Billed as a Wagon
Train on the water, Riverboat is
often lumped in with other westerns of the era, and it did share some
characteristics and a number of well-worn plots with other westerns, but unlike
them it was set chronologically before the Civil War, in the 1840s. The series,
which lasted a little less than a season and a half (44 episodes in all)
depicts the adventures of captain Grey Holden, played by Darren McGavin, whose
steam-powered, paddle-wheel boat named the Enterprise (Star Trek fans, take note) traversed the Mississippi River and its
off-shoots hauling freight and passengers from New Orleans up to Illinois. The
series was also the first regular role for a young Burt Reynolds, who played
pilot Ben Frazer, but Reynolds' tenure lasted for only 20 episodes before he
quit, reputedly because he didn't get along with McGavin. Though authors S.L.
Kotar and J.E. Gessler promise to give all the details of the split in their
book Riverboat: The Evolution of a
Television Series, all they reveal sounds like speculation that McGavin and
Reynolds were both alpha-male actors competing for screen time and Reynolds
came up with the short end of the stick, understandable since McGavin was
already an established star in the TV crime series Mike Hammer, which was still filming when filming began for Riverboat. By the time calendar year
1960 rolled around, Reynolds' role on the show was fairly minimal, and his
character is given a curt farewell when he comments to crew member Joshua
MacGregor in "Forbidden Island" (January 24, 1960) that he is
thinking of giving up life on the river because his father died recently and
his mother needs his help. Reynolds did not appear in the next episode,
"The Salvage Pirates" (January 31, 1960), but he returned in the
episode after that, "Path of the Eagle" (February 1, 1960), though
there is no explanation for his return, likely because the episodes were not
shown in the order in which they were written and filmed.
But despite Reynolds' later super-stardom, McGavin is
clearly the superior talent at this time. His character is humorous, daring,
stern when he needs to be, but also able to admit his mistakes. Though they
have much negative to say about the series in terms of its unbelievable plots
and historical inaccuracy, Kotar and Gessler are essentially correct in saying
that whatever success
Riverboat enjoyed
was due to McGavin's acting and charm.
Though their book suggests that the series followed some
sort of evolution, it would be more accurate to say it was like a rudderless
ship tossing chaotically on the seas, given the constant changes in cast and
crew. Besides the departure of Reynolds, the character of Joe Travis, played by
William D. Gordon in 15 episodes all airing in 1959, was killed off. Soon
thereafter the characters of jack-of-all-trades Scottish seaman Joshua
MacGregor (played by Jack Lambert), ship's cook and impromptu musician
Pickalong (played by Robert Mitchum's brother John), and orphaned cabin boy
Chip Kessler (played by Michael McGreevey) were added to the cast. Accompanying
Pickalong was a pet monkey, and Chip brought along his dog Andy Jackson. Once
Reynolds left, he was replaced by young river rat Terry Blake (Bart Patton),
who was soon piloting the boat, but then unceremoniously vanished with no
explanation after 6 episodes. Once Blake was gone, Joshua took over most of the
piloting and had a fair amount of screen time in support of Captain Holden.
Pickalong mysteriously disappeared after 10 episodes, Chip lasted through the
end of season 1, and Joshua remained throughout the duration of the series,
though his role was greatly diminished in season 2 when Noah Beery, Jr. was
added as a co-star in the role of pilot Bill Blake, who becomes Holden's
partner due to a financial arrangement necessitated by Holden's gambling debts.
However, even this introduction was bungled, as the episode in which the
partnership is explained, "That Taylor Affair" (September 26, 1960)
aired after an episode, "End of the Dream" (September 19, 1960), in
which Blake was already firmly entrenched as pilot and partner. Other than
McGavin's Holden, the only character to make it through the entire series was
hard-drinking chief engineer and sometime Irishman Carney Kohler (played by
Dick Wessel). However, even Holden was absent for two episodes, replaced by Dan
Duryea as Captain Turner, while McGavin fought with management over a new
contract, though the official press release, as reported by TV Guide, said that he had been in an
auto accident. Kotar and Gessler say that Duryea was offered the chance to
permanently replace McGavin but declined. The series also used 13 different
directors in season 1 (including McGavin for a single episode) and 9 directors
in season 2, not to mention numerous teams of writers. Even the music changed
from season 1 to season 2, with Elmer Bernstein scoring the theme (which bears
a faint resemblance to that for the feature film The Magnificent Seven, which he scored around the same time) and
several episodes in season 1, while Gerald Fried was hired to rework the theme
into a jauntier banjo-strumming ditty and scored all but one episode in season
2. All this turmoil couldn't have helped in attracting and retaining viewers; Riverboat failed to crack the top 30 in
the ratings for either its first or second season.
All the changes and turmoil made Riverboat one of the most frequently mentioned shows in weekly
editions of TV Guide. In the January
2 edition, it was reported that the show would be moved from its original
Sunday evening timeslot on NBC to Monday night. The next week curmudgeon
reviewer Frank DeBlois bemoaned the show's "time-blistered plots, creaky
characterizations and rusty dialog" and recommended that the show be
shortened from an hour to 30 minutes. One week later the weekly reported on
Reynolds' departure and claimed that the show "is sinking, will not be
salvaged," though it actually wound up lasting another year. The February
27 edition included the spurious report of McGavin's "auto accident, but
the actor then landed a front-cover feature story in the June 4 installment,
detailing his rough childhood in various orphanages and foster homes, his outspoken personality,
and his belief that working in television is a kind of purgatory. In the August
27 edition, TV Guide mentions in
passing that Duryea turned down a regular co-starring role, while the September
3 issue reported that Beery, Jr. would be joining the show in a similar
capacity. However, as the year drew to a close, there is no mention of the
show's actual cancellation. The final episode aired on January 2, 1961.
Despite the previously cited derivative plots and general
chaos, Riverboat still managed to
produce fairly entertaining TV fare and even occasionally touched on topics of
general and historical interest. As documented in previous posts, many other
shows of the era touched on the subject of women's rights, particularly their
pursuit of their own careers outside the household. But when this subject is
broached on shows like My Three Sons
and The Donna Reed Show, a woman who
has carved out a respectable career every bit as accomplished as a man's
ultimately feels unfulfilled unless she is married and can tend to her own
family. Meaning that, unlike a man, a woman cannot achieve fulfillment by
career alone. On Riverboat, the
episode "Three Graves" (March 14, 1960) features Nora James, daughter
of a learned physician who believed that the plague was transmitted by fleas
carried by rats, rather than from human to human contact. After her father is
murdered, Nora continues his practice and his methods, having learned enough
from a few years of study back east and observing her father though never
herself licensed. However, her father's murder at the hands of nearby
land-grabbers has turned her bitter and distrustful, though she continues to
treat anyone who will submit to her care. Though Holden tries to soften her
heart and quotes Longfellow to convince her that the love between a man and a
woman is the way to achieve completeness, by episode's end he gives her a
farewell present of a business shingle to hang outside what was once her
father's office but is now hers. Holden's sermon seems to steer her in a more
positive direction, but she isn't forced to choose between family life and a
career.
