One of the risks of reaching the pinnacle of success is that
you inevitably become the target of criticism and ridicule, and such was the
case for
Bonanza in 1962, though the
barbs directed its way tended to be jovial in nature.
TV Guide poked fun at the Cartwrights in its July 21, 1962 issue
with a mockup of what the three Cartwright sons would look like sporting the
silver-fox locks of their father Ben. The October 20, 1962 issue of the same
magazine highlighted an upcoming
Bob Hope special that was to include a sketch
satirizing the popular western with guest
Bing Crosby playing patriarch Ben in
a very bad wig whilst
host Hope
portrayed all three sons in a piece titled "Bananaz," the same title
that
Mad magazine had used in its
parody of the series in its September 1962 issue. Even the largely
complimentary cover story in the September 8, 1962 issue of
TV Guide concedes that its success is a
little puzzling given that the program is "a giant compendium of
clichés," "almost a burlesque of the West," and in the mind of
its bombastic producer
David Dortort an "honest fairytale" akin to
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But despite its corny
romanticism, producers and actors from competing westerns all admitted to
liking it, and while the show's ratings actually fell from 2nd and a 30.0 share
in 1961-62, to 4th and a share of 29.8 in 1962-63, it became the top-rated
western as
Wagon Train tumbled from
the top spot all the way to 25th for the latter season.
But while the competition could not dislodge
Bonanza from its lofty perch, the horses
the actors rode on location almost did. While filming "The Dowry"
(April 29, 1962) at Iverson Ranch on February 22,
Pernell Roberts and
Dan
Blocker were shooting a scene in which their horses walk downhill on a path
that had become muddy. Roberts' horse slipped in the mud and collided with
Blocker's horse. Both actors jumped free of their horses as they were trained
to do, and while Roberts suffered only a sprain, Blocker landed on his shoulder
and broke his collarbone.
Michael Landon told
Johnny Carson in an appearance
years after Blocker's death in 1972 that when Blocker got up, the collarbone
was actually protruding through the skin, but rather than calling an ambulance
as the cast and crew urged him to do, Blocker pushed the bone back into place
and resumed filming, though he finally relented and sought medical treatment at
the end of the day. Blocker missed the next episode, "The Long Night"
(May 6, 1962), which focused on Roberts' character Adam Cartwright, and then
appeared with his arm in a sling in the last two episodes of the season,
"The Mountain Girl" (May 13, 1962), in which he explains that a horse
fell on him, and "The Miracle Maker" (May 20, 1962), in which he
claims that even with his injured shoulder he can drive a buckboard better than
most of the other people in the area. He also shows up with his arm in a sling
at the end of the episode "Inger, My Love" (April 15, 1962) with the
explanation that he had an accident with a wild horse that "stove his arm
in" but that it is nothing serious. This episode was actually filmed the
week after "The Dowry," though it was aired two weeks earlier. The
theme of Hoss being injured in a fall from a horse is reprised in the Season 4
episode "The Decision" (December 16, 1962) when Ben has Adam and
Little Joe bring Hoss to a small town lying in the back of a wagon to seek
medical treatment after he was thrown from his horse during a cattle drive. In
this episode, Hoss has broken ribs that have punctured one of his lungs and
will likely die if not operated on, requiring Ben to get permission from the
local judge to temporarily release the town's only physician from jail so that
he can perform the operation.
Unlike this behind-the-scenes, real-life drama, the stories
depicted on the series continued to rehash the same themes covered in previous
seasons, ostensibly not wanting to change the formula that had proven
successful thus far. The series could have been sub-titled "The Doomed
Romances of the Cartwright Boys" because, as we covered in previous posts,
no love affair with a Cartwright son has a prayer of surviving as it would
destroy the all-male paradise of the Ponderosa. So Hoss gets his heart broken
in "The Tall Stranger" (January 7, 1962) when the local girl he
intended to marry, Margie Owens, is swept away by tales of far-off adventure
from con man Mark Connors. And he has to do the heart-breaking himself in
"Knight Errant" (November 18, 1962) after volunteering to escort
farmer Walter Prescott's mail-order bride to Virginia City only to have her
fall in love with Hoss, incurring the wrath of Prescott who seeks revenge
through a pair of hit men. Little Joe suffers similar misadventures on a nearly
monthly basis, beginning with "The Lady From Baltimore" (January 14,
1962) when he is targeted for matrimony with the daughter of a scheming wife of
a failed newspaper publisher as a way to improve the family's fortunes. In
"The Storm" (January 28, 1962), Little Joe is reunited with a
childhood girlfriend and decides he wants to marry her, not realizing that she
has a terminal illness. In the previously mentioned episode "The
Dowry," Little Joe ends up falling for a French daughter betrothed to a
Spaniard who seems more interested in her father's dowry of gems than he is in
her, only to lose out to the Spaniard in the end. In "The War Comes to
Washoe" (November 11, 1962), Little Joe's intention to marry southern
belle Morvath Terry is used against him by her Confederate-agent father who
tries to leverage his daughters' attractiveness to defeat the drive for Nevada
to join the Union. With the father's machinations, Little Joe is given the
deciding vote on whether Nevada requests statehood, and the hot-blooded young
Cartwright is forced to choose his country over his heart, meaning he doesn't
get the girl. Little Joe can't even sustain a bromance for the length of a full
episode. In the Season 4 opener "The First Born" (September 23,
1962), Little Joe's unknown brother from another father Clay Stafford shows up
in Virginia City and is welcomed with open arms by the Cartwrights, even given
his own room at the Big House on the Ponderosa, but by episode's end Stafford
decides that he is a wanderer who cannot stay in any one place for very long.
