The Betty Hutton Show (1960)

The Betty Hutton Show was a last-ditch effort by one of the most popular movie stars of the early 1950s to revive a career she had herself torpedoed and then continued to sabotage by a combination of poor choices, arrogant attitude, and substance abuse. Though the show was co-produced by Desilu Productions, Hutton had to put up her own money to actually get the show made. The basic premise of the show is set up in the pilot "Goldie Crosses the Tracks," which aired October 1, 1959. Goldie Appleby is a down-to-earth manicurist and former showgirl living with two roommates, Lorna and Rosemary. Like Hutton, Goldie is no intellectual and lacks social refinement, but she has common sense and isn't afraid to take the bull by the horns, a trait that impresses one of her regular clients, Mr. Strickland, a wealthy widower businessman with three children Nicky, Pat, and Roy. When Strickland has trouble managing his entitled children, Goldie makes some suggestions on how to be firm with them, which he appreciates and follows. He is so impressed that he later makes her the sole executor of his estate after conferring with family lawyer Howard Seaton. Then he suddenly and inexplicably dies in his office, and Goldie learns from Seaton that she has been made executor and controller of his estate and is to live with the three children at his lavish mansion. The pilot then mines the usual ironic humor when low-brow meets high-brow, with Goldie showing up in a garish outfit and showing a complete lack of manners, which instantly turns off the two elder children, Nicky and Pat. But the youngest, Roy, immediately accepts her, and in subsequent episodes Goldie is able to win over the other two children as well. Still, the show continues to mine its singular comic refrain of the gullible and unsophisticated Goldie trying to fit in and match wits with wilier adversaries and then ultimately prevailing. 

In "Love Comes to Goldie" (January 7, 1960) she decides to cut off Strickland's do-nothing relatives from their regular allowances, only to be smitten by the charms of one of them, Sebastian Strickland, who is chosen by the other relatives to woo and marry Goldie to regain control of the estate. She remains under his spell up until the point of his proposal, when she serendipitously discovers an unflattering portrait he had sketched of her that reveals what he truly thinks of her. Likewise, in "Gullible Goldie" (March 31, 1960) she is hoodwinked by a couple of con artists who are pretending to be running a home for orphans and even raises $20,000 for them until Seaton does a background check into their criminal history, allowing Goldie to confront them and force them to open and run a real orphanage in order to receive the money. Only this time the ending of the story is left a bit ambiguous as the couple agrees to her terms but then give a kind of wink at the camera before the credits roll. 

While the theme of the uneducated rube taking the more sophisticated to school has been employed to good effect in many films and TV series, including Hutton's contemporary The Andy Griffith Show and later series such as The Beverly Hillbillies and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., it fails horribly on The Betty Hutton Show because of a lack of good scripts and poor direction. The plots of the above-mentioned episodes and the others reviewed for this post are completely formulaic--there are no surprises, every supposed twist is telegraphed miles ahead. But even worse is the way the lines and characters are played--actors stare into space or mug to the camera while delivering their lines rather than interacting with each other, further exaggerating the artificiality of the narrative. This style of acting presentation may have worked in the kind of musical comedies that made Hutton a star in the 1940s and '50s, but by 1960 audiences favored a more naturalistic approach seen in shows such as The Andy Griffith Show. 

And the stories on Betty Hutton are ripe with sentimentality: in "Roy Runs Away" (January 21, 1960), Goldie punishes Roy for getting into a fight at school by withholding three weeks' allowance. Taking the advice of his friend Steve, Roy threatens to run away, which upsets Goldie until the family butler Hollister assures her that Roy is bluffing. When Goldie refuses to bend to Roy's threat, he is forced to carry it out, eventually taking a taxi to a hotel and trying to register for a room. He finally gives up and tries to return home but sees Goldie gathering his belongings in the front room after agreeing with his Aunt Louise that perhaps Roy doesn't like Goldie and would be better off with his aunt in Boston. Roy then believes that Goldie doesn't like him. When Roy breaks down in tears to Aunt Louise and Goldie overhears his confession, the two suddenly realizes it was all a big misunderstanding and lock each other in a tearful embrace. Such tear-jerking narratives were obviously popular at the time, since several other shows used them as well, but they weren't enough to save The Betty Hutton Show from an early demise after only 30 episodes, since the show had little else going for it and had a tough time-slot competitor in The Donna Reed Show, then airing on ABC. 