On the subject of the rights of the oppressed, even though Riverboat is set in the 1840s and many
episodes are set in southern cities like New Orleans and Vicksburg, there is no
mention of slavery and very few African Americans seen anywhere. Only two
episodes include African Americans, and both times they are depicted as house
servants. "Night of the Faceless
Men" (March 28, 1960) features a gang of hooded vigilantes much like the
Ku Klux Klan, but this is a group driven by greed--seizing land and robbing
stagecoaches--rather than a racist ideology. The one episode that depicts the
mistreatment of a non-white ethnic group is "The Long Trail" (April
4, 1960), which shows the U.S. Army, on orders from the government, forcing the
Cherokee nation to surrender their land east of the Mississippi and move west
to a reservation in Oklahoma. The Army, particularly ambitious Colonel Tryker,
are depicted as villains, showing no compassion for the uprooted Native
Americans, even forcing them to cross dangerous swampland that causes many
additional casualties, simply to quicken the journey and earn kudos for Tryker
with his superiors. Holden, as the moral compass for the series, opposes Tryker
at every opportunity, but ultimately convinces young Cherokee activist James
Evans to accept their new territory rather than waging war against the white
man. Still, it is interesting to note how negatively the U.S. military is
portrayed not only in this episode but also in "The Quota" (November
28, 1960) in which a 17-year Army veteran, Sgt. Danny Phillips, resorts to
illegal kidnapping and mistreatment of civilians in order to meet his
recruitment quotas. By the end of the episode, General Winfield Scott portrays
Phillips as a bad apple who does not represent the ethics of the armed forces,
but Holden curiously intervenes on his behalf and successfully pleads that his
sins not be reflected in the final record of the late Sergeant. What is most
striking in episodes such as these is the frequent depiction of military
personnel as self-absorbed, unethical criminals at a time in history before
national sentiment turned against the military as a result of the Vietnam War.
And Riverboat was not alone in such
depictions; many other westerns included an episode or two about a
revenge-crazed or power-deranged commanding officer who leads his troops
astray.
Riverboat also
used its chronological setting as an opportunity to inject prominent historical
figures into a few of its plots. Besides the aforementioned Gen. Winfield
Scott, "That Taylor Affair" (September 26, 1960) centers around the
inauguration of President-elect
Zachary Taylor, played by
Paul Fix. In a rather
preposterous plot, Holden shanghais the President-elect, who was supposed to be
transported to the inauguration in Washington by a rival steamboat, in order to
settle a debt imposed by a politically ambitious local sheriff, who is brought
along on the ride after his own townspeople had voted to send the town
mortician instead of him as their official representative at the festivities.
Rather than being outraged once he is apprised of what has happened and why,
President-elect Taylor admires Holden's spunk in devising such a creative
scheme to overcome his debt and save his business. In one of the series' best
episodes, "No Bridge on the River" (October 17, 1960), we are shown a
pre-political glimpse of
Abraham Lincoln as a trial lawyer defending the
interests of a railroad company that wants to build a bridge across the
Mississippi, opposed by Holden and all riverboat workers as a threat to their
livelihood. Lincoln is depicted as a studious, thoughtful, and humorous
practitioner of the law, ultimately arguing that no one has the right to deny
the railroad company from building a bridge across the river, though the
riverboat industry does have a right to insist that it be built in a way that
does not constrain their business. Besides its inclusion of a figure of
Lincoln's historical magnitude, this episode is especially significant because
it shows the clash that inevitably happens when an older way of doing business
or thinking meets with a newer one destined to replace it. In this case, the
riverboat industry can see the writing on the wall and will fight with all
their might to resist it, but the march of "progress" or change is
merciless and unstoppable. One has to wonder, given the rough journey
Riverboat had traveled to this point,
whether this episode also was a subtle indication that the producers knew the
series would not survive much longer. A similar veiled reference to the series'
demise appears in the last episode, "Listen to the Nightingale"
(January 2, 1961) when Holden and Bill Blake hear a steam whistle blow while
sitting in the pilot house bemoaning their lack of cargo to haul, and Blake
wonders if that isn't Gabriel's horn blowing to signal the end for the
Enterprise. Whether the producers, writers, and actors were aware of it at the
time this episode was filmed, it would prove to be the last journey for
Riverboat, a series that never seemed to
know where it was going but often delivered the goods nevertheless.
As mentioned above, the show's original theme and several
season 1 scores were composed by prolific Elmer Bernstein, whose biography was
covered in the post for
Johnny Staccato.
Gerald Fried, who took over composing duties in season 2, was born and raised in
the Bronx and was a childhood friend of
Stanley Kubrick, for whose first four
films Fried provided the soundtrack (
Day
of the Fight,
Killer's Kiss,
The Killing, and
Paths to Glory). Fried had gotten into soundtrack scoring after
studying at Julliard and serving as first oboist for the Dallas Symphony and
the New York Little Orchestra from 1948-1956. Other than his work for Kubrick,
his early scoring career consisted largely of B movies like
The Return of Dracula,
I, Mobster, and
Machine-Gun Kelly before moving over to television with a few
episodes of
M Squad in 1958. He
composed the jazzy theme and 16 episodes of
Shotgun
Slade in the first half of 1960, then took over principal duties on
Riverboat later that fall. After
Riverboat, he continued working on
occasional feature films and single TV episodes
until finding steady work on
It's
About Time (22 episodes),
Gilligan's
Island (39 episodes), and
The Man
From U.N.C.L.E. (45 episodes). He also scored 4 episodes of
Star Trek, including "Amok Time,"
which introduced the sequence now known as the
Star Trek fight music. Besides scoring 6 episodes of
Mission: Impossible!, his later work
also included collaborating with
Quincy Jones on the various
Roots miniseries. His last TV credit was
in 2004 for an episode of
Star Trek New
Voyages: Phase II.
The Actors
Darren McGavin
Born William Lyle Richardson in Spokane, Washington, McGavin
endured a tumultuous childhood after his parents divorced and his father, a
salesman and chemist, not knowing what to do with the boy, sent him to an
orphanage. Bouncing around various orphanages and foster homes, McGavin
eventually found one that suited him, the Dyslin Boys Ranch in Pierce County,
Washington, whose owners, he later said, instilled a sense of pride in him that
turned his life around. After high school and a year in college, McGavin
learned the trade of sign painting and eventually found his way to working for
Columbia Studios. He managed to talk himself into an unfilled part in the 1945
film A Song to Remember, which he
claimed taught him how little he knew about acting. He eventually moved to New
York and studied under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the
Actors Studio, resulting in stage appearances in productions such as The Rainmaker. Moving back to Hollywood,
he landed the title role in the 1951-52 drama Crime Photographer, and after a series of single episode appearances
on various TV shows gained notice for his supporting roles in the features Man With the Golden Arm and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.
From there he was cast in the title role for the TV series Mike Hammer, based on the work of Mickey Spillane, and before that
series ended, he was also given the lead role in Riverboat.