The very next episode, "The Quest" (September 30, 1962) shows Little
Joe placing his trust in sparring partner Dave Donovan when he wins a lumber
contract that he hopes will prove he can accomplish something on his own
without help from the rest of his family, but Donovan quickly proves a lazy
partner who plays the victim by blaming his bad habits on his upbringing. Little
Joe then pals around with Billy Horn in "The Beginning" (November 25,
1962) after the one-time Shoshone abductee decides to fulfill his late mother's
dying wish by returning to his white roots and is taken under Little Joe's wing
until Horn kills a man making a bogus claim jump on a significant portion of
the Ponderosa. Horn thinks that he is actually helping the Cartwrights and
feels betrayed when they turn him over to the authorities to face trial. At
first Horn tries running away, figuring he will never receive justice from a
white judicial system, but Little Joe chases him down and once he gets the
complete facts of the incident, Little Joe persuades Horn that he acted in
self-defense and should not face any jail time. But, of course, we never see
Horn again.
Adam never seems to pursue romance even when given the
opportunity, such as in "The Way Station" (October 28, 1962) when he
meets a pretty young woman dying to get out and see the world, instead letting
her be swayed by a fugitive from justice who shows up at the isolated way
station a little while later. But he is roped into a romance, much like Hoss in
"Knight Errant," in the episode "The Wooing of Abigail
Jones" (March 4, 1962) when he agrees to help tongue-tied Ponderosa ranch
hand Hank Myers court school teacher Abigail Jones, and she assumes that
despite his protests to the contrary Adam is really in love with her. The only
successful romance by a Cartwright we witness in 1962 is the second installment
of The Loves of Ben Cartwright, "Inger, My Love" (April 15, 1962), in
which we witness how Ben met and eventually wooed Hoss' mother. This kind of
romance is safe for the world of the Ponderosa because we know ahead of time
that Inger Cartwright is now dead.
Besides doomed Cartwright romances, another recurring theme
is wrongful conviction and near hanging of the Cartwrights. First up is
"The Gamble" (April 1, 1962) in which all four Cartwrights are accused
of being a gang that robbed the bank in the small town of Alkili when they show
up late one night with a saddle bag full of money they just earned from a large
cattle sale and are framed by a corrupt sheriff and stable boy. Since Michael
Landon co-write this teleplay, his character Little Joe breaks out at their
sham trial and rounds up a cavalry that comes riding to the rescue just as the
other three are about to have nooses placed around their necks. A similar
scenario plays out in "A Hot Day for a Hanging" (October 14, 1962)
except that this time only Hoss is accused of a bank robbery he didn't commit
in which a teller was killed and is sentenced to be hanged, and this time it is
Ben who has to work tirelessly through the episode, finally offering to pay the
town the full $12,000 they claim Hoss stole, in order to prove his innocence.
An unjust, near hanging also shows up in "The Decision," only this
time it is not a Cartwright whose neck is on the line but the physician Ben
needs to save Hoss' life.
Most of the remaining episodes from 1962 work to establish
and solidify each of the Cartwrights as one-dimensional characters. Besides the
hot-blooded Little Joe whom we see pursuing various unwise romances while
struggling to get out from under his family's shadow in "The Quest,"
we have Adam cast as the man of action. Rather than pursuing romance, other
than as the surrogate for Hank Myers mentioned above, Adam often cautions
Little Joe against his unwise choices and is ultimately proven right. But he is
also a solver of mysteries and champion of justice. In "The Ride"
(January 21, 1962) he proves that his business partner Bill Enders was the
masked man who robbed a way station and killed the station agent where Adam was
staying overnight. In "The Jackknife" (February 18, 1962) he exposes
a cattle-rustling ring that was victimizing the Ponderosa and convinces one of
its members to face his punishment to win back the affection of his wife and
son. In "The Crucible" (April 8, 1962) he is bushwhacked while riding
alone with another sizable amount of money and then stumbles on an old
prospector's camp where he is given food and water but then pressed into slavery
by the prospector who tries to prove that the high and mighty Cartwright is no
better than he. Adam is again entrusted by Ben to travel alone with a large sum
of money in "The Long Night" (May 6, 1962) only to be waylaid this
time by a ruthless escaped convict. And in "The Way Station" he
matches wits with a desperate fugitive and finally convinces him not to take
with him the naive, young granddaughter of the way station agent who is dying
to escape her drab existence.
Hoss, on the other hand, is the often misguided do-gooder.