But regardless of which shows it was stacked up against, it's unlikely The Betty Hutton Show would have lasted any longer than it did, done in by a combination of unoriginal scripts, bad acting direction, and a star who had peaked almost a decade earlier. Hutton would have only a few more TV appearances before being driven to Las Vegas and then the beneficence of a Rhode Island Catholic priest, as detailed in her biography below. Her quick exit from the 1960 TV landscape was perhaps another example of the changing times, a rejection of styles and stars from the old days that also swept away shows featuring Ann Sothern, Tom Ewell, and Barbara Stanwyck by the spring of 1961.

 

The theme and several episode scores for The Betty Hutton Show were composed by Jerry Fielding, born Joshua Itzhak Feldman in Pittsburgh. He played clarinet in his school band and was offered a scholarship to attend the Carnegie Institute for Instrumentalists but was forced to withdraw due to ill health. Once recovered, he landed a spot in the house band for the Stanley Theater under the tutelage of Max Adkins, known as a developer of prodigious talent that included the likes of Henry Mancini, Billy Strayhorn, and Neal Hefti. Fielding finally left Pittsburgh with the Alvino Rey band and never returned. From there he landed arranging jobs with many of the big band superstars, including Tommy Dorsey, Les Brown, Charlie Barnet, and Jimmie Lunceford. Eventually he moved to the west coast when he was hired by Kay Kyser for his radio program, which led to work on other radio shows as well. He was forced to change his name to Fielding when he was hired for The Jack Paar Program because Feldman was considered too Jewish. In 1948 he replaced fellow Pittsburgher Billy May on Groucho Marx's radio version of You Bet Your Life and remained with the program when it made the move to television in 1951. He also had his own all-music program The Jerry Fielding Show in 1952 but soon thereafter was blacklisted after refusing to name fellow members of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization organization when brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Through the remainder of the 1950s his only work in Hollywood was a handful of episodes of the William Bendix comedy The Life of Riley until he was hired for The Betty Hutton Show. He made do during these lean years by playing in Las Vegas and recording several now collectible record albums. The blacklist on Fielding was finally lifted in 1961 and he returned to prolific TV work on Peter Loves Mary and The Tom Ewell Show. In 1962 he was given his first feature film scoring assignments, most memorably for Otto Preminger's Advise and Consent. From that point forward until his death in 1980, he worked steadily, writing the scores for well-known TV shows such as McHale's Navy, Hogan's Heroes, and The Bionic Woman, as well as the memorable Star Trek episode "The Trouble With Tribbles." His work on feature films began to really take off in the late 1960s, beginning with Sam Peckinpaugh's The Wild Bunch, for which he received an Oscar nomination. In the 1970s he would receive Oscar nominations for his work on Straw Dogs and The Outlaw Josey Wales, and in 1980 he received an Emmy for his work on High Midnight. He died at age 57 from congestive heart failure on February 17, 1980 while working in Toronto on the film Funeral Home.

Presently only four episodes of The Betty Hutton Show (one from 1959, the other three from 1960) have been released on a single DVD by Alpha Video. These four and a few more are currently also available on youtube.com. The video quality for all of these episodes is poor.

The Actors

Betty Hutton

Elizabeth June Thornburg was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, the daughter of a railroad worker and his wife. Betty's father abandoned the family when she was only 2 and committed suicide 16 years later. Her mother supported the family by selling bootleg liquor at a speakeasy during Prohibition. It was there that Betty and her older sister Marion began their singing careers to entertain customers. Marion would go on to become the female vocalist for the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1938 to 1942. Always on the run from the law, Betty and her family eventually relocated to Detroit, where her mother found work in an auto assembly factory. Determined to break into show business, Betty moved to New York at age 15 but was told she would never make it and returned home, where she was discovered by orchestra leader Vincent Lopez a year later singing in a nightclub. She was able to work her role as a singer into appearances in a few of musical shorts from 1938-1940, which brought her to the attention of Broadway producer and co-founder of Capitol Records Buddy DeSylva. DeSylva cast her in his production Two for the Show and then as the second female lead in Panama Hattie beneath Ethel Merman, whom, according to Hutton's autobiography, insisted on cutting some of Hutton's songs from the production. DeSylva consoled Hutton by taking her with him when he took over production at Paramount Studios, casting her in The Fleet's In and Star Spangled Rhythm in 1942. From there her star rose rapidly in films like The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The Perils of Pauline, and her best-remembered role in the lead of Annie Get Your Gun. But despite being named Best Actress in a 1950 reader's poll for Photoplay magazine and being ranked the top box office attraction by Variety two years later, Hutton developed a reputation as being difficult to work with, and in 1952 while working on The Greatest Show on Earth she began taking Dexamil to deal with the stress of making the movie, her weight, and the failure of her first marriage to camera maker Ted Briskin. Later that year, after making Somebody Loves Me and marrying choreographer Charles O'Curran, Hutton walked out of her contract with Paramount when they refused to let O'Curran direct her next film, essentially ending her film career. She had an opportunity to revive it when offered the part of Ado Annie for the film version of Oklahoma, but she turned it down for NBC's 1954 nationally broadcast color production, Satins and Spurs, developed specifically for her but which proved to be a flop. She appeared in only one more film, Spring Reunion, in 1957 before Desilu offered her a chance at her own TV show, which lasted only 30 episodes, ending in 1960.