After Riverboat,
he continued to work steadily in television and film throughout the 1960s,
landing another lead role on the 1968-69 series The Outsider. In the 1970s his greatest success was in the two TV
movies and subsequent TV series based on the character of investigative
reporter Carl Kolchak. The Night Stalker
appeared as a TV movie in 1972, followed by the sequel The Night Strangler in 1973 and the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker in 1974-75. Though the series lasted
only a single season due to the network's lack of commitment in promoting it
and taking it seriously (allowing the scripts and production values to descend
into kitsch), it provided the inspiration for Chris Carter's late '90s series The X-Files on which McGavin made two
appearances as Agent Arthur Dales. Steady work continued in the 1980s, most
notably as irascible, clueless Old Man Parker in the Christmas classic A Christmas Story and the role of Nick
Small on the short-lived TV series Small
& Frye. In the late 80s and early 90s he played the character of Bill
Brown, the father of Murphy Brown,
for which he received an Emmy in 1990. He was married to actress Melanie York
for 25 years and had four children, divorcing her in 1969 and marrying actress
Kathie Browne, to whom he stayed married until her death in 2003. McGavin
himself died from pneumonia at the age of 83 on February 25, 2006.
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds, Jr. was born and spent his early years
in Lansing, Michigan before his family relocated to Riviera Beach, Florida,
where his father became chief of police, after World War II. Reynolds was a
star football player in high school and attended Florida State University on a
football scholarship, but a knee injury and subsequent car accident ended his
athletic career. He later attended Palm Beach Junior College to pursue a career
as a parole officer when one of his teachers nudged him into acting, and he won
the 1956 Florida State Drama Award in a play produced by the teacher, Watson B.
Duncan III. The award included a scholarship to the Hyde Park Theatre in New
York and once there his performance in a revival of Mister Roberts won him enough notice to be offered a movie
audition, but he was not given a part in the film Sayonara because it was felt he looked too much like the movie's
star Marlon Brando. He returned to New York and worked a number of odd jobs
while appearing in various theatre productions. He finally broke into
television work in the late 1950s in
guest appearances on shows such as Flight,
M Squad, and The Lawless Years before being cast in his first regular role on Riverboat.
After leaving the show, he made a few more TV appearances
before appearing in his first feature film Angel
Baby in 1961. The following year he was cast as blacksmith and unofficial
deputy Quint Asper on Gunsmoke, a
role that featured him in 50 episodes over the next 3 years. In 1966 he was
cast in the title role for the detective series Hawk, which lasted only for 17 episodes. Taking the advice of
friend Clint Eastwood, he began appearing as the star in spaghetti westerns
such as Navajo Joe and 100 Rifles to promote himself as a
leading man. Another TV detective drama, Dan
August, lasted a single season before he finally found his breakout role in
the film Deliverance in 1972. That
year he also posed nude for Cosmopolitan
magazine, which further enhanced his image as a sex symbol, and movies like The Longest Yard and Shamus enhanced his acting image as
well. He then hit it even bigger in Hal Needham's Smokey and the Bandit movies, but the films he starred in after
that were hit and miss. He returned to television with B.L. Stryker in 1989 and won an Emmy for his performance on Evening Shade in 1991. By 1996 his
extravagant lifestyle and messy divorce from actress Loni Anderson forced him
to file for bankruptcy, but he began a comeback the following year with his
Golden Globe-winning performance in the film Boogie Nights, though he reportedly hated the film when he finally
saw it and wound up punching director Paul Thomas Anderson in the face because
the latter wouldn't let him talk while they were out promoting the film.
Despite all of his success, Reynolds could have been much bigger had he not
turned down roles like Han Solo in Star
Wars, John McClane in Diehard,
and Garrett Breedlove in Terms of
Endearment, which won an Oscar for Jack Nicholson.
Noah Beery, Jr.
Born in New York while his father was a stage actor, Beery,
Jr. actually had a different middle name than his father, who moved the family
to California in 1915 and began appearing in silent movies during a long and
prolific career. His uncle Wallace Beery was an even more successful film actor
with a career that lasted decades and saw him as the highest paid actor in
Hollywood by 1932. Beery, Jr. made his first film appearance at age 7 with his
father in The Mark of Zorro in 1920.
His adult film career included playing John Wayne's buddy in The Trail Beyond and with Wayne again in
Red River, and he had roles in
notable movies such as Of Mice and Men,
Sergeant York, and Inherit the Wind. He broke into
television playing Joey the Clown on Circus
Boy, which also starred a pre-Monkees Mickey Dolenz, then took over as
Darren McGavin's partner on Riverboat
in the fall of 1960.
After Riverboat's
demise, he had steady film and TV work before landing another regular TV role
on Hondo in 1967, playing Buffalo
Barker, but is best remembered playing James Garner's father, Joseph
"Rocky" Rockford, on 120 episodes of The Rockford Files. In the 1980s he had regular roles on the series
The Quest and The Yellow Rose before dying from a cerebral thrombosis at the age
of 81 on November 1, 1994.
Dick Wessel
Born in Milwaukee, WI, Wessel's burly build suited him perfectly
to play any number of heavies, as well as policemen, bartenders, and the like.
His career began on the stage but he had moved to films by the mid-1930s and
appeared in over 200 of them, though uncredited in over half of them. His
greatest role was playing villain Harry "Cueball" Lake in the 1946
crime drama
Dick Tracy vs. Cueball,
and as a contract actor for Columbia Pictures, he appeared in shorts by
The
Three Stooges,
Andy Clyde, and others. His television work began with
The Abbott and Costello Show in 1953,
and he had a steady string of guest appearances on shows like
It's a Great Life,
The Life of Riley, and
The
Many Loves of Dobie Gillis before landing his one and only regular role as
chief engineer Carney Kohler on
Riverboat.
The steady work on TV continued after Riverboat ended, but his last appearance was released after he died
of a heart attack at age 52 on his birthday, April 20, 1965. His role as Eddie
the garbage man in The Ugly Dachshund
was, naturally, uncredited.
Jack Lambert
Born in Yonkers, NY, Lambert had a career similar to, though
not as prolific as, Dick Wessel. He started on Broadway but moved to Hollywood
and began appearing in films in 1942, often playing minor roles as tough guys,
not because of his build but due to his menacing facial features. Also like
Wessel, his most recognized role was playing a villain opposite Dick Tracy as
Steve "The Claw" Michel in
Dick
Tracy's Dilemma (1947). He also appeared in
The Harvey Girls,
The Killers,
and
Kiss Me Deadly as well as occasional
TV appearances on drama anthology programs until he began landing guest spots
in the late 1950s on shows such as
Alfred
Hitchcock Presents,
Tales of Wells
Fargo, and
Lawman. Also like
Wessel, playing Scotsman Joshua MacGregor on
Riverboat was his only regular TV role, though he continued a
steady stream of appearances on shows like
Gunsmoke
(7 appearances),
Wagon Train (4
appearances), and
Daniel Boone (4
appearances) after
Riverboat ended.