As mentioned above, his efforts to help injured farmer Walter Prescott by bringing
back his mail-order bride backfires in "Knight Errant." In "The
Auld Sod" (February 4, 1962) he convinces the rest of the family not to
expose the lie that Virginia City drunk Danny Lynch wrote his mother about his
being the owner of the Ponderosa when she comes to pay him a visit, with
disastrous results. His efforts to help a flat-land farmer drill a well for
water during an extreme drought in "Gift of Water" (February 11,
1962) actually succeeds once he enlists the help of the rest of the family, and
he finds success of a sort in "The Miracle Maker" (May 20, 1962) in
helping injured and guilt-ridden Susan Blanchard regain the use of her legs
after a wagon accident that killed her father when she was handling the reins,
though he credits her and God for her miraculous recovery while also
discrediting faith healer Garth who claimed he could cure her. But he is the
dupe of a crafty young girl in "Gallagher's Sons" (December 9, 1962)
when he tries to escort a pair of orphan sisters to their closest surviving
relative, not realizing until late in the game that they are carrying a satchel
of stolen bank money given to them by their late father and are being pursued
by his bloodthirsty accomplices. Likewise, in "The Good Samaritan"
(December 23, 1962) Hoss attempts to play matchmaker against Ben's advice
between jilted and star-crossed neighbor Wade Tyree and a single mother who
shows up in Virginia City after being swindled by a notorious and now absent
charlatan. Things don't really work out for the new couple until they tell Hoss
to mind his own business. In the final episode of the year, "The
Jury" (December 30, 1962), Hoss plays the role of Henry Fonda in
12 Angry Men, the lone holdout on a jury
determined to send cynical smart-ass Jamie Wrenn to the gallows until Hoss can
get the sagacious Adam to prove that the victim was actually killed by his
brother, the lone witness who had identified Wrenn as the killer. As in
"The Good Samaritan," Hoss doesn't even earn so much as a sincere thank-you
for saving Wrenn's life, making his quests to save others from their troubles
seem all the more like the title of the episode "Knight Errant."
Of the four Cartwrights, Ben's character comes off the
worst. Yes, he will go to hell and back to save his sons in episodes such as
the aforementioned "The Decision," "A Hot Day for a
Hanging," and "The Deadly Ones" (December 2, 1962) in which he
has to tangle with a trigger-happy and morally bankrupt gunman who shoots
Little Joe in the back and later tries to steal a shipment of gold intended to
be returned to Mexico to finance the revolution against
Maximillian. But just
as often he shows poor judgment, when he isn't advising Hoss against helping
out their neighbors. In "The Lawmaker" (March 11, 1962) he turns down
Sheriff Roy Coffee's request to fill in for him while the lawman goes to San
Francisco for surgery, instead nominating newcomer Asa Moran, who turns out to
be a disaster when he lets the position of power go to his head, resulting in
Adam being jailed for only keeping company with a saloon girl that Moran
fancied for himself. In the very next episode, "Look to the Stars"
(March 18, 1962) Ben has to admit to the entire school board that he made a
mistake in recommending they hire school teacher George Norton, who turns out
to be an ethnic bigot. He again tries to shirk the responsibility in being the
area's most prominent citizen in "Blessed Are They" (April 22, 1962)
when he is asked by Deputy Sheriff Clem and the local judge to use his position
to try to resolve a simmering feud between two families before it results in
bloodshed. He is finally cowed into taking on the task but quickly tries to
dump it in the lap of a new and mysterious minister who arrives to take over
the local congregation. He again tries to avoid getting involved in "The
War Comes to Washoe" by refusing to take sides in the inevitable storm
that his brewing about whether Nevada will join the Union or the Confederacy.
Rather than joining the side that is against slavery over the one who is for
it, he sends Hoss and Adam away on a work assignment when he sees Adam and
Little Joe quarreling over the latter being used as a pawn by the father of his
girlfriend. In the end, Ben is pressed into service by statehood organizer Bill
Stewart when the Ponderosa is designated large enough to send its own delegate
to the convention where the statehood issue will be decided, but Ben only does
the right thing because he has no other choice. His advice isn't always sage,
either: in "The Jury" he seems to think Hoss is letting his heart
overrule his head in defending Jamie Wrenn but then tells him that a man is
never wrong if he truly believes in his convictions. But the members of the Confederacy,
and Little Joe's girlfriend's father in "The War Comes to Washoe,"
obviously truly believed in their convictions that it was alright to enslave
another race. That didn't make them right. In his frequent shirking of
responsibility
and misguided advice, Ben
Cartwright hardly seems someone who is supposed to be a kind of King Arthur of
the Old West.
The first eleven complete seasons have been released on DVD
by CBS/Paramount home video.
The Actors
For the biographies of Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan
Blocker, and Michael Landon, see the 1960 post for Bonanza. For the biographies of Victor Sen Yung and Ray Teal, see
the 1961 post for Bonanza.
Notable Guest Stars
Season 3, Episode 16, "The Tall Stranger":
Kathie
Browne (shown on the left, played Angie Dow on
Hondo and was
Darren McGavin's second wife) plays Hoss' girlfriend Margie Owens.
Russell
Thorson (Det. Lt. Otto Lindstrom on
The
Detectives and William Kennerly on
Peyton
Place) plays her father George.
Sean McClory (Jack McGivern on
The Californians and Myles Delaney on
Bring 'Em Back Alive) plays world
traveler Mark Connors.
Jacqueline Scott (starred in
House of Women,
Empire of the
Ants, and
Telefon and played
Donna Kimble Taft on
The Fugitive) plays
Connors' partner Kathie.
Dorothy Neumann (Miss Mittleman on
Hank) plays Margie's former landlord.
Ed
Prentiss (the narrator on
Trackdown
and played Carl Jensen on
The Virginian)
plays San Francisco physician Doctor Guthrie.
Forrest Taylor (starred in
True Nobility,
Big Calibre,
Too Much Beef,
and
The Lost Planet and played Doc
Brannon on
Man Without a Gun) plays
bartender John.
Robert Ridgely (Lt. Frank Kimbro on
The Gallant Men, the announcer on
The Woody Woodbury Show, Cliff Hamilton on
Domestic Life, and the voice of Tarzan on
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Flash Gordon on
Flash Gordon, and General Ross on
The Incredible Hulk) plays an expectant father in the maternity
ward waiting room.