That same year she married for the fourth and final time to jazz trumpeter Pete Candoli. Though it was her longest-lasting marriage and produced a daughter Carolyn, the couple eventually divorced in 1967. She had a few TV guest spots in the 1960s on The Greatest Show on Earth, Burke's Law, and Gunsmoke and had signed a new contract with Paramount for two westerns in 1967 but was fired before either was produced. She had occasional appearances in Las Vegas, filled in for Carol Burnett and Alice Ghostley in a couple of Broadway productions, then wound up in Rhode Island in the 1970s, where she was allowed to live in a Catholic rectory by Father Peter Maguire. Despite never finishing the 9th grade, Hutton returned to school and eventually earned a Master's Degree from Salve Regina University and taught acting at Boston-based Emerson College. According to Carl Bruno, who with Michael Mayer "finished" Hutton's autobiography when she gave up on it, Maguire at times found Hutton too much to handle and would send her to California to live with Bruno and his partner Lutheran minister Gene Arnaiz. From 1974 till 1996 Hutton would be shuttled back and forth between Rhode Island and California. In 1999 she finally settled in Palm Springs, California, where she lived until her death from colon cancer at the age of 86 on March 11, 2007.

Gigi Perreau

Ghislaine Elizabeth Marie Perreau-Saussine was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of a French father and American mother. She broke into acting at the age of 2 when her mother brought her along to an audition for her older brother, Peter Miles, for the film Madame Curie. When director Mervyn LeRoy learned that she could speak both French and English at such a young age, he cast her as Greer Garson's daughter. She was thereafter signed to MGM and eventually moved over to Universal, appearing in several movies per year throughout the 1940s and '50s, such as God Is My Co-Pilot, Green Dolphin Street, My Foolish Heart, Bonzo Goes to College, and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Her work in television began in the early '50s, first on drama anthologies and then on series such as Mayor of the Town, The Donna Reed Show, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Her role as Pat Strickland on The Betty Hutton Show was her first regular TV role, but a year after the show ended she landed another recurring spot as secretary Kathy Richards on Follow the Sun, which also lasted a single season. Still, she found plenty of work guest starring on shows such as Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Rifleman, and Lassie, with her last role coming in a 1974 episode of Adam-12. These days she teaches acting at Immaculate Heart High School, is Vice-President of the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California, and serves on the boards of both The Donna Reed Foundation and the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. She says she is also working on an autobiography but won't be able to finish it until she is no longer working full time.

Peter Miles

Gerald Richard Perreau-Saussine, older brother of Gigi Perreau, was born in Tokyo but grew up in Los Angeles. As mentioned in his sister's biography above, Miles tried out for a part in the 1943 film Madame Curie at the age of 5 but was not chosen for the part. His film debut would come a year later playing Humphrey Bogart's son in Passage to Marseille. Like his sister, he was signed to MGM and had a steady career through the 1940s and into the 1950s in such films as Family Honeymoon, The Red Pony, Roseanna McCoy, and Quo Vadis, sometimes billed as Gerald Perreau in his early years.TV appearances followed, starting in the mid-1950s on shows such as Father Knows Best, Dragnet, Perry Mason, and Maverick before being cast as Nicky Strickland on The Betty Hutton Show. But once the show ended he gave up his acting career to pursue a career in writing. Two of his novels were made into movies--They Saved Hitler's Brain and That Cold Day in the Park, which was directed by Robert Altman. He and his sister ran a successful art gallery in Los Angeles, and he authored several catalogs of work by Japanese wood block artists. He also taught school and served as the President of the Burbank Teachers Association. He died from cancer at the age of 64 on August 3, 2002.

