Former radio and TV writer Sheldon Reynolds impressed Hollywood in 1951 when, at the age of only 26, he began producing Foreign Intrigue, a half-hour espionage drama shot entirely on location in Europe. Running for four seasons on NBC, the series' international success allowed Reynolds to step up to features and tap Robert Mitchum for a leading man (reuse of the title Foreign Intrigue for the unrelated 1956 release was at the prerogative of distributor United Artists). Too independent to be anchored at one studio, Reynolds preferred to work abroad and in London created the situation comedy Dick and the Duchess, starring Patrick O'Neal and Hazel Court as mismatched newlyweds: he an American insurance agent, she the heir to an aristocratic British family. For his 1969 feature Assignment to Kill (shot in 1966 under the working title The Assignment), Reynolds reteamed with O'Neal, whom he cast as yet another insurance investigator named Richard, tasked this time with running down fraud and felony in Switzerland. A celebrated stage actor who found it difficult to achieve a similar success in Hollywood, O'Neal was at this time enjoying a brief tenure as a headliner, before problems with alcohol knocked him back to the ranks of supporting players, in such films as The Way We Were (1973) and The Stepford Wives (1975). Assignment to Kill was the last feature-length outing for Reynolds, who remained active afterwards bringing the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to West German television.

By Richard Harland Smith