Season 3, Episode 17, "The Lady From Baltimore":
Hayden
Rorke (starred in
Father's Little
Dividend,
When Worlds Collide,
and
Pillow Talk and played Steve on
Mr. Adams and Eve, Col. Farnsworth on
No Time for Sergeants, Dr. Alfred
Bellows on
I Dream of Jeannie, and
Bishop on
Dr. Kildare) plays Ben's
old friend, newspaper publisher Horace Banning.
Mercedes McCambridge (shown on the right, starred
in
All the King's Men,
Johnny Guitar,
Giant, and
A Farewell to Arms
and played Kate Wells on
Wire Service)
plays his wife Deborah.
Audrey Dalton (appeared in
Titanic (1953),
Separate
Tables, and
Kitten With a Whip)
plays their daughter Melinda.
Season 3, Episode 18, "The Ride":
Jan Merlin (shown on the left, played Roger
Manning on
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet,
Lt. Colin Kirby on
The Rough Riders,
and wrote screenplays for
Another World)
plays Adam's business partner Bill Enders.
Grace Gaynor (wife of actor Jock
Gaynor, appeared in
Guess Who's Coming to
Dinner,
Fletch, and
Fletch Lives) plays his wife Mary.
Hal
Baylor (Jenkins on
Rawhide and
Mercury on
Batman) plays Enders'
friend Arch Stewart.
Chubby Johnson (Concho on
Temple Houston) plays Goat Springs relay station manager Toby
Barker.
Season 3, Episode 19, "The Storm":
Frank Overton (starred
in
Desire Under the Elms,
To Kill a Mockingbird, and
Fail-Safe and played Major Harvey
Stovall on
12 O'Clock High) plays Ben's
friend and former sea captain Matthew White.
Brooke Hayward (shown on the right, Dennis Hopper's first
wife and later married pianist Peter Duchin, son of pianist Eddy Duchin,
appeared in
Mad Dog Coll and
Six Degrees of Separation) plays his
daughter Laura.
Season 3, Episode 20, "The Auld Sod":
James Dunn (shown on the left, Oscar
winner who starred in
Society Girl,
Stand Up and Cheer!,
Bright Eyes, and
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and played Earl Morgan on
It's a Great Life) plays Virginia City
drunk Danny Lynch.
Cheerio Meredith (Emma Brand on
The Andy Griffith Show and Lovey Hackett on
One Happy Family) plays his mother Nellie. Norman Leavitt (Ralph on
Trackdown) plays telegrapher Ramsey.
Season 3, Episode 21, "Gift of Water":
Royal Dano
(appeared in
The Far Country,
Moby Dick, and
The Outlaw Josey Wales) plays flat-land farmer Jason Ganther.
Majel
Barrett (Nurse Christine Chapel on
Star
Trek, the voice of the computer on
Star
Trek: The Next Generation,
Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine, and
Star Trek:
Voyager, and played Julianne Belman on
Earth:
The Final Conflict and Bea on
General
Hospital) plays his wife Belle.
Paul Birch (Erle Stanley Gardner on
The Court of Last Resort, Mike Malone on
Cannonball, and Capt. Carpenter on
The Fugitive) plays vigilante Luther
Kent.
Harry Lauter (Ranger Clay Morgan on
Tales
of the Texas Rangers, Atlasande on
Rocky
Jones, Space Ranger, and Jim Herrick on
Waterfront)
plays fellow vigilante John Lane.
Jame Doohan (shown on the right, appeared in
Bus Riley's Back in Town,
One
of Our Spies Is Missing, and all the Star Trek feature films from
Star Trek: The Motion Picture through
Star Trek: Generations and played Phil Mitchell
on
Space Command, Thomas on
Peyton Place, Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott
on
Star Trek: The Original Series,
Cmdr. Canarvin on
Jason of Star Command,
and Damon Warwick on
The Bold and the
Beautiful) plays flat-land farmer Bill Collins.
Season 3, Episode 22, "The Jackknife":
John Archer
(father of Anne Archer, former husband of Marjorie Lord, appeared in
White Heat,
Ten Thousand Bedrooms,
Blue
Hawaii, and
How to Frame a Figg)
plays Oak Meadow rancher Matthew Grant.
Bethel Leslie (shown on the left, appeared in 15 episodes
of
The Richard Boone Show and played
Dr. Maggie Powers on
The Doctors,
Claudia Conner on
All My Children,
and Ethel Crawford on
One Life to Live)
plays his wife Ann.
Robert Karnes (see the biography section for the 1961 post
on
The Lawless Years) plays Grant's
cattle-rustling partner.
Season 3, Episode 23, "The Guilty":
Lyle Bettger (starred
in
The Vanquished,
Destry, and
The Fastest Guitar Alive and played Sam Larsen on
The Court of Last Resort and Harry
Driscoll on
The Grand Jury) plays Ponderosa
neighbor Lem Partridge.
Charles Maxwell (shown on the right, played Special Agent Joe Carey on
I Led 3 Lives and was the voice of the
radio announcer on
Gilligan's Island)
plays his wife's killer Jack Groat.
Edward Platt (appeared in
Rebel Without a Cause,
Written on the Wind,
Designing Woman, and
North by Northwest and played the Chief
on
Get Smart) plays land office agent
Wade Colly.
Season 3, Episode 24, "The Wooing of Abigail Jones":
Eileen Ryan (mother of Sean, Chris, and Michael Penn) plays school teacher Abigail
Jones.
Norma Varden (see the biography section for the 1961 post on
Hazel) plays her mother Ma Nutley.
