1965: The Cinemobile makes location filming easier

Bill Cosby and Robert Culp in a 1965 publicity still for I Spy

h/t to Barbara K. Emmanuele for research help and advice.

Almost 60 years ago, a vehicle known as the Cinemobile helped to make filming outside the U.S. practical for American television shows. One of the first examples was I Spy (1965-68).

The series, starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby, was a highlight of the 1960s spy craze. Socially, it was important because it had a white man and a black man cast as equal partners.

But the series also featured scenes filmed in Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Mexico, and other locations. Contemporary spy shows such as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., by contrast, were filmed within 30 miles of Culver City, California, utilizing the extensive backlots (at that time) of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

For I Spy, the Cinemobile made filming outside the U.S. possible. It was invented by Egypt-born Fouad Said.

A 1971 article in The New York Times said each Cinemobile “is a self‐contained movie studio with highly compact cameras, lights, sound recorders, sets, kitchens and dressing rooms. They are replacing the old-fashioned vans used in the past for each type of equipment and thus cutting production costs.”

On I Spy, Said acted as location director of photography. Episodes were finished up in California at Desilu Studios, where I Spy leased stage space.

By the end of the 1960s, other U.S. series traveled outside the country to film. Audiences now demanded realistic filming of what were once exotic locales.