Leave It to Beaver (1961)

As mentioned in our post for the 1960 episodes of Leave It to Beaver, the show demonstrated a remarkable true-to-life depiction of children's perspective on growing up because series co-creator Joe Connelly carried around a notebook to capture what his own sons were going through. And while the series has more recently come in for criticism for dealing with seemingly trivial inconveniences rather than more serious problems such as drug use, teenage pregnancy, or juvenile delinquency, Connelly and partner Bob Mosher were spot on in portraying the root causes of many of these symptoms--peer pressure and the fear of embarrassment. The episodes airing in 1961 still touched on the parenting lessons of Ward and June Cleaver but began to focus more attention on Wally and Beaver's attempts to mature. Part of this shift was forced by actor Jerry Mathers' very noticeable drop in his voice at the beginning of Season 5, when he is a 12-year-old 6th grader. But the topic of maturation had already become a staple of stories in the latter half of Season 4.

Beaver begins to sense that things are changing for him in "Beaver's Old Buddy" (February 4, 1961) when he is excited at the prospect of having an old friend of his, Jackie Waters, spend the night at his house so that the two can relive all the fun things they used to do together, like swinging on a tire swing and hunting for pollywogs. But once Jackie arrives and he and Beaver have a chance to do all of their old favorites, they find that they aren't as fun as they used to be. And even Ward and June's attempts to find other activities that they will enjoy together don't work out so that Jackie winds up calling his parents to come pick him up early. Ward tries to explain to Beaver that this is all part of growing up, but Beaver later tells Wally the lesson he has learned is not to build up his hopes only to have them dashed. Instead, he says he plans to expect nothing special so that he won't be let down.

In "Junior Fire Chief" (May 20, 1961) Beaver gets to try out being an authority when he is elected class fire chief and is authorized to hand out citations to anyone he finds violating fire safety standards, but the ascension to power quickly goes to his head, and he is overzealous in handing out citations to his family and neighbors, irritating everyone. June tells Ward he should have a talk with Beaver about going overboard, but Ward counters that Beaver needs to learn for himself, which he does, but not in the way Ward imagines. Instead, he has a discussion with Gus the Fireman, who says he never handed out as many citations in his entire career as Beaver has given out in 1 week, and that he has always found it more effective to be nice to people and explain to them politely what they should do about fire safety rather than coming down hard on them. Beaver takes Gus' words to heart, tears up his citations, and is later commended by Miss Landers for learning such a valuable lesson when he is asked to give a report to his class at the end of the week.

However, Beaver is still susceptible to peer pressure, particularly from his friend Gilbert Bates, who grows more like Eddie Haskell in continuing to goad Beaver into foolish decisions, particularly in "The School Picture" (April 22, 1961) when he dares Beaver to make a goofy face when their school picture is being taken, leading Beaver to believe that Gilbert would also do it. But after the picture is taken with Beaver looking ridiculous, Gilbert tells him he didn't make a face because doing so would be stupid. In "Kite Day" (June 10, 1961) Gilbert badgers Beaver into taking his just-completed kite that he had worked on with Ward for a test run even though Ward had told him not to fly it until the glue had set. Of course, the kite crashes and splinters into a million pieces, prompting Gilbert to tell Beaver that his father is going to kill him before running off to leave him to face the problem alone. And in "In the Soup" (May 6, 1961), it's Whitey who calls Beaver chicken after daring him to climb a billboard with a steaming bowl of soup at the top to see if the bowl has real soup or not, resulting in Beaver falling into the bowl and having to be rescued by a fireman while the whole neighborhood watches. So while Beaver is trying on new levels of responsibility in "Junior Fire Chief" and "Beaver Goes Into Business" (June 3, 1961), in which he tries cutting lawns with Gilbert, he still hasn't learned how to be his own person and brush off peer pressure from "friends" like Gilbert and Whitey.

Nor is the older Wally totally immune from being set up, as shown in "Wally's Track Meet" (January 28, 1961). He winds up getting kicked off the track team for violating the coach's no horseplay rule after retaliating against Eddie and Lumpy who throw wet towels at him in the locker room just before the coach walks in. But most of his dilemmas revolve around girls, such as in "Teacher's Daughter" (January 7, 1961) in which he is spending considerable time with Julie Foster, whose father is his English teacher. Eddie considers this a smart move in getting a better grade, but Mr. Foster tells him his dating situation will have no effect on his grade. Yet strangely Ward advises him not to go steady with Julie because he may miss out on meeting someone who would be better suited for him and will deprive her of perhaps meeting a better match, too. And yet at no time is there any evidence that Wally and Julie are not suited to each other. In "Mother's Helper" (March 4, 1961) Wally's grades begin to suffer because he spends his afternoons after school helping June's teenage hired helper Margie Manners instead of doing his homework, a problem that June quickly rectifies by replacing the daughter with the mother to help with her chores. And in "Wally's Dream Girl" (April 15, 1961) June helps burst Wally's infatuation with the new girl in school, Ginny Townsend, by inviting Ginny on a family picnic, where Wally sees that Ginny is allergic to chicken and sunshine, as well as being so worried about her weight that she won't eat a hard-boiled egg. Yet he also shows his growing maturity in "Substitute Father" (June 24, 1961) when Ward tells him to fill his shoes while he is away on a business trip, and he has to have a parent-teacher conference with Beaver and Miss Landers after she catches Beaver yelling profanity at a bully who tripped him. Though Miss Landers is at first skeptical about Wally filling in, figuring that Beaver is just trying to get out of telling his real parents what he has done, Wally and Beaver manage to convince her that Wally has a history of steering Beaver's behavior in the right direction and correcting him when he goes astray. They finally let June know how Wally handled the situation without ever telling her exactly what Beaver said, so that she tells Ward on the phone that he should bring back something special for Wally as a sign of taking such a significant step in becoming an adult.