His last role was on an episode of
Gunsmoke
in 1970 at age 49, but he lived another 32 years, passing away due to
natural causes at the age of 81 on February 18, 2002.
Michael McGreevey
A native of Phoenix, AZ, red-headed McGreevey began his
acting career at age 7 and appeared in his first film at age 11 in
The Man in the Net in 1959. That same
year he began his stint on
Riverboat as
orphan and cabin boy Chip Kessler, first introduced in the December 27, 1959
episode "The Face of Courage" and continuing throughout the remainder
of season 1. Concurrent with
Riverboat
he had guest appearances on shows like
Black
Saddle,
The Donna Reed Show, and
Lassie, and after the series ended he
continued getting occasional parts on shows like
Route 66,
Wagon Train,
and
Naked City. He was a regular of
sorts on various miniseries on
Walt
Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and he appeared in a number of Disney
feature films, many with
Kurt Russell, including
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes,
Now
You See Him Now You Don't,
Snowball
Express, and
The Shaggy D.A. But
after graduating from the UCLA Film School, he transitioned into writing on
shows like
The Waltons and
Fame, a show on which he also served as
story editor and eventually producer. He received an Emmy nomination for his
work on the ABC Afterschool Special
The
Celebrity and the Arcade Kid in 1983 and continued working on various
series and TV movies over the next decade, including the Bonanza reunion movie
Bonanza: The Return. He is currently at
work on several writing projects and most recently appeared in an acting role
on
Parks and Recreation in 2011.
John Mitchum
Younger brother of actor
Robert Mitchum, John was born in
Bridgeport, CT, his father dying the same year in a train yard accident. During
the depths of the Depression, the family split up, with Robert and John
hitch-hiking and riding trains across the country through many adventures,
which John described in his autobiography
Them
Ornery Mitchum Boys. After stints as a seaman and a boxer, the younger
Mitchum also took up acting, though relegated to supporting roles, often as
heavies and tough guys beginning in the late 1940s. His uncredited roles
included films such as
Flying
Leathernecks and
Stalag 17 in the 1950s before he began getting
television roles on shows like
Judge Roy
Bean, the original
Dragnet,
State Trooper, and
Richard Diamond, Private Detective. His role as cook and musician
Pickalong lasted for only 10 episodes on
Riverboat,
after which he appeared in a number of TV shows such as
Perry Mason,
Gunsmoke,
and
Have Gun, Will Travel. Perhaps
his most famous role was playing opposite
Clint Eastwood as Frank DiGiorgio in
the first three
Dirty Harry films. He
also had regular roles as Trooper Hoffenmueller on
F Troop and as Bucky the bartender on
The Virginian.
Riverboat provided
Mitchum the opportunity to show off his singing skills, as his character Pickalong
is quick to pick up his guitar and burst out in song. In real life, Mitchum
composed the words that John Wayne recorded on his popular album America -- Why I Love Her, for which
Mitchum received a Grammy nomination in 1973. He also performed the musical
numbers on the album Our Land, Our
Heritage, which included narration by Dan Blocker of Bonanza fame. His acting work continued on a series of TV movies in
the late 1980s, the last being A Family
for Joe in 1990. He died of a stroke at age 82 on November 29, 2001.
Bart Patton
Born Phillip Bardwell in Culver City, CA, Patton was a
classmate of
Francis Ford Coppola and
Mary Mitchel, whom he married, while
attending UCLA Film School. This connection led Coppola to cast them both in
his 1963 thriller
Dementia 13. But
before that, Patton appeared as Freddy in 4 episodes of
Father Knows Best before landing his temporary role as Terry Blake
in 6 episodes of
Riverboat. He also
appeared in teen-themed movies such as
Because
They're Young and
Gidget Goes Hawaiian
before producing a similar film
Beach
Ball in 1965, which led to a contract to produce more teen flicks for
Universal Pictures. However, he and
Lenny Weintraub produced only two films,
Wild Wild Winter and
Out of Sight, in connection with that
contract. He then produced Coppola's
The
Rain People in 1969, but his credits in front or behind the camera have
been sparse since then. His most recent credit is directing his first film,
Unshackled, with
Stacy Keach and
Morgan
Fairchild, in 2003.
Notable Guest Stars
Season 1, Episode 16, "Tampico Raid": Pat Crowley (shown on the left, played Joan
Nash on Please Don't Eat the Daisies,
Emily Fallmont on Dynasty, and
Natalie DeWitt on The Bold and the
Beautiful) plays Joan Marchand, daughter of an activist school teacher.
Season 1, Episode 17, "The Landlubbers":
Gloria
Talbott (shown on the right, starred in
The Cyclops,
Daughter of Dr. Jekyll,
and
I
Married a Monster From Outer Space and played Moneta on
Zorro) plays mail-order bride Nora
Lanyard.
Arthur Batanides (Sgt. Sam Olivera on
Johnny Midnight) plays her abusive husband Shag Ryan.
Richard Devon
(Jody Barker on
Yancy Derringer)
plays double-crossing scout Barney Jones.
Kay Kuter (Newt Kiley on
Petticoat Junction and
Green Acres) plays gullible crew member
Hoskins.
Season 1, Episode 18, "The Blowup": Whitney Blake
(Dorothy Baxter on Hazel) plays treasure-seeker
Martha Crane. Dean Harens (SAC Bryan Durant on The F.B.I.) plays her assistant Simon. Mary Adams (Lavinia Webster
on Window on Main Street) plays school
teacher Mrs. Wilkins. Carlos Romero (Rico Rodriguez on Wichita Town, Romero Serrano on Zorro,
and Carlo Agretti on Falcon Crest)
plays renegade Juan Miguel. Roberto Contreras (Pedro on The High Chaparral) plays his assistant Gonzales.
Season 1, Episode 19, "Forbidden Island":
Bruce
Gordon (shown on the left, played Commander Matson on
Behind Closed
Doors, Frank Nitti on
TheUntouchables, and Gus Chernak on
Peyton
Place) plays renegade Garnett.
Patrick Westwood (Mian Rukn Din on
The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling)
plays Cajun liaison Pierre.
Season 1, Episode 20, "Salvage
Pirates":
Richard Garland (starred in
Attack
of the Crab Monsters and
Mutiny in
Outer Space, played Clay Horton on
Lassie,
and was once married to
Beverly Garland) plays cargo ship pilot Jacques Tremain.
Judi Meredith (Bonnie Sue McAfee on
The
George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and
The
George Burns Show and Monique Devereaux on
Hotel de Paree) plays his love interest Louise Harrison.
Bern
Hoffman (Sam the bartender on
Bonanza)
plays pirate leader Savage.
Robert J. Wilke (appeared in
Best of the Badmen,
High Noon,
The Far Country,
and
Night Passage and
played Capt. Mendoza on
Zorro) plays
his second-in-command Bolesy.
