I Led 3 Lives
Herbert Philbrick was a young professional and pacifist in 1939 Boston. He joined an anti-war group and quickly found himself caught up in the secret world of underground communist activity. He agreed to spy on the Communists for the FBI, and spent the next 9 years of his life as a Communist, FBI spy, and Communist counter-spy, since they had asked him to follow other comrades to test their loyalty. Hence the 3 lives; and his family, co-workers, and church never knew. This TV show is based on the TRUE story of how Philbrick (played ably by Richard Carlson) could never relax, but had to sneak to secret cell meetings and meet FBI agents in clandestine places to make info drops, never knowing when he might be found out, and if he would live to see the next rendezvous.
- 1953-1956
- 3 seasons
- Drama
Herbert Philbrick was a young professional and pacifist in 1939 Boston. He joined an anti-war group and quickly found himself caught up in the secret world of underground communist activity. He agreed to spy on the Communists for the FBI, and spent the next 9 years of his life as a Communist, FBI spy, and Communist counter-spy, since they had asked him to follow other comrades to test their loyalty. Hence the 3 lives; and his family, co-workers, and church never knew. This TV show is based on the TRUE story of how Philbrick (played ably by Richard Carlson) could never relax, but had to sneak to secret cell meetings and meet FBI agents in clandestine places to make info drops, never knowing when he might be found out, and if he would live to see the next rendezvous.
Season 3 Episode Guide
39 Episodes 1955 - 1956
Episode 1
Housebreaking
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick returns from vacation to find his house has been burgled. The comrades have broken in to check for any incriminating evidence linking him to the FBI.
Episode 2
Attack Area
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Comrade Nycheck delivers a mysterious crate to be hidden in Philbrick's garage. It contains ten packs of TNT that the comrades intend to explode around the city.
Episode 3
Sacrificed
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick's cell decide to make a sacrifice. He must turn himself in to the FBI in order to take the heat off more important party member Colonel Paxton.
Episode 4
Athlete
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Episode 5
Eva Sick
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
While collecting secret papers for the party, Philbrick hears that his wife Eva is sick in hospital. Distracted and concerned, he mislays the papers and so must retrace his steps to recover the documents.
Episode 6
Lawyer
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick is asked by his cell to persuade a lawyer friend to defend Comrade Zack who is accused of assaulting a union official.
Episode 7
Newsreel
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Top commie Marvin Tanner has taken over the Aurora Newsreel Company. His plan is to send standard newsreels out to cinemas, but each one will have phony inserts containing anti-American propaganda.
Episode 8
Common Denominator
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick is tested by a suspicious comrade who creates a false assassination scenario involving a visiting Latin American official.
Episode 9
Ex G.I.
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
A Russian army friend of Philbrick's from WW2 turns up in America. He is now a top Soviet official who wants to defect, but the comrades think otherwise.
Episode 10
Stolen Passport
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Canadian commies in Ottawa send one of their comrades to Los Angeles on a phony passport. He is to spy on a guided missile site and Philbrick is assigned to help.
Episode 11
Prisoner
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Key commie James Swasey is sent to prison for subversive activities. Fearful that he may divulge party secrets to reduce his sentence, the comrades assign Philbrick to arrange his execution.
Episode 12
Exchange Student
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
In his capacity as committee chairman of the University Club, Philbrick welcomes a group of exchange students from Europe. The comrades, however, have arranged to employ one of the students as secret courier.
Episode 13
Instructional Camp
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick is assigned to train Soviet propaganda experts.
Episode 14
Phony Brother
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick accompanies refugees from Eastern Europe, Lottie Carp and her brother Peter, on an anti-Communist lecture tour of America. However, the reds have substituted Peter for a lookalike who plans to set up a spy ring.
Episode 15
Second Courier
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick takes over the courier assignment of a mysterious heavy typewriter case. On the train journey he realizes that it's a napalm bomb that has gone into its countdown.
Episode 16
Trapped
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Ruthless Comrade Martha from Berlin tells Philbrick to deliver a bag of counterfeit dollars to a secret address. Whilst spying on the money he is locked in a secret room. How will he get out?
