Lawman (1962)

By 1962 Warner Brothers Television, which had flooded the ABC airwaves with a plethora of westerns and hip detective series in the late 1950s, was largely getting out of the westerns business as the genre's once dominant popularity was fading fast. Colt .45 had bit the dust in June 1960, Sugarfoot was jettisoned in 1961, and by the fall of 1962 Maverick, Bronco, and Lawman would join them on the junk heap. Only Cheyenne, Warner's first adult western debuting in 1955, would continue for one more abbreviated season consisting of 13 episodes that all ran in the fall of 1962, to be replaced by a new Warners western, The Dakotas, which would take its time slot and run for 19 episodes through mid-May of 1963. Though Cheyenne and Maverick were the bigger draws and have won greater acclaim, Lawman was the best of the bunch in tackling adult themes with unflinching honesty.

Of course, not every episode was a gem, and as we have mentioned in our two previous posts on the series, Warner Brothers' business model of recycling plots from its movie catalog as well as between its own series produced a number of shoddy retreads. A case in point is 1962's opening episode "The Locket" (January 7, 1962) in which a former employee of Lily returns to Laramie unconscious in a bushwhacked stagecoach followed by a man claiming to be her husband who turns out to be an outlaw searching for robbery spoils hidden by the woman's deceased husband. Even at 30 minutes, this episode drags to its too-obvious conclusion. But then the series embarks on a string of tales that undercut heroic ideals, the very foundation on which many westerns are built. 

"A Friend of the Family" (January 14, 1962) centers around a good friend of Johnny McKay's late father, Joe Henny, whom McKay had even called Uncle Joe though he was no blood relative. McKay runs across Henny when the latter is part of a bank-robbing gang that Troop and McKay foil, with Henny being captured in the aftermath. When McKay has to help Troop transport Henny to Cheyenne for trial, he lets his sympathies get the better of his judgment, which Henny exploits to his advantage by saying he was a victim of circumstances getting mixed up with the rest of the gang and constantly referring to himself as an old man. McKay's sympathy for Henny makes him let his guard down and allows Henny to escape, with Marshal Troop even accusing McKay of wanting him to escape, though he stops short of accusing McKay of conspiring with Henny. To atone for his error, McKay has to hunt down and eventually fatally shoot his "uncle," a stern lesson that a lawman can't play favorites with his captives. McKay gets another lesson in "The Tarnished Badge" (January 21, 1962) when former Laramie marshal Jess Bridges rides into town with two other men who pretend to be his prisoners but are actually there to help him rob the stage about to leave town. Troop is ready with hidden armed men lining the street, but when Bridges manages to escape with a bullet wound and McKay tracks him down in the wilderness, he again is too trusting and Bridges is able to take him prisoner by knocking him out with a rock to the head. Bridges is able to redeem himself somewhat after taking McKay to his hideout where his other two partners figure out McKay's true identity and force Bridges to choose between them and McKay. After all the outlaws wind up killing each other, McKay tells Troop that Bridges saved his life and that he was a good lawman, but clearly the man that McKay once idolized didn't live up to his reputation after turning in his badge.

Troop has a reckoning with one of his heroes in "The Long Gun" (March 4, 1962) when renowned Marshal Ben Wyatt shows up in Laramie and takes a hotel room overlooking the main street because he expects the brothers of an outlaw he killed to come looking for him, and he plans to shoot them down on sight. Troop says he can't allow such an extra-judicial killing to happen, but Wyatt says that Troop is powerless to stop him because he hasn't yet committed a crime. Troop then reveals that Wyatt was the man who inspired him to become a lawman himself, serving as Wyatt's deputy when he was just starting out. He asks when Wyatt became afraid of facing off against anyone, and Wyatt replies that the man Troop admired is dead. But while Wyatt ruminates, Troop throws his long rifle out into the street just as the brothers come riding up, and Wyatt is then forced to face off against them without cover, finally living up to the memory that Troop cherished of his bravery. Even though Wyatt has restored his standing, Troop has surely learned that even heroes have their weaknesses. 

The series also pokes fun at the myth of the western gunman in "No Contest" (February 4, 1962) with a recycled plot about an eastern tinhorn coming west and thinking it will be easy to live out the wild west fantasies he has read about in sensationalized news stories and pulp novels. But this episode gives the tread-worn plot a couple of twists in that the tinhorn is McKay's cousin, and he is the spitting image of Billy the Kid, which initially makes those who accidentally bump into him unusually willing to back down and apologize. The deference shown him makes the cousin, Jeff Allen, start to think that perhaps he could be a respected and feared gunman like his lookalike, so he purchases a gun and belt and begins practicing and then seems to seek out confrontation to put his new-found feeling of invincibility to the test, all the while ignoring McKay's warnings that gunfights in real life don't play out like they do in popular literature. It takes Troop, sensing that Allen is about to get his comeuppance from a boyfriend whose girl has been flirting with Allen, to slap some sense into him and then stare him down when he threatens to draw on Troop. Allen finally realizes his folly, but his epiphany is a little too quick to be convincing, even though the plot's larger point about the gap between wild west fiction and reality is still valid.

Speaking of tall tales of the wild west, perhaps the most unsettling episode with uncomfortable parallels today is "The Man Behind the News" (May 13, 1962) about newspaper publisher Luther Boardman who moves to Laramie from Kansas City and buys the local paper. His first act as publisher is to summon Troop and tell him how to do his job so that he can sensationalize it in his paper, and his office is lined with photos and pistols from famous outlaw gunman, a fetish of his. He even admits that he left Kansas City because it became too tame, and when Troop fails to play his game, he instigates a standoff between Troop and dim-witted gunman Mort Peters, goading Peters into believing that Troop has insulted and mistreated him and that he must demand satisfaction. Unable to convince either Boardman or Peters that they are being foolish, Troop finally gives them the standoff they want, only Peters is too inebriated to do any damage and gets a bullet in the shoulder from Troop while his own shot grazes Boardman trying to photograph the spectacle, and the newsman shows himself to be a complete coward despite his love of violence. While the story makes a valid point about the glorification of violence and the business of newspapers in selling copies and advertising, the story and characters are too farcical to have any real credibility, and setting up the press as "the enemy of the people" is a dangerous game--one might argue as dangerous as soliciting a gun battle.

Another episode with ironic contemporary parallels is "The Doctor" (May 6, 1962) in which Troop travels to Casper to bring back a hostile witness for a trial in Laramie. Along the way the stagecoach driver becomes very ill, and when examined by alcoholic former doctor Alexander Burrell, he is found to have the plague. Burrell says that they must quarantine themselves at the stage waystation between the two towns for four days, but his recommendation is met with anger by the other passengers. They try to discredit his opinion because of his alcoholism, and allow their own priorities--one woman is determined to get to Laramie on time to meet her future mail-order husband, afraid he will call the wedding off if she is late--to cloud their judgment. But Troop follows the science, or at least the possibility that the doctor is right, and orders everyone to stay put, though they nearly break out when he has to leave to chase down the delirious driver when the latter escapes out the window. At episode's end when the stage finally makes it to Laramie after the four-day delay, McKay tells Troop that there was a significant outbreak of plague in Casper but so far nothing has popped up in Laramie.