Season 1, Episode 21, "Path of the Eagle": Dayton
Lummis (Marshal Andy Morrison on Law of
the Plainsman) plays wealthy utopian Gideon Templeton. Dianne Foster (starred
in Night Passage, The Last Hurrah, and The Deep Six) plays his daughter
Marianne. Myron Healey (Doc Holliday on The
Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays his advisor Steven Barrows.
Season 1, Episode 22, "The Treasure of Hawk Hill":
Kent Taylor (Carlos Murietta on
Zorro
and Capt. Jim Flagg on
The Rough Riders)
plays treasure hunter Morell.
George Wallace (starred in
Radar Men From the Moon,
Destry,
and
Forbidden Planet and played Judge
Milton Cole on
Hill Street Blues and
Grandpa Hank Hammersmith on
Sons and
Daughters) plays his henchman the Paymaster.
Kenneth MacDonald (shown on the right, played the
judge 32 times on
Perry Mason,
played Col. Parker on
Colt .45, and appeared in several Three
Stooges shorts) plays treasure-map holder George Dexter.
Dennis Moore (Deputy
Lee on
Tombstone Territory) plays
Headleyville Sheriff Bates.
Richard Hale (starred in
Abilene Town,
Kim,
San Antone,
Red Garters, and
To Kill a
Mockingbird) plays Dexter's brother-in-law Uncle Arden.
Virginia Christine
(the Folger's Coffee woman in commercials and starred in
The Mummy's Curse,
The
Killers, and
Night Wind and who
played Ovie Swenson on
Tales of Wells
Fargo) plays his wife Samantha.
Season 1, Episode 23, "The Fight at New Canal": Charles
Aidman (narrator on the 1985-87 version of The
Twilight Zone) plays canal engineer Frank Paxton. John Maxwell (Alex
Gregory on The Court of Last Resort)
plays stage-coach line operator Sam Harper. John Archer (starred in King of the Zombies, White Heat, Destination Moon, and Blue
Hawaii) plays his partner Dunnigan. Steve Mitchell (Starkey on The New Phil Silvers Show) plays
Dunnigan henchman Clint Bixby.
Season 1, Episode 24, "The Wichita Arrows":
Dan
Duryea (shown on the left, starred in
The Little Foxes,
The Pride of the Yankees,
Scarlet Street, and
Winchester '73 and played China Smith in
China Smith and
The New
Adventures of China Smith and Eddie Jacks on
Peyton Place) plays Holden's temporary replacement Captain Turner.
Hank
Patterson (Fred Ziffel on
Green Acres
and
Petticoat Junction and Hank on
Gunsmoke) plays wood station operator
Johnny Mullins.
Bud Osborne (played stagecoach drivers in dozens of westerns
and in episodes of
The Cisco Kid,
Annie Oakley,
The Range Rider,
Hopalong
Cassidy,
The Lone Ranger,
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok,
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin,
Rescue 8,
Zorro,
Bronco,
Law of the Plainsman,
Johnny Ringo,
Cheyenne,
The Texan,
Maverick, and
Rawhide) plays his brother Will.
Betty Lou Keim (Peggy Allison on
My Son Jeep and Fran McCord on
The Deputy) plays worrying sister Holly
Andrews.
Eve McVeagh (starred in
High
Noon,
The Glass Web, and
Tight Spot and played Miss Hammond on
Petticoat Junction) plays her sister
Julie Scott.
Don Haggerty (Jeffrey Jones on
The
Files of Jeffrey Jones, Eddie Drake on
The
Cases of Eddie Drake, Sheriff Dan Elder on
State Trooper, and Marsh Murdock on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Julie's husband Albert
Scott.
Victor Millan (Zahir on
Ramar of
the Jungle) plays Wichita horse-thief Rico.
Robert Armstrong (starred in
King Kong,
The Son of Kong,
Framed,
Dive Bomber,
Blood on the Sun, and
Mighty
Joe Young and played Sheriff Andy Anderson on
State Trooper) plays the local sheriff.
Roy Barcroft (played Col.
Logan on
The Adventures of Spin and Marty
and Roy on
Gunsmoke) plays
lynch-happy townsman Carley.
Slim Pickens (starred in
The Story of Will Rogers,
Dr.
Strangelove,
Blazing Saddles,
The Apple Dumpling Gang,
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, and
The Howling and played Slim on
Outlaws, Slim Walker on
The Wide Country, California Joe Milner
on
Custer, and Sgt. Beauregard Wiley
on
B.J. & the Bear) plays an
unnamed trapper.
Season 1, Episode 25, "Fort Epitaph":
Charles
Cooper (the sheriff on
Father Murphy
and Judge Robert Boucher on
The Practice)
plays the fort commander Major Daniels.
Stuart Randall (Sheriff Art Sampson on
Cimarron City, Al Livermore on
Lassie, and Sheriff Mort Corey on
Laramie) plays Sioux Chief Running Bear.
Ronnie Rondell, Jr. (stunt coordinator on
Mod
Squad,
Charlie's Angels,
Dynasty, and
Hart to Hart) plays his son Kicking Bear.
Mark Allen (Matt Kissel
on
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters
and Sam Evans on
Dark Shadows) plays sadistic
Sgt. Matthews.
Jon Locke (Officer Garvey on
Highway
Patrol and Sleestack Leader on
Land
of the Lost) plays an unnamed sleepy soldier.
Season 1, Episode 26, "Three Graves":
Beverly
Garland (shown on the right, played Casey Jones on
Decoy, Ellis
Collins on
The Bing Crosby Show,
Barbara Harper Douglas on
My Three Sons,
Dorothy "Dotty" West on
Scarecrow
and Mrs. King, Ellen Lane on
Lois
& Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Ginger on
7th Heaven) plays doctor's daughter Nora
James.
Robert Bray (Simon Kane on
Stagecoach
West and Corey Stuart on
Lassie)
plays Exeter bully Tom Byson.
Season 1, Episode 27, "Hang the Men High": Karen
Steele (starred in Marty, Westbound, and The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond) plays murder accuser Sue Parker.
Dallas Mitchell (Det. Fisher on The
Asphalt Jungle) plays the accused Jerry Madden. Ray Hamilton (Al Casey on King of Diamonds) plays Jerry's friend
Brad Phelan. Stephen McNally (starred in Johnny
Belinda, Criss Cross, and Winchester '73 and played Paul Marino on
Target: The Corrupters) plays Sue's
defender Jeb Randell. Walter Sande (appeared in To Have and Have Not, A Place
in the Sun, and Bad Day at Black Rock
and played Capt. Horatio Bullwinkle on The
Adventures of Tugboat Annie and Papa Holstrum on The Farmer's Daughter) plays sensible townsman Tom Feller.
Season 1, Episode 28, "Night of the Faceless Men":
Charles H. Gray (Officer Edwards on
Highway
Patrol, Pico McGuire on
Gunslinger,
and Clay Forrester on
Rawhide) plays card
sharp Joe Oliver.
Patricia Medina (shown on the left, played Margarita Cortazar on
Zorro) plays his fiancee Eileen Mason.
