The Gallant Men (1962)

 

The Gallant Men is one of those TV series that seems more popular in retrospect than it was while it was on the air, though not to the extent of Star Trek or even The Munsters. There are at least three lengthy blog posts that document the series' origins and history, and there is little point in repeating that content here. The Wikipedia article about the series largely mirrors the description found on Fandom.com, which was written by Brandon Hollinsworth, who is interviewed at length on Mitchell Hadley's It's About TV blog. Stephen Bowie's The Classic TV History Blog also contains a lengthy history and analysis, as well as an entertaining interview with Gallant Men director Richard C. Sarafian. In a nutshell, the series was the creation of Warner Brothers  Television executive producer William T. Orr, originally named Battle Zone, which he conceived as early as 1957 but was unable to sell to any of the three networks until ABC, Warner's biggest TV customer, decided to shake up their lineup in the fall of 1962 and took a chance with three World War II-based programs--Combat!, the comedy McHale's Navy, and The Gallant Men. I've already described some of the competitive aspects of The Gallant Men vs. Combat! in my post on the 1962 episodes of the latter series, but The Gallant Men was done no favors in being scheduled opposite Rawhide initially and then moved opposite The Jackie Gleason Show. Robert Altman directed the pilot for The Gallant Men in late 1961 and early 1962 but then left Warner in a dispute over their practices and wound up being a key director on the first season of Combat! While Combat! lasted 5 seasons and McHale's Navy 4, The Gallant Men was canceled after a truncated single season of 26 episodes, caught up in the upheaval at Warner Brothers that saw Orr ousted and replaced by Jack Webb, though the series lived on another 5 years in syndication.

One of the more interesting aspects of The Gallant Men is the inclusion of character Conley Wright, played by Robert McQueeney, a war journalist said to be modeled after Ernie Pyle, who documented the Allied campaign in Italy. The fact that McQueeney gets top billing in the weekly credits would seem to indicate his character's importance to the series, and he does frame every episode with opening and closing narration to offer context to that week's story, but over the course of the first 13 episodes aired in 1962, he sometimes does not figure at all in many episodes, which focus more on the stories of the characters played by guest stars or the other individual members of Able Company. Rather than playing the role of the outside observer, Wright seems more like just another one of the soldiers, as other blog authors have observed, dressed in fatigues but not carrying a gun. He acts as a confidant and occasional advisor to Able Company commander Capt. Jim Benedict, who is portrayed as inexperienced in the series pilot, while Wright has already seen action in the Allies' earlier African Campaign. Most of the episodes do not focus on Wright's role as a reporter, the exceptions being the pilot and "Some Tears Fall Dry" (November 23, 1962). In the pilot Wright thinks he recognizes a new private in Able Company going by the name of Jake Miller, who seems far more accomplished and savvy than his rank would indicate. As Wright comes to learn from private conversations with Miller over the next several days, he is actually a former disgraced Major Robert C. Clinton from the African Campaign now hiding under the identity of one of his fallen men, trying to redeem his failures as a leader by heroic actions as a private. He pleads with Wright not to divulge his past to anyone, even after he takes a mortal gunshot, and Wright initially tells him he will have to break his cover in his report on the just completed liberation of San Pietro. Miller/Clinton again asks him not to, just before he dies. When Capt. Benedict comes over to check on the fallen soldier, Wright hides a satchel he was just handed by Miller/Clinton that reveals his  identity and falsely tells Benedict it is just a souvenir from the campaign. From this we gather that Wright places human bonds above his journalistic ethics--he has sacrificed a good story for the sake of a dying man's last request.

We see the antithesis of this belief in Wright's other starring role in "Some Tears Fall Dry" when we meet daredevil female war correspondent Kathlene Palmer, who jeopardizes the safety of Able Company and her own pilot when she has the pilot fly her over the American and German positions just before an imminent offensive. When her plane is shot down by the Germans, Able Company has to send its men to rescue her and the pilot, who gets shot in the process. After she poses for a photo op with the pilot before he is sent on to the hospital where he will die, Wright chews her out in front of Benedict for her lack of compassion and self-absorbed opportunism in trying to advance her career and image. She is stung by the criticism and tries to rehabilitate her reputation with Wright by luring him to a swank society party, and after a frank discussion about her sins, the two leave the party to go out on a date in the war-torn town. Unfortunately, the story turns into a chauvinistic screed about women not being suited for dangerous jobs like war correspondent and should instead stick to being sparkling ornaments for men back home, the same basic plot trotted out in many westerns of the era where women try to run a ranch or handle some other male-only job only to be taught, by a man, how to be a woman.

Perhaps it's not surprising that a series titled The Gallant Men would portray women negatively. In the aforementioned "Some Tears Fall Dry," Kathlene Palmer is redeemed by the end of the episode, but only after accepting her prescribed role as an ornamental accessory. Even less flattering are two other "romantically-themed" episodes "Lesson for a Lover" (November 9, 1962) and  "Advance and Be Recognized" (December 29, 1962). In the former episode, Lt. Kimbro falls in love with a hospital volunteer when psychologically "blinded" after being wounded in the shoulder during an attack. Depicting the "love is blind" trope literally, Kimbro initially is bitter about losing his sight when the doctors tell him there is nothing wrong with his eyes but then warms up to the charming and pretty (though he can't see her) Maria Carducci. But Kimbro cannot see that Maria is in cahoots with a nasty drug dealer, who exploits her hospital privileges to steal from their drug supply. Kimbro finally regains his sight and even catches Maria during a drug heist but does not turn her in, though she is eventually caught and regrets her involvement because she has truly fallen for the lieutenant. A similar story plays out in the latter episode "Advance and Be Recogznied," only this time it is Pvt. D'Angelo who falls for a pretty woman being used in an insurance scam on American soldiers--having them sign over their life insurance benefits to an Italian woman so that if they are killed in combat the woman and the ring operator can claim the benefits. By the end of the episode, the woman exploiting D'Angelo, Nina Papeeto, regrets her role in the scam because she has developed genuine feelings for him. Both of these episodes suggest that romance is as treacherous as the battlefield.

