In honor of John Houseman’s birthday (see full tribute here). From 1978 to 1986, Houseman reprised his role as the SOB with a secret heart of gold Harvard Law School professor Charles Kingsfield in the tv version of The Paper Chase. Based on the 1973 movie and the earlier novel by John Jay Osborne, it concerns the travails of a young law student from rural Minnesota (played on the show by James Stephens) and the culture clash he experiences at Harvard. The show was wildly popular, and part of our lives for years, but I’ve never seen it in reruns.