The series closes out its final episode, "The Witness" (June 24, 1962), with another tale about people using their own misguided priorities to upend another pillar of society--the legal system. When Nathan Adams returns home and finds his wife shot dead, he flies into a rage, and his sister-in-law Anna Prentiss invents a story about an intruder being the murderer, which sets Adams on a course of retribution. Meanwhile sketch artist Beebee Williams sees the situation as an opportunity to get revenge on rancher Jim Martin, who mistakenly identified Williams' brother as a bank robber years before with the brother being lynched by an angry mob. So Williams claims he saw Martin fleeing the scene at the time of the murder when he was actually out mending fences on his ranch with no one around to back his alibi. When Prentiss backtracks on the witness stand about being sure that Martin is the killer, he is acquitted, but this only prompts Adams to try to force him into a gunfight so that he can avenge his wife's death on his own terms. Once Troop learns from Martin the reason for Williams' animosity, he senses things do not add up and is finally able to get Prentiss to admit that she was the one who shot Adams' wife accidentally. When she relays this to Adams just before he is about to draw on Martin, Adams is shell-shocked at the mistake he nearly made and walks away stunned, while Williams also must face that he nearly caused the murder of a man who made an honest though tragic mistake. Rather than wallowing in extra-judicial revenge fantasies that have plagued television and the movies for decades, Lawman's Troop, while admittedly an unreal, larger-than-life hero, concludes by noting that people say revenge is sweet, but when Williams got just a whiff of it, it made him sick. While Lawman may not have had quite the savage realism of Sam Peckinpah's The Westerner nor the array of more fully developed characters found in Gunsmoke, it still holds up remarkably well for a western of its era, and certainly sits atop Warner Brothers' western universe.

All four seasons have been released on DVD by Warner Home Video.

The Actors

For the biographies for John Russell, Peter Brown, Peggie Castle, Clancy Cooper, Dan Sheridan, and Harry Cheshire, see the 1960 post on Lawman. For the biographies of Grady Sutton and Vinton Hayworth, see the 1961 post on Lawman.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 4, Episode 17, "The Locket": Robert Colbert (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Maverick) plays incognito outlaw Breen. Julie Van Zandt (ex-wife of director Richard L. Bare) plays Lily's former employee Marcia Smith.

Season 4, Episode 18, "A Friend of the Family": Frank Ferguson (Gus Broeberg on My Friend Flicka, Eli Carson on Peyton Place, Judge Gurney on Temple Houston, and Dr. Barton Stuart on Petticoat Junction) plays friend of Johnny McKay's father Joe Henny. Gertrude Flynn (appeared in War and Peace, Rome Adventure, and Funny Girl and played Anna Sawyer on Days of Our Lives) plays bank customer Miss Selma. 

Season 4, Episode 19, "The Vintage": Kevin Hagen (John Colton on Yancy Derringer, Inspector Dobbs Kobick on Land of the Giants, and Dr. Hiram Baker on Little House on the Prairie) plays drunken brawler Kulp. Richard Reeves (Mr. Murphy on Date With the Angels) plays his friend Joe.

Season 4, Episode 20, "The Tarnished Badge": Lon Chaney, Jr. (shown on the right, starred in The Wolfman, Of Mice and Men, High Noon, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Curse of Dracula, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, and many others, and played Chief Eagle Shadow on Pistols 'n' Petticoats and Chingachgook on Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans) plays former Laramie marshal Jess Bridges. Jackie Searl (child actor who appeared in Tom Sawyer (1930), Huckleberry Finn (1931), Alice in Wonderland (1933), Great Expectations(1934), and Little Lord Fauntleroy) plays his accomplice Slick. Marshall Reed (Inspector Fred Asher on The Lineup) plays another accomplice Jake.

Season 4, Episode 21, "No Contest": Richard Rogers (shown on the left, played Walter Tell on William Tell) plays Johnny's cousin Jeff Allen. Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers on Gilligan's Island) plays town flirt Elly Stratton. Guy Stockwell (brother of Dean Stockwell, starred in Beau Geste, It's Alive, and Airport 1975 and played Chris Parker on Adventures in Paradise) plays her boyfriend Jib Willis. 

Season 4, Episode 22, "Change of Venue": Philip Carey (shown on the right, starred in I Was a Communist for the FBI, Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison, Calamity Jane, Mister Roberts, Dead Ringer, and Three For Texas and played Lt. Michael Rhodes on Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers, Philip Marlowe on Philip Marlowe, Capt. Edward Parmalee on Laredo, and Asa Buchanan on One Life to Live) plays alleged killer Barron Shaw. Jan Shepard (appeared in King Creole, Attack of the Giant Leeches, and Paradise, Hawaiian Style and played Nurse Betty on Dr. Christian) plays conspirator Madelyn Chase. Roy Barcroft (Col. Logan on The Adventures of Spin and Marty and Roy on Gunsmoke) plays his prisoner guard Luke Tennant. Larry J. Blake (played the unnamed jailer on Yancy Derringer and Tom Parnell on Saints and Sinners) plays concerned citizen Mr. Parker. 

Season 4, Episode 23, "The Holdout": Arch Johnson (shown on the left, starred in Somebody Up There Likes Me, G.I. Blues, and The Cheyenne Social Club and played Gus Honochek on The Asphalt Jungle and Cmdr. Wivenhoe on Camp Runamuck) plays vigilante leader Logan. Larry Ward (Marshal Frank Ragan on The Dakotas) plays storekeeper Blake Stevens. Addison Richards (starred in Boys Town, They Made Her a Spy, Flying Tigers, and The Deerslayer and played Doc Calhoun on Trackdown and Doc Landy on The Deputy) plays town council leader Ben Thurston. 

Season 4, Episode 24, "The Barber": William Fawcett (shown on the right, played Clayton on Duffy's Tavern, Marshal George Higgins on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, and Pete Wilkey on Fury) plays original Laramie barber Ed Carruthers. Wendell Holmes (appeared in Good Day for a Hanging, Because They're Young, Elmer Gantry, and The Absent Minded Professor) plays bank robber Frank MacStrowd. Gail Bonney (Goodwife Martin on Space Patrol and Madeline Schweitzer on December Bride) plays homesteader's wife Mrs. Wilson. Owen Bush (Ben on Shane, John Belson on Sirota's Court, and Crimshaw on Our House) plays homesteader Will Puffin.