But the exception to this pattern is "Signals for an End Run" (December 7, 1962), in which Sgt. McKenna plays the romantic lead with an Italian resistance fighter named Dina whose husband was killed by the Nazis. While Dina herself is upright and trustworthy, returning the attraction that McKenna feels for her, jealous suitor and fellow opposition fighter Lupo poses a danger to both of them and ultimately betrays their hideout to the Nazis, who first bomb the compound, killing Dina's father-in-law and group leader Bassano, and then shows up with a foot patrol to finish off the survivors. Fortunately, Benedict and the rest of Able Company are close at hand and are able to rout the Germans. Lupo begs for mercy but is given none as Dina herself guns him down, showing that she can be just as fierce as any man. Once the mission is over, McKenna is noncommittal to Wright about whether he will return for Dina after the War, but Wright narrates in the postscript that he has a feeling they will make it together, one of several episode-closing statements Wright makes imagining what life will be after the War is over.

To the show's credit, despite its lofty title, the character studies shown throughout the first 13 episodes depict the members of Able Company as somewhat ordinary men with visible flaws--whether it be D'Angelo and Kimrbo's gullibility, Benedict's uncertainty and self-doubt in the pilot, or Lucavich's false assumptions about a young boy who looks up to him in "Robertino" (December 14, 1962). None of them express enthusiasm for the tough job of killing other men, and none display the misguided career ambition we see in Kathlene Palmer. The guest star soldiers who die in almost every episode usually are also flawed in a more unbalanced way--the redemption-driven Miller/Clinton of the pilot, the revenge-seeking paratrooper Billy Ray Melford of "A Place to Die" (December 21, 1962), the shut-down and anti-social sniper Harry Draper in "Retreat to Concorde" (October 12, 1962), and even Benedict's younger brother Griff in "And Cain Cried Out" (October 19, 1962) who is too intent on proving himself his big brother's equal--all meet an early demise because they prioritize less important objectives above their own survival. The flipside of this mis-prioritization is the German commander Capt. Rauch in "One Moderately Peaceful Sunday" (November 2, 1962) who is bewitched by the personal effects left behind in a house occupied by his men, dredging up memories of his home in the Tyrolean Alps. When an Able Company patrol containing radio man Gibson stumbles on and then tries to take the German position, Rauch allows himself to be captured even though he has the upper hand because he knows this is the only sure way to get back home, at some point. Though his own men may think Rauch is weak, the Americans who capture him consider him more of an amusing curiosity, with Benedict remarking he can't remember ever seeing a happier prisoner. Had he been an American and behaved thusly, our opinion would naturally be different, but for a man expected to sacrifice his life for an ignoble cause, we are encouraged to be more sympathetic.

It may come as a surprise that not all Nazis on The Gallant Men come off as completely evil, but the show is nuanced enough to depict varying degrees of humanity amongst the Germans. Contrasting with the sentimental and uncommitted Rauch of the previous episode, the medical orderly assigned to treat D'Angelo after he is captured in "The Ninety-Eight Cent Man" (October 26, 1962) is an unfeeling manipulator who withholds pain medication in the hopes that D'Angelo will spill crucial information he overheard from the Italian resistance fighters who initially saved him when he was wounded. "Fury in a Quiet Village" (November 30, 1962) pits two Nazis against each other--the renowned but physically ailing commander Marshall Kleindorff and the psychopathic Gestapo officer Col. Schunesberg sent to investigate rumors that Kleindorff is not fully committed to Hitler's policies. Schunesberg demonstrates that he is irredeemably evil by holding hostage all the children from the town where they are hiding and by having no qualms about killing them one by one to force the Americans to withdraw, while Kleindorff has at least a shred of humanity because he refuses to engage in such brutality. Of course the bigger picture of what the Nazis were doing to Jews elsewhere in Europe is never mentioned, nor is it ever explicitly suggested that some Germans perhaps felt coerced to serve in their military to ensure their own survival, but it goes without saying that such excuses would never be considered for himself by a gallant man, though he may feel sympathetic toward someone in that position.

The theme and individual episode scores were written by Howard Manucy Jackson, born in St. Augustine, Florida on February 8, 1900. Jackson learned to play piano from his mother, also a pianist, and played for vaudeville shows and movie theaters as a teenager. He studied under Rubin Glodmark, himself a student of renowned Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. Though Jackson's work often went uncredited, he began composing for feature films with Broadway in 1929. Among his more notable feature film contributions were I'm No Angel starring Mae West, It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, and You're in the Army Now with Jimmy Durante and Phil Silvers. His most famous popular song compositions were "Lazy Rhapsody," co-written with Harry Sosnik (though Duke Ellington also claimed writing credits on his version), and "(I Scream--You Scream--We All Scream For) Ice Cream," co-written with Billy Moll and Robert King. Beginning in 1935 he composed for Three Stooges shorts, writing for 8 of their films over the next 18 years. In the late 1950s he began working for Warner Brothers, composing for the Clint Walker feature film Yellowstone Kelly as well as the 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, and Hawaiian Eye TV programs before being tabbed to provide the music for The Gallant Men. His last work for Warner Brothers coincided with the cancelation of The Gallant Men in 1963--the TV movie FBI Code 98 and the failed TV series pilot Philbert (Three's a Crowd) starring William Schallert and Joanna Barnes. He appears to have retired at that point and passed away three years later in his hometown of St. Augustine on August 4, 1966 at the age of 66.

The complete series has been released on DVD by Warner Brothers Archive.

The Actors

Robert McQueeney

Robert Leo McQueeney was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on March 5, 1919. Although his early life has not been widely documented, he attended the Taft School and graduated from Bard College as well as the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of lieutenant of the Combat Engineers in the South Pacific. After the War in 1946 he married 17-year-old Patricia Noonan, a model and television commercial actress under the name of Patricia Scott who would go on as Patricia McQueeney to become a renowned actors' agent, including for Harrison Ford and Terri Garr. Robert McQueeney would make his Broadway debut in a 1951 production of Herman Melville's Billy Budd. That same year he met and impressed actress Susan Peters at a Hollywood luncheon, and she secured him a recurring role on her short-lived daytime drama Miss Susan. Though he returned to Broadway in Fragile Fox in 1954, the bulk of his career on the stage was in smaller markets such as Pittsburgh and a traveling production of Macbeth with Helen Hayes. He appeared on a number of TV drama anthologies through the mid-1950s, including The Philco Television Playhouse, Studio One, and The Big Story, then began getting guest spots on continuing series such as Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, M Squad, and Colt .45 in the latter 1950s. He made his feature film debut in the 1957 drama The Tijuana Story and followed that with a role in The World Was His Jury a year later. In 1959 he was granted an annulment to his marriage with Patricia after 13 years and 3 children. He continued finding plenty of work, particularly on Warner Brothers series such as Cheyenne, Lawman, Bronco, and 77 Sunset Strip before finally getting his first starring role as war correspondent Conley Wright on Warner's The Gallant Men in 1962.

