Jonathan
Smith - The spiritual
drama
HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN/NBC/1984-89 starred Michael
Landon as a "honest" lawyer named Arthur Gordon who died in
1948. In heaven, God makes Arthur a probationary Angel and
sends him back to earth in the guise of Jonathan Smith. His mission: to help and council the troubled and the needy. Beginning his assignment alone, Jonathan later partners with a cynical, bearded ex-Oakland cop named Mark Gordon (Victor French), who likes to wear an A's baseball cap.
They drive from assignment to assignment in Mark's aging grey Ford LTD sedan (license plate: IDTD458) which on many occasions breaks down, but through the power of God (a.k.a. "The Boss") and some good old fashioned elbow grease Mark away finds a way to get the car going again.
Over the five years they were
on the road, Jonathan and Mark interceded in the lives of
people who were lonely, desperate or dying. They befriended
those with cancer, the elderly in retirement homes, the
physically challenged (amputees, blind, disfigured, mentally
ill, etc.), football players addicted to pills, disillusioned
movie stars, corrupt politicians, a grieving veteran WWII
pilot whose son was killed in Vietnam, bickering divorced
parents fighting over custody of the children, Nazi death camp
survivors, a heartless business man, and basically those who
needed a second chance to get their lives together. Jonathan
even turned from an angel to a werewolf one Halloween night to
help a boy overcome his fear of monsters. And once one
Christmas Eve, Jonathan and Mark like the three ghosts in
Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol gave several men a
look at their future.
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|
Mark Gordon |
Occasionally,
along the way, both Jonathan and Mark lost faith in God but
they always found a way back to their mission.
Once, the Devil himself interfered with Mark when he accidentally ran over a girl.
In
his frenzy, Mark mistakenly sells his soul to Satan
in exchange of the girl's life. But through a little slight of
hand, Jonathan manages to retrieve the contract and resume
their
mission on earth.
Jonathan, too, made mistakes. Once
he used his angelic powers to lash out at some bullies and
lost his job for a time, until Mark's good deeds helped
Jonathan get reinstated. And when Jonathan learns his wife,
Jane Gordon (Dorothy McGuire) was dying, he hates God
when He fails to reunite him with his wife in death. But
God had a plan and Jonathan soon dealt with his
disappointment and resumed his role as an angel.
See also "TV
Character Bios:
"Jonathan Smith"