Frank Ferguson (Gus Broeberg
on
My Friend Flicka, Eli Carson on
Peyton Place, and Dr. Barton Stuart on
Petticoat Junction) plays town committee
leader Rogers.
Douglas Kennedy (starred in
Adventures
of Don Juan,
I Was an American Spy,
and
Jack McCall, Desperado and played
Marshal Steve Donovan on
Steve Donovan,
Western Marshal and Sheriff Fred Madden on
The Big Valley) plays his second-in-command McLeigh.
Hugh Downs
(shown on the right, announcer on the
Jack Paar Tonight Show
and long-time news host on
Over Easy,
20/20,
Live From Lincoln Center, and
Today)
plays Enterprise crew member Dan Flynn.
Jocelyn Brando (sister of Marlon
Brando) plays school teacher Mrs. Pauley.
Season 1, Episode 29, "The
Long Trail":
Harry Lauter (Ranger Clay Morgan on
Tales of the Texas Rangers, Atlasande on
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, and Jim Herrick on
Waterfront) plays ambitious Army Colonel Tryker.
Abraham Sofaer (starred
in
Christopher Columbus,
Quo Vadis, and
Elephant Walk) plays Cherokee newspaperman Mark Evans.
Perry Lopez
(starred in
Mister Roberts,
Taras Bulba,
Kelly's Heroes, and
Chinatown
and played Joaquin Castaneda on
Zorro)
plays his son James.
Dennis Cross (Cmdr. Arthur Richards on
The Blue Angels) plays brave Running
Wolf.
Season 1, Episode 30, "The Quick Noose":
Willis
Bouchey (Mayor Terwilliger on
The Great
Gildersleeve, Springer on
Pete and
Gladys, and the judge 23 times on
PerryMason) plays plantation owner Judge Wingate.
Nan Leslie (Martha McGivern on
The Californians) plays the Judge's
son's fiancee Amy Carson.
Ed Nelson (Michael Rossi on
Peyton Place and Ward Fuller on
The
Silent Force) plays Amy's defender Jim Tyler.
William Hudson (Ranger Clark
on
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger and
Special Agent Mike Andrews on
I Led 3
Lives) plays bank teller Lon Ogden.
Season 1, Episode 31, "The Sellout": Bartlett
Robinson (Frank Caldwell on Mona
McCluskey) plays banker George Channing. Barbara Stuart (shonw on the right, played Bessie on The Great Gildersleeve, Alice on Pete and Gladys, Bunny on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Peggy Ferguson on The McLean Stevenson Show, Marianne
Danzig on Our Family Honor, and Alice
on Huff) plays gold-digger Nanette
Burns. Frank Overton (starred in Desire
Under the Elms, To Kill a Mockingbird,
and Fail-Safe and played Major Harvey
Stovall on 12 O'Clock High) plays
washed-up river captain Nick Logan.
Season 2, Episode 1, "End of a Dream":
Cliff
Robertson (shown on the left, starred in
Picnic,
The Naked and the Dead,
Gidget,
PT 109,
The Devil's Brigade,
Charly, and
Three Days of the Condor and played Rod Brown on
Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers, Shame
on
Batman, Dr. Michael Ranson on
Falcon Crest, and Hal Malloy on
The Lyon's Den) plays speculative
shyster Martinus Van Der Brig.
Susan Cummings (shown on the right, played Georgia on
Union Pacific) plays skeptical Swedish immigrant Tekla Kronen.
Adrienne Marden (Mary Breckenridge on
The
Waltons) plays Scottish dreamer Mrs. Shaftoe.
Alice Backes (Vickie on
Bachelor Father) plays farmer's wife
Mrs. Gaines.
Robert J. Wilke (see "Salvage Pirates" above) plays former
miner Red Dog Hanlon.
June Vincent (starred in
Here Come the Co-Eds,
The
Creeper, and
The WAC From Walla Walla)
plays fake French noble woman Countess de Madrigal.
Harry Swoger (Harry the
bartender on
The Big Valley) plays an
unnamed horse trader.
Season 2, Episode 2, "That Taylor Affair":
Arlene
Dahl (shown on the right, starred in
Reign of Terror,
Three Little Words,
Woman's World, and
Journey to
the Center of the Earth and played Lucinda Schenk Wilson on
One Life to Live) plays hotel hostess
Lucy Belle.
Robert Ellenstein (appeared in
3:10
to Yuma,
Too Much Too Soon, and
North by Northwest and played Legs
Diamond on
The Lawless Years) plays gullible
sheriff Hezekiah Stone.
Stanley Adams (Lt. Morse on
Not for Hire) plays Holden's rival Captain Morgan.
Paul Fix
(appeared in
Hondo,
Blood Alley,
The Bad Seed, and
Giant,
and played Marshal Micah Torrance on
TheRifleman and D.A. Hale on
Perry Mason)
plays President-elect Zachary Taylor.
Milton Frome (starred in
Pardners,
The Delicate Delinquent, and
The
Swinger and played Lawrence Chapman on
The
Beverly Hillbillies) plays Louisiana Governor DeWitt.
Season 2, Episode 3, "The Two Faces of Grey
Holden": Suzanne Pleshette (shown on the left, starred in The
Geisha Boy, The Birds, A Rage to Live, The Ugly Dachshund, Nevada
Smith, and Support Your Local
Gunfighter and played Emily Hartley on The
Bob Newhart Show, Maggie Briggs on Suzanne
Pleshette Is Maggie Briggs¸ Christine Broderick on Nightingales, Jackie Hansen on The
Boys Are Back, and Claire Arnold on Good
Morning Miami) plays disturbed Cajun girl Marie Tourette. Herbert Ellis
(Officer Frank Smith on Dragnet
(1952-53), Frank LaValle on The D.A.'s
Man, Wilbur on Peter Gunn, and
Dr. Dan Wagner on Hennesey) plays her
missing fiancee's brother Papite.
Season 2, Episode 4, "River Champion":
Dennis
O'Keefe (starred in
Topper Returns,
The Leopard Man,
The Fighting Seabees,
Brewster's
Millions, and
Walk a Crooked Mile
and played Hal Towne on
The Dennis
O'Keefe Show) plays retired boxer Dan Muldoon.
Denny Miller (Duke Shannon
on
Wagon Train and Mike McCluskey on
Mona McCluskey) plays Muldoon's boxing
prodigy The Dublin Boy.
George Kennedy (shown on the right, starred in
Charade,
The Sons of Katie
Elder,
The Dirty Dozen,
Cool Hand Luke, and
The Naked Gun and played MP Sgt. Kennedy on
The Phil Silvers Show, Father Samuel Cavanuagh on
Sarge, Bumper Morgan on
The Blue Knight, and Carter McKay on
Dallas) plays The Dublin Boy's opponent
Gunnar Slagle.
Slim Pickens (shown on the left, see
"The Wichita Arrows" above) plays Gunnar's promoter and brother
Porter.
Terry Frost (Sgt. Moore/Morse/Morris on
Highway Patrol) plays the unnamed Glen City sheriff.