But the most surprising indication of coming maturation, if also the most brief, is from Eddie Haskell in "Eddie Spends the Night" (March 25, 1961) in which he cajoles Wally into asking his parents if Eddie can spend the night at the Cleaver's while not mentioning that his real motive is to avoid to spending the night alone at his own home with his parents out of town. After Eddie angers Wally by cheating at chess and then storms home, Ward gets a call from Eddie's father saying how much he appreciates the Cleavers taking Eddie in since he is uncomfortable being home alone. Ward is then obligated to go with Wally to Eddie's house to bring him back, though Eddie pretends that he isn't frightened and that his parents are actually home. Beaver lets Eddie know in a one-on-one conversation in the Cleaver's kitchen that he knows the real story and admits that he has the same fear, which prompts Eddie to admit that he puts on a show of fake confidence but deep down inside knows that he isn't fooling himself. But his vulnerability is short-lived because in the very next episode, "Beaver's Report Card" (April 1, 1961), he is back to his old tricks in changing a grade on Beaver's report card from a D- to a B+ just to get Beaver in trouble. And he gives Beaver bad advice in "Beaver Goes Into Business" by telling him he should mow people's lawns without checking with them first and then hold out his hand demanding payment, only to have Beaver and Gilbert ruin a man's well-manicured lawn that he had paid a professional gardener to maintain. However, in "Beaver's Doll Buggy" (June 17,1961) Eddie reveals that he is always pulling pranks on others because of a traumatic childhood experience in which his mother sent him to kindergarten one day with a home permanent that resulted in ridicule from his classmates. He explains that this incident prompted him to try to always get the jump on others and make them feel bad before they have the chance to do it to him. It's certainly not a mature approach to life or one that will make one very successful or well-liked, but it's one that rings true to life--victims of abusive or traumatic events tend to develop defense mechanisms to avoid being vulnerable again.

Season 3 kicks off not only with Beaver's suddenly deeper voice but a new introductory credit sequence that replaces Ward and June sending the boys off to school with a new sequence in which she brings out a tray of ice tea for Ward and the boys who are doing yard work. The first episode of the new season, Wally Goes Steady" (September 24, 1961), then dives right into the family's angst over Wally perhaps growing up too fast when Ward hears locker room chatter from Wally's girlfriend's father that they may soon be in-laws, given how much time their children are spending together. When Wally is then invited to dinner with girlfriend Evelyn's married sister and her husband, who are only three years older than Wally and Evelyn, June in particular is worried that Wally will get a glimpse of marital bliss and want to take the plunge himself, though the actual outcome is exactly the opposite--Wally sees the newlyweds arguing, unable to keep up with their finances without help from Evelyn's parents, and Wally's counterpart in the couple reminiscing about his earlier carefree life. Wally later tells June that as long as you're having a good time, there is no reason to get involved with marriage.

Beaver then takes his turn at wanting to be more grown-up in "No Time for Babysitters" (October 7, 1961) when he resists having to have a babysitter when his parents go out for the evening and Wally is also gone on a date. To make matters worse, Gilbert and Richard don't believe it when he tells them that he is going to spend the evening alone, so they come over just to see his babysitter and tease him, only they are foiled because Beaver's babysitter understands how he feels after going through something similar when she was younger and helps Beaver out by hiding so that Gilbert and Richard can't find her. Beaver also wants to appear more grown-up in "Beaver's Ice Skates" (December 2, 1961) when he decides to buy some new ice skates after seeing a sale ad in the newspaper but doesn't want June to go with him when he buys them. However, an unscrupulous salesman ends up selling him a pair that are far too big when he discovers they are out of Beaver's size, and rather than admit to his parents that he has been duped, he hides out in the library for a week while his parents think he is at the ice rink just to avoid the embarrassment of hearing them tell him about his error. However, when they finally do learn the truth and Ward lectures him that he should only take responsibility when he is ready to hold it, Wally counters with the question how can he know whether he is ready to hold it if he never takes it? Ward has to admit that it is a dilemma, one that gives many a parent gray hair. This is yet another example of how Leave It to Beaver was anything but a series of pat, black-and-white lessons. At other times, such as the aforementioned "Junior Fire Chief," Ward recognizes that in order for Beaver to grow he will have to sometimes experience failure, but in "Beaver's Ice Skates," Wally has to remind Ward of this essential lesson.

Other episode titles in Season 5 seem to suggest more dramatic growth experiences than they deliver--"Wally's Car" (October 14, 1961), "Beaver Takes a Drive" (November 18, 1961), and "Beaver's First Date" (December 30, 1961)--but they show that more adult-oriented opportunities are coming. Despite their growing familiarity with adult issues, Wally and Beaver in particular continue having a hard time imagining their parents ever being as young as they are, or of themselves ever being in a position that their parents are currently. In "Wally's Chauffeur" (December 23, 1961) Beaver says he can't imagine Ward ever being small enough to be have to be told to take a bath. In "Beaver Takes a Drive" Beaver thinks that Ward had it easier as a boy because there were fewer ways to get into trouble, even though Ward explained to him earlier that they, too, had automobiles in his day. And in "No Time for Babysitters" Beaver tells Wally that he is going to let his kids do whatever they want instead of feeling like he has to protect them, that is, until Wally asks if he is going to let his kids hang from a rickety bridge 200 feet in the air. Though he wants to be treated like an adult, until it results in dealing with a thorny problem, Beaver has a hard time seeing himself as ever being anything other than what he is at the present.

For Wally, his greatest fear is public humiliation, a fear he shares with Beaver. In "Wally's Big Date" (November 25, 1961) Eddie Haskell tricks Wally into switching the girls from another school they are assigned to take to a dance when Eddie at first gets stuck with a girl who is very tall. When Wally meets her at the malt shop to discuss details about their date and then notices when she gets up out of her booth and leaves to meet her mother that she is a good head taller than he is, he is thrown into a panic and is most concerned that the other boys at the dance will laugh at him. Ward forces him to go anyway, making him consider how his date would feel if he were to cancel on her, and Wally is surprised when she shows up appearing no taller than he is simply by not teasing her hair up and wearing flats instead of heels. But he faces the same predicament in "Wally's Chauffeur" when Ward forbids him from riding up to a dance at the lake in Lumpy's car with two other couples because of Lumpy's poor driving record. When his date Evelyn, who already has her driver's license while Wally has yet to get his, shows up driving her father's car, Wally at first refuses to come downstairs because he knows that he will be teased mercilessly for being driven to the dance by a girl. And this time he is correct as Lumpy makes a point of ribbing him as soon as he sees Evelyn drive up to the dance hall. Of course, Wally gets the last laugh when a traffic cop gives Lumpy a ticket for parking in a red zone and all the kids who had ridden up with Lumpy ask if they can ride back with Evelyn. Though things turn out fine in both situations, one has the feeling that it will take a few more incidents such as these for Wally to grow thick enough skin not to worry about how he will look in front of the other guys if he is forced to do something unconventional. The allure of fitting in exerts a strong pull well into adulthood, a point in the future beyond the scope of this series.

The Actors

For the biographies of Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow, Jerry Mathers, Ken Osmond, Frank Bank, Stanley Fafara, and Sue Randall, see the 1960 post on Leave It to Beaver.

