius and Caligula reigned through fear. Nobody was afraid of Claudius: He had a stutter, seemed not to be very smart, had no ambition to be Emperor, and had offended no one -- qualities that allowed people to rally around him.

But the fact that no one was afraid of him meant that people could get away with outrageous things under his reign. This included his wife, Messalina (Sheila White), and his boyhood friend, Herod Agrippa (James Faulkner), grandson of the Bible's figure Herod the Great. While Herod helped install Claudius in power, and ruled what became the Holy Land after his father and grandfather (after the time Jesus walked the Earth), he betrayed Claudius, a fact not supported by the real surviving history of Rome. That history does support Messalina endlessly cheating on him, and being executed for it.

Toward the end of the series, Claudius is tricked into marrying his own niece and Augustus' great-granddaughter, Agrippina the Younger (Barbara Young), who follows Livia's example, and schemes to get her son, who is not the Emperor's son, onto the throne after him. This is the dimwitted Nero (Christopher Biggins).

Claudius accepts that, at some point, Agrippina will poison him. In AD 54, it happens, and 17-year-old Nero rises to the throne. But Claudius has left behind a memoir, and he hopes it will be discovered. The novel and miniseries are said to be that memoir.

The real Claudius was 64 at the time of his death. Nero, of course, went on to have his mother killed. The story that he fiddled while Rome burned is a myth: Not only was the violin or fiddle not yet invented at the time of the AD 64 fire, but Nero -- who did play a stringed instrument, a lyre -- wasn't even in the city at the time. And, while an old proverb says, "Rome wasn't built in a day," it burned on many days. The reason the fire in 64 gets remembered so much is that early Christians saw Nero persecuting him, and wanted to depict him as an even bigger monster than he actually was. He was overthrown in 68, and committed suicide before he could be captured, at 31.

In addition to the preceding, the notable actors from the series included Patrick Stewart as Sejanus, Tiberius' top military aide, executed for treason in AD 31; John Rhys-Davies as Naevius Sutorius Macro, a member of the Praetorian Guard; and future Manimal star Simon MacCorkindale as Lucius Caesar, a grandson of Augustus and cousin of Claudius', who could have become heir had he not died of a sudden illness at age 19.

At the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards, Jacobi won Best Actor, and Phillips won Best Actress. PBS audiences loved it, although it won only one 1978 Emmy Award, with Tim Harvey being honored for Best Art Direction. It has gotten good ratings every time it's been aired on PBS.

The creators of later series Dynasty, The Sopranos, House of Cards (which was a British series airing in America on Masterpiece Theatre before it was an American series airing on Netflix) and Game of Thrones have cited I, Claudius as an inspiration. The character of Livia Soprano, Tony Soprano's mother, played by Nancy Marchand, was styled after, and named for, Phillips' Livia.

Robert Graves died in 1985, Simon MacCorkindale in 2010, George Baker in 2011, Herbert Wise in 2015, John Hurt in 2017, Sheila White in 2018. As of November 6, 2022, Derek Jacobi, Ashley Knight, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, James Faulkner, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Rhys-Davies, Barbara Young and Christopher Biggins are still alive.

UPDATE: Young died in 2023.

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November 6, 1977 was a Sunday. These games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 24-10 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins, 14-10 at Shea Stadium.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots, 24-14 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New Orleans Saints, 28-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 10-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Chicago Bears, 47-0 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 10-7 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Lions beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-0 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 27-7 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Green Bay Packers, 20-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-7 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 44-7 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Baltimore Colts beat their inter-conference neighbors, the Washington Redskins, 10-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 106-102 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Washington Bullets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 108-97 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Indiana Pacers, 108-106 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Kansas City Kings beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 99-83 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* Thew New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 5-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Gilbert Perreault scored 3 goals and had 2 assists.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Cleveland Barons, 4-1 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. The Barons' failure meant that Ohio vs. Michigan never became the kind of rivalry in the NHL that it is in college football, the NFL, the NBA, or even in baseball. The coming of the Columbus Blue Jackets hasn't been able to establish it as such, either.

* And the Atlanta Flames and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

And there were 2 games played in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 5-2 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati. And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Houston Aeros, 7-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.