But after that series was canceled following a single season, McQueeney's workload dwindled. He appeared in a pair of 1965 feature films--Brainstorm and The Glory Guys, but his television work was limited to three appearances on Bonanza and single appearances on Temple Houston, The Legend of Jesse James, The Green Hornet, and The F.B.I. He retired from acting after a 1970 episode of Marcus Welby, M.D. and became a golf pro and instructor. However, his life took a very different turn thereafter, as a lifelong Catholic he pursued a religious career. While still a deacon, he was appointed the Spiritual Director of the Padre Pio Foundation of America. He continued that role after being ordained as a priest in 1982 and served as the head of the Homiletics Department at the Holy Apostles Seminary while also teaching English at Fairfield University in Connecticut. After serving 20 years in the priesthood, McQueeney passed away in Los Angeles on April 24, 2002 at the age of 83.

William Reynolds

Born William LeClerq Regnolds in Los Angeles on December 9, 1931, Reynolds was a direct descendant of American Revolutionary War hero Nathan Reynolds through his father, an economics professor, though he said that his ancestry was much more important to his parents than it was to him. His mother died when he was 5 years old, and William was sent to boarding schools before attending Pasadena City College, where he worked in the radio department. Reynolds said that he decided he wanted to become an actor from listening to radio programs like The Shadow and the movie serials shown every Saturday at the local theater. He was initially signed by Paramount and after appearing in a few feature films, starting with Dear Brat, he was dropped by Paramount because, as he would later say, he was an irresponsible 18 year-old. He and actress Molly Sinclair, also 18 at the time, eloped to Las Vegas without telling her mother, who then phoned Paramount and asked who William Reynolds was, and another time he reported to the studio still under the influence of sodium pentothal from a tooth extraction and proceeded to tell the casting executive and a few others that his talent was being wasted. But his agent got him a contract with Universal Studios in 1952. He appeared in no fewer than 7 feature films that year, including Carrie, Francis Goes to West Point, and Son of Ali Baba. That same year he was also drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in the Korean War, putting his acting career on hold for 2 years. When he returned, he resumed his film career with the cult science fiction thriller Cult of the Cobra and the Douglas Sirk melodrama All That Heaven Allows, but the number of roles diminished from his earlier years, and by the late 1950s he felt he was being typecast. After meeting Jack Webb, he made the move to television, starring in the lead role in Webb's TV version of Pete Kelly's Blues, as well as guest spots on Warner Brothers series such as Maverick and Bronco, in addition to Wagon Train, Zane Grey Theatre, and The Millionaire. In 1960 he landed his second leading role as Sandy Wade on The Islanders, a series that led to a real-life drama more harrowing than anything on television: on February 12, 1960 Reynolds and series creator Richard L. Bare were flying back to Miami from a location shooting when their plane crashed in the Caribbean Sea. Reynolds sustained broken ribs and a broken ankle, but he and Bare managed to swim 4 miles to safety on the island of Jamaica. This accident led to a delay in Reynolds' starring role on an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "The Purple Testament" in which he played a military officer who could foresee the deaths of his men before they happened. After a couple more guest spots on Warner Brothers series--Cheyenne and The Roaring 20's­--Reynolds got his third starring role as Captain Jim Benedict on The Gallant Men.

Like his cast mate Robert McQueeney, Reynolds didn't find much work in the aftermath of The Gallant Men's cancellation. He appeared in a single episode of Temple Houston and the 1964 feature film A Distant Trumpet but then went two years without getting a part. He commented in a 1967 newspaper article in the Kingsport (Tennessee) Times-News that he had reached a point where he could no longer play juveniles and was not the type to be cast as a character actor. To cover his bills, he went back to school to earn a degree as a real estate attorney, but then in 1966 a few parts started trickling in--an episode of O.K. Crackerby!, one on Jack Webb's revived Dragnet series, and a role in the Disney comedy Follow Me, Boys! But the most important role in his return to acting was a guest spot on the first season of The F.B.I. After another guest spot during the series' second season, he was cast in the regular role of Special Agent Tom Colby beginning in Season 3 and would appear in 159 episodes over the final 7 seasons. After The F.B.I. went off the air, Reynolds was again out of work. He told author Tom Weaver in his 2009 book I Talked With a Zombie that he again looked for work outside of acting since he had a daughter attending Stanford University. Fellow actor Dennis Cross helped him get a job at a medical malpractice insurance company as an underwriting manager. He would have only two more acting credits in his career--an episode of another Jack Webb series, Project U.F.O., in 1978 and a 1989 short called Hairway to the Stars. After his wife Molly died in 1992, Reynolds went to live with his son Eric in Wildomar, California, where he died from non-COVID pneumonia on August 24, 2022 at the age of 90.

Robert Ridgely

Born Robert Ritterbusch in Teaneck, New Jersey on December 24, 1931, Ridgely began his career as a cabaret entertainer. In 1959 under his birth name he made his first and only appearance on Broadway in the Dore Schary play The Highest Tree alongside Robert Redford. His TV career began in 1960, appearing primarily in Warner Brothers series such as Bronco, Surfside 6, Maverick, Lawman, and Hawaiian Eye, as well as Sea Hunt, The Deputy, Bonanza (which he would appear on 7 times over its tenure), and Bus Stop. In 1961 as Bob Ridgely he released the novelty single ”The Way Out Mummy/She Was a Mau-Mau" on Del-Fi Records. Then in 1962 he was cast at Lt. Frank Kimbro on The Gallant Men, the most prominent live-action TV role of his career.