Stephen Talbot

Stephen Henderson Talbot, born February 28, 1949, was the son of veteran actor Lyle Talbot (profiled in the biography section of the 1960 post on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) who years later said that he begged his parents to let him get into acting. He began appearing in guest spots on a variety of programs in 1959 including Lawman, Sugarfoot, and Wanted Dead or Alive. That year he would also make the first of 57 appearances as Beaver's friend Gilbert Bates (though he was actually Gilbert Gates in his first appearance) over the remainder of the series. His lone feature film appearance came in the 1960 teen drama Because They're Young, and his last acting credit came the same year that Leave It to Beaver ended in 1963. 

After graduating from Harvard High School in North Hollywood in 1966, he attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut and began making films against the Vietnam War. After graduating in 1970, he went to work for the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, first as an assistant to the university president and eventually as a lecturer in the American Studies program. In the 1980s he worked as a staff reporter and producer for PBS television affiliate KQED in San Francisco where he produced local documentaries as well as national documentaries that aired on PBS. His first such documentary Broken Arrow: Can a Nuclear Weapons Accident Happen Here? won him a Peabody Award in 1980, and he won a second Peabody two years later for a biography of crime fiction writer Dashiell Hammett. Beginning in 1992 he began producing documentaries for the PBS series Frontline and won a DuPont Award for his coverage of the 1992 U.S. Presidential election The Best Campaign Money Can Buy. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks he was tapped to be the series editor for a new series called Frontline World in the hopes of raising awareness about other countries. He produced 94 episodes for the series running through 2010. He has continued writing and producing documentaries up to the present day, producing The Kansas Experiment for Independent Lens and writing Moscone: A Legacy of Change about slain San Francisco mayor George Moscone both in 2018. He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife Pippa Gordon.

Karen Sue Trent

Born March 14, 1948, Karen Sue Trent made her film debut in the pro-nudist feature Garden of Eden playing the young daughter of a woman who unknowingly spends the night in a nudist camp after her car breaks down nearby. The film was the subject of a lawsuit whose verdict ruled that nudity on film was not inherently obscene. After appearing on Broadway in a production of Six Characters in Search of an Author in 1955, she made her television debut in an episode of Matinee Theater in 1957. After single appearances on Death Valley Days, Shirley Temple's Storybook, and Wagon Train in 1958-59, she was cast as Beaver antagonist Penny Woods in 1960 and appeared in the role 13 times between 1960-62. The following year she appeared in an episode of The Rifleman and reportedly was injured filming a scene in which her character was trapped in quicksand, which prompted her to quit her acting career. Her whereabouts and occupations since then have not been documented.

Richard Correll

Richard Thomas Correll was born in Los Angeles on May 14, 1948, the son of Charles J. Correll, who played Andy Brown on the long-running radio comedy Amos 'n' Andy. Correll's father was also a gag writer for silent comedy star Harold Lloyd near the end of Lloyd's career, a connection that would serve the younger Correll well: as a teenager he began helping Lloyd organize and preserve his extensive film library and would go on to be a significant contributor to the 1991 documentary about Lloyd The Third Genius. Today he is credited as the chief archivist by The Lloyd Trust. Jerry Mathers has named Correll as his best friend growing up, as indicated on Mathers' web site. Correll broke into TV acting on a 1955 episode of The Bob Cummings Show but didn't really gather steam until 1960, when he not only made the first of 31 appearances as Beaver's friend Richard Rickover but also had guest spots on The Betty Hutton Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and Make Room for Daddy. Concurrent with his Leave It to Beaver appearances, he also appeared on National Velvet, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Hazel, and Lassie, which was the only TV show he appeared on after Leave It to Beaver was canceled. In 1973 in the film Showdown he played Dean Martin's character as a boy, but other than reprising Richard Rickover for Beaver reunion movies and the 1983-85 series reboot, Correll moved into TV producing, writing, and directing after attending film school at USC.

In the early 1980s he began writing for series such as Happy Days and moved into producing shows such as Valerie and Full House by 1987. In the 1990s he produced many more TV programs including 86 episodes of Family Matters, 50 episodes of Step by Step, and 14 episodes of Two of a Kind. After producing 8 episodes of The Jamie Foxx Show in 1999-2000, he moved into children's programming on channels such as the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon and produced multiple episodes of The Amanda Show starring Amanda Bynes, So Little Time starring the Olsen Twins, All That, That's So Raven, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody before going on to create the Miley Cyrus series Hannah Montana. But in 2010 he sued Disney for unfair termination and failure to pay him creative royalties for the show. Since then he has continued producing a number of TV series, including some for Disney, as well as Are We There Yet?, See Dad Run, Jessie, Bunk'd, and the Full House reboot Fuller House.

Cheryl Holdridge

Born Cheryl Lynn Phelps in New Orleans on June 20, 1944, she was adopted by her step-father in 1953 after her mother had relocated to Burbank, California three years prior. Her birth father has never been identified. She took dance lessons from an early age and made her show business debut at age 9 while performing in a New York City Ballet performance of The Nutcracker in Los Angeles. After an uncredited appearance in the feature film Carousel  in 1956, she auditioned for and was selected for the original troupe of Mouseketeers on The Mickey Mouse Club beginning in 1956 and appeared in two of the program's serials Boys of the Western Sea and Annette in 1958. In 1959 she made the first of four appearances on Bachelor Father, the last 3 as Lila Meredith, and made her first of two appearances on Leave It to Beaver as Gloria Cusick. Beginning in 1961, she appeared 6 more times on the program as Wally's friend Julie Foster. 

During her years on Leave It to Beaver she also appeared on a number of other TV programs, such as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, My Three Sons, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. In 1964, the year after Beaver was canceled, she continued getting guest spots on shows such as Bewitched, Wagon Train, and The Dick Van Dyke Show, but she retired from acting when she married race car driver Lance Reventlow, the lone child of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. After Reventlow died in a plane crash in 1972, she married car rental owner Jim Skarda but returned to acting briefly to reprise her role as Julie Foster on two episodes of The New Leave It to Beaver in 1985 and 1987. She divorced Skarda in 1988 and married California political operative Manning J. Post in 1994, at which time she became active in philanthropic concerns such as serving on the council of the Children's Burn Foundation and supporting environmental causes. She made one last acting appearance in the feature film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas  in 2000 and died from lung cancer on January 6, 2009 at the age of 64.