Dennis Olivieri

Virtually no biographical information is available for Dennis Joel Olivieri, not even a birth date. His first credited role, as Dennis Joel, was playing Roy Strickland on The Betty Hutton Show. In 1960 he also appeared in the Disney feature film Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus, an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, as well as episodes of The Deputy and The DuPont Show With June Allyson. After The Betty Hutton Show ended, he continued to get a few guest spots on TV shows for the duration of the 1960s, including Bachelor Father, Leave It to Beaver, and Family Affair.  In 1968 he released a music album titled Come to the Party on the tiny VMC label and produced by Tandyn Almer, who wrote the Association's first hit "Along Comes Mary." In 1969 he scored a regular role as Stanley Gabriel on the Aaron Spelling college-age kids starting over on an island series The New People, which lasted only one season. He continued working sporadically through the 1970s with occasional appearances on TV shows such as Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and Love Story as well as off-beat feature films such as The Naked Ape, The Centerfold Girls, and the rock opera Phantom of the Paradise. His last credit was the 1980 camp musical Forbidden Zone, which also included Danny Elfman playing Satan.

Tom Conway

Thomas Charles Sanders was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, the son of a wealthy rope-maker, though his family was forced to flee back to England during the Russian Revolution. After completing college, Conway moved to Northern Rhodesia and worked in the mining and ranching businesses until he became frustrated by his lack of success and returned to England to work as an engineer in a carburetor factory and selling safety glass. He was encouraged to join a small theatre repertory group and eventually joined the Manchester Repertory Company and found work on BBC radio. His brother, actor George Sanders, persuaded him to come to Hollywood, though to avoid confusion between them, Conway was forced to change his last name. He became a contract player for MGM, appearing in such films as Tarzan's Secret Treasure, Mr. and Mrs. North, and Mrs. Miniver before getting his big break thanks to his brother. George Sanders had grown tired of playing The Falcon for RKO and thus had it arranged in The Falcon's Brother to have his character killed off by Nazis and the torch handed off to his brother playing the character Tom Lawrence. Conway continued in the role for another 10 films while also appearing in horror movies such as Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, and The Seventh Victim. In the 1950s he continued appearing in B-grade features like Bride of the Gorilla, Tarzan and the She-Devil, The She-Creature, and Voodoo Woman, but he also was cast in the title role as TV detective Mark Saber, which ran from 1951-53. In the late 1950s he began picking up guest spots on TV shows such as Rawhide, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Cheyenne before landing his role as lawyer Howard Seaton on The Betty Hutton Show. After a few more roles, voicework on 101 Dalmations, and appearances on Have Gun -- Will Travel and Perry Mason, Conway's alcoholism and a degenerative eye condition ruined his career. His second wife Queenie Leonard divorced him in 1963 and his brother broke off contact with him over his drinking. In 1965 he was discovered living in a flophouse and 2 years later after former sister-in-law Zsa Zsa Gabor gave him $200 to tip his nurses in the hospital, he checked out and took the money but expired at his girlfriend's house the next day due to cirrhosis of the liver at age 62 on April 22, 1967. Ironically, though Conway was forced to change his given name when he first landed in Hollywood to avoid confusion with his brother, his adopted name forced comedian Tim Conway to change his first name when he was getting started in show business.

Gavin Muir

Born in Chicago, Gavin Muir was educated in England, which helped him affect the British accent that made him perfectly suited for various villainous roles as well as the butler Hollister on The Betty Hutton Show. He began his acting career in regional theater but by 1920 had moved to Broadway and had his first role there in 1922's Enter Madame. Thereafter he had a prolific stage career at least through 1933, though he continued appearing in productions until 1939. After a brief uncredited appearance in a 1932 short, his Hollywood career began in earnest in 1936, most notably in John Ford's Mary of Scotland. He found steady work throughout the remainder of the 1930s and the 1940s, mostly in exploitation fare such as Charlie Chan at the Race Track, Hitler's Children, The Son of Dr. Jekyll, and several Sherlock Holmes features. In the early 1950s he began getting TV roles on series such as Dangerous Assignment, Biff Baker, U.S.A., and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His stint on The Betty Hutton Show was his lone regular TV role and came at the end of his career. Afterward he appeared only in the eerie Dennis Hopper mermaid feature Night Tide and one episode of The Rogues in 1965. He died on May 24, 1972 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the age of 71.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 1, Episode 14, "Love Comes to Goldie": Maxwell Reed (shown on the right, appeared in Night Beat, Shadow of Fear, and Helen of Troy and played Capt. David Grief on Captain David Grief) plays Strickland family deadbeat Sebastian Strickland. 