As with Robert McQueeney and William Reynolds, Ridgely found little acting work on film in the years immediately after The Gallant Men, appearing in single episodes of Kraft Suspense Theatre and Bonanza in addition to the Robert Altman TV movie Nightmare in Chicago over the next 4 years. Beginning in 1967 he began getting occasional parts in feature film Countdown, Chrome and Hot Leather, and A Day at the Whitehouse and playing Dracula in an episode of Get Smart, which introduced him to Mel Brooks who would go on to use Ridgely in 4 of his feature films--Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, Life Stinks, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. In 1974 besides appearing in a two-part episode of Kung Fu,  he began what would be his primary career as a voice actor for animated feature films and TV shows, beginning with parts in the similarly themed animated features The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat and Dirty Duck. That year he also had his biggest feature film role, playing the title character alongside Scott MacKenzie in the Easy Rider-like road trip farce The Great Lester Boggs. Through the rest of the mid-1970s he appeared in a number of live-action TV series--4 times as Assistant DA Jeff Farlow on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, 3 times in various roles on the kids TV show spoof Uncle Croc's Block, The Bob Newhart Show, Switch, The Kids From C.A.P.E.R., and The Krofft Supershow--and animated cartoon series like Hong Kong Phooey and the M*A*S*H parody M-U-S-H before landing his first big animated leading role as Tarzan on Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, which ran from 1976-79. Once that series ended he was cast in the title role for the animated cartoon series Flash Gordon, which ran through 1982. In 1980 Ridgely had a memorable supporting role as game-show host Wally "Mr. Love" Williams in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard and played the title character in the Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series Thundarr the Barbarian, which ran for 2 seasons through 1981. During the same period he provided voices on various animated TV movies including Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of Living Lies, Dorothy in the Land of Oz, Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody, Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All, and Peter and the Magic Egg. Though he still had occasional live-action roles on TV series such as WKRP Cincinnati and feature films such as Heart Like a Wheel, The Wild Life, Something Wild, and Beverly Hills Cop II, by the mid-1980s the bulk of his work came in animated cartoons such as Shirt Tales, The Dukes, The Incredible Hulk (as General Ross), Richie Rich (as The Collector), Alvin and the Chipmunks, Strawberry Shortcake (as Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak), Lucky Luke (as Jolly Jumper), Challenge of the GoBots, Snorks (as Mr. Kelp), The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Paw Paws (as Mighty Paw), and Centurions (as Rex Charger). For the remainder of his career, he had few recurring roles but remained remarkably busy, appearing in feature films such as How I Got Into College, playing homophobic lawyer Walter Kenton in Philadelphia, The Ref, and Fire Down Below; landing guest spots on live-action TV series such as Trying Times, Night Court, Newhart, Designing Women, Charles in Charge, Evening Shade, Wings, Hotel Malibu, and 3 times as Carter Brooks on Coach; and a plethora of voicework on animated cartoons such as Sky Commanders, Duck Tales, The Smurfs, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures, Barnyard Commandos, the narrator on Spacecats, Capitol Critters, Goof Troop, The Addams Family, Dexter's Laboratory, and The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, to name but a few. His last feature film role was playing porn producer the Colonel James in Boogie Nights in 1997, a part written specifically for him by director Paul Thomas Anderson. Ridgely did not live to see the film's release, however, as he died from cancer on February 8 of that year at the age of 65.

Richard X. Slattery

Born in The Bronx on June 26, 1925, Richard Xavier Slattery graduated from All Hallows High School before attending Fordham University on football and track scholarships. But during World War II he joined the United States Army Air Forces, serving in the Pacific for two years and achieving the rank of lieutenant as well as being awarded the American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and World War II Victor Medal. Upon returning to civilian life, he began acting in stock company productions and was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout in a production of Dinner at Eight, which led to a trip to California for a screen test and an uncredited part in Edward Dmytryk's 1946 military veteran-themed drama Till the End of Time. His acting career stalled after that, so he returned to New York and became an NYPD police officer beginning in 1948 while also appearing in Off Broadway theatrical productions such as A Streetcar Named Desire and The Iceman Cometh. He also continued to hone his acting chops by appearing in police training films until he was able to work his way back to a film career, beginning in 1958 with New York-based television shows such as Armstrong Circle Theatre, Deadline, The Big Story, and Naked City. He left the NYPD in 1960 to pursue acting full time, landing a pair of uncredited feature film roles in BUtterfield 8 and The Last Time I Saw Archie as well as 1961 episodes of Route 66, The Defenders, and Bus Stop. That year he also made his Broadway debut in a production of A Cook for Mr. General. By 1962 he had moved to California and after a pair of appearances in the Warner Brothers series 77 Sunset Strip, he landed the role of Sgt. John McKenna in Warner's World War II drama The Gallant Men.

Unlike his cast mates, Slattery had no trouble finding work after the cancelation of The Gallant Men. In 1963 he appeared on The Great Adventure and Rawhide and was extremely busy in 1964 with a prominent role in the feature film A Distant Trumpet in addition to appearances on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Lieutenant, Temple Houston, No Time for Sergeants, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Gunsmoke, and another episode of Rawhide. In 1965 he was cast in his second recurring role in a military-themed program, playing Captain John Morton in the TV version of Mister Roberts and made the first of 9 appearances in various roles on Bewitched. After appearing in episodes of That Girl and F Troop near the end of 1966, he had no fewer than 9 TV guest spots as well as a role in the feature film A Time for Killing in 1967. In 1968 he had a supporting role in the Paul Newman World War II feature film The Secret War of Harry Frigg and the Tony Curtis thriller The Boston Strangler in addition to appearing on The Andy Griffith Show, The F.B.I., and I Dream of Jeannie. In fact, Slattery continued to rack up an annual average of a half dozen TV guest spots, sometimes more, though the mid-1970s on everything from The High Chaparral to Arnie to My Three Sons, Love, American Style, Room 222, The Paul Lynde Show, The Waltons, Kojak, and Monster Squad. In 1977 he landed yet another recurring role as Captain Buckner on the Don Rickles military comedy CPO Sharkey. Also beginning in the 1970s he began portraying folksy gas station owner Murph in a popular series of TV commercials for Unocal's 76 brand of gasoline, a role he would play for 14 years. By the late 1970s, work finally began to slow down for Slattery, though he still appeared in The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again in 1979 and a few TV series in the 1980s, including The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, One Day at a Time, and Knight Rider. His final credits came in 1990 episodes of A Family for Joe and the rebooted Dragnet. He died from a stroke on January 27, 1997 at the age of 71.