Season 4, Episode 25, "The Long Gun": 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 renowned lawman Marshal Ben Wyatt. Robert "Buzz" Henry (starred in Buzzy Rides the Range, Buzzy and the Phantom Pinto, and Mr. Celebrity) plays one of his victim's brothers. George Dunn (Jessie Williams on Cimarron City and the Sheriff on Camp Runamuck) plays hunter Ed Love.

Season 4, Episode 26, "Clootey Hutter": Virginia Gregg (shown on the right, starred in Dragnet, Crime in the Streets, Operation Petticoat and was the voice of Norma Bates in Psycho and the voice of Maggie Belle Klaxon on Calvin and the Colonel) plays widow rancher Clootey Hutter. Jack Elam (Deputy J.D. Smith on The Dakotas, George Taggart on Temple Houston, Zack Wheeler on The Texas Wheelers, and Uncle Alvin Stevenson on Easy Street) plays her suitor Paul Henry. Jack Hogan (starred in The Bonnie Parker Story, Paratroop Command, and The Cat Burglar and played Kirby on Combat!, Sgt. Jerry Miller on Adam-12, Chief Ranger Jack Moore on Sierra, and Judge Smithwood on Jake and the Fatman) plays his brother Earl. Justin Smith (appeared in The Jazz Singer, Wild on the Beach, and The Candidate) plays busybody Ed Cramer.

Season 4, Episode 27, "Heritage of Hate": Roy Roberts (Capt. Simon P. Huxley on The Gale Storm Show, Admiral Rogers on McHale's Navy, John Cushing on The Beverly Hillbillies, Mr. Cheever on The Lucy Show, Frank Stephens on Bewitched, Norman Curtis on Petticoat Junction, and Mr. Botkin/Bodkin on Gunsmoke) plays vengeful rancher John Kemper. Ken Mayer (Maj. Robbie Robertson on Space Patrol) plays his ranch hand Moss. Kathie Browne (shown on the left, played Angie Dow on Hondo and was Darren McGavin's second wife) plays Kemper's daughter-in-law Laurie. William Joyce (Kellam Chandler on Days of Our Lives) plays ex-con Bill Fells. Frank Albertson (starred in Alice Adams, Man Made Monster, and It's a Wonderful Life and played Mr. Cooper on Bringing Up Buddy) plays impressionable citizen Henry Bildy. Grace Albertson (second wife of Frank Albertson, played Ethel Robinson on Our Private World) plays his wife Sarah.

Season 4, Episode 28, "Mountain Man": Med Flory (shown on the right, played clarinet in the Ray Anthony orchestra and founded and played alto sax in the group Super Sax, appeared in Gun Street, The Nutty Professor (1963), and The Gumball Rally, and played Sheriff Mike McBride on High Mountain Rangers) plays amorous mountain man Lex Buckman. William Fawcett (see "The Barber" above) returns as barber Ed Carruthers. Rusty Wescoatt (Joe the bartender on Trackdown) plays a blacksmith.

Season 4, Episode 29, "The Bride": William Mims (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays con man Frank Farnum. Jo Morrow (appeared in Gidget, Our Man in Havana, and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver) plays his niece Melanie Wells. L.Q. Jones (Beldon on The Virginian, Sheriff Lew Wallace on The Yellow Rose, and Nathan Wayne on Renegade) plays wealthy rancher Ollie Earnshaw. Harry Strang (played the sheriff on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin) plays stage driver Ed Lecky.

Season 4, Episode 30, "The Wanted Man": Marie Windsor (shown on the left, starred in Outpost in Morocco, Dakota Lil, Cat-Women of the Moon, Swamp Women, and The Day Mars Invaded Earth) plays pregnant wife Ann Jesse. Jan Stine (Roger on The Donna Reed Show and Eddie on The Virginian) plays her son Ben. Dick Foran (Fire Chief Ed Washburne on Lassie and Slim on O.K., Crackerby!) plays her fugitive husband Frank. Alan Baxter (appeared in Saboteur, Close-Up, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Paint Your Wagon) plays bounty hunter Joe Street. Ralph Moody (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Rifleman) plays Laramie physician Doc Greer.

Season 4, Episode 31, "Sunday": Richard Evans (Paul Hanley on Peyton Place) plays captured killer Billy Deal. Andrew Duggan (shown on the right, played Cal Calhoun on Bourbon Street Beat, George Rose on Room for One More, Major Gen. Ed Britt on 12 O'Clock High, and Murdoch Lancer on Lancer) plays Dakota outlaw Frank Boone. Owen Orr (Wally Blanchard on No Time for Sergeants) plays his henchman Jim Young. Robert "Buzz" Henry (see "The Long Gun" above) plays his henchman Wid.

Season 4, Episode 32, "The Youngest": Olive Carey (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Lock Up) plays bully matriarch Ma Martin. Joseph Gallison (appeared in All the Young Men, The Wackiest Ship in the Army, and PT 109 and played Bill Matthews on Another World and Dr. Neil Curtis on Days of Our Lives) plays her youngest son Jim, Jr. 

Season 4, Episode 33, "Cort": Kevin Hagen (shown on the left, see "The Vintage" above) plays terminally ill Cort Evers. Harry Carey, Jr. (starred in Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Mister Roberts, and The Searchers and played Bill Burnett on The Adventures of Spin and Marty) plays his brother Mitch. Ralph Moody (see "The Wanted Man" above) plays Laramie physician Doc Jessup. 

Season 4, Episode 34, "The Doctor": Whit Bissell (starred in He Walked by Night, Creature From the Black Lagoon, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and Hud and played Bert Loomis on Bachelor Father, Calvin Hanley on Peyton Place, and Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk on The Time Tunnel) plays alcoholic former doctor Alexander Burrell. Sherwood Price (Gen. Jeb Stuart on The Gray Ghost) plays hostile witness Will Evans. Charles Lane (appeared in The Milky Way, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Lady Is Willing, The Music Man, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Gnome-Mobile and played Mr. Fosdick on Dear Phoebe, Homer Bedloe on Petticoat Junction, Foster Phinney on The Beverly Hillbillies, Dale Busch on Karen, and Judge Anthony Petrillo on Soap) plays his attorney Morris Weeks. Eloise Hardt (shown on the right, played Karen Hadley on The Dennis O'Keefe Show) plays bride-to-be Cissy Lawson. Harry Strang (see "The Bride" above) plays stage driver Randy Whedon.

Season 4, Episode 35, "The Man Behind the News": Clinton Sundberg (appeared in The Kissing Bandit, The Barkleys of Broadway, In the Good Old Summertime, and Annie Get Your Gun) plays newspaper publisher Luther Boardman. Hal Baylor (Jenkins on Rawhide and Mercury on Batman) plays gunman Mort Peters. Peggy Mondo (shown on the left, played Mama Vitale on To Rome With Love) player Peters' girlfriend Flora. 