Vaughn
Monroe (shown on the left, popular singer and bandleader who starred in
Singing Guns and
Toughest Man
in Arizona and hosted
The Vaughn
Monroe Show) plays Ponderosa ranch hand Hank Myers.
Robert Stevenson (bartender
Big Ed on
Richard Drum and Marshal
Hugh Strickland on
Stagecoach West)
plays saloon proprietor Charlie.
Diana Darrin (appeared in
The Bold and the Brave,
Reform
School Girl,
High School Confidential!,
and
Unwed Mother) plays saloon girl
Margie.
Season 3, Episode 25, "The Lawmaker":
Arthur Franz
(shown on the right, starred in
Flight to Mars,
The Member of the Wedding, and
The Caine Mutiny and played Bill Winters
on
World of Giants and Hugh McLeod on
The Nurses) plays temporary sheriff
Asa Moran.
Les Tremayne (starred in
The
War of the Worlds (1953),
The Story
of Ruth,
The Slime People, and
The Fortune Cookie and played Inspector
Richard Queen in
The Further Adventures
of Ellery Queen) plays Virginia City Judge George Jackson.
John Mitchum (see
the biography section for the 1960 post on
Riverboat)
plays Ponderosa hired hand Lou Palmer.
Roy Engel (played the police chief on
My Favorite Martian and President
Ulysses S. Grant on
The Wild, Wild West)
plays physician Dr. Paul Martin.
Season 3, Episode 26, "Look to the Stars":
Douglas
Lambert (Eddie Weeks on
General Hospital
and Walter Schiff on
Inside Story)
plays teenage science prodigy Albert Abraham Michelson.
Joe De Santis (appeared
in
Deadline - U.S.A.,
I Want to Live!,
Al Capone, and
Madame X)
plays his father Samuel.
Penny Santon (shown on the left, played Madame Fatime in
Don't Call Me Charlie, Madam Delacort on
Roll Out, Mama Rosa Novelli on
Matt
Houston, Muriel Lacey on
Cagney and
Lacey, and Teresa Giordano on
Life
Goes On) plays his mother Rosalie.
William Schallert (see the biography
section for the 1960 post on
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays school teacher George Norton.
Booth Colman
(Zaius on
Planet of the Apes, Prof.
Hector Jerrold on
General Hospital,
and Dr. Felix Burke on
The Young and the
Restless) plays Nevada territorial representative Henry P. Quince.
Ricky
Vera (Benny Romero on
Our Miss Brooks)
plays stable boy Miguel Garcia.
Wallace Rooney (Andrew Winters on
The Doctors and Tim Butterfield on
Lou Grant) plays the school board
chairman.
Season 3, Episode 27, "The Gamble":
Charles McGraw
(shown on the right, appeared in
The Killers,
Blood on the Moon,
The Narrow Margin, and
Spartacus
and played Mike Waring on
The Adventures
of Falcon) plays Alkili Sheriff Gains.
Ben Johnson (starred in
Shane,
The Wild Bunch,
Chisum,
and
The Getaway and played Sleeve on
The Monroes) plays his deputy Stan Mace.
Robert Sampson (Sgt. Walsh on
Steve
Canyon, Father Mike Fitzgerald on
Bridget
Love Bernie, and Sheriff Turk Tobias on
Falcon
Crest) plays stable keeper Artie Clay.
Morris Ankrum (starred in
Rocketship X-M,
Invaders From Mars,
Earth vs.
The Flying Saucers, and
The Giant
Claw and played the judge 22 times on
Perry Mason) plays bank president Mr. Mason.
Robert Foulk (Ed Davis on
Father Knows Best, Sheriff Miller on
Lassie, Joe Kingston on
Wichita Town, Mr. Wheeler on
Green Acres, and Phillip Toomey on
The Rifleman) plays Virginia City Deputy
Sheriff Clem.
Season 3, Episode 28, "The Crucible":
Lee Marvin (shown on the left, starred
in
The Big Heat,
Bad Day at Black Rock,
The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,
Cat
Ballou,
The Dirty Dozen, and
Paint Your Wagon and played Det. Lt.
Frank Ballinger on
M Squad) plays prospector
Peter Kane.
Barry Cahill (Capt. Curt Douglas on
12 O'Clock High and Buck Vernon on
The Waltons) plays bushwhacker Jim Gann.
Roy Barcroft (Col. Logan
on
The Adventures of Spin and Marty
and Roy on
Gunsmoke) plays the Salt
Flat sheriff.
Paul Barselou (played various bartenders in 9 episodes of
Bewitched) plays the Eastgate bartender.
Season 3, Episode 29, "Inger, My Love":
Inga
Swenson (shown on the right, appeared in
Advise & Consent,
The Miracle Worker, and
The Betsy and played Ingrid Swenson on
Soap, Gretchen Wilomena Kraus on
Benson, and Connie Stratford on
Doctor Doctor) plays Ben's second wife
Inger Borgstrom.
Jeremy Slate (starred in
The
Sons of Katie Elder,
The Devil's
Brigade, and
True Grit and played
Larry Lahr on
The Aquanauts and Chuck
Wilson on
One Life to Live) plays her
brother Gunnar.
James Philbrook (starred in
The
Thin Red Line,
The Drums of Tabu,
and
Sound of Horror and played Zack
Malloy on
The Islanders, Steve Banks
on
The Investigators, and Paul Belzer
on
The New Loretta Young Show) plays saloon
owner McWhorter.
Harlan Warde (John Hamilton on
The Rifleman and Sheriff John Brannan on
The Virginian) plays a constable.