Eddie Fontaine

Born Edward Henry Reardon in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 6, 1927, Fontaine's mother was Italian and his father Irish. Fontaine grew up in Rockaway Beach, and inspired by Frankie Laine began his singing career busking in New York City bars. He worked his way up to singing in cocktail lounges by the early 1950s, where he was discovered by Neal Hefti and RCA executive Jimmy Hilliard, who signed Fontaine to his RCA subsidiary X Records. He released 5 singles on X in 1955, beginning with "Rock Love" backed by Hefti and the Excels, and in April of that year Fontaine was in the lineup of Alan Freed's first rock n roll show at the Brooklyn Paramount along with LaVern Baker, The Penguins, The Clovers, The Moonglows, and others. Though he released two more singles for another RCA subsidiary, Vik, in 1956, he signed with Decca that same year and released another 8 singles for them in 1956-57. One of those singles, "Cool It, Baby," landed him his first acting job in the 1956 Jayne Mansfield farce The Girl Can't Help It. Fontaine then recorded a demo of a song he wrote, "Nothin' Shakin'," at his own expense but then signed with Sunbeam records in 1958 and rerecorded the song. However, the demo had been sold to Chess Records without his knowledge and was released on its subsidiary Argo, where it found success and reached #64 on the Billboard charts, the only chart hit of Fontaine's career. Fontaine released two more singles on Sunbeam in 1958 and one single on Chancellor in 1959 before moving to Cuba to perform in nightclubs until the revolution led by Fidel Castro. He moved to Van Nuys, California and found work in Warner Brothers TV series 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye before being cast as Pvt. Pete D'Angelo on The Gallant Men in 1962.

During his tenure on The Gallant Men, Fontaine, whose character D'Angelo often sang in episodes of the series, released a pair of singles on Warner's record label, but after the show ended, he returned to singing, releasing another pair of singles on Liberty Records in 1965. He appeared in a single episode of The Wild, Wild West in 1967 but did not find steady acting work again until the mid-1970s when he began getting guest spots on Ironside, Kojak, Planet of the Apes, Medical Center, and multiple appearances on The Rockford Files, Police Story, and The Six Million Dollar Man. In 1978 he played Fonzie's father on an episode of Happy Days, and in the early 1980s appeared on Stone, General Hospital, Nero Wolfe, and Quincy, M.E. He also revived his singing career yet again and toured Europe in 1981. But his career came to a screeching halt in 1983 when he was convicted for paying country singer David Faircloth $3000 and an electric guitar to kill his wife Pamela with whom he was in a custody battle during divorce proceedings. He was also convicted of carrying a gun when he was already a convicted felon--at some point while living in New York he had been convicted of grand larceny and served 5 years in prison. He also had a prior conviction for child molestation. As he was being transferred to the sheriff's substation for sentencing, Fontaine complained of chest pains, having recently undergone a heart bypass operation, and was rushed to a hospital, but was later released after posting bond. Fontaine served 4 years in prison before his conviction was overturned by an appeals court, which ruled that his original trial judge had unfairly considered his prior convictions in his sentencing. Fontaine made one more TV appearance on an episode of Sisters in 1991 before he died from throat cancer on April 13, 1992 at the age of 65.

Roland La Starza

Born in the Bronx on May 12, 1927, La Starza's greatest claim to fame was as a professional boxer. Growing up in a working-class neighborhood, La Starza took to boxing early. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II and won five Golden Gloves titles in New York in 1944 and 1945. He turned professional in 1947 and won his first 37 fights, setting up a match with the then-rising and also undefeated Rocky Marciano on March 24, 1950 at Madison Square Garden. La Starza was a smart, efficient fighter in contrast to the brawling Marciano, and the bout wound up as a split decision which was awarded to Marciano using New York's supplemental point system. Many of those who saw the fight felt that La Starza was robbed, as did La Starza, who maintained that the fight was given to Marciano because his manage Al Weill was the matchmaker for Madison Square Garden. Many consider this bout to be the closest Marciano ever came to losing. Over his next 18 fights, La Starza lost twice on points but after defeating contender Rex Layne in 1953, he won a rematch with Marciano, then heavyweight champion. The bout was held at the Polo Grounds on September 24, 1953, and La Starza stood toe to toe with Marciano through the first 6 rounds but then began to tire due to the punishment he took from Marciano. After Marciano knocked La Starza out of the ring through the ropes, the match was called and Marciano won on a TKO. La Starza was hospitalized for arm injuries sustained during the fight, and though he returned to box for another 8 years, he was never the same, losing half of his remaining fights. But upon his retirement in 1961, he immediately turned to acting, appearing in a 1961 episode of Hennesey, a 1962 episode of 77 Sunset Strip, and the 1962 feature film Convicts 4 before landing his role as Pvt. Ernie Lucavich on The Gallant Men.

This would be his only recurring role on television, but over the next 5 years he had guest spots on Mister Roberts, Batman, Perry Mason, and The Wild, Wild West in addition to supporting roles in the feature films A Fine Madness, The Big Mouth, and Point Blank. In the early 1970s he had bit parts in the feature films Which Way to the Front?, The Outfit, and The Don Is Dead as well as an episode of Cade's County, before retiring with his wife to their cattle ranch in New Smyrna Beach, Florida in 1973. Also during his post-boxing career he worked as a boxing match commentator and helped to train young fighters. His name surfaced again in 2001 in the title to one of Joyce Carol Oates' short stories, "The Man Who Fought Roland LaStarza." He died at the age of 82 on September 30, 2009.