Season 4, Episode 36, "Get Out of Town": Bill Williams (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Assignment: Underwater) plays casino owner Jim Bushrod. John Hubbard (starred in One Million, B.C., The Mummy's Tomb, and What's Buzzin', Cousin? and played Mr. Brown on The Mickey Rooney Show, Col. U. Charles Barker on Don't Call Me Charlie, and Ted Gaynor on Family Affair) plays his partner Sy. Tim Graham (Homer Ede on National Velvet) plays Laramie's top businessman Amos Hall. Tom London (starred in Six-Shootin' Sheriff, Song of the Buckaroo, and Riders in the Sky)  plays his employee Pete. Clyde Howdy (Hank Whitfield on Lassie) plays bank teller Joe.

Season 4, Episode 37, "The Actor": John Carradine (shown on the left, starred in Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, The Ten Commandments, and Sex Kittens Go to College and played Gen. Joshua McCord on Branded) plays alcoholic actor Geoffrey Hendon. Mary Anderson (starred in Bahama Passage, The Song of Bernadette, and Lifeboat and played Catherine Harrington on Peyton Place) plays his pursuer Martha Carson. Warren J. Kemmerling (Judge Rense on How the West Was Won) plays her husband Bill. 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 physician Dr. Wilson.

Season 4, Episode 38, "Explosion": Gary Vinson (Chris Higbee on The Roaring '20's, George Christopher on McHale's Navy, and Sheriff Harold Skiles on Pistols 'n' Petticoats) plays head injury victim Jess Billings. 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 his attacker Sam Brackett. Gilman Rankin (Deputy Charlie Riggs on Tombstone Territory) plays Brackett associate Paul Dales. John Qualen (appeared in The Three Musketeers(1935), His Girl Friday, The Grapes of Wrath, Angels Over Broadway, Casablanca, Anatomy of a Murder, and A Patch of Blue) plays Laramie physician Doc Shay. Marie Blake (shown on the right, appeared in Love Finds Andy Hardy, Li'l Abner, and Mourning Becomes Electra, played Sally the receptionist in 14 Dr. Kildare and Dr. Gillespie features, and played Nurse Tacky on Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal and Grandmama on The Addams Family) plays homesteader's wife Mrs. Murdoch.

Season 4, Episode 39, "Jailbreak": Peter Breck (Clay Culhane on Black Saddle, Doc Holliday on Maverick, and Nick Barkley on The Big Valley) plays jailed outlaw Pete Bole. Pamela Austin (shown on the left, starred in Hootenanny Hoot, Kissin' Cousins, and The Perils of Pauline) plays his girlfriend Little Britches. James Griffith (Aaron Adams on Trackdown and Deputy Tom Ferguson on U.S. Marshal) plays jailbreak planner Heracles Snead. Frank Ferguson (see "A Friend of the Family" above) plays Casper Sheriff Howard Callaghan. Mickey Simpson (Boley on Captain David Grief) plays Snead henchman Murph.

Season 4, Episode 40, "The Unmasked": Dabbs Greer (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Gunsmoke) plays hotel owner Joe Brockaway. Angela Greene (Tess Trueheart on Dick Tracy) plays his wife Marian. Charles Maxwell (Special Agent Joe Carey on I Led 3 Lives and was the voice of the radio announcer on Gilligan's Island) plays ex-Confederate bounty hunter Samuel Davidson. Barry Atwater (Dr. John Prentice on General Hospital) plays his partner Carter Banks. Jack Albertson (starred in Days of Wine and Roses, Kissin' Cousins, The Flim-Flam Man, and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and played Lt. Harry Evans on The Thin Man, Walter Burton on Room for One More, Lt. Cmdr. Virgil Stoner on Ensign O'Toole, Paul Fenton on Mister Ed, and Ed Brown on Chico and the Man) plays elixir salesman Doc Peters.

Season 4, Episode 41, "The Witness": Morgan Woodward (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays vengeful widower Nathan Adams. Sarah Selby (Aunt Gertrude on The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure, Lucille Vanderlip on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Miss Thomas on Father Knows Best, and Ma Smalley on Gunsmoke) plays his sister-in-law Anna Prentiss. Jay Novello (Juan Greco on Zorro and Mayor Mario Lugatto on McHale's Navy) plays sketch artist Beebee Williams. John Agar (starred in Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Sands of Iwo Jima, Woman of the North Country, Revenge of the Creature, The Mole People, and Attack of the Puppet People) plays rancher Jim Martin.

Death Valley Days (1961)

In our post on the 1960 episodes, we covered the origins of perhaps the first realistic western TV program, Death Valley Days, an anthology series whose individual stories were based in some measure on real historical events. However, these stories are often modified for dramatic effect, and in some cases the factual content is minimal at best. For example, "The Red Petticoat" (March 29, 1961) revolves around the loyalty of Lt. Phillip Sheridan, later a Civil War hero as a general in the Union Army, to an Indian scout named Kahlu while stationed in Oregon in September 1854. In the TV version of events, the civilians and even some of Sheridan's own men think that Kahlu is unfaithful to their cause because several soldiers have been killed in ambushes while Sheridan and his men have been out trying to capture renegade chief Tajin. Because he is an Indian, the whites believe Kahlu is in cahoots with his own people, but Sheridan refuses to waver in his loyalty to Kahlu, who once saved his life. As a sign of civilian disgust with Sheridan, his girlfriend gives him her red petticoat to brand him a girlyman, but he instead insists on having one of his men tie it to his rifle like a flag, and at episode's end The Old Ranger says he continued that tradition during his Civil War exploits. In the world of facts, Sheridan was not assigned to the California and Oregon territories until November 1854, according to his own memoir. And there is no mention of a red petticoat or an Indian scout named Kahlu. However, he did reportedly have a Rogue River Indian mistress called Frances by her white friends during this period, though he does not mention her in his memoir either.

The story of Queen of the Outlaws Belle Starr told in "A Bullet for the D.A." (November 13, 1961) is almost as fictional, though it uses more real persons as characters. In the TV version, Belle Starr has married an Indian named Sam Starr and has given up her outlaw ways after the couple settles in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1886. However, Sam is accused of horse thieving and is tried in front of Judge Isaac Parker. Sam argues that he wandered onto the property from which the horses disappeared because he can't read and therefore did not know that the sign he passed said "No Trespassing," but District Attorney Frank Clayton tries to discredit his claim by asking him what a $10 bill is, what the building is across the street (a saloon), and so on, all of which Sam correctly identifies, after which Clayton mockingly says "but you can't read!" Belle is incensed at the way Clayton has ridiculed her husband and determines secretly to get revenge, finally finding the right time when Parker invites her to take part in a semi-centennial reenactment of a famous stage holdup using blanks instead of real bullets. But before she can carry out her plan, Sam sends her a handwritten note indicating that Clayton has secretly been teaching him to read and write to make amends for publicly humiliating him. In real life, Belle and Sam Starr were married in 1880 and in 1883 were accused of horse stealing and tried before hanging judge Isaac Parker in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The prosecutor was District Attorney W.H.H. Clayton, but the couple were both convicted and sentenced to 9 months in prison. Belle was a model prisoner; Sam was not, and in 1886 he was killed in a gunfight with Officer Frank West. While the Death Valley Days episode is a heart-warming redemption story, a favorite theme in the series as we covered in our 1960 blog post, the real-life events offer no such feel-good sentiments.

