[2] Rocky Fortune aired Tuesday nights on NBC at 9:35 pm Eastern, immediately following Dragnet (and a five-minute John Cameron Swayze newscast).
Frank Sinatra portrayed Rocco Fortunato, also known as Rocky Fortune, a young man of several talents constantly in need of employment and who accepts odd jobs from the fictitious Gridley Employment Agency,[2] often referred to simply as "the Agency."
During the course of the series, he would work as a process server, museum tour guide, cabbie, bodyguard, chauffeur, truck driver, social director for a Catskills resort and a carny, in addition to various musical jobs.
Aside from Sinatra, the only other recurring role on the series was that of Hamilton J. Finger, a solid and dependable (though not very intelligent) police sergeant played by Barney Phillips.
Other guest roles on Rocky Fortune were filled by actors such as Raymond Burr, Ed Begley and Jack Kruschen.
The two had previously collaborated on other radio programs such as X Minus One and Dimension X: in the episode "Rocket Racket", Fortune's job is apparently to fly a prototype spaceship.
An eccentric oil millionaire tells of his fascination with science fiction and space travel, to which Rocky knowingly acknowledges, "Dimension X."
Edward "Eddie" King was the show's narrator,[4] who began each episode by stating, "NBC presents Frank Sinatra, starring as that footloose and fancy-free young gentleman, Rocky Fortune!"
The final episode, "Boarding House Doublecross", aired on March 30, 1954, less than a week after Sinatra won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Private Angelo Maggio in the 1953 film, From Here to Eternity.