Ralph Reed
(Billy Clanton on
The Life and Legend of
Wyatt Earp) plays bank robber Bates.
Jack Hogan (starred in
The Bonnie Parker Story,
Paratroop Command, and
The Cat Burglar and played Kirby on
Combat!, Sgt. Jerry Miller on
Adam-12, Chief Ranger Jack Moore on
Sierra, and Judge Smithwood on
Jake and the Fatman) plays bank robber
Fletcher.
John Harmon (Eddie Halstead on
TheRifleman and the fingerprint expert on
PerryMason) plays bookmaker Gordon.
Season 2, Episode 5, "No Bridge on the River":
Denver
Pyle (Ben Thompson on
The Life and Legend
of Wyatt Earp, Grandpa Tarleton on
Tammy,
Briscoe Darling on
The Andy Griffith Show,
Buck Webb on
The Doris Day Show, Mad
Jack on
The Life and Times of Grizzly
Adams, and Uncle Jesse on
The Dukes
of Hazzard) plays railroad company recruiter Jim Bledsoe.
Bartlett Robinson
(see "The Sellout" above) plays railroad company manager Grimes.
Sandy
Kenyon (Des Smith on
Crunch and Des,
Shep Baggott on
The Travels of Jaimie
McPheeters, and Reverend Kathrun on
Knots
Landing) plays railroad company attorney Abraham Lincoln.
Hayden Rorke (Steve on
Mr. Adams and Eve, Col. Farnsworth on
No Time for Sergeants, Bishop on
Dr. Kildare, and Dr. Alfred Bellows on
I Dream of Jeannie) plays New Orleans attorney Ferdinand Maret.
Olan
Soule (Aristotle "Tut" Jones on
Captain
Midnight, Ray Pinker on
Dragnet
(1952-59), and Fred Springer on
Arnie)
plays the jury foreman.
Dal McKennon (prolific voice actor on many cartoons,
including the voices of Gumby and Pokey on
The
Gumby Show, Sinbad Jr. on
Sinbad, Jr.,
and Archie Andrews on
The Archie Show,
Archie's Fun
House, and
The U.S. of Archie and
played Dr. Blaney on
87th Precinct
and Cincinnatus on
Daniel Boone)
plays the court reporter.
 |
|
Season 2, Episode 6, "Trunk Full of Dreams":
Raymond
Massey (starred in
The Scarlet Pimpernel,
The Prisoner of Zenda,
Abe Lincoln in Illinois, and
East of Eden and played Dr. Leonard
Gillespie on
Dr. Kildare) plays over-the-hill
actor Sir Oliver Garrett.
Bethel Leslie (appeared in 15 episodes of
The Richard Boone Show and played
Claudia Conner on
All My Children and
Ethel Crawford on
One Life to Live)
plays his daughter Juliet.
Robert Foulk (Ed Davis on
Father Knows Best, Sheriff Miller on
Lassie, Joe Kingston on
Wichita
Town, Phillip Toomey on
The Rifleman,
and Mr. Wheeler on
Green Acres) plays
show boat Captain Smiley.
Willard
Waterman (Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on
The
Great Gildersleeve, Mac Maginnis on
TheReal McCoys, and Mr. Quigley on
Dennis
the Menace) plays cotton farmer Mr. de Lesseps.
Mary Tyler Moore (shown on the left, played
Laura Petrie on
The Dick Van Dyke Show,
Mary Richards on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary Brenner on
Mary, and Annie McGuire on
Annie
McGuire) plays his daughter Lily Belle.
Hugh Sanders (starred in
That's My Boy,
The Pride of St. Louis,
The
Winning Team, and
The Wild One)
plays cotton farmer Beauregard.
Richard Reeves (Mr. Murphy on
Date With the Angels) plays the
dock-side bartender.
Season 2, Episode 7, "The Water of Gorgeous Springs":
Buddy Ebsen (shown on the right, played Sgt. Hunk Marriner on
Northwest
Passage, Jed Clampett on
The Beverly
Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones on
Barnaby
Jones, and Roy Houston on
Matt
Houston) plays hillbilly patriarch Niles Cox.
Sherry Jackson (Terry
Williams on
Make Room for Daddy)
plays his daughter Inez.
Gregory Walcott (starred in
Badman's Country and
Plan 9
From Outer Space and played Det. Roger Havilland on
87th Precinct) plays his son Salem.
Jocelyn Brando (see "Night of the Faceless Men" above) plays Charity
Jennings, matriarch of the Cox's feuding enemies.
Season 2, Episode 8, "Devil in Skirts": Frank
Silvera (Don Sebastian Montoya on The High
Chaparral) plays cotton plantation owner Colonel Ashley. Gloria Talbott (see
"The Landlubbers" above) plays his son's girlfriend Lucinda Lee. Arthur
Batanides (see "The Landlubbers" above) plays her brother Matt
Jennings.
Season 2, Episode 9, "The Quota": Gene Evans (starred
in The Steel Helmet, Thunderbirds, Donovan's Brain, and Operation
Petticoat and played Rob McLaughlin on My
Friend Flicka and Spencer Parrish on Spencer's
Pilots) plays Army recruiter Sgt. Danny Phillips. James Griffith (Aaron
Adams on Trackdown and Deputy Tom
Ferguson on U.S. Marshal) plays his assistant
Cpl. Sam Giler. Ron Hagerthy (Clipper King on Sky King) plays Enterprise crew member Phelan. Stuart Randall (see
"Fort Epitaph" above) plays Gen. Winfield Scott. Robin Blake (Nurse
Jud Clampett on General Hospital)
plays Mary Latimer, daughter of the general store proprietor. James Nusser (Louie
Pheeters on Gunsmoke) plays a hotel
clerk.
Season 2, Episode 10, "Chicota Landing": Richard
Chamberlain (shown on the left, starred in Joy in the Morning,
Julius Caesar, The Three Musketeers, and The
Swarm and played Dr. James Kildare on Dr.
Kildare and Dr. Daniel Kulani on Island
Son) plays young Army Lt. Dave Winslow. Ted de Corsia (Police Chief
Hagedorn on Steve Canyon) plays bandito
The Butcher.
Season 2, Episode 11, "Duel on the River":
Claude
Akins (Sonny Pruett on
Movin' On and
Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo on
B.J and the Bear
and on
Lobo) plays cotton farmer
Beaudry Rawlings.
Fay Spain (starred in
Dragstrip
Girl,
Al Capone, and
The Gentle Rain) plays his wife Laurie.
Edgar Buchanan (shown on the right, played Uncle Joe Carson on
The
Beverly Hillbillies,
Green Acres,
and
Petticoat Junction, Red Connors
on
Hopalong Cassidy, Judge Roy Bean
on
Judge Roy Bean, Bob/Doc Dawson on
Tales of Wells Fargo, Doc Burrage on
The Rifleman, and J.J. Jackson on
Cade's County) plays her cousin Wingate
Pardee.
