Ishi: The Last of His Tribe

(NBC, 12/20/1978, 120 mins). A touching dramatization of a short chapter of American history, tracing the life of the last Yahi Indian from his childhood to his death in 1917 and the story of his friendship with an anthropologist after his discovery in northern California in 1911. Veteran writer Dalton Trumbo died before finishing the teleplay that his son completed. Based on Theodora Kroeber’s 1963 book “Ishi in Two Worlds.”

Production Company An Edward and Mildred Lewis Production. Director Robert Ellis Miller. Executive Producers Edward Lewis, Mildred Lewis. Producer James F Sommers. Teleplay Christopher Trumbo, Dalton Trumbo. Based on a Novel by Theodore Kroeber Quinn. Photography Woody Omens. Music Maurice Jarre. Editors Argyle Nelson, Harold Wilner. Art Director Mort Rabinowitz.

Cast Dennis Weaver (Prof. Benjamin Fuller), Eloy Phil Casados (Ishi as an adult), Devon Ericson (Lushi as a teenager), Joaquin Martinez (Grandfather), Geno Silva (Elder Uncle), Joseph Runningfox (Ishi as a teenager), Lois Red Elk (Grandmother), Gregory Norman Cruz (Timawi as a teenager), Arliene Nofchissey Williams (Mother), Michael Medina (Ishi as a boy), Patricia Ganera (Lushi as a girl), Eddy Marquez (Timawi as a boy), Dennis Dimster (Tad Fuller), Wayne Heffley (Sheriff Lockhart), Peter Brandon (Dr. Robbins), Missy Gold (Little girl), Jay W. MacIntosh (Music hall singer), Ernest D. Paul (Barton).