Season 3, Episode 30, "Blessed Are They":
Walter
Sande (appeared in
To Have and Have Not,
A Place in the Sun, and
Bad Day at Black Rock and played Capt.
Horatio Bullwinkle on
The Adventures of
Tugboat Annie and Papa Holstrum on
The
Farmer's Daughter) plays feuding patriarch Tom Mahan.
Irene Tedrow (see the
biography section for the 1961 post on
Dennis the Menace) plays his wife Winifred.
Ford Rainey (see the biography section
for the 1961 post on
Window on Main
Street) plays his antagonist John Clarke.
Amzie Strickland (Julia Mobey on
Carter Country) plays Clarke's wife Mary.
Tracy Stratford (Maria Massey on
The New
Loretta Young Show) plays their granddaughter Susan.
Rory O'Brien (Danny
Morley on
The Farmer's Daughter)
plays their grandson Kenny.
Robert Brubaker (Deputy Ed Blake on
U.S. Marshal and Floyd on
Gunsmoke) plays the Virginia City judge.
Robert Foulk (see "The Gamble" above) returns as Deputy Sheriff Clem.
Robert Brown (shown on the left, played Jason Bolt on
Here Come the
Brides and Cater Primus on
Primus)
plays Virginia City's new minister.
Arthur Peterson (The Major on
Soap) plays new minister Reverend
Jordan.
Season 3, Episode 31, "The Dowry":
Steven Geray (appeared
in
Phantom of the Opera (1943),
Spellbound,
Gilda,
All About Eve, and
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and played
Dr. Herman ver Hagen on
The Danny Thomas
Show) plays Frenchman Alexander Dubois.
Luciana Paluzzi (shown on the right, starred in
My Seven Little Sins,
Sea Fury,
Return to Peyton Place,
Muscle
Beach Party,
To Trap a Spy,
Thunderball,
The Venetian Affair, and
The
Green Slime and played Simone Genet on
Five
Fingers) plays his daughter Michele.
Lee Begere (George on
Hot L Baltimore and Joseph Anders on
Dynasty) plays her fiance Don Ricardo
Fernandez.
Ken Mayer (Maj. Robbie Robertson on
Space Patrol) plays stagecoach driver Crusty.
Roy Engel (see
"The Lawmaker" above) returns as Dr. Paul Martin.
Season 3, Episode 32, "The Long Night":
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 escaped killer Elmer Trace.
Bing Russell (father of Kurt Russell, later
played Deputy Clem Foster on
Bonanza)
plays fellow escapee Poindexter.
Frank Ferguson (Gus Broeberg on
My Friend Flicka, Eli Carson on
Peyton Place, and Dr. Barton Stuart on
Petticoat Junction) plays their pursuer
Sheriff Hill.
Paul Dubov (Michel on
The
Ann Sothern Show) plays posse member Skidmore.
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 posse member Henry Neighbors.
Dorothy Adams (appeared in
Laura,
The Best Years of Our Lives,
The
Winning Team, and
The Killing)
plays his wife Martha.
E.J. Andre (Eugene Bullock on
Dallas) plays an old prospector.
Season 3, Episode 33, "The Mountain Girl":
Will
Wright (Ben Weaver on
The Andy Griffith Show and Mr. Merrivale on
Dennis the Menace) plays mountain man Seth Coombs.
Warren Oates (shown on the right, see the biography
section for the 1962 post on
Stoney Burke)
plays sheepherder Paul Magruder.
Carl Benton Reid (starred in
The Little Foxes,
In a Lonely Place,
Lorna
Doone, and
The Left Hand of God
and played The Man on
Burke's Law)
plays wealthy San Francisco scion Josiah Harker.
Nancy Hadley (see the
biography section for the 1961 post on
The Joey Bishop Show) plays his daughter Stephanie.
Mary Treen (appeared in
Babbitt,
A Night at the Ritz,
Love
Begins at Twenty, and
It's a Wonderful
Life and played Emily Dodger on
Willy
and Hilda on
The Joey Bishop Show)
plays Ponderosa chambermaid Annie Wilson.
Season 3, Episode 34, "The Miracle Maker":
Ed
Nelson (shown on the left, played Michael Rossi on
Peyton Place,
Ward Fuller on
The Silent Force, and
Sen. Mark Denning on
Capitol) plays
faith healer Garth.
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 his partner Thorne.
Raymond Bailey (see the
biography section for the 1961 post on
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) plays timber customer Sam Blanchard.
Patricia
Breslin (Amanda Peoples Miller on
The
People's Choice, Laura Brooks on
Peyton
Place, and Meg Bentley on
General
Hospital) plays his daughter Susan.
Jean Inness (see the biography section
for the 1961 post on
Dr. Kildare)
plays her Aunt Celia.
Bill Quinn (see the biography section for the 1961 post
on
The Rifleman) plays consulting
physician Dr. Gross.
Season 4, Episode 1, "The First Born":
Barry Coe (shown on the right, appeared
in
Love Me Tender,
Peyton Place,
A Letter to Nancy, and
Jaws 2
and played Ben Gregory on
Follow the Sun,
the Assistant Director on
Bracken's World,
and Joel Stratton on
General Hospital)
plays Little Joe's brother from another father Clay Stafford.
Eddy Waller (see the
biography section for the 1961 post on
Laramie)
plays drover-for-hire Harry.
