Harry Morgan was preceded by Ben Alexander as Sgt. Friday’s partner.
1951 television series
Main article: List of Dragnet episodes (1951 series)
In 1951, about a year and a half in to the radio series, Dragnet branched out from radio in to television. This first run of the TV series consisted of 276 original episodes. For the first 3 episodes, Friday’s partner was Sergeant Ben Romero played by Barton Yarborough as in the radio show. The day after he filmed the second episode, he suffered a heart attack and died four days later at age 51. For the next 18 episodes, Friday’s partner was Detective Sergeant Ed Jacobs played by Barney Phillips. For the last 255 episodes, Friday’s partner was Officer Frank Smith first played by Herb Ellis until Alexander became available..