Another whitewashing of historical facts takes place in "The Treasure of Elk Creek Canyon" (October 30, 1961) in which stage coach driver Abe Williamson is robbed of his last 15 cents and has his stagecoach burned by Confederate soldiers turned outlaws John and Jim Reynolds. In the Death Valley Days version, Williamson resigns his job with the stagecoach line and tracks the outlaws to their hideout in a stagecoach waystation, where he pretends to be looking for work and not recognizing them since they wore masks during the robbery. He demonstrates his strength as a good worker by bending a coin in half and then challenges both of them to arm wrestle at the same time, using his prodigious strength to crush their hands and take away their guns as they writhe in pain. In reality the Reynolds Gang was a group of Confederate soldiers assigned to disrupt Union supply lines in Colorado, but one of their noteworthy robberies was a stagecoach driven by Abner Williamson, who was incensed that they took his last 16 cents and a watch and who publicized their crimes far and wide. Williamson did not lead to their capture, though he later showed up as a cavalry prison guard when a group of five gang members had been captured and were awaiting sentencing at Fort Lyon. However, a Colonel Chivington wanted the men executed before the commanding officer returned to issue sentence, and he ordered Sgt. Alton Shaw to carry out the executions, but Shaw became sickened after shooting one of the prisoners in the head at point blank range, and Williamson stepped in and killed the other four men. However, John Reynolds was not part of this group, having escaped to New Mexico Territory where he was killed in 1871 near Taos. It is not known what became of Jim Reynolds.

Another story woven from the faintest thread of fact is "Dead Man's Tale" (February 26, 1961) in which Little Bighorn survivor Lt. H.M. Harrington, presumed dead, returns to exact vengeance on former gun runner to the Indians Salem Putney, who has hidden his identity by changing his name to Grant Noble and running a legitimate general store. Instead of killing Putney, Harrington is persuaded by Dr. Allen Camden to expose his perfidy to his fiance Bella Robbins, which Camden argues would be worse than death. The TV version correctly portrays the Custer massacre as being driven by corrupt traders at Indian posts, who happily supplied the Indians with rifles but stole their other government provisions, such as food. This sent the Indians off the reservation to join up with Sitting Bull, and George Custer was sent to round them up only to be greatly outnumbered and outgunned. Harrington was a real lieutenant under Custer, but after the battle his body was never found. Obviously, there is no record of him resurfacing years later to exact revenge on one of many corrupt trading post managers.

More aligned with the facts is the story of frontiersman Joseph L. Meek told in "Who's Fer Divide?" (March 1, 1961). Meek was indeed a fur trapper and teller of tall tales as well as friends with Doc Newell, as depicted in the Death Valley Days episode. He was also a key figure in having Oregon become a part of the United States, though it is unclear if it played out the way the TV series portrayed it, with a dramatic vote in which Meek recruits a pair of French Canadians who have no real stake in the matter to cast their votes for the Americans against British interests (even though they are subjects of the Crown) as repayment for Meek and Newell saving their lives years earlier from sure Indian massacre. The TV episode is set in 1842, whereas Meek helped form the first provisional government in Oregon in 1843 and personally met with President James K. Polk to persuade him to secure Oregon for the United States in 1848. The Old Ranger tells us at episode's end that Meek was so highly thought of by the Oregon citizens that he was named the first sheriff of the territory. The real Meek did indeed serve as a sheriff, but was also named a U.S. Marshal and occasionally served as unofficial territorial governor from time to time before Oregon officially became a state in 1859.

Another episode with a solid historical foundation that was heavily adapted for dramatic effect is "Deadline at Austin" (January 29, 1961), which tells the tale of how the Nevada Central Railroad was built to connect with the Southern Pacific transcontinental railroad in 1880. As depicted in the TV episode, the drive for the railroad was led by M.J. Farrell, portrayed as the railroad foreman on Death Valley Days though in real life he was the secretary of the Manhattan Silver Mining Company, which needed the railroad to export its product, and the state senator for Lander County. Also as shown on TV the Nevada legislature authorized a $200,000 subsidy to complete the railroad by a specified date, overriding a veto by the governor (named Lambert on TV, though in reality his name was Lewis R. Bradley) to get the subsidy legislation passed. Farrell didn't actually manage the work on completing the railroad; in reality it was managed by Anson Phelps Stokes who brought in former Union army General James H. Ledlie to help with the construction. As shown in the episode, the crews came about 2 miles short of completing the link between Austin and the spur from Battle Mountain with the deadline approaching, so the Austin Town Board voted to extend the city limits the necessary 2 miles to meet the requirements of the subsidy legislation. However, there is no record that the idea for extending the city limits was concocted by a shady elixir salesman who was romancing the mayor's daughter, as shown on Death Valley Days. The TV episode also adds a conflict between the governor and the mayor, with the governor hoping that the project will fail as payback to the mayor who had earlier exposed his corruption. The mayor's daughter is thus motivated to get the elixir salesman to freely offer his idea for meeting the deadline after he initially had sought to profit from it by demanding $5000.

Likewise, "White Gold" (February 15, 1961) takes a historical incident and fashions a good versus evil tale out of it. The Death Valley Days episode takes a flour shortage in the isolated mining town of Virginia City, Montana and spins a morality tale about capitalist greed. In the TV episode, set in 1864, general store proprietor "Doughy" Lucas, who has for years been the sole importer of flour from remote Salt Lake City, creates a panic and a business opportunity by claiming that due to snow in the mountain passes between his town and Salt Lake City, no flour can be brought in and he has sold out of his supply. Actually, though Lucas is still able to get his supply but divvies up small portions to other local businessmen, who then raise the price from around $25 a sack to $40 and eventually to $100 a sack. When the sheriff refuses to take action after receiving complaints, newspaper editor Ed Cullen urges citizens to take the law into their own hands, and miner Milt Baxter leads a vigilante mob to seize and redistribute flour held by one hoarder, which only forces Lucas and his cohorts to go more underground and raise prices higher. But then Cullen meets cowboy Ab Garza who just came through the supposedly snow-bound pass quite easily, and he unravels Lucas' plot by taking Garza with him to Salt Lake City and bringing back more flour and an armed group of deputies to break up Lucas' ring of dirty dealers and send them to jail. In reality, the shortage took place in the spring of 1865 and was due to the isolated community being cut off from any supplies. Those holding stores of flour did raise the prices from about $25 to $100 per sack, but it was not part of some underhanded and coordinated conspiracy, just merely ordinary price-gouging, and there was no secret supply line being snuck in under cover of night. However, the citizens did summon an army of some 480 men who marched in from Nevada and seized and redistributed hoarded flour. The role of the Montana Post newspaper in these actions is not entirely clear: a group of citizens formed a Flour Committee, and the newspaper printed a statement dictating that the price of flour would henceforth be between $27 and $30 a sack. But a few days later a different group of citizens calling themselves the Flour Committee published a statement saying that they had never mandated the price of flour. A little over a week later the paper reported that a few sacks sold for $80 and that there were no more to be had. Another three weeks would pass before any more flour would appear on the market at a price of $28 to $30, presumably because winter had passed and trading routes were open again. The televised version makes newspaper editor Cullen the hero, bringing law and order as well as the food supply back to a town strangled by business greed, but the newspaper's role in the actual events is a bit more ambivalent, and flour prices did not revert to normal levels until nature took its course.

