A Man Called Hawk
television program
A Man Called Hawk is an American action drama series, starring Avery Brooks, that ran on ABC from January 28 to May 13, 1989. The series is a spin-off of the crime drama series Spenser: For Hire, and features the character Hawk, who first appeared in the 1976 novel Promised Land, the fourth in the series of Spenser novels by mystery writer Robert B. Parker.
Main cast
On the air for just thirteen episodes, A Man Called Hawk starred Avery Brooks as the title character, who has relocated from Boston to his hometown, Washington, D.C. The series co-starred actor Moses Gunn, who portrayed a father figure to Hawk known only as "Old Man".
Production
A Man Called Hawk was a spin-off of Spenser: For Hire, which aired on ABC from 1985 through 1988. Brooks co-wrote the theme music for the show with jazz legends Stanley Clarke and Butch Morris, the latter of whom also did most of the incidental music for the show.
The series was filmed in Washington, D.C.
During the first three seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Brooks wore a full head of hair and shaved his goatee, as a means of distinguishing his character Benjamin Sisko from Hawk. The goatee was added to Sisko's look near the end of Season 3, and his head was shaved bald at the start of Season 4 (this was due in part to production of DS9 concurring with that of a series of Spenser: For Hire reunion films in which Brooks reprised Hawk).
Episodes
Notable guest stars
Angela Bassett
Keith David
William Fichtner
Samuel L. Jackson
Delroy Lindo
Joe Morton
Wesley Snipes
Wendell Pierce
Charles S. Dutton
Michael Wincott
Diane Salinger
Michelle Thomas
Kimberly Scott
Joseph C. Phillips
Paul Guilfoyle
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Anthony LaPaglia
Frankie Faison
Roscoe Orman
Joe Seneca
Syndication
The series was re-aired in reruns on TV One in 2006. The series was available for streaming online on Tubi, but was removed sometime in 2024.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “A Man Called Hawk” is television program. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Called, Hawk and television, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “television program” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q599085. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1976, 1985 and 1988.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “A Man Called Hawk”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow A Man Called Hawk primary sources, A Man Called Hawk archive and Called research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “A Man Called Hawk”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “A Man Called Hawk” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.