Season 1, Episode 16, "Roy Runs Away": Norma Varden (shown on the left, appeared in National Velvet, Strangers on a Train, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Witness for the Prosecution, and Doctor Doolittle and played Harriet Johnson on Hazel) plays Strickland relative Aunt Louise. Don Grady (Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons) plays Roy's antagonist Joey Simpson. Darryl Richard (Smitty on The Donna Reed Show) plays Roy's friend Steve.

Season 1, Episode 18, "Goldie and the Tycoon": Mary Anderson (appeared in Gone With the Wind, The Song of Bernadette, and Lifeboat and played Catherine Harrington on Peyton Place) plays Strickland Enterprises chairman Miss Kingston.

Season 1, Episode 23, "The Seaton Story": Joyce Jameson (appeared in The Apartment, Tales of Terror, and The Comedy of Terrors) plays showgirl Beverly Bell. Antony Carbone (appeared in A Bucket of Blood, Last Woman on Earth, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Creature From the Haunted Sea) plays her boyfriend Al. Natalie Masters (Wilma Clemson on Date With the Angels and Mrs. Bergen on My Three Sons) plays Seaton's secretary.

Season 1, Episode 26, "Gullible Goldie": Robert Emhardt (shown on the right, played Sgt. Vinton on The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.) plays con artist Mr. Bleeker. Ellen Corby (shown on the left, played Henrietta Porter on Trackdown and Esther Walton on The Waltons) plays his wife.

The Rifleman (1960)

In an interview that appeared in the March 12th issue of TV Guide, Chuck Connors, star of The Rifleman, took great pains to point out that his show was not exceptionally violent, that there are killings in only about half the episodes (from what I've seen, the number is somewhat higher than that): "You got to have them, I guess or it wouldn't be a Western." Connors' defense of his show was likely in response to increasing criticism of too much violence on TV, and those involved with the show probably had much to lose from such a backlash given how heavily the brand had been licensed for items like board games, lunch boxes, action figures, and a series of story books, all marketed to children. And the show certainly had a violent beginning, based as it was on a rejected Gunsmoke script called "The Sharpshooter" written by Sam Peckinpah, who would later in his career be known as "Bloody Sam" for directing films such as The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs. The rejected script became the first episode of The Rifleman starring a young Dennis Hopper in the title role. But Peckinpah was  not involved in the show after that initial season of 1958-59, and by 1960 the focus of the show had shifted from showing off the shooting exploits of Connors' character Lucas McCain and more on his role as a widower raising his son Mark (played by Johnny Crawford). For example, in "Day of the Hunter" (Jan 5, 1960) Lucas refuses to take part in a shooting contest with legendary frontiersman Cass Callicott, even when the latter calls him chicken, and even though Lucas decides to participate in North Fork's annual sharp-shooter contest in "The Promoter" (Dec 6, 1960), he only does so because Mark wants the new shotgun that is offered as first prize. However, there were still plenty of shoot-outs involving Lucas or others, but occasionally there were also violent-free episodes, whereas all of the episodes seemed to feature at least one conversation or two between Lucas and Mark of an educational nature. In fact, Mark even makes a comment about this element in "The Martinet" (Nov 8, 1960) when he says that sometimes it's the child who teaches the parent but that he knows who does most of the teaching in the McCain family. He also offers Lucas some of his own advice in "Trail of Hate" (Sep 27, 1960) when Lucas regrets that his obsession for revenge causes an outlaw to be shot and killed. Several episodes, such as "Sins of the Father" (Apr 19, 1960) and "The Prodigal" (Apr 26, 1960) offer a contrasting parent-child relationship that shows the pitfalls of not having honest, open communication in a family.

However, Connors felt that the stories had grown a bit too sentimental. In the same TV Guide interview he notes that his character says to Mark in one episode "I love you" (actually he has it backwards--in "Case of Identity" Mark says "I love you"  to Lucas , who replies, "I know you do, son"): "Brother, that's corn. That's as pure as they grow it, but that's what people want." One senses that Connors has grown cynical in being trapped between his artistic impulses and the success of a popular show that must cater to its audience's wishes. Part of his cynicism could also have been due to the show's declining ratings--it fell to 27th place for the 1960-61 season. But he would continue in the role for another three years before moving on to starring roles in three other series during the decade (Arrest & Trial, Branded, and Cowboy in Africa), but none of them would be as successful or run as long at The Rifleman.