The story told in "The Stolen City" (April 9, 1961) is principally accurate in depicting French-born former merchant Jose Yves Limantour claiming to have land grants from the Mexican government that would give him ownership of a majority of the city of San Francisco and surrounding areas. U.S. Attorney Edwin M. Stanton (who would later be fired as Secretary of War leading to the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson) is assigned to investigate Limantour's claims and discovered with the help of Auguste Jouan that the documents were forgeries that used counterfeited government stamps, prompting the arrest of Limantour. In the TV version Stanton is helped by apothecary Zacharias Gurney and the counterfeited stamps are actually made of wax, which does not use the secret mixture from former Mexican wax and candle maker Juan Tarabal, whose daughter is in cahoots with Limantour and had thought she knew how to make his special wax used for the seals.

 

While it sometimes makes for entertaining television, Death Valley Days maintains an ambivalent relationship with the history it purports to portray--on the one hand, it exposes the viewer to actual events and people that had a hand in this country's history, but because it so frequently alters the truth, sometimes turning it on its head, such as the aforementioned portrayals of Abner Williamson and Sam and Belle Starr, it does a disservice in misrepresenting what actually happened for the sake of entertainment. It is said that those who fail to learn the mistakes of history are bound to repeat them, but as William Faulkner so ably demonstrated, establishing what exactly constitutes "history" is no easy task.

The Actors

For the biography of Stanley Andrews, see the 1960 post on Death Valley Days.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 9, Episode 15, "The Lady Was an M.D.": Yvonne De Carlo (shown on the left, starred in Salome, Where  She Danced, Criss Cross, The Ten Commandments, and Munster, Go Home! and played Lily Munster on The Munsters) plays San Francisco physician Dr. Clare Reed. John Vivyan (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Mr. Lucky) plays her sea-faring boyfriend Ed Taylor. Charles Watts (Judge Harvey Blandon on Bachelor Father) plays fellow physician Dr. Thurston. Guy Lee (Charlie Wong on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays Taylor's cabin boy Hing Chang.

Season 9, Episode 16, "The Salt War": Harry Lauter (Ranger Clay Morgan on Tales of the Texas Rangers, Atlasande on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, and Jim Herrick on Waterfront) plays El Paso ranch foreman Jess Hixon. Jeffrey Stone (D'Artagnan on The Three Musketeers) plays surveyor Dave Reid. Norman Leavitt (Ralph on Trackdown) plays ranch hand Joe. Tom Greenway (Sheriff Jack Bronson on State Trooper) plays homesteader Pete Dodd. Jonathan Bolt (wrote 19 episodes of Ryan's Hope) plays his son Bob. 

Season 9, Episode 17, "The Madstone": George Macready (shown on the right, played Martin Peyton on Peyton Place) plays wealthy rancher Caleb Rees. Eloise Hardt (Karen Hadley on The Dennis O'Keefe Show) plays his daughter Ellen Denby. Myron Healey (Doc Holliday on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays her husband Big Matt Denby. Roger Mobley (Homer "Packy" Lambert on Fury) plays their son Matt, Jr. Allen Emerson (Doug on The New Loretta Young Show) plays their neighbor Fred Westgate. Jeanne Bates (appeared in The Phantom, The Strangler, Eraserhead, Gus, and Mulholland Drive and played Nurse Wills on Ben Casey) plays his wife Sarah.

Season 9, Episode 18, "Deadline at Austin": David Janssen (shown on the left, starred in To Hell and Back, Hell to Eternity, King of the Roaring '20's, The Green Berets, and The Shoes of the Fisherman and played Richard Diamond on Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Dr. Richard Kimble on The Fugitive, Jim O'Hara on O'Hara, U.S. Treasury, and Harry Orwell on Harry O) plays elixir salesman Dr. Bill Breckenridge. William Boyett (Sgt. Ken Williams on Highway Patrol and Sgt. MacDonald on Adam-12) plays railroad foreman M.J. Farrell. 

Season 9, Episode 19, "South of Horror Flats": John Lupton (Tom Jeffords on Broken Arrow and Frank on Never Too Young) plays Pinkerton agent Allen Hodges. Tom Fadden (Duffield on Broken Arrow, Silas Perry on Cimarron City, and Ben Miller on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction) plays gold miner Tom Briton. Jocelyn Somers (Jessie Bartok on The Doctors) plays his daughter Abigale. Hank Patterson (Fred Ziffel on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and Hank on Gunsmoke) plays general store owner George Jackson. 

Season 9, Episode 20, "Gamble With Death": Ken Murray (Academy Award-winning home movie cinematographer, host of The Ken Murray Show, appeared in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Son of Flubber, and Follow Me, Boys) plays jinxed prospector Dave Eldridge. Dick Sargent (shown on the right, starred in Bernardine, Operation Petticoat, and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and played Dick Cooper on One Happy Family, Lt. Maxwell Trotter on Broadside, Terrance Ward on The Tammy Grimes Show, the second Darrin Stephens on Bewitched, and Richard Preston on Down to Earth) plays gambler Cliff Streeter. Eddie Quillan (starred in The Grapes of Wrath, Mandarin Mystery, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Hi, Good Lookin'! and played Eddie Edson on Julia and Poco Loco on Hell Town) plays Eldridge's friend Job Darius. Tom Greenway (see "The Salt War" above) plays the Goldfield sheriff.

Season 9, Episode 21, "White Gold": Charles H. Gray (shown on the left, played Officer Edwards on Highway Patrol, Pico McGuire on Gunslinger, Clay Forrester on Rawhide, and Bill Foster on The Young and the Restless) plays Virginia City, Montana newspaper editor Ed Cullen. Paul Bryar (Sheriff Harve Anders on The Long, Hot Summer) plays general store owner Doughy Lucas. Larry J. Blake (played the unnamed jailer on Yancy Derringer and Tom Parnell on Saints and Sinners) plays disgruntled customer Milt Baxter. Sam Reese (Dr. Dan Shanks on Dr. Kildare) plays cowboy Ab Garza.