Robert Gothie

Gothie was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on October 2, 1929. His father Harry worked for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, and young Robert developed an interest in the theater while attending Hazleton High School and performing with its Thespian Troupe under the tutelage of Marion V. Brown. Upon graduation, he attended Lafayette College on scholarship, first as an engineering student before switching to pre-law. Deciding to continue his legal studies, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an officer for the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. After graduating from Penn, Gothie worked the next summer as a waiter in Agunquit, Maine, where he was inspired by a local theater group to give up a law career for one as an actor. He moved to New York and enrolled at the American Theatre Wing acting school while working nights at a freight company. He auditioned for famed director Elia Kazan and won a part in a traveling production of Tea and Sympathy starring Deborah Kerr, then returned to New York for further study at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his television debut on a 1956 episode of West Point and got another guest spot in a military drama the next year on Men of Annapolis. In 1957 he made his Broadway debut in the initial production of Gore Vidal's A Visit to a Small Planet, which ran for 11 months. But during this time his television career began gaining traction, as he appeared on a number of series in 1958, including Zane Grey Theatre, Sugarfoot, Telephone Time, Trackdown, and The Millionaire. Over  the next two years he appeared in several more TV series including Mackenzie's Raiders, This Man Dawson, Sea Hunt, Lock Up, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, and The Aquanauts. In 1961 he had a supporting role in the feature film adaptation of William Faulkner's novel Sanctuary starring Lee Remick and Yves Montand. That same year he returned to Broadway for a production of Everybody Loves Opal, which ran for less than 3 weeks, while also appearing that year on My Three Sons. After appearing in 1962 on Room for One More, 77 Sunset Strip, and two episodes of Everglades!, he was cast as Pvt. Sam Hanson on The Gallant Men.

After The Gallant Men was canceled, Gothie appeared in the Warner Brothers feature film Palm Springs Weekend in 1963 along with other Warner stars Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Robert Conrad, and Ty Hardin, but his career rather inexplicably fizzled after that, as he appeared only in single episodes of The Virginian in 1964 and Wendy and Me in 1965. In a May, 1963 feature story in his hometown newspaper, Gothie mentioned that he was about to audition for another Warner Brothers TV series based on the feature film Mister Roberts, which wound up airing during the 1965-66 season and included fellow Gallant Men cast member Richard X. Slattery, but Gothie apparently did not get the part. There appears to be nothing published about what happened to Gothie after that. He died in San Francisco on June 18, 1993 at the age of 63.

Roger Davis

Jon Roger Davis was born in Louisville, Kentucky on April 5, 1939. Davis' father Edwin owned a tire store in Louisville and also owned race horses. The family spent summer vacations at the family farm in Bowling Green. Young Roger began acting in grammar school at age 9 before spending his high school years attending Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee. There he was a champion of the school debate team and also lettered in track, cross-country, and swimming. Upon graduation, he attended Columbia University, majoring in American and English Literature with a minor in Architecture, while also acting in school theatrical productions where he was directed by classmate Brian De Palma. While in New York, he also studied acting in Greenwich Village with teacher Michael Howard, but his father discouraged him from a career in acting, so he initially applied to and was accepted into the law programs at both Columbia and Harvard but instead decided to accept a fellowship to teach undergraduate English courses at UCLA. He continued taking acting courses in Los Angeles, worked up to 90 hours a week as a gas station attendant and waiter while also teaching and working on a Masters Degree in 18th Century Literature. In late 1961 he embarked on another career as a real estate developer, buying depressed properties in the Los Angeles area and renovating and reselling them for a profit. He got his first acting break in 1962 when one of his UCLA students was cast in a supporting part for an episode of the Warner Brothers TV series Bus Stop and asked Davis to help her rehearse for the part. As a result he met director Robert Altman, who was impressed by his abilities and helped him get signed to a contract with Warner Brothers. He was then cast as radio operator Roger Gibson in the Warner fall 1962 series The Gallant Men.

Davis played a similar, uncredited part in the Warner 1963 JFK-based feature film PT109. With The Gallant Men canceled in 1963, Davis was cast to replace Ryan O'Neal in the role of Mike for the shortened version of their modern western series Empire, renamed Redigo. In 1964 he appeared in the teen exploitation feature Ride the Wild Surf and an episode of The Twilight Zone before signing with Screen Gems, where he turned down a regular role on the sit-com Love on a Rooftop and instead filmed a pilot for a series based on the 1953 feature film From Here to Eternity, which was not picked up for production. After appearing in a 1965 episode of Dr. Kildare and a 1966 episode of Bonanza, Davis decided to return to New York and pursue a more serious acting career. Ironically, his biggest role there was the role of a Robert Kennedy-inspired character in the political satire MacBird!, first in Boston and then replacing William Devane in the same role for the New York production. His performance in this role helped launch his successful career as a commercial voiceover artist when he was picked to do the same Kennedy voice for an Anacin commercial, until Kennedy's 1968 assassination forced the producers to have Davis do the commercial in his own voice. That same year he signed with Universal to play Peter Bradford on Dark Shadows, a program on which he would go on to play 7 other roles over the next three years. He also in 1968 met Jaclyn Smith in an elevator of a building where they had both gone to audition for commercials, and after giving her a ride back to her hotel, they began dating and married on November 29. He and Smith would sometimes appear together in commercials in the early 1970s for products such as Close-Up toothpaste and Dial soap. While he also had occasional guest spots on TV series such as The Big Valley, The Bold Ones, and The Most Deadly Game, Davis was making far more doing commercials for a raft of products, the most lucrative being Canada Dry, who paid him $100,000 in 1971 alone. He left Dark Shadows in 1970 to star in the TV movie The Young Country, followed by River of Gold the following year. Both movies were pseudo-pilots for TV series, but neither was picked up. More occasional work on Medical Center and Night Gallery followed until Davis was cast as the narrator on the Roy Huggins-produced western Alias Smith and Jones in January 1971. But when co-lead actor Peter Duel committed suicide in December after filming the first 33 episodes, producer Roy Huggins frantically phoned Davis, then in Denver on a voiceover assignment, to rush back to Hollywood and take over Duel's role as Hannibal Heyes. Davis remained in the role during the series' remaining episodes, but stiff competition from All in the Family and The Flip Wilson Show, as well as Davis having to replace one of the show's trademark personalities, led to the show being canceled in 1973. Being a co-star on a popular series certainly raised Davis' profile, and he had plenty of guest star appearances over the next two years on series such as The Rockford Files, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, McCloud, The New Perry Mason, and Ironside. In 1973 he also intensified his real estate ventures, forming the acquisition company Thoroughbred Properties to buy and renovate everything from luxury homes to apartment buildings in the Beverly Hills area. In January 1975 Davis and Smith divorced having grown apart from spending so much time on separate projects. In 1975 Davis starred in the feature film Flash and the Firecat and played Lindsey Wagner's love interest in the pilot episode of The Bionic Woman, but in December of 1975 he also nearly died from a ruptured appendix, which limited his 1976 work to only the feature film Nashville Girl. However, he returned to a busy schedule for 1977, including guest spots on Quincy, M.E. and Wonder Woman. He then left Hollywood to return to Louisville in 1978, concentrating on his real estate business with the design and construction of a Georgian-style luxury condominium project called 1400 Willow. He also conducted an expensive renovation of the Seelbach Hotel (referenced in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby), but the projects reportedly lost Davis millions of dollars, though they are considered to have enhanced the Louisville community. In 1979 he remarried to Suzanne Irwin, and they had a daughter Margaret before divorcing in 1983. He then married Louisville realtor Alice Legette in 1985 but divorced three years later. All the while, Davis appeared in only two film projects during these years--a 1980 episode of Galactica 1980 and the feature film The Act. In 1989 he returned to Los Angeles to revive his real estate business there while also appearing on an episode of Matlock and the TV movie/pilot Chameleons. He also founded his own apparel manufacturing business named Packing Crate Classics whose products were sold nationally in chains such as J.C. Penney. His film career since then has consisted only of a role in the video game Tex Murphy: Overseer, a 1998 episode of the TV series NightMan, and a supporting role in the 2000 feature film Beyond the Pale. He remarried yet again to Los Angeles lawyer Donna Jenis in 1991, and while this marriage lasted the longest, the couple separated in 2017. More recently Davis has been a partner in the production company Lonetree Entertainment and a frequent star attraction at Dark Shadows conventions and other special events. As of this writing, he is still living at the age of 86.

