October 29: Definitive Danno

By Sylvia Gurinsky

The sad news of James MacArthur's death at the relatively young age of 72 was surprising. MacArthur will eternally be the boyish Hawaii Five-O detective Danny Williams - forever "Danno" - in the original version of the series.

Here are a few definitive "Five-O" episodes centered around Danny. All are available on DVD:

*"And They Painted Daisies On His Coffin" (Season 1): Danny shoots a teenager who is apparently unarmed. But Danny insists the boy had a gun. Where is it?

*"Most Likely To Murder" (Season 2): Tom Skerrit ("Picket Fences") guest-stars as Lew Morgan, Danny's childhood friend and a police officer, whose wife is murdered.

*"Beautiful Screamer" (Season 3): Danny's girlfriend, played by Anne Archer ("Fatal Attraction") is murdered, and an emotional Danny tries to find out who did it and why.

*"Pig In a Blanket" (Season 5): Somewhat similar to "Daisies" in that Danny shoots an unarmed teen. Is it in revenge for the murder of a police officer who is Danny's friend?

*"Retire In Sunny Hawaii....Forever" (Season 8): MacArthur's real-life mother, Helen Hayes, guest-stars as Danny's Aunt Clara Williams and helps Five-O solve the murder of a friend of hers. Stage and screen star Charles Durning is also in this episode, as a baddie.

Aloha and Mahalo, Danno.