Season 9, Episode 22, "Dead Man's Tale": Russell Johnson (shown on the right, starred in It Came From Outer Space, This Island Earth, and Johnny Dark and played Marshal Gib Scott on Black Saddle, Professor Roy Hinkley on Gilligan's Island, and Assistant D.A. Brenton Grant on Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law) plays general store owner Grant Noble. Richard Franchot (directed 312 episodes of Bright Promise) plays his assistant Ed Robbins. Valerie Starrett (Diana Maynard Taylor on General Hospital) plays Ed's sister Bella. Peter Hansen (Lt. Col. Van Pelt on Gomer Pyle: USMC, Major Drake on How the West Was Won, and Lee Baldwin on Port Charles and General Hospital) plays physician Dr. Allen Camden. John Milford (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays former Custer officer Lt. H.M. Harrington. Dennis Moore (Deputy Lee on Tombstone Territory) plays the town sheriff.

Season 9, Episode 23, "Who's Fer Divide?": Peter Whitney (shown on the left, played Sergeant Buck Sinclair on The Rough Riders and Lafe Crick on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays mountain man Joe Meek. Dabbs Greer (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Gunsmoke) plays his friend Doc Newell. Dick Wilson (Dino Barone on McHale's Navy and George Whipple in Charmin toilet paper commercials) plays French Canadian settler Matthew. Frank Wilcox (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Untouchables) plays British territorial governor John Benjamin Kittredge. George Wallace (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays his local representative Jack Ivey. Patric Knowles (starred in The Adventures of Robin Hood, How Green Was My Valley, and The Wolf Man) plays the British election chairman.

Season 9, Episode 24, "Dangerous Crossing": William Lundigan (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Men Into Space) plays former sailor Nathaniel Norgate. Milton Frome (starred in Pardners, The Delicate Delinquent, and The Swinger and played Lawrence Chapman on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays religious sect leader Simon Meeker. Norman Leavitt (see "The Salt War" above) plays sect member Brother Walter. Ric Marlow (wrote the lyrics to "A Taste of Honey") plays extortionist Link Frets.

Season 9, Episode 25, "Death Ride": Marion Ross (shown on the left, played Nora on Life With Father, Susan Green on The Gertrude Berg Show, Miss Bromfield on Mr. Novak, Mary Morgan on Paradise Bay, Marion Cunningham on Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi, Emily Heywod/Hayward on The Love Boat, Sophie Berger on Brooklyn Bridge, Beulah Carey on The Drew Carey Show, and the voice of Mrs. Lopart on Handy Manny) plays barber's wife Martha Sayles. Robert Rockwell (Phillip Boynton on Our Miss Brooks, Sam Logan on The Man From Blackhawk, Tom Bishop on Diff'rent Strokes, and Wally Overmier on Growing Pains) plays traveling lawyer William Thorne. Eddie Quillan (see "Gamble With Death" above) plays hotel owner Clem Rees. Thayer Roberts (Thomas on The Living Bible) plays Solita Flats physician Dr. Saul Mitchell. Victor Rodman (Dr. Sam Rinehart on Noah's Ark) plays undertaker/coroner Wendell Hewitt. 

Season 9, Episode 26, "Loophole": Arthur Shields (appeared in Drums Along the Mohawk, How Green Was My Valley, National Velvet, and The Quiet Man and played Boles on The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure) plays old prospector Jebal McSween. Alexander Davion (appeared in Paranoiac, The Plague of the Zombies, and Valley of the Dolls and played Phoebus de Chateaupers on The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Det. Chief Insp. David Keen on Gideon C.I.D.) plays his future son-in-law and lawyer Mitchell Hobart. Bruce Gordon (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Untouchables) plays developer Henry Claypool. 

Season 9, Episode 27, "The Red Petticoat": H.M. Wynant (Lt. Bauer on The Young Marrieds, Frosty on Batman, and Ed Chapman on Dallas) plays U.S. Army Lt. Phillip Sheridan. Barry Cahill (Capt. Curt Douglas on 12 O'Clock High) plays his underling Sgt. Judd Barton. Hal Needham (Hollywood's highest-paid stuntman who invented numerous stunt devices, was a double for Richard Boone and Burt Reynolds, and directed Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, and Cannonball Run) plays insubordinate Pvt. Snavely. 

Season 9, Episode 28, "The Stolen City": Gregory Morton (Mr. Wainwright on Peyton Place and Walter Williams on Ben Casey) plays former gun-runner Jose Yves Limontour. Darren McGavin (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Riverboat) plays apothecary Zacharias Gurney. Emory Parnell (Hawkins on The Life of Riley and Hank the bartender on Lawman) plays land commissioner F.X. Cleland. Harlan Warde (John Hamilton on The Rifleman and Sheriff John Brannan on The Virginian) plays U.S. attorney Edwin M. Stanton. 

Season 9, Episode 29, "General Without a Cause": Jack Elam (shown on the right, played Deputy J.D. Smith on The Dakotas, George Taggart on Temple Houston, Zack Wheeler on The Texas Wheelers, and Uncle Alvin Stevenson on Easy Street) plays bandit king "General" Juan Cortino. Roberto Contreras (Pedro on The High Chapparal) plays his henchman Indio. Robert Darnell (Doug Russell on The Bold and the Beautiful) plays henchman Linker. William Boyett (see "Deadline at Austin" above) plays Union Army agent Miles Owen. Lisa Gaye (Gwen Kirby on How to Marry a Millionaire) plays Mexican soldier Dolores. 

Season 10, Episode 1, "Queen of Spades": Gloria Talbott (shown on the left, starred in The Cyclops, Daughter of Dr. Jekyll,  and I Married a Monster From Outer Space and played Moneta on Zorro) plays thrill-seeking wife Mary Kileen. John McLiam (appeared in Cool Hand Luke, In Cold Blood, Sleeper, The Missouri Breaks, and First Blood) plays her husband Frank. L.Q. Jones (Beldon on The Virginian, Sheriff Lew Wallace on The Yellow Rose, and Nathan Wayne on Renegade) plays her old flame Billy Madsen. Tom Drake (starred in Meet Me in St. Louis, Words and Music, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, and The Sandpiper) plays blackjack dealer Billy Leslie. Doodles Weaver (narrated Spike Jones' horse-racing songs and hosted A Day With Doodles) plays a card player. 

Season 10, Episode 2, "The Hold-Up Proof Safe": Regis Toomey (starred in Alibi, Other Men's Women, The Finger Points, His Girl Friday, and The Big Sleep and played Joe Mulligan on The Mickey Rooney Show, Lt. Manny Waldo on Four Star Playhouse, Lt. McGough on Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Det. Les Hart on Burke's Law, and Dr. Barton Stuart on Petticoat Junction and Green Acres) plays store owner Gus Lammerson. John Ashley (shown on the right, appeared in Dragstrip Girl, Frankenstein's Daughter, and Beach Blanket Bingo, played Clipper Hamilton on Straightaway, was the narrator on The A-Team, and produced multiple episodes of The A-Team, Werewolf, and Walker, Texas Ranger) plays former wild-west show performer Sandy MacDonald. Judson Pratt (Billy Kinkaid on Union Pacific) plays Sedalia, CO sheriff Griswold.