Season 4, Episode 2, "The Quest":
James Beck (shown on the left, appeared
in
The Bonnie Parker Story,
Paratroop Command,
Hound-Dog Man, and
The
Outsider and played Sgt. Highton on
Hondo)
plays Little Joe's friend Dave Donovan.
Grant Richards (appeared in
A Night of Mystery,
Love on Toast, and
Under the
Big Top and played Warren Nash on
Love
of Life) plays rival lumber supplier Will Poavey.
Frank Gerstle (Dick Gird
on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
and voiced Raseem on
The Banana Splits
Adventure Hour) plays lumber crew foreman Jake Weber.
Charles Seel (Otis
the Bartender on
Tombstone Territory,
Mr. Krinkie on
Dennis the Menace, and
Tom Pride on
The Road West) plays mining
company owner Hawkins.
Grandon Rhodes (Mr. Vanderlip on
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Dr. Stevens on
Lassie, later played Dr. J.P. Martin on
Bonanza, and the judge 16 times on
Perry Mason) plays banker Mr. Simpson.
Harry Lauter (see "Gift of Water" above) plays a drunken lumber
worker.
Season 4, Episode 3, "The Artist":
Dan O'Herlihy (shown on the right, played "Doc"
Sardius McPheeters on
The Travels of
Jamie McPheeters, "Boss" Will Varner #2 on
The Long, Hot Summer, Lt. Col. Max Dodd on
Colditz, The Director on
A
Man Called Sloane, and Andrew Packard on
Twin Peaks) plays blind former artist Matthew Raine.
Virginia Grey
(appeared in
Uncle Tom's Cabin,
The Women,
Another Thin Man,
Mr. and
Mrs. North, and
Stage Door Canteen
and played Clara Appleby on
The Red
Skelton Hour) plays his housekeeper Ann Loring.
Arch Johnson (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 his ranch
foreman Gavin.
William Keene (played various reverends on
The Andy Griffith Show and
Mayberry
R.F.D. and Dr. Lubick on
Days of Our
Lives) plays art dealer Mr. Stevens.
Season 4, Episode 4, "A Hot Day for a Hanging":
Denver
Pyle (shown on the left, played 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 Dutchman's Flats Sheriff Tom Stedman.
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 banker
Jesse Fillmore.
Olive Sturgess (Carol Henning on
The Bob Cummings Show) plays his widowed daughter Mary Ann Wilson.
Kelly
Thordsen (Colorado Charlie on
Yancy
Derringer) plays farmer Ned Larson.
John Harmon (hotel clerk Eddie Halstead
on
The Rifleman) plays barber McCray.
Terry Becker (Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey on
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) plays sheriff's volunteer Shukie.
Rayford Barnes (see the biography section for the 1960 post on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays
saddle tramp Austin.
John Mitchum (see "The Lawmaker" above) plays a
bartender.
Season 4, Episode 5, "The Deserter":
Claude Akins (Sonny
Pruett on
Movin' On and Sheriff Elroy
P. Lobo on
B.J and the Bear and on
Lobo) plays Indian wars veteran U.S.
Army Col. Edward J. Dunwoody.
Robert Sampson (see "The Gamble" above)
plays local homesteader Bill Winters.
Gale Garnett (shown on the right, Grammy-winning popular
singer who appeared in
Tribute,
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, and
My Big Fat Greek Wedding) plays his wife
Maria.
Robert Carricart (Pepe Cordoza on
T.H.E.
Cat) plays her Shoshone father Myoka.
Season 4, Episode 6, "The Way Station":
Trevor
Bardette (see the biography section for the 1960 post on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays way station agent Jesse
Johnson.
Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers on
Gilligan's
Island) plays his daughter Marty.
Robert Vaughn (shown on the left, starred in
Teenage Cave Man,
The Magnificent Seven,
The
Towering Inferno, and
Bullitt and
played Capt. Ray Rambridge on
The
Lieutenant, Napoleon Solo on
The Man
From U.N.C.L.E., Harry Rule on
The Protectors,
Harlan Adams on
Emerald Point N.A.S.,
Gen. Hunt Stockwell on
The A-Team,
Judge Oren Travis on
The Magnificent Seven,
Albert Stroller on
Hustle, and Milton
Farnshaw on
Coronation Street) plays
fugitive Luke Martin.
Dorothy Green (appeared in
The Big Heat,
Face of a
Fugitive,
It Happened at the World's
Fair, and
Tammy and the Millionaire
and played Lavinia Tate on
Tammy and
Jennifer Brooks on
The Young and the
Restless) plays prospective saloon owner's wife Lucy Fisher.
Season 4, Episode 7, "The War Comes to Washoe":
Harry
Townes (starred in
The Brothers Karamazov,
Screaming Mimi, and
Sanctuary) plays Confederate conspirator
Judge David Terry.
Joyce Taylor (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on
Men Into Space) plays his daughter
Morvath.
Alan Caillou (Jason Flood on
Tarzan
and The Head on
Quark) plays British
actor Walter Craigsmuir.
Barry Kelley (starred in
The Asphalt Jungle,
The
Manchurian Candidate, and
The Love
Bug and played Charlie Anderson on
Big
Town, Jim Rafferty on
The Tom Ewell
Show, Mr. Slocum on
Pete and Gladys,
and Carol's father on
Mister Ed) plays
Nevada statehood advocate Bill Stewart.
Harry Swoger (Harry the bartender on
The Big Valley) plays drunken
Confederate sympathizer Harry.
Wallace Rooney (see "Look to the
Stars" above) plays the Nevada statehood convention judge.