Robert Fortier

Born in West Hollywood on November 5, 1926, Robert Ray Fortier made his way into film by way of dance. After serving in the military during World War II, Fortier was a gymnast at UCLA and then became a member of the New York City Ballet. He broke into films in 1950 with uncredited dance parts in Let's Dance followed by Show Boat, Texas Carnival, and Singin' in the Rain over the next two years. He made his Broadway debut in 1957, playing the dance lead Victor in Pal Joey, and the following year played Don Juan in Me and Juliet. He continued to get dance parts on film, appearing in the 1954 Ann Sothern TV movie Lady in the Dark, on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the feature film The Girl Rush, both in 1955. The next year he began getting more dramatic roles and stunt work on series such as The Loretta Young Show, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, and Studio 57. By 1959 he was beginning to get quite a bit of TV work on series such as Have Gun -- Will Travel, The Millionaire, Zane Grey Theatre, U.S. Marshal, and Whirlybirds, where he first crossed paths with director Robert Altman. That year he would also land his first recurring TV role, playing the supporting character Scotty on the action-adventure series Troubleshooters starring Keenan Wynn and athlete Bob Mathias. Fortier appeared in 15 of the show's 26 episodes over its single season. In 1960-61 he would find occasional guest star work on Bonanza, The Law and Mr. Jones, and Outlaws before being cast as Capt./Maj. Jergens on The Gallant Men, another show with a Robert Altman connection. Fortier appeared on the program 7 times in its lone season, always credited as a guest star rather than a regular member of the cast.

According to a 1977 feature story on Fortier that appeared in the Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota, Fortier said that 15 years earlier his acting roles dried up, so he moved to Hawaii, built his own 40-foot Japanese sampan, and became a commercial fisherman. But after the cancelation of The Gallant Men, Fortier continued to find work guest starring through the mid-1960s on Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, The Outer Limits, Combat!, The Lucy Show, and My Brother the Angel. Things did slow down after that, with his only credits in the latter 1960s coming in the 1966 feature film Incubus starring William Shatner and a 1968 episode of Star Trek. Fortier said that after seeing an Altman film that "almost tore me in half," he began writing fan letters to Altman, and the director wrote back and encouraged him to join him on location in Vancouver where he was directing his film McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Altman cast Fortier as an unnamed drunk in one scene of that film but then gave him a much meatier role 6 years later playing the lead male Edgar Hart in 3 Women opposite Sissy Spacek and Shelly Duvall. This role revived his acting career for about a decade. After an uncredited appearance in Heaven Can Wait, he appeared in four more Altman films--1978's A Wedding with Carol Burnett and Mia Farrow, 1980's HealtH with Burnett and James Garner, Popeye with Duvall and Robin Williams, and 1985's O.C. and Stiggs, after which Fortier retired from acting. He died 20 years later from a heart attack on January 1, 2005 at the age of 78.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 1, Episode 1, "Pilot: The Gallant Men": William Windom  (shown on the left, appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Americanization of Emily, and Escape From the Planet of the Apes and played Congressman Glen Morley on The Farmer's Daughter, John Monroe on My World and Welcome to It, Larry Krandall on Brothers and Sisters, Frank Buckman on Parenthood, and Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote) plays disgraced former commander Robert C. Clinton using the alias Jake Miller. Bill Quinn (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Rifleman) plays a U.S. Army colonel.

Season 1, Episode 2, "Retreat to Concord": Peter Breck  (shown on the right, played Clay Culhane on Black Saddle, Doc Holliday on Maverick, and Nick Barkley on The Big Valley) plays Army sniper Harry Draper. Iphigenie Castiglioni (wife of actor Leonid Kinskey, appeared in The Story of Louis Pasteur, Conquest of Space, Funny Face, and Rome Adventure) plays Nieto village matriarch Signora Josephine Cirasella.

Season 1, Episode 3, "And Cain Cried Out": Robert Conrad (shown on the left, played Tom Lopaka on Hawaiian Eye and 77 Sunset Strip, Jim West on The Wild Wild West, Deputy D.A. Paul Ryan on The D.A., Jake Webster on Assignment: Vienna, Maj. Greg Boyington on Black Sheep Squadron, Thomas Remington Sloane on A Man Called Sloane, Jesse Hawkes on High Mountain Rangers and Jesse Hawkes, and Griffin Campbell on High Sierra Search and Rescue) plays Capt. Benedict's brother Sgt. Griff Benedict. John A. Alonso (cinematographer on Vanishing Point, Harold and Maude, Lady Sings the Blues, Chinatown, Scarface, Steel Magnolias, and Star Trek: Generations) plays staff Sgt. Eddie Morales..