The show was set in the town of North Folk, New Mexico, in the 1880s, though Lucas and Mark lived on their own ranch (which they purchase in the second episode of the first season) just outside of town. Lucas sports a customized Winchester rifle that can fire a round in 3/10 of a second, and by the 1960 season, many outsiders who visit North Fork, whether they are law-abiding or criminals, have heard of his exploits. The show also featured Paul Fix as Marshal Micah Torrance in all but 18 of its 168 episodes during the life of the series. He first appears in the 4th episode of the first season as a drunk who has lost his nerve after killing a man. Lucas must nurse him back to health and restore his confidence. From then on, Lucas often helps in running down or killing criminals who threaten North Fork, with Torrance occasionally deputizing him temporarily. The 1960 season also saw the introduction of semi-regular Milly Scott (played by Joan Taylor) in the November 15th episode, "Miss Milly." She takes over the general store formerly run by semi-regular Hattie Denton (Hope Summers, who played Clara Edwards on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.), and though she initially clashes with Lucas (and everyone else in town), there is an obvious attraction between them, though nothing concrete seems to develop.

The show was nominated for an Emmy for Best Western Series in 1959 and Crawford was nominated for best supporting actor that same year, but neither won.

The theme music for the show was composed by Herschel Burke Gilbert, who also composed the theme music for The Detectives, Starring Robert Taylor (1959-61) and Burke's Law (1963-66). He also served as music supervisor on many other TV shows of the era, including Perry Mason, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Johnny Ringo, Gunsmoke, The Lawless Years, and Gilligan's Island.

The complete series of 168 episodes of The Rifleman has not been issued on DVD. MPI issued a pair of 4-disc box sets that have since gone out of print. There are a few other single-disc issues with various episodes, but nothing with complete seasons. There are also bootleg releases of the entire series, though they are reported to be of dubious quality. However, imdb.com has 50 episodes available for free online viewing (I'm guessing they are from the MPI releases, as they are spread out across the various seasons). And as of this writing, the cable channel AMC has been airing 4-hour blocks of consecutively sequenced episodes on Saturday mornings. Many of the episodes from 1960 not available on imdb.com can also be found on youtube.com, sometimes split into 2 or 3 parts, with less than stellar video quality.

 

The Actors

Chuck Connors

Connors began acting roles in 1952 after an athletic career in which he played briefly for the Boston Celtics basketball team in 1946-47, and the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs baseball teams and their minor league affiliates from 1947-1952. In 1952 while playing for the Cubs Triple-A team, the Los Angeles Angels, he was spotted by an MGM casting director who recommended him for a part in the Spencer Tracy-Katherine Hepburn film Pat and Mike. From there, he appeared in several more films and began appearing in single episodes of many TV series throughout the 50s before landing the lead role on The Rifleman in 1958.

Besides his other 1960s TV series mentioned above, Connors continued acting in movies throughout his career, appearing in such popular titles as Old Yeller, Flipper, and Soylent Green. He died November 10, 1992.

Johnny Crawford

Crawford was only 12 years old when he began playing Mark McCain on The Rifleman, but he had begun appearing in other TV shows, like The Lone Ranger, two years before that. He apparently peaked early in his career because the show was his only regular role in television. He appeared in single episodes of Mr. Ed, Rawhide, Hawaii 5-0, and Little House on the Prairie, amongst others. But perhaps the die was cast and he will forever be thought of as Mark McCain, just as Adam West was never able to escape the shadow of Batman.

 

 

 

Paul Fix

Born in 1901, Fix began appearing in films as early as 1925, and was quite active as a minor character throughout the 30s and 40s, frequently uncredited. His first television appearance was in a 1950 episode of The Lone Ranger, and later in the 50s he also appeared in episodes of Adventures of Superman, The Adventures of Falcon, and The Adventures of McGraw. After The Rifleman, he made numerous single episode appearances on TV shows up until 1981, including four appearances as Prosecutor/D.A. Hale on Perry Mason. He died October 14, 1983.

 

Notable Guest Stars

Season 2, Episode 15, "Day of the Hunter": John Anderson (Harry Jackson on MacGyver, Dr. Herbert Styles on Dallas) plays legendary frontiersman Cass Calicott, who challenges Lucas to a shooting match. Dick Elliott (Mayor Pike on The Andy Griffith Show) plays Mr. Hardiman, a local apple farmer.