Pamela Baird

Born Pamela Beaird in Bexar County, Texas on April 6, 1945, she broke into acting playing Hildy Broberg on the TV series My Friend Flicka, on which she would appear 12 times from 1955-56. She appeared twice in 1956 on The Mickey Mouse Club as a singer, the first of these when she won the Talent Round-Up segment on the November 2 episode and then returned to sing again on the December 24 episode. She also appeared in a number of other drama anthology series and one-off guest spots on shows such as Our Miss Brooks, Fury, and The Adventures of Jim Bowie over the next two years before appearing 4 times as Nancy on Bachelor Father in 1958. That was the same year she made the first of her 6 appearances as Wally's love interest Mary Ellen Rogers on Leave It to Beaver. During this time she performed in the vocal trio The Holly-Tones with her two cousins Deanna and Joyce Beaird and also released a single as a solo artist "My Second Date" on Dynasty Records in 1960. 

Her last appearance on Beaver came in 1961 after which she appeared on only a half dozen shows between 1962-64 including Make Room for Daddy, Perry Mason, and two appearances on Mr. Novak. After graduating from Covina High School in 1963, Pamela left the acting profession a year later and attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, from which she graduated in 1968. In 1973 she married Robert H. Hensley, who had performed as a singer under the name Jericho Brown and as an actor under the name Bob Henry. Hensley had left the entertainment business for Christian ministry in 1970, and the couple settled in the Arlington, Texas area and had five children. She pursued a Masters Degree in Education at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas and graduated with a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Liberty University in 2015. Her husband passed away in 2016 at the age of 80.

Burt Mustin

Born in Pittsburgh on February 8, 1884, Burton Hill Mustin didn't take up acting until age 67. His father was a stockbroker, and Mustin graduated from Pennsylvania Military College in 1903 with a degree in civil engineering and experience as the school's goalie on its hockey team. After giving engineering a try, he gave it up and became an automobile salesman, first for Oakland, then Franklin, and finally for Lincoln and Mercury up until World War II, at which point he worked for the Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce. Besides appearing in local productions of a Gilbert & Sullivan troupe and The Pittsburgh Opera, in 1921 Mustin became the announcer for a variety program on Pittsburgh's KDKA radio station. That same year he was one of the original founders of Pittsburgh's Lions Club. He also was a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society and traveled to San Francisco in 1925 to take part in a quartet competition. But his acting career didn't get started until he retired and moved with his wife to Tucson, Arizona where director William Wyler saw him in a theater production of Detective Story and told him to look him up if he wanted to pursue a film career. As a result, Mustin was cast in the film version of Detective Story in 1951 and from there had a long and prolific career. He made his television debut the same year in an episode of The Adventures of Kit Carson , and while his feature film credits outnumbered his TV guest appearances over the next several years, he made 5 appearances on Our Miss Brooks between 1952-55 before landing his first recurring role as Foley on The Great Gildersleeve in 1955-56. This was followed by a stint as Mr. Finley on Date With the Angels in 1957-58 and the first of 14 appearances as Gus the Fireman on Leave It to Beaver in 1957, continuing in the role until 1962.

Concurrent with his appearances on Beaver, he was cast as Jud Fletcher on The Andy Griffith Show, making 9 appearances as this character through 1966 as well as playing a few other characters during that span. He also continued getting guest spots on a number of other TV series including The Texan, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Dr. Kildare, and The Twilight Zone. At this point his TV work far outpaced his feature film roles, but he did appear in the Don Knotts comedies The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Reluctant Astronaut, and The Shakiest Gun in the West. In 1971 he was cast opposite Queenie Smith as part of an elderly couple in the sketch comedy series The Funny Side, which lasted less than 6 months, but he continued to find work on shows such as Love, American Style and Adam-12 before playing Justin Quigley on 4 episodes of All in the Family between 1973-76. In 1976 he also appeared 3 times on Phyllis as the suitor of Phyllis' cranky grandmother-in-law Mother Dexter. He passed away the next year on January 28, 1977 at the age of 92.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 4, Episode 15, "Teacher's Daughter": Ross Elliott (shown on the left, played Freddie the director on The Jack Benny Program and Sheriff Abbott on The Virginian) plays Wally's English teacher Mr. Foster.

Season 4, Episode 18, "Wally's Track Meet": John Close (Lt. John Jameson on Big Town) plays Wally's track coach Mr. Henderson. Richard Deacon (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Dick Van Dyke Show) plays Lumpy's father Fred Rutherford.

Season 4, Episode 19, "Beaver's Old Buddy": Gary Hunley (Mickey on Sky King) plays Beaver's old friend Jackie Waters.

Season 4, Episode 20, "Beaver's Tonsils": John Gallaudet (Chamberlain on Mayor of the Town, Judge Penner on Perry Mason, and Bob Anderson on My Three Sons) plays physician Dr. Kirby.

Season 4, Episode 21, "The Big Fish Count": Jennie Lynn (Jennie Baker on Love and Marriage) plays little girl Sally Ann Maddox.

Season 4, Episode 23, "Mother's Helper": Candy Moore (shown on the right, played Angie on The Donna Reed Show, Chris Carmichael on The Lucy Show, and hosted The Dream Girl of 1967) plays June's helper Margie Manners.

Season 4, Episode 24, "The Dramatic Club": Katherine Warren (appeared in The Lady Pays Off, The Glenn Miller Story, and The Caine Mutiny) plays math teacher Mrs. Prescott.

Season 4, Episode 25, "Wally and Dudley": Jimmy Hawkins (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Donna Reed Show) plays Wally's new classmate Dudley McMillan. Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson on Lost in Space)  plays Eddie Haskell's girlfriend Christine Staples.

Season 4, Episode 28, "Mistaken Identity": Alan Hewitt (starred in That Touch of Mink, Days of Wine and Roses, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and played Det. Bill Brennan on My Favorite Martian) plays police Lt. Barnes. Marvin Bryan (Lt. Bacon on Yancy Derringer) plays police Officer Medford.

Season 4, Episode 29, "Wally's Dream Girl": Linda Bennett (appeared in The Big Heat, Creature With the Atom Brain, and Queen Bee and was a recording artist whose credits include one of the worst Christmas singles of all time, "An Old Fashioned Christmas (Daddy's Home)") plays Wally's crush Ginny Townsend.

Season 4, Episode 30, "The School Picture": Gage Clarke (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Gunsmoke) plays school photographer Mr. Baxter. Doris Packer (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays school principal Mrs. Rayburn.

Season 4, Episode 31, "Beaver's Rat": Richard Deacon (shown on the far right, see "Wally's Track Meet" above) returns as Fred Rutherford. Veronica Cartwright (shown on the near right, starred in The Birds, The Children's Hour, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Alien, The Right Stuff, and The Witches of Eastwick and played Jemima Boone on Daniel Boone, Molly Hark on Tanner '88, A.D.A. Margaret Flanagan on L.A. Law, Cassandra Spender on The X-Files, Valerie Shenkman on Invasion, and Bun Waverly on Eastwick) plays his daughter Violet.