Season 1, Episode 4, "The Ninety-Eight Cent Man": Frank DeKova (shown on the right, played Chief Wild Eagle on F Troop and Louis Campagna on The Untouchables) plays Italian resistance leader Legrini. Rudy Solari (Frank Martinez on Redigo, Sherman Nagurski on The Wackiest Ship in the Army, and Casino on Garrison's Gorillas) plays one of his fighters Amitore. Dal Jenkins (Poet on The Young Marrieds) plays a Nazi medical orderly.

Season 1, Episode 5, "One Moderately Peaceful Sunday": John Dehner (shown on the left, played Duke Williams on The Roaring '20's, Commodore Cecil Wyntoon on The Baileys of Balboa, Morgan Starr on The Virginian, Cyril Bennett on The Doris Day Show, Dr. Charles Cleveland Claver on The New Temperatures Rising Show, Barrett Fears on Big Hawaii, Marshal Edge Troy on Young Maverick, Lt. Joseph Broggi on Enos, Hadden Marshall on Bare Essence, and Billy Joe Erskine on The Colbys) plays Nazi commander Capt. Rauch. Robert Glenn (Sgt. Woodley on Surfside 6) plays a German radioman.

Season 1, Episode 6, "Lesson for a Lover": John Van Dreelen (starred in The Leech Woman, 13 Ghosts, and Topaz and played Gen. von Lindendorf on Blue Light and Dr. Berger on Days of Our Lives) plays drug dealer Francioso Cardinale. Marianna Hill (shown on the right, appeared in Roustabout, Paradise, Hawaiian Style, The Godfather: Part II, and High Plains Drifter and played Rita on The Tall Man) plays his accomplice Maria Carducci.

Season 1, Episode 7, "And the End of Evil Things": Buck Kartalian (shown on the left, appeared in Mister Roberts, Cool Hand Luke, Planet of the Apes, and Myra Breckenridge and played Sam on Here Come the Brides and Bruce W. Wolf on Monster Squad) plays former tailor Pvt. Lopuschock. Eric Braeden (Capt. Hans Dietrich on The Rat Patrol and Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless) plays a German radio operator.

Season 1, Episode 8, "Some Tears Fall Dry": Gail Kobe (shown on the right, played Penny Adams on Trackdown, Doris Schuster on Peyton Place, and Dean Ann Boyd Jones on Bright Promise and produced over 200 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful) plays war correspondent Kathlene Palmer. Rita Lynn (Claire Maxwell on Martin Kane, Ella Russo on The Detectives, and Miss Kelly on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) plays society diva Maria LaFirenza. Ralph Manza (Al Bonacorsi on The D.A.'s Man, Mike Costello on General Hospital, Jay Drury on Banacek, Ambulance Aide Stanke on A.E.S. Hudson, Padre Guardiano on Mama Malone, Bud on Newhart, and Father Lewis on Days of Our Lives) plays a cafe proprietor.

Season 1, Episode 9, "Fury in a Quiet Village": Malachi Throne (shown on the left, played Martin Phelps on Ben Casey, False Face on Batman, Noah Bain on It Takes a Thief, The Narrator on Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp, Ted Adamson on Search for Tomorrow, and The Narrator on Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light) plays Gestapo officer Col. Schunesberg. Stefan Schnabel (appeared in The Iron Curtain, Diplomatic Courier, and Dracula's Widow and played Firebeard on Tales of the Vikings) plays ailing Nazi commander Marshall Kleindorff. Douglas Lambert (Eddie Weeks on General Hospital and Walter Schiff on Inside Story) plays patrol watchman Pvt. Lyndstrom. Robert Biheller (Corky on Here Come the Brides) plays a blinded American GI.

Season 1, Episode 10, "Signals for an End Run": Eduardo Cianelli (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Johnny Staccato) plays Italian partisan leader Bassano. Mala Powers (shown on the right, starred in Cyrano de Bergerac, Rose of Cimarron, and Tammy and the Bachelor and played Rebecca Boone on Walt Disney's Daniel Boone and Mona on Hazel) plays his daughter-in-law Dina. Rodolfo Acosta (appeared in Wings of the Hawk, Flaming Star, and The Sons of Katie Elder and played Vaquero on The High Chaparral) plays her jealous suitor Lupo. John Karlen (Danny Boy Delaney on The Doctors, Jock Porter on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, Willie Loomis on Dark Shadows, Sharkey Primrose on Hidden Faces, Casey on Another World, Harvey Lacey on Cagney & Lacey, and Lt. Sam Akers on Snoops) plays green officer Lt. Tyrell.

Season 1, Episode 11, "Robertino": Peter Soli (Rocco Hudson on The Admired) plays Italian orphan Robertino. Renzo Cesana (shown on the left, brother of composer Otto Cesana, creator of the radio programs Art Linklater's Party, Stop That Villain, and Radio Hall of Fame, appeared in Stromboli, The Sound of Fury, The Art of Love, and Three on a Couch, and played the title character on The Continental) plays San Angelo parish priest Father Rossi.

Season 1, Episode 12, "A Place to Die": Michael Parks (shown on the right, starred in Bus Riley's Back in Town, The Bible: In the Beginning, The Return of Josey Wales, From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill, and Argo, and played Jim Bronson on Then Came Bronson, Phillip Colby on The Colbys, and Jean Renault on Twin Peaks) plays paratrooper Billy Ray Melford. Victoria Vetri (appeared in Kings of the Sun, Chuka, Rosemary's Baby, and Invasion of the Bee Girls) plays Catholic nun Sister Catherine. Argentina Brunetti (appeared in It's a Wonderful Life, The Great Caruso, and The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and played Filomena on General Hospital) plays the convent Mother Superior. Reva Rose (appeared in If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, Bunny O'Hare, and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat and played Ruth Prentiss Tuttle on The Edge of Night, Marcy on That Girl, Nurse Mildred MacInerny on The New Temperatures Rising Show, and Blanche Fedders on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) plays another nun Sister Margaret.

Season 1, Episode 13, "Advance and Be Recognized": Terry Becker (shown on the left, played Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) plays hustler Pvt. "Goldbrick" Gilmartin. Jack Reitzen (Chopstick Joe on Terry and the Pirates and Flores on Not for Hire) plays insurance fraudster Itzo. Lawrence Mann (Harve Hanes on Shane) plays Army investigator Capt. Baer. Del Monroe (Kowalski on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) plays an MP officer.