Season 2, Episode 16, "Mail Order Groom": Peter Whitney (Sergeant Buck Sinclair on The Rough Riders and Lafe Crick on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays John Jupiter, the mail order groom.

Season 2, Episode 17, "Case of Identity": Herbert Rudley (Sam Brennan on The Californians, Will Gentry on Michael Shayne, General Crone on Mona McCluskey, Herb Hubbard on The Mothers-in-Law) plays Captain James Gordon, an unscrupulous "detective."

Season 2, Episode 18, "The Visitor": Christine White (Abigail Adams on Ichabod and Me) plays Ann Dodd, a widow and friend of Lucas McCain's late wife.

Season 2, Episode 19, "Hero": Robert Culp (Kelly Robinson on I Spy) plays Colly Vane, a mild-mannered stable hand who kills a wanted outlaw.

Season 2, Episode 21, "The Spoiler": Ellen Corby (Esther Walton on The Waltons) plays Mrs. Avery, whose son is a ruthless killer.

Season 2, Episode 22, "Heller": Don Grady (Robbie on My Three Sons) and Gigi Perreau (Pat Strickland on The Betty Hutton Show, Kathy Richards on Follow the Sun) play a brother and sister bent on killing their abusive step-father (played by Peter Whitney--see "Mail Order Groom" above). K.T. Stevens (Vanessa Prentiss on The Young and the Restless 1976-80) plays his wife. Hope Summers also appears as Hattie Denton in this episode.

Season 2, Episode 25, "The Deserter": Robert Cornthwaite (Professor Windish on Get Smart) plays Major Damler, a discipline-crazed Army commander.

Season 2, Episode 26, "The Vision": Karl Swenson (Lars Hanson on Little House on the Prairie) plays Nils Swenson, a friend of Lucas' who recommends a doctor in Roswell when Mark gets dangerously ill.

Season 2, Episode 27, "The Lariat": Richard Anderson (D.A. Glenn Wagner on Bus Stop; Lt. Steve Drumm on Perry Mason; Chief George Untermeyer on Dan August; Oscar Goldman on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman; and Buck Fallmont on Dynasty) plays Lariat Jones, an old buddy of Lucas' who comes to North Fork to open a gaming house. Dayton Lummis (Marshal Andy Morrison on Law of the Plainsman) plays Colonel Craig, a cheating card player.

Season 2, Episode 28, "Smoke Screen": Douglas Kennedy (Sheriff Fred Madden on The Big Valley) plays Pete Crandell, father of a headstrong young woman who is murdered.

Season 2, Episode 30, "Sins of the Father": Richard Evans (Paul Hanley on Peyton Place) plays Shep Coleman, a drunk who makes the mistake of challenging former convict and killer Andy Moon.

Season 2, Episode 31, "The Prodigal": Kevin Hagen (John Colton on Yancy Derringer, Inspector Dobbs Kobick on Land of the Giants, Dr. Hiram Baker on Little House on the Prairie) plays Billy St. John, a notorious gunslinger hiding a secret from his mother and trying to outrun two of his former bank-robbing partners, Stinger (played by Lee Van Cleef, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) and Santos (played by Warren Oates, In the Heat of the Night, The Wild Bunch).

Season 2, Episode 32, "The Fourflusher": Whit Bissell (Lt. Gen. Heywood Kirk on The Time Tunnel; Calvin Hanley on Peyton Place) plays Gabe Fenway, a share-cropper hoping to win a horse race in order to be able to buy the property he is currently living on. James Westerfield (Son of Flubber, True Grit, The Love God?) plays the duplicitous landlord Jake Preston, and K.T. Stevens (see "Heller" above) plays Molly Fenway, Gabe's wife. Hope Summers also appears as Hattie Denton in this episode.

Season 2, Episode 33, "The Jailbird": Dabbs Greer (Mr. Jonas on Gunsmoke) plays Farley Weaver, an ex-convict hired by Lucas as a ranch hand who is accused of murdering Charlie Manse (Karl Swenson, see "The Vision" above).

Season 2, Episode 34, "Meeting at Midnight": Claude Akins (Elroy P. Lobo on B.J. and the Bear, and Lobo, Sonny Pruett on Movin' On) plays Tom Benton, an undercover federal agent trying to find where some stolen government money has been hidden by Carl Miller (played by Frank De Kova, Chief Wild Eagle on F Troop).