Season 4, Episode 32, "In the Soup": Harry Holcombe (appeared in The Fortune Cookie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Foxy Brown, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Empire of the Ants and played Frank Gardner on Search for Tomorrow, Doc Benson on My Mother the Car, Mr. Kendricks on Barefoot in the Park, and Dr. J.P. Martin on Bonanza) plays Whitey's father Frank Whitney.

Season 4, Episode 33, "Community Chest": Lee Meriwether (shown on the left, starred in Batman: The Movie, Angel in My Pocket, and The Undefeated and played Anne Reynolds on The Young Marrieds, Nurse Bonnie Tynes on Dr. Kildare, Dr. Ann MacGregor on The Time Tunnel, Tracey on Mission: Impossible, Lee Sawyer on The New Andy Griffith Show, Betty Jones on Barnaby Jones, Lily Munster on The Munsters Today, Ruth Martin on All My Children, and Birdie Spencer on Project: Phoenix) plays a young woman donating to the community chest.

Season 4, Episode 36, "Beaver Goes Into Business": Amzie Strickland (Mrs. Phillips on The Bill Dana Show and Julia Mobey on Carter Country) plays a woman whose lawn Beaver mows. William Stevens (Officer Jerry Walters on Adam-12) plays a man upset after Beaver cuts his lawn.

Season 4, Episode 37, "Kite Day": Jason Robards, Sr. (father of Jason Robards, Jr.) plays judge Mr. Henderson.

Season 4, Episode 38, "Beaver's Doll Buggy": Jean Vanderpyl (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Flintstones) plays Penny Woods' mother Mrs. Woods. Jennie Lynn (see "The Big Fish Count" above) plays little girl Patty Ann Maddox.

Season 5, Episode 1, "Wally Goes Steady": Pat McCaffrie (Chuck Forrest on Bachelor Father and Dr. Edgar Harris on Outlaws) plays Ward's athletic club acquaintance Bill Boothby. Mary Mitchel (appeared in Twist Around the Clock, Panic in Year Zero, A Swingin' Summer, and Dementia 13) plays his daughter Evelyn. Ryan O'Neal (shown on the far left, starred in Love Story, What's Up, Doc?, Barry Lyndon, Paper Moon, A Bridge Too Far, and The Main Event and played Tal Garrett on Empire, Rodney Harrington on Peyton Place, Bobby Tannen on Good Sports, Robert Roberts, Jr. on Bull, Jerry Fox on Miss Match, and Max Keenen on Bones) plays his son-in-law Tom Henderson.

Season 5, Episode 2, "No Time for Babysitters": Barbara Parkins (shown on the right, starred in Valley of the Dolls, The Mephisto Waltz, and Puppet on a Chain and played Betty Anderson Harrington on Peyton Place) plays Beaver's babysitter Judy Walker.

Season 5, Episode 3, "Wally's Car": Ralph Sanford (Mayor Jim Kelley on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays junkman Mr. Garvey.

Season 5, Episode 5, "Beaver's Cat Problem": Grace Wallis Huddle (mother of Sue Ane Langdon) plays cat owner Mrs. Prentiss.

Season 5, Episode 6, "Wally's Weekend Job": Tim Graham (Homer Ede on National Velvet) plays drugstore owner Mr. Gibson. Bill Baldwin (the narrator on Harbor Command and Bat Masterson and the announcer on The Bob Cummings Show) plays Mary Ellen Rogers' father Mr. Rogers.

Season 5, Episode 7, "Beaver Takes a Drive": Maurice Manson (shown on the left, played Frederick Timberlake on Dennis the Menace, Josh Egan on Hazel, and Hank Pinkham on General Hospital) plays traffic court Judge Morton. Gail Bonney (Goodwife Martin on Space Patrol and Madeline Schweitzer on December Bride) plays his clerk. Stuffy Singer (Donnie Henderson on Beulah and Alexander Bumstead on Blondie) plays Wally's friend Steve.

Season 5, Episode 8, "Wally's Big Date": Judee Morton (appeared in Zotz! and The Slime People and played Dr. Smithson on General Hospital) plays Wally's original dance date Marjorie Muller. Laraine Stephens (Susan Wentworth on O.K. Crackerby!, Diane Waring on Brackens World, and Claire Kronski on Matt Helm) plays Wally's new date Gail Preston.

Season 5, Episode 9, "Beaver's Ice Skates.": Stanley Clements (Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie in 6 Bowery Boys feature films) plays a shoe salesman.

Season 5, Episode 10, "Weekend Invitation": David Kent (later played Bill Scott on Leave It to Beaver) plays Wally's new classmate Scott. Richard Deacon (see "Wally's Track Meet" above) returns as Fred Rutherford.

Season 5, Episode 12, "Wally's Chauffeur": Mary Mitchel (see " Wally Goes Steady " above) returns as Wally's girlfriend Evelyn Boothby. James Seay (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays her father. Mark Allen (Matt Kissel on The Travels of Jamie McPheeters and Sam Evans on Dark Shadows) plays a policeman.

The Texan (1960)

In an age where every third program on television was a western, The Texan was one of the weakest in conception, seemingly devised and executed to ride the wave of popularity for the genre and the rugged good looks of its star Rory Calhoun. As detailed in the biographical section below, Calhoun backed into acting as a career, and the same could be said for his career-defining TV role. He had formed a production company with Victor Orsatti that had produced three feature-length westerns before venturing into television. But initially, as Calhoun told TV Guide, the two had planned an aquatic-themed series along the lines of Sea Hunt. However, Orsatti lived across the street from Desi Arnaz, who owned the rights to The Texan. Calhoun claimed that the financial deal for the western was better than his aquatic series, so The Texan was the series they made. The show, filmed at the Desilu studios with exteriors filmed in the Mojave Desert, ran for two full seasons from 1958-60 with Calhoun reportedly turning down a third season to focus on his film career, which was less time-consuming. During its first season the show ranked #15 in the ratings, ahead of such stalwarts as Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Peter Gunn, surprising in that the show lacked the strong conceptual foundation of those other programs.

The series followed the exploits of former Confederate veteran Bill Longley as he drifted about the old west using his exceptional gun-slinging skills to help friends in trouble or to further the cause of justice. The historical Bill Longley of Texas was the polar opposite--a racist murderer who often gunned down unarmed men, deserted from the U.S. Army twice, was chased from his home state to South Dakota, and eventually drifted back to Texas and was hung in Giddings at the age of 27, reportedly having killed 32 men by that time. The real Bill Longley did not serve in the Confederate army during the Civil War, either. Even discounting the disparity between the real and fictional Bill Longleys, the series makes no attempt to provide much of a back story or explanation for Longley's moniker as The Texan or why he devotes his life to helping others. In the TV Guide interview Calhoun says, "I like to think of Bill as the Robin Hood of the west," but there are no episodes showing him stealing from the rich to aid the poor. His character always stays within the confines of the law, though occasionally he might bend it just a bit if he perceives that the local justice system is corrupt.