Season 10, Episode 3, "Lieutenant Bungle": Edward Mallory (shown on the left, played Bill Riley on Morning Star and Bill Horton on Days of Our Lives) plays recent West Point graduate Lt. Edward Ross. Philip Ober (appeared in From Here to Eternity, North by Northwest, and Elmer Gantry) plays seasoned army commander Maj. Ernest Galloway. Rance Howard (father of Ron Howard and Clint Howard, played Henry Boomhauer on Gentle Ben and Dr. McIvers on The Waltons) plays one of his men Mace. Jody Fair (appeared in High School Confidential, Hot Rod Gang, The Brain Eaters, and Sex Kittens Go to College) plays Galloway's daughter Janice.

Season 10, Episode 4, "The Third Passenger": Tyler McVey (Maj. Norgrath on Men Into Space) plays teamster Lew Sayres. Mark Allen (Matt Kissel on The Travels of Jamie McPheeters and Sam Evans on Dark Shadows) plays stable owner Otto Roop. 

Season 10, Episode 5, "Trial by Fear": Eddie Quillan (shown on the right, see "Gamble With Death" above) plays hotel owner Hill Beachy. Phil Chambers (Jason the hotel clerk on The Andy Griffith Show) plays drummer Lloyd Magruder. Ed Peck (Officer Clark on The Super, Coach Cooper on Semi-Tough, Police Capt. Dennis McDermott on Benson, and Police Officer Kirk on Happy Days) plays cut-throat Chris Lowry. David Tyrell (Charlie Burr on Mister Peepers) plays Magruder's friend Tom Farrell.

Season 10, Episode 6, "Alias James Stuart": Robert Culp (shown on the left, starred in Sunday in New York, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and Breaking Point and played Hoby Gilman on Trackdown, Kelly Robinson on I Spy, Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero, and Warren on Everybody Loves Raymond) plays outlaw James Stuart and Australian visitor Thomas Burdue. John Zaremba (Special Agent Jerry Dressler on I Led 3 Lives, Dr. Harold Jensen on Ben Casey, Admiral Hardesy on McHale's Navy, Dr. Raymond Swain on The Time Tunnel, and Dr. Harlem Danvers on Dallas) plays trial Judge Parsons. Booth Colman (Prof. Hector Jerrold on General Hospital and Dr. Felix Burke on The Young and the Restless) plays Burdue's defense attorney. Charles Seel (Otis the Bartender on Tombstone Territory, Mr. Krinkie on Dennis the Menace, and Tom Pride on The Road West) plays store owner Jansen. William Woodson (the narrator on Dick Tracy, The Invaders, and Centurions, voiced J. Jonah Jameson on Spider-Man and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,  and played Sgt. Ed Blankey on This Man Dawson) plays a trial witness.

Season 10, Episode 7, "Storm Over Truckee": Jena Engstrom (daughter of actress Jean Engstrom) plays prospector's daughter Maggie Woolf. Corey Allen (went on to direct multiple episodes of Dr. Kildare, Police Woman, Dallas, Hunter, and Star Trek: The Next Generation) plays bank robber Hal Parsons. House Peters, Jr. (Dave Bennett on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and Sheriff Jim Billings on Lassie) plays posse leader Deputy Walters. 

Season 10, Episode 8, "The Treasure of Elk Creek Canyon": Alan Hale, Jr. (shown on the right, played Biff Baker on Biff Baker U.S.A., Casey Jones on Casey Jones, and The Skipper on Gilligan's Island) plays stage driver Abe Williamson. Dennis Cross (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Blue Angels) plays outlaw Jim Reynolds. John Considine (brother of Tim Considine, played Grant Capwell on Santa Barbara) plays his brother John. Warren J. Kemmerling (Judge Rense on How the West Was Won) plays a Colorado sheriff. Jon Cedar (appeared in The Quick and the Dead, Foxy Brown, and The Manitou and played Cpl. Langenscheidt on Hogan's Heroes) plays rancher's son Billy Burton. King Calder (Lt. Gray on Martin Kane) plays waystation owner Frank Somers.

Season 10, Episode 9, "A Bullet for the D.A.": Carole Mathews (shown on the left, starred in The Monster and the Ape, The Man With My Face, Port of Hell, and Swamp Women and played Wilma Fansler on The Californians) plays former outlaw Belle Starr. 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 Fort Smith, AR D.A. Frank Clayton. Bobby Buntrock (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Hazel) plays his son Frankie. Miriam Nelson (Emmy-nominated choreographer on The Lucy Show and The Red Skelton Hour) plays his wife. Jimmy Cross (Jessie Flouge on How to Marry a Millionaire) plays a carnival barker.

Season 10, Episode 10, "The Watch": Dorothy Malone (shown on the right, starred in Scared Stiff, Pushover, Young at Heart, Artists and Models, Written on the Wind, Man of a Thousand Faces, Too Much, Too Soon, and Basic Instinct and played Constance Mackenzie Carson on Peyton Place) plays school teacher Mary Parker. Bing Russell (father of Kurt Russell, played Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza) plays mine foreman Jack Short. Michael Hinn (Luke Cummings on Boots and Saddles and George Haig on Johnny Ringo) plays miner Bicker. Mary Gregory (appeared in Sleeper and Coming Home and played Dr. Stanwhich on Knots Landing and Judge Pendleton on L.A. Law) plays his wife Martha. Jeannie Russell (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Dennis the Menace) plays frightened school girl Peggy.

Season 10, Episode 11, "Miracle at Boot Hill": John Carradine (shown on the left, starred in Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, The Ten Commandments, and Sex Kittens Go to College and played Gen. Joshua McCord on Branded) plays an unnamed Stranger claiming he can raise the dead. Chris Warfield (Rev. Dr. Frank Thornton on Going My Way) plays store owner Herb Driscoll. Penny Edwards (starred in That Hagen Girl, Tucson, Missing Women, and Million Dollar Pursuit, filled in for a pregnant Dale Evans in several early 1950s Roy Rogers features, and modeled in ads for Lux, Palmolive, and Tiparillos) plays mine owner's widow Ella Woods. Byron Morrow (Capt. Keith Gregory on The New Breed and Pearce Newberry on Executive Suite) plays mine owner John B. Woods. Peter Hansen (see "Dead Man's Tale" above) plays his foreman Bill Groat. Howard Caine (Schaab on The Californians and Maj. Wolfgang Hochstetter on Hogan's Heroes) plays hotel owner Mel Bowan. Eddie Quillan (see "Gamble With Death" above) plays remarried widower Mayberry. Joe Higgins (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Rifleman) plays stableman Chris Hanson.