Robert Emhardt (Sgt. Vinton on
The
Kids From C.A.P.E.R.) plays cotton mogul Brian Cloud.
Michael Greene (Deputy
Vance Porter on
The Dakotas) plays
his henchman Job.
Season 2, Episode 12, "Zigzag":
Charles Bronson (shown on the left, starred
in
The Magnificent Seven,
The Dirty Dozen,
Once Upon a Time in the West,
The
Valachi Papers, and four
Death Wish
movies and played Mike Kovac on
Man With a Camera, Paul Moreno on
Empire,
and Linc Murdock on
The Travels of Jamie
McPheeters) plays escaped convict Crowley.
John Milford (Ike Clanton on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,
Corporal Kagey on
The Lieutenant, Lt.
Paul Hewitt on
The Bold Ones: The Lawyers,
and Capt. Dempsey on
Enos) plays fellow
escapee Egan.
Tom Fadden (Duffield on
Broken
Arrow, Silas Perry on
Cimarron City,
and Ben Miller on
Green Acres and
Petticoat Junction) plays fellow escapee
Lear. William Fawcett (Clayton on
Duffy's
Tavern, Marshal George Higgins on
The
Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, and Pete Wilkey on
Fury) plays trapper Pinty Walters.
Stella Stevens (shown on the right, starred in
Girls! Girls! Girls!,
The Nutty Professor,
The Courtship of Eddie's Father,
The Silencers,
Where Angels Go Trouble Follows, and
The Poseidon Adventure and played Lute-Mae Sanders on
Flamingo Road) plays his daughter Lisa.
Phil
Tully (Charlie the bartender on
TheDeputy) plays a bartender.
Ray Teal (Jim Teal on
Lassie and Sheriff Roy Coffee on
Bonanza) plays Killian's Point Sheriff Clay.
Season 2, Episode 13, "Listen to the Nightingale":
Jack Albertson (starred in
Days of Wine
and Roses,
Kissin' Cousins,
The Flim-Flam Man, and
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
and played Lt. Harry Evans on
The Thin
Man, Walter Burton on
Room for One
More, Lt. Cmdr. Virgil Stoner on
Ensign
O'Toole, Paul Fenton on
Mister Ed,
and Ed Brown on
Chico and the Man) plays
traveling show promoter Sampson J. Binton.
Jeanne Bal (Pat Baker on
Love and Marriage) plays opera singer
Julie Lang.
DeForest Kelley (shown on the right, played Dr. McCoy on
Star
Trek) plays clarinetist Alex Jeffords.
Claire Carleton (Nell Mulligan on
The Mickey Rooney Show and Alice Purdy
on
Cimarron City) plays the show's
tatoo'd lady.
Hal Needham (Hollywood's highest-paid stuntman who invented
numerous stunt devices, was a double for Richard Boone and Burt Reynolds, and
directed
Smokey and the Bandit,
Hooper, and
Cannonball Run) plays an unnamed street thug.
The Tall Man was
based on the historical figures of Pat Garrett and William H. Bonney, better
known as Billy the Kid, though the series bears little resemblance to actual
history other than the names of the characters. The series title refers to
Garrett, who was nicknamed Juan Largo or Long John because of his 6'3"
frame. The television series is set in 1870s New Mexico, where Garrett moved
after brief stints as a cowboy in Texas and a buffalo hunter. He opened a
saloon in New Mexico and his rumored friendship with Bonney, whose real name
was Henry McCarty, supposedly stemmed from his bartending days, though there is
no documented evidence that the two were really friendly.
After his predecessor resigned with two months to go on his
term, Garrett was elected sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico on a platform
of establishing law and order. One of his first assignments was to arrest
McCarty, for whom the New Mexico governor offered a $500 reward. Four days
after Garrett killed one of McCarty's associates in a gunfight, he arrested
McCarty and his gang members, killing another in the process. McCarty was tried
and convicted but escaped from jail in April 1881. Garrett tracked him to Fort
Sumner and ambushed him in a dark bedroom on July 14, 1881. The way in which
Garrett killed Billy the kid, with the rumor of their prior friendship adding a
dose of betrayal to the event, damaged Garrett's reputation such that he lost
his bid for re-election and was unsuccessful in several attempts to be elected
sheriff of other New Mexico towns. However, he published a book about McCarty, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, and
later became a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt, though his association
with known gambler Tom Powers eventually made the friendship too embarrassing
for the politician. After retiring to a ranch in New Mexico, Garrett ran up his
own gambling debts and to settle these he was forced to loan some of his land
for grazing to one of his debt-holder's associates, Jesse Wayne Brazel. Garrett
was eventually shot and killed by Brazel on February 29, 1908 after the two had
several arguments over Brazel's insistence on grazing goats rather than cattle
on Garrett's land. Brazel was tried for first-degree murder but was acquitted.
Season 1, Episode 5, "The
Lonely Star": Ford Rainey (see "Forty Dollar Boots" above) returns
as Sheriff Brady. Ken Lynch (shown on the left, see "Forty Dollar Boots" above) returns
as cattle baron Andy Gorman. Jim Davis (see "Forty Dollar Boots"
above) returns as henchman Bob Orringer. Henry Norell (Henry Slocum on Oh, Those Bells) plays Lincoln Mayor
Baldwin. 
Season 1, Episode 6, "A Bounty for Billy": Leonard
Nimoy (Mr. Spock on Star Trek, Paris
on Mission: Impossible, and Dr.
William Bell on Fringe) plays new
Lincoln deputy Johnny Swift. Malcolm Atterbury (starred in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The
Birds, and The Learning Tree and
played John Bixby on Wagon Train and
Grandfather Aldon on Apple's Way)
plays lynch-minded citizen Jaggers. Robert J. Stevenson (bartender Big Ed on Richard Drum and Marshal Hugh Strickland
on Stagecoach West) plays citizen
Beldon. Charles Seel (the bartender on Tombstone
Territory, Mr. Krinkie on Dennis the
Menace, and Tom Pride on The Road
West) plays Tundell camp cook Dan.
Season 1, Episode 9, "Larceny and Young Ladies": Andy
Clyde (shown on the right, see the post for The Real McCoys)
plays new settler Pa McBean. Cynthia Chenault (Carol Potter on The Tom Ewell Show) plays his daughter
May. Judy Vincent (Jet Maypen on Walt
Disney Presents: Annette) plays his daughter June. Phil Chambers (Sgt Myles
Magruder on The Gray Ghost and Jed
Ransom on Lassie) plays a swindled
horse buyer. 
Season 1, Episode 16, "One of One Thousand": George
Wallace (starred in Radar Men From the
Moon, Destry, and Forbidden Planet and played Judge Milton
Cole on Hill Street Blues and Grandpa
Hank Hammersmith on Sons and Daughters)
plays buffalo hunter Jim Miles. Harry Carey, Jr. (shown on the right, starred in Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Mister
Roberts, and The Searchers and
played Bill Burnett on The Adventures of
Spin and Marty) plays Fort Sumner resident Dusty. 