For example, in "24 Hours to Live" (September 5, 1960), he is summoned to the town of Claymore by Steve Murrow, convicted of killing a rival suitor, though he claims he is innocent. Longley is warned repeatedly by the local sheriff to leave town and not to try to free Murrow. Even when he finds a packet of I.O.U.s that the victim held against several prominent citizens, including the sheriff, and the sheriff demands that he hand them over as evidence, Longley claims not to have them and sets up a trap to lure the real killer into a stable to retrieve the damning evidence. 

More often, however, he works Perry Mason-style to uncover the real killer when someone with a vested interest skews the evidence to throw suspicion on an innocent scapegoat. In "The Guilty and the Innocent" (March 28, 1960) he comes to the defense of young Jed Lewis, accused of murdering a sharecropper and his wife by burning down their ranch, by seeking a stay of execution before blood-thirsty rancher Vance can whip the townfolk into a frenzy that will lead to a hasty lynching. By consulting with the doctor who conducted an autopsy on the deceased, Longley learns that the murderer used a distinctive caliber of bullet that traces straight back to Vance. And in the next episode, "Presentation Gun" (April 4, 1960), Longley exonerates Ironwood Sheriff Jim Calvin when he is able to trace a singed $20 bill from a bank fire back to the mayor's son, who had argued with the young victim about the bank robbery before shooting him down. However, Longley's rush to defend the innocent and maligned backfires on one occasion: in "The Nomad" (April 18, 1960) he rescues a drifter from a beating at the hands of local bullies, dubs him Tony, since the man doesn't even know his own name, and teaches Tony how to handle a pistol so that he can defend himself, only to see Tony's new-found power go to his head in exacting unfair revenge against his past tormentors. Tony eventually challenges his mentor to a gunfight until Longley is able to show him the error of his ways.

The genesis of these defense stories come in two flavors--Longley just happens to stumble into a situation, as in "The Governor's Lady" (March 14, 1960) when he rides along a trail and then sees a man being shot at by two attackers, or he is summoned by an old friend (of which he apparently had many) or a law official who needs him for a special assignment. One of the more unusual of the latter plots is "The Terrified Town" (January 11, 1960) in which the governor of an unnamed state issues a $500 reward for his capture, almost leading to his death at the hands of a pair of bounty hunters, as a means to bring him in so that he can dispatch him to clean up a corrupt border town. This episode kicks off a three-part story arc that is The Texan's most notable legacy--a multipart series with repeating characters and actors in an age when each episode was nearly always self-contained. (Wagon Train briefly bucked the trend when it ran a two-part story during 1960.) Reportedly these mini-series were devised to possibly be stitched together and sold as a feature-length film to overseas markets. Though this plan was never executed for The Texan, later series, most notably The Man From U.N.C.L.E., used this tactic as a way to generate additional revenue and interest. During calendar year 1960, The Texan had two such story arcs: the first was the three-part plot about cleaning up corrupt Rio Nada which covered the episodes "The Terrified Town," "Sixgun Street" (January 18, 1960), and "The Taming of Rio Nada" (January 25, 1960) (imdb.com, by the way, has the sequence of these episodes listed incorrectly). The second mini-series consisted of four installments in which Longley serves as the right-hand man for railroad builder David MacMorris comprised of the episodes "Quarantine" (February 8, 1960), "Buried Treasure" (February 15, 1960), "Captive Crew" (February 22, 1960), and "Showdown" (February 29, 1960).

Though he told TV Guide he was in acting for the money, some reports say he saw very little monetary gain from his association with Orsatti, which raises the same question one could ask about the TV series they co-produced--what was the point?

The theme music for The Texan was composed by William Loose and John Seely, who were profiled in the post for Dennis the Menace. No credit is given for the scores for individual episodes. 

Most of the complete series--70 surviving episodes out of the original 78 that were broadcast--has been released on DVD by Timeless Media Group.

The Actors

Rory Calhoun

Francis Timothy McCown was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Santa Cruz, California. His father, a professional gambler, died when he was 9 months old. His mother remarried and Calhoun adopted his stepfather's last name of Durgin. But he had a troubled youth: he was arrested at age 13 for stealing a gun and was sent to a reformatory institution from which he escaped. He then went on to rob several jewelry stores and took a stolen car across state lines, resulting in a three-year prison term. After his release, he worked as a boxer, cowpuncher, truck driver, lumberjack, and forest firefighter. He was spotted by Alan Ladd in 1943 riding horseback on a bridle path in a park. Ladd's wife, theatrical agent Sue Carol, got him small roles in two 1944 films and in the 1945 Laurel and Hardy film The Bullfighters. The Ladds then introduced him to David O. Selznick employee Henry Willson, who steered the careers of other young actors with more good looks than acting talent. Willson first dubbed the young actor "Troy Donahue" but then changed it to Rory Calhoun. Calhoun was next seen escorting Lana Turner to the premier of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound followed by a series of supporting roles, particularly in The Red House (1947), which helped cement his status as a teen idol. He began playing opposite some of the biggest female stars in Hollywood, such as Susan Hayward in I'd Climb the Highest Mountain and With a Song in My Heart and Betty Grable in Meet Me After the Show and How to Marry a Millionaire (in which he, almost true to life, played a forest ranger). He married Latin bandleader and actress Lita Baron in 1949, and when she divorced him for adultery in 1970, she cited Grable as one of 79 women Calhoun had had affairs with, to which Calhoun retorted that she hadn't named even half of them. In 1966 he settled a paternity suit with Vitina Marcus; their daughter Athena went on to be named The World's Most Beautiful Showgirl in 1987. His criminal youth was exposed in 1955 as part of a deal Willson arranged with the press to hide the homosexual identity of one of Willson's other clients, Rock Hudson, but the revelation did not harm Calhoun's career. Willson steered him into leading roles in westerns in the 1950s, and Calhoun eventually formed a production company with Vic Orsatti that eventually spawned The Texan.

