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Carroll O'Connor

Chief William O. 'Bill' Gillespie

Howard E. Rollins Jr.

Chief of Detectives Virgil Tibbs
(as Howard Rollins)

Alan Autry

Sgt. V. L. 'Bubba' Skinner

Anne-Marie Johnson

Althea Tibbs

Lois Nettleton

Joanne St. John

David Hart

Officer Parker Williams

Geoffrey Thorne

Officer Wilson Sweet

Hugh O'Connor

Cpl. Lonnie Jamison

O.J. Simpson

Councilman Lawson Stiles

Lonnie R. Smith Jr.

Wade Britton
(as Lonnie Smith)

Randi Layne

Diane Britton

Darnell Williams

Bobby Dobbs

Fred Covington

Red Cahill

Tom Even

Harry Starr

Ted Manson

Sam Byrnes

Dianne Butler

Charlene
(as Diane Butler)

Shilla Benning

Angie Dupree

Dan Biggers

Dr. Frank Robb

Director
- Russ Mayberry
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Trivia
All entries contain spoilers

Goofs
When the injured worker is being loaded into the ambulance, you will notice the outline of half of the state of Georgia (not Mississippi) on the rear door. As it leaves the area you will also notice the side logos are blanked out. This is because they were using vehicles from the filming location in Covington, Georgia. Later in the series, as the budget increased, they corrected this goof by having a Mississippi state outline instead (on the rear and sides).

Quotes
Sgt. V. L. 'Bubba' Skinner: People gettin' their throat sliced right and left, snowin' in Mississippi, what the hell's goin' on here, Virgil?

Soundtracks
The Thrill Is Gone
(uncredited)
Written by Roy Hawkins & Rick Darnell
On the radio in Stiles' house

This In The Heat Of The Night episode has O.J. Simpson as a guest star and a murder victim. Simpson plays a Sparta City Councilman who is considered a rising political star. What he's doing here is trying to defuse a lot of racial tensions during a factory strike. The problem is that the striking workers are mostly white and the SCABs hired are mostly black. A racial component to the usual labor/management issues.

But Simpson and another man are killed with some industrial strength wire, garroted as it were.

As the Sparta, PD finds out Simpson was an idol with the usual feetof clay and human weaknesses.

Carroll O'Connor has his hands full in this episode.