Marshall Reed (Inspector
Fred Asher on
The Lineup) plays a
Union sympathizer.
Season 4, Episode 8, "Knight Errant":
John
Doucette (see the biography section for the 1960 post on
Lock Up) plays rancher Walter Prescott.
Judi Meredith (shown on the left, played Bonnie Sue
McAfee on
The George Burns and Gracie
Allen Show and herself on
The George
Burns Show, Monique Devereaux on
Hotel
de Paree, and Betty Cramer on
Ben
Casey) plays his mail-order bride Lotty Hawkins.
Phil Chambers (Sgt. Myles
Magruder on
The Gray Ghost and Jason
the hotel clerk on
The Andy Griffith Show)
plays Virginia City townsman Dick Thompson.
Tyler McVey (Maj. Norgrath on
Men Into Space) plays another Virginia
City townsman.
Roy Engel (see "The Lawmaker" above) returns as Dr.
Paul Martin.
Season 4, Episode 9, "The Beginning":
Carl Reindel
(appeared in
Bullitt,
The Cheyenne Social Club, and
The Andromeda Strain) plays Shoshone abductee
Billy Horn.
Ken Lynch (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on
Checkmate) plays Ponderosa claim jumper
Milton Tanner.
Raymond Bailey (see "The Miracle Maker" above) plays Horn's
murder trial presider Judge Griffith.
Francis de Sales (Lt. Bill Weigand on
Mr. & Mrs. North, Ralph Dobson on
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,
Sheriff Maddox on
Two Faces West, and
Rusty Lincoln on
Days of Our Lives)
plays Prosecutor Adams.
Season 4, Episode 10, "The Deadly Ones":
Will
Kuluva (Charlie Kingman on
Primus)
plays Mexican revolutionary General Arturo Diaz.
Leo Gordon (shown on the left, appeared in
Gun Fury,
Hondo,
Quantrill's Raiders,
and
Big Top Pee-wee and played Big
Mike McComb on
Maverick) plays his
gunman Forsythe.
Lee Farr (Lt. Jim Conway on
The Detectives and was married to actor Felicia Farr) plays fellow
gunman Johnny Simms.
Jena Engstrom (daughter of actress Jean Engstrom) plays Indian
abductee Molly Reed.
Rico Alaniz (Mr. Cousin on
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Diaz gunman Miguel.
Season 4, Episode 11, "Gallagher's Sons":
Larrian
Gillespie (sister of child actor Gina Gillespie) plays orphan Charlotte
"Charlie" Gallagher.
Eileen Chesis (Sissie Potter on
The Tom Ewell Show) plays her sister
Wilhemina "Willie" Gallagher.
Robert Strauss (shown on the right, appeared in
Stalag 17,
The Bridges at Toko-Ri,
The
Seven Year Itch,
The Man With the
Golden Arm, and
Girls! Girls! Girls!
and played Sgt. Stan Gruzewsky on
Mona
McCluskey) plays express robber Blake.
Craig Curtis (Greg Selby on
The Clear Horizon and Max Matthews on
The Young Marrieds) plays his partner
Tully.
Victor French (appeared in
The
Quick and the Dead,
Charro!, and
Rio Lobo and played Agent 44 on
Get Smart, Fred Gilman on
The Hero, Chief Roy Mobey on
Carter Country, Isaiah Edwards on
Little House on the Prairie, and Mark
Gordon on
Highway to Heaven) plays their
partner Conn.
Tom Greenway (Sheriff Jack Bronson on
State Trooper) plays the Cantil sheriff.
Chubby Johnson (see
"The Ride" above) plays the Furnace Wells way station agent.
Season 4, Episode 12, "The Decision":
DeForest
Kelley (shown on the left, played, Dr. McCoy on
Star Trek) plays
jailed physician Dr. Michael Jons.
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 his
assistant Danny Culp.
John Hoyt (starred in
My
Favorite Brunette,
The Lady Gambles,
and
Blackboard Jungle and played
Grandpa Stanley Kanisky on
Gimme a Break!)
plays vengeful Judge Franklin Grant.
Walter Sande (see "Blessed Are
They" above) plays Jons' prospective executioner Sheriff Wall.
Season 4, Episode 13, "The Good Samaritan":
Don
Collier (shown on the right, appeared in
Safe at Home!,
Paradise, Hawaiian Style, and
The Undefeated and played Marshal Will
Foreman on
Outlaws, Sam Butler on
The High Chaparral, and William Tompkins
on
The Young Riders) plays jilted
rancher Wade Tyree.
Jeanne Cooper (Grace Douglas on
Bracken's World and Katherine Chancellor Murphy on
The Young and the Restless) plays jilted
widow Abigail Hinton.
Roy Engel (see "The Lawmaker" above) returns as
Dr. Paul Martin.
Season 4, Episode 14, "The Jury":
Jack Betts (shown on the left, see
the biography section for the 1961 post on
Checkmate)
plays accused murderer Jamie Wrenn.
Bobs Watson (Sidney on
The Jim Backus Show) plays his simple-minded follower Junior.
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 juror Bud Murdock.
Michael
Hinn (George Haig on
Johnny Ringo)
plays juror Williams.
Arthur Space (appeared in
Black Beauty,
The Cockeyed
Miracle, and
Target Earth and
played Herbert Brown on
National Velvet
and Dr. Frank Weaver on
Lassie) plays
Wrenn's trial Judge Crane.
Byron Foulger (Mr. Nash on
Captain Nice and Wendell Gibbs on
Petticoat Junction) plays juror Taylor.