In an interview published in the February 13, 1960 edition of TV Guide, Calhoun displayed a nonchalant attitude about the success of his TV series and indicated that he would probably work another 10 years as an actor before moving on to something he was more keen about, like the lumberjack trade he was snatched from years earlier, which allowed him to be outdoors instead of cooped up inside a studio. But he would actually continue acting for over 30 more years. Once The Texan ended its second season, he appeared in Sergio Leone's sword-and-sandal directorial debut The Colossus of Rhodes and in the title role of another Italian production Marco Polo. He made occasional TV appearances throughout the 1960s on shows like Wagon Train, Bonanza, Rawhide, I Spy, and even Gilligan's Island. He was reportedly once considered for the role of Jim West that went to Robert Conrad on The Wild Wild West but by the 1970s, besides the continuing TV guest spots, his film work ventured into kitsch classics like Night of the Lepus, about giant man-eating rabbits, Revenge of Bigfoot, and Motel Hell. The 1980s brought more camp in films like Angel and the follow-up Avenging Angel as well as Hell Comes to Frogtown but also included more substantive work in the mini-series The Blue and the Gray and a recurring role as Judge Judson Tyler on the daytime drama Capitol, a role he was persuaded to take after turning down a part on Dallas. His last film role was as a grizzled patriarch opposite George Strait in Pure Country in 1992. Besides his acting career, he owned saloons, a hotel rug company, and a ranch. He also authored two western novels, The Man From Padera and Cerrado as well as screenplays for feature films Shotgun and The Domino Kid. He died of emphysema at the age of 76 on April 28, 1999.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 2, Episode 17, "Friend of the Family": John Dehner (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 Longley's former army commander Major Randolph. Roger Perry (James Harrigan, Jr. on Harrigan and Son, Det. Sgt. Dan Kirby on Arrest and Trial, Charles Parker on The Facts of Life, and John Costello on Falcon Crest) plays his son Rubin. James Coburn (shown on the left, starred in The Magnificent Seven, Charade, Our Man Flint, and In Like Flint and played Jeff Durain on Klondike and Gregg Miles on Acapulco) plays Randolph's nemesis Cal Gruder.

Season 2, Episode 18, "The Terrified Town": Reed Hadley (starred in I Shot Jesse James, The Return of Jesse James, Dallas, and Little Big Horn and played Capt. John Braddock on Racket Squad and Bart Matthews on Public Defender) plays Longley's friend Wild Jack Tobin. Valerie Allen (shown on the right, appeared in The Joker Is Wild, The Five Pennies, Bells Are Ringing, and Pillow Talk, and played Verna Mason on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show) plays his niece Anne Banner. Barbara Stuart (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 saloon owner Poker Alice.

Season 2, Episode 19, "Sixgun Street": Reed Hadley (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Wild Jack Tobin. Valerie Allen (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Anne Banner. Barbara Stuart (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Poker Alice. Richard Devon (Jody Barker on Yancy Derringer) plays rival saloon owner Tim Craven. Bob Steele (starred in Breezy Bill, Of Mice and Men, and The Big Sleep, played Billy the Kid in 6 westerns and Tucson Smith in 19 others, and played Trooper Duffy on F Troop) plays gun-for-hire Luke Short. Mason Alan Dinehart (Bat Masterson on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Longley's friend The Brazos Kid.

Season 2, Episode 20, "The Taming of Rio Nada": Reed Hadley (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Wild Jack Tobin. Valerie Allen (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Anne Banner. Barbara Stuart (shown on the left, see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Poker Alice. Richard Devon (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as Tim Craven. Mason Alan Dinehart (see "The Terrified Town" above) returns as The Brazos Kid.

Season 2, Episode 21, "Thirty Hours to Kill": Mort Mills (Marshal Frank Tallman on Man Without a Gun, Sgt. Ben Landro on Perry Mason, and Sheriff Fred Madden on The Big Valley) plays family twin bullies Ben and Blackie Dawson. Ron Soble (Dirty Jim on The Monroes) plays his brother Amos. Ron Hayes (Wyatt Earp on Bat Masterson, Lincoln Vail on Everglades, Ben Jones on The Rounders, and Hank Johnson on Dallas) plays his brother Walt. 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 the town physician Doc Cooke. Forrest Lewis (Mr. Peavey on The Great Gildersleeve) plays stable-keeper Charlie.

Season 2, Episode 22, "Quarantine": David MacMorris (Victor Carroon on The Quartermass Experiment, Det. Insp. Ford on The Other Man, and Station Sgt. Cooper on Dixon of Dock Green) plays railroad builder Duncan Lamont. Alan Hale, Jr. (Biff Baker on Biff Baker U.S.A., Casey Jones on Casey Jones, and The Skipper on Gilligan's Island) plays Lamont's foreman Sculley. Frank Ferguson (Gus Broeberg on My Friend Flicka, Eli Carson on Peyton Place, and Dr. Barton Stuart on Petticoat Junction) plays railroad entrepeneur Thomas Laurie. 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 the Pottersburg sheriff. Lita Baron (shown on the right, Rory Calhoun's wife) plays saloon girl Dolores.

Season 2, Episode 23, "Buried Treasure": Andy Clyde (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Real McCoys) plays prospector Andy Miles. David MacMorris (see "Quarantine" above) returns as Duncan Lamont. Alan Hale, Jr. (see "Quarantine" above) returns as Sculley. Lita Baron (see "Quarantine" above) returns as Dolores.

Season 2, Episode 24, "Captive Crew": David MacMorris (see "Quarantine" above) returns as Duncan Lamont. Alan Hale, Jr. (see "Quarantine" above) returns as Sculley. Michael Pate (starred in Face to Face, Julius Caesar, Hondo, and Tower of London and played Chief Vittoro on Hondo and Det. Sgt. Vic Maddern on Matlock) plays escaped convict leader Emory. Mike Mazurki (starred in Murder My Sweet, Dick Tracy (1945), and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and played Clon on It's About Time) plays escaped convict Kale.

Season 2, Episode 25, "Showdown": David MacMorris (see "Quarantine" above) returns as Duncan Lamont. Alan Hale, Jr. (shown on the right, see "Quarantine" above) returns as Sculley. Hugh Sanders (starred in That's My Boy, The Pride of St. Louis, The Winning Team, and The Wild One) plays railroad financier Henry Beekman. Ron Hayes (see "Thirty Hours to Kill" above) plays thug Ty Embry.

Season 2, Episode 27, "The Governor's Lady": Richard Travis (Rodger Barnett on Code 3 and Thompson on The Grand Jury) plays the governor. Lita Baron (see "Quarantine" above) plays his fiance Abby Moreno. Frank Puglia (starred in My Favorite Brunette, Road to Rio, and 20 Million Miles to Earth and played Bibo on To Rome With Love) plays her father Carlos. Myron Healey (Doc Holliday on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Carlos' henchman Clay Calder. 

