Viewers who tune in to watch “Unforgettable” on CBS will be awed by what advance reviews have called a riveting performance by Horace Mann School alumnus Mark Nelson ’73. What most viewers will not know is that the Sunday, August 18, 2013 episode of the acclaimed series reunites three HM alumni, all of whom began their careers in HM’s theater department.

Ed Redlich ’76 and John Bellucci ’77 are co-creators and co-executive producers of “Unforgettable” – a crime/mystery television series about a police detective with hyperthymesia, a rare medical condition that gives her the ability to visually remember everything. The Peoples’ Choice Award nominated show, which stars Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh, premiered on CBS in June 2012.

Both Redlich and Bellucci have notable careers in writing, producing, and acting for television and film. The two met on the Horace Mann stage in a production of “Our Town” in 1975. Redlich played Doc Gibbs and Bellucci was Howie Newsome. Redlich related that he “kept walking through John’s pantomimed cow in every rehearsal.  At the final dress rehearsal, John could take it no longer, and improvised, ‘Watch out, Doc!  Bessie’ll bite your head off!’”

Once Redlich, then in eleventh grade, “recovered from being so chided by a tenth grader” the two became close friends, and have been ever since, meeting on stage again as undergraduates at Harvard. Bellucci went on to act professionally, on and off Broadway, and created the role of Roy Cohn in the first production of “Angels in America.” He also wrote the enduring film “Haiku Tunnel,” among many other achievements. After Harvard, Redlich pursued a law degree at NYU. He first worked as a writer for the TV series “The Practice” for which he won an Emmy, and went on to producing other shows, including the series “Without a Trace.”

Redlich and Bellucci have been writing apart and together for over a decade. “Unforgettable” is the first series they have created together.  While working on the August 18 episode, which focuses on detective Carrie Wells’ mentor and old memory psychologist, they realized that casting the role would be very difficult, Redlich said. But when a casting director suggested Mark Nelson they had little doubt. Nelson is a veteran TV and film actor whose credits include “Friday the Thirteenth” “The First Wives Club” “Law & Order” “Spin City” and more. “We took one look at Mark’s audition film, and there was absolutely no question about it,” Redlich said. “It was literally as if the character had leapt from our heads in Mark’s interpretation,” added Bellucci.

Redlich admits he was predisposed toward casting Nelson because he had “so looked up to him when they were in "The Time of Your Life," in 1973 at Horace Mann. “I can still remember half his lines, because I listened so closely to him every night,” Redlich recalled.

For the chance to listen closely—and watch, of course—this collaboration among these three Horace Mann School alumni tune in on Sunday night, or watch the episode online on CBS.Com. Here’s a preview: http://www.cbs.com/shows/unforgettable/video/7D2C83F0-E638-92B5-C3DA-6963A414F2B2/unforgettable-memory-kings-preview-/

Photograph above provided by Mr. Redlich.