Season 2, Episode 35, "Nora": Julie Adams (Creature From the Black Lagoon; Martha Howard on The Jimmy Stewart Show) plays Nora Sanford, a former love interest of Lucas who shows up in North Fork with a scheme to get her boyfriend out of a gambling debt.

Season 2, Episode 36, "The Hangman": Whit Bissell (see "The Fourflusher" above) plays Volney Adams, an ex-con assumed to be the murderer of his employer. Michael Fox (Coroner George McLeod on Burke's Law,  Amos Fedders on Falcon Crest)plays a nosy North Fork resident who stirs up accusations against Adams, as does elixir salesman Col. Jebediah Sims (played by Richard Deacon, who played Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show). The Hangman, Harold Tenner, is played by Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie on The Dukes of Hazzard, Briscoe Darling on The Andy Griffith Show, Grandpa Tarleton on Tammy, Buck Webb on The Doris Day Show).

Season 3, Episode 1, "Trail of Hate": Harold J. Stone (John Kennedy on The Grand Jury, Hamilton Greeley on My World and Welcome to It, Sam Steinberg on Bridget Loves Bernie) plays Benjamin Stark, the leader of a trio of outlaws who hold Mark hostage to force Lucas to help them rob a bank. 

Season 3, Episode 3, "Seven": Don Megaowan (Captain Huckabee on The Beachcomber) plays Dorf, the ring-leader of a group of seven convicts who break out of their jail wagon and hold the town hostage. Bing Russell (Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza)plays another convict named Sanchez. Bill Quinn (Mr. Van Ranseleer on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place) plays Sweeney the bartender who is captured by the convicts.

Season 3, Episode 4, "The Pitchman": Bob Sweeney (Fibber McGee on Fibber McGee and Molly and producer of many shows, including 80 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show) plays Speed Sullivan, a traveling salesman who tries to scam Lucas out of the mineral rights to his property.

Season 3, Episode 5, "Strange Town": Claude Akins (see "Meeting at Midnight" above) returns as Bletch Droshek, accused of shooting a man in the back, as does Peter Whitney (see "Mail Order Groom" above) as Ott Droshek, Bletch's brother and the man who runs the Strange Town. Willam Schallert (Mr. Leander Pomfritt on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Martin Lane on The Patty Duke Show, Admiral Hargrade on Get Smart) plays Marshal Truce in the Strange Town.

Season 3, Episode 6, "Baranca": John Milford (Lt. Paul Hewitt on The Bold Ones and Captain Dempsey on Enos) plays Bro Hadley, who murders Pedro Sanchez and sets his house on fire. Linda Dangcil (Sister Ana on The Flying Nun) plays Sanchez's wife.

Season 3, Episode 8, "Miss Milly": Joan Taylor (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers) debuts as Milly Scott, who buys out and takes over Hattie Denton's general store.

Season 3, Episode 9, "Dead Cold Cash": John Hamilton (Sherriff John Brannan on The Virginian) plays Harlan Warde, the banker of North Fork;  Ed Nelson (Michael Rossi on Peyton Place) plays Stacey Beldon, a hit man sent to assassinate Lucas; and Steve Darrell (Sherriff Hal Humphrey on Tales of Wells Fargo) plays Eli Benson, a cousin of Beldon's.

Season 3, Episode 11, "The Promoter": Dabbs Greer (see "The Jailbird" above) plays Jack Scully, a ruthless con man who makes bets that his protege Reuben Miles (Denny Miller, who played Duke Shannon on Wagon Train) can outgun anyone else.

Season 3, Episode 12, "The Illustrator": Richard Whorf (better known as a director of 18 episodes of Gunsmoke, 37 episode of My Three Sons, and 68 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies) plays Jeremiah Crowley, a drunken New York painter accused of murder. Midge Ware (Amby McAllister on Gunslinger) plays Hannah Shaw, his portrait subject, while Dayton Lummis (see "The Lariat" above) plays her father Jake Shaw. Ed Nelson (see "Dead Cold Cash" above) plays Ben Travis, a hired hand of Jake Shaw.

Season 3, Episode 14, "Miss Bertie": Agnes Moorehead (Endora on Bewitched) plays the title role, an elderly lady from Philadelphia trying to cash in on the reward for wanted outlaw Duke Jennings (Richard Anderson--see "The Lariat" above).