Season 2, Episode 28, "Town Divided": Walter Coy (Zoravac on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger and the narrator on Frontier) plays Persada physician Dr. Nelson. Steven Terrell (Tom on The Pride of the Family) plays his maimed patient Ken Crowley. June Blair (June Nelson, David's wife, on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Julie Greer on Two Faces West) plays Crowley's fiance Ellen Warren. Morgan Woodward (shown on the left, see the biography section of the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Crowley's foreman Mark Jordan. 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 a bartender.

Season 2, Episode 29, "The Guilty and the Innocent": Robert F. Simon (Dave Tabak on Saints and Sinners, Gen. Alfred Terry on Custer, Frank Stephens on Bewitched, Uncle Everett McPherson on Nancy, Capt. Rudy Olsen on The Streets of San Francisco, and J. Jonah Jameson on The Amazing Spiderman) plays blood-thirsty cattleman Vance. Don C. Harvey (Collins on Rawhide) plays his foreman Tom. 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 the town sheriff. Percy Helton (Homer Cratchit on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays undertaker Lem Munson. Norman Leavitt (Ralph on Trackdown) plays a bartender. Helen Wallace (Nurse Lucy Webber on Dr. Kildare) plays an accused killer's mother Ma Lewis.

Season 2, Episode 30, "Presentation Gun": Robert Brubaker (Deputy Ed Blake on U.S. Marshal and Floyd on Gunsmoke) plays Ironwood sheriff Jim Calvin. Stafford Repp (shown on the right, played Chief O'Hara on Batman) plays Ironwood mayor Harvey Sloane. Gary Judis (Dr. Vincent Barnes on Dr. Kildare) plays Sloane's son Curly. Harry Harvey (Sheriff Tom Blodgett on The Roy Rogers Show, Mayor George Dixon on Man Without a Gun, and Houghton Stott on It's a Man's World) plays lawyer Cass Porter. 

Season 2, Episode 32, "The Nomad": Robert Anderson (Park Street, Jr. on The Court of Last Resort and Aeneas MacLinahan on Wichita Town) plays saloon owner Frasier. Burt Mustin (Foley on The Great Gildersleeve, Mr. Finley on Date With the Angels, Gus the fireman on Leave It to Beaver, Jud Fletcher on The Andy Griffith Show, and Justin Quigley on All in the Family) plays a scared old-timer. 

Season 2, Episode 33, "Killer's Road": Robert J. Wilke (appeared in Best of the Badmen, High Noon, The Far Country, and Night Passage and played Capt. Mendoza on Zorro) plays accused killer Asa Kirby. James Best (shown on the left, played Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard) plays his son Clay. 

 

Season 2, Episode 34, "Lady Tenderfoot": Emory Parnell (Hawkins on The Life of Riley and Hank the bartender on Lawman) plays horse breeder Hugo Henshaw. Jack Elam (shown on the right, played Deputy J.D. Smith on The Dakotas and George Taggart on Temple Houston) plays hustler Dud Parsons. Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez (Pedro Vasquez on earlier episodes of The Texan) plays Longley's friend Pedro Martinez. Billy M. Greene (Skrag on Captain Video and His Video Rangers) plays a hotel clerk. 

Season 2, Episode 35, "The Invisible Noose": Charles Maxwell (Special Agent Joe Carey on I Led 3 Lives and the voice of the radio announcer on Gilligan's Island) plays bank robber Jeff. Bill Erwin (Joe Walters on My Three Sons and Glenn Diamond on Struck by Lightning) plays Gila Bend Sheriff Rand. Paul Keast (Nathaniel Carter on Casey Jones) plays the town parson. 

Season 2, Episode 37, "Johnny Tuvo": Ron Hagerthy (Clipper King on Sky King) plays fortune hunter Johnny Tuvo. Frank Wilcox (Henry Van Buren on Waterfront, Beecher Asbury on The Untouchables, Mr. Brewster on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, and the judge 8 times on Perry Mason) plays rancher Robert Kincade. Mary Webster (shown on the left, played Rachel Verinder on The Moonstone, Jill Reed on Emergency-Ward 10, Anna on Circus, and Sarah Onedin on The Onedin Line) plays Tuvo's girlfriend Carrie Nagle. Myron Healey (see "The Governor's Lady" above) plays robber Gait Gaylot. Dehl Berti (Vittorio on Buck James and John Taylor on Guns of Paradise) plays his accomplice Mouse Murphy. Roberto Contreras (Pedro on The High Chapparal) plays Tuvo's friend Maggio. 

Season 2, Episode 38, "The Accuser": 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 Sheriff Lew Taylor. Harry Cheshire (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Lawman) plays town physician Doc McKensie. Jimmy Lydon (starred in Tom Brown's School Days, Little Men, Joan of Arc, and 9 Henry Aldrich features and played Biff Cardoza on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, Andy Boone on So This Is Hollywood, and Richard on Love That Jill) plays bank teller Smitty. Kristine Miller (Margaret Jones on Stories of the Century) plays Taylor's girlfriend Mattie Benton. Mike Mazurki (see "Captive Crew" above) plays a bank robber. 

Season 2, Episode 39, "Mission to Monterey": Raymond Bailey (shown on the right, played Milburn Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies, Dean Magruder on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, D.A. John Carvell on The Untouchables, and Mr. Beaumont on My Sister Eileen) plays U.S. Consul to Mexico James Wade. Richard Carlyle (Casey on Crime Photographer) plays counterfeiter Clay Beaumont. 

Season 2, Episode 40, "Badman": Gilman Rankin (Deputy Charlie Riggs on Tombstone Territory) plays Sheriff Roy Adams. Beverly Washburn (starred in Old Yeller and played Kit Wilson on Professional Father and Vickie Massey on The New Loretta Young Show) plays the daughter of the man who shot Adams in the leg, Greta Branden. John Harmon (hotel clerk Eddie Halstead on The Rifleman) plays gang member Russ Hardin. John Alderson (Sgt. Bullock on Boots and Saddles) plays gang member Jake.

Season 2, Episode 41, "24 Hours to Live": Charles Cooper (starred in The Wrong Man and played the sheriff on Father Murphy and Judge Robert Boucher on The Practice) plays accused killer Steve Murrow. Paul Birch (Erle Stanley Gardner on The Court of Last Resort, Mike Malone on Cannonball, and Capt. Carpenter on The Fugitive) plays Claymore Sheriff Benson. Barbara Kelly (Barbara on B and B and the voice of the computer on Space: 1999) plays Murrow's former girlfriend Ruth. Burt Mustin (shown on the left, see "The Nomad" above) plays telegraph operator Pop Evans.