Episode 17
Central American
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The party send Philbrick to the Central American Republic of Panagua where he will be expected to help Communist guerrillas overthrow the democratic government.
Episode 18
The Mother in Law
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The party send Philbrick and wife Eva on the midnight train to Davistown, leaving their children at home with Eva's mother. When the mother in law comes across some Communist paperwork, she wonders whether to report her suspicions.
Episode 19
Kidnap
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
When the son of an important member of the German Communist Party requests asylum after stowing away on a plane from Germany to the United States, Philbrick is ordered by his cell to kidnap the youth and return him to his father.
Episode 20
Historical Society
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The reds are discrediting dead American heroes with false information.
Episode 21
Hit and Run
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Comrade Sonia lends Philbrick's car to another party member who then runs down a pedestrian. The police are after Philbrick, but what can he say to them?
Episode 22
New Member
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick is asked to screen Steven Burke, a hopeful candidate for party membership. However, Burke has a secret that he wishes to keep from the comrades.
Episode 23
Missing
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick is ordered to work on an assignment to kill two party deserters.
Episode 24
Dead Man
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The comrades order Philbrick to pose as an FBI agent.
Episode 25
Commie Photo
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The Soviet secret police send over Comrade Anna to Philbrick's cell to organize some purges. The FBI manage to photograph her and discover she was previously a Gestapo exterminator at Dachau concentration camp.
Episode 26
Airman
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The reds fly Philbrick to West Germany where he will help to sabotage a US air base.
Episode 27
Detectoscope
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The reds are adapting household vacuum cleaners to neutralize US interceptor rockets. This will enable incoming Communist missiles to get through.
Episode 28
Radioactive
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick is asked to find a woman suspected by the FBI of stealing a nuclear isotope to sell to the reds. When he enters her house he discovers it to be filled with deadly radioactivity.
Episode 29
The Fiancee
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The FBI becomes suspicious of a pretty student in Philbrick's communist indoctrination course. Her fiancé is a scientist working on a top-secret project and federal agents are convinced that sweet brunette is stealing classified information and passing it to a contact in the class.
Episode 30
Counterspy's Wife
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The comrades want Philbrick to help them infiltrate the Youth Group of America, but the strain of having a husband with three lives is becoming too much for wife Eva.
Episode 31
Public Idol
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick's advertising firm arranges for famous athlete (and ex-commie) Barry Collins to go on a promotional tour for sporting goods. However, the reds don't want their ex-member to prosper as a capitalist and try to frame him for murder.
Episode 32
Dynamite
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Disgruntled cell member Berrigan plots against cell leader Oswald and is condemned. His solution is to demolish the rest of the cell, including Philbrick, with dynamite.
Episode 33
Legation
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
A beautiful pianist who escaped from Russia is kidnapped while on her concert tour.
Episode 34
Discredit Police
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The party ask Philbrick to obtain marked ransom money from a dangerous killer. He then has to plant the money in the house of a police captain.
Episode 35
Heart Attack
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Comrade Gayman dies of a heart attack during a cell meeting to plan the Communist revolution of a free foreign country. Left alone with a dead body, Philbrick must not only explain it away to the police, but also tell the FBI of the plot.
Episode 36
Eva Purged
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Heartless cell leader Comrade Karen orders Eva Philbrick to move location and leave her children behind. When Eva shows reluctance she is expelled from the Communist Party and husband Herb is ordered to leave her.
Episode 37
Student Contest
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
The comrades send Philbrick on a propaganda exercise behind the Iron Curtain at a Czech university. The party hope to influence young people by rigging an international essay-writing competition so that only Communist students win.
Episode 38
Rendezvous
Mon, Sep 7, 2026
A former Nazi joins the Communist Party and brings with him the black arts of his previous regime.
Episode 39
Commie Son
Mon, Sep 7, 2026 30 mins
Philbrick's neighbour Mrs Hawkins discovers her son Steve is a Communist. How can Philbrick bring Steve to his senses without getting into trouble with his own cell?