The Eleventh Hour (1962)

Given the overnight runaway success of medical dramas such as Dr. Kildare on NBC and Ben Casey on ABC, which both debuted on the Fall 1961 schedule, it was inevitable that more medical dramas would follow. CBS tried to play catch-up by introducing The Nurses on its Fall 1962 schedule, while NBC decided to double its medical offerings by launching a psychiatric-based drama, The Eleventh Hour, on Wednesday evenings following Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall. The Eleventh Hour revolves around the psychiatric practice of Dr. Theodore Bassett, played by veteran Hollywood character actor Wendell Corey, and his younger protégé, psychologist Dr. Paul Graham, played by Jack Ging. The Bassett character had a prior career as an attorney before entering psychiatry, and this past experience with the criminal justice system makes him a go-to for legal cases in which a defendant must be evaluated to determine whether they should be considered legally sane or insane, such as in the series pilot episode "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White" (October 3, 1962). Bassett's legal background also provides the series with the necessary cover to slide into the crime-solving formula that serves as the foundation for other police and legal dramas. It's worth noting that the Paul Graham character does not appear in this first episode, suggesting that perhaps he was a late addition after the series had been approved for production. Instead, Bassett consults in this case with psychologist Lucy Anderson and intern Dr. Edward Alden, neither of whom appear in any future episodes. However, it is also clear that Ging's Paul Graham character is a play for the younger demographic using the same formula seen in legal dramas such as Sam Benedict with Richard Rust and Carl Held's short tenure as David Gideon during the 5th season of Perry Mason in 1960-61. Graham's role on The Eleventh Hour consists largely of administering tests to patients and occasionally second-guessing Bassett's assessments, though he gets to take the lead on a couple of cases when Bassett has other obligations--"Angie, You Made My Heart Stop" (November 14, 1962) and "Eat, Little Fishie, Eat" (December 5, 1962). But in those episodes, Graham comes off as a mini-Bassett, employing the same techniques and resisting the same pressures as his older mentor.

Bassett, on the other hand, is introduced to us as a kind of mental whisperer. The pilot episode opens with a melodramatic scene in which a patient in the mental ward of the county hospital goes berserk, assaulting the medical staff in an attempt to escape and running down the hallway until he reaches the elevator. Just then, the elevator doors open and there stands Bassett, calm and unflinching, meeting the patient's gaze without a trace of fear before exerting a calming influence that persuades the patient to desist and return to his room. The scene establishes Bassett as someone who cannot be pressured into deviating from what he believes to be the best course of action for each patient. When he is called in to evaluate a suspect's sanity, such as the title character Ann Costigan in this first episode, he refuses to make snap judgments despite a legal calendar requiring a decision by a certain date. In this case, Ann Costigan has killed her husband, but Bassett must determine whether she was legally sane when she did so. Costigan certainly gives off the appearance of someone who is insane with her petulant outbursts in court hurling insults at the judge and making other odd remarks as well as claiming that she killed her husband because he was planning to kill her and had tried to do so multiple times before. The judge and prosecuting attorney are concerned that her madness could be just an act and that she knows full well that being declared insane and committed to a mental institution could lead to being declared sane as soon as a year or so later, allowing her to be freed without ever serving any jail time. There is also concern about what she may do to her late husband's young daughter if given custody of her, so Bassett's job is to dig beneath her exterior behavior to see what she is really thinking and feeling.

Which brings us to a discussion of the methods used by Bassett, and in later episodes Graham, to explore the buried feelings and events of their patients. First they administer Rorschach tests, followed by a series of crude paintings that invite the patient to create a story based on what they see in the paintings. The Rorschach ink blot tests, developed by Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach in 1921, were intended to identify thought disorders in schizophrenics, which remains their most effective use. Over the years many have questioned the tests' validity and the objectivity of test administrators, but they remain in use for certain types of cases, and their popularity varies by country--they are very popular in Japan but mostly distrusted in the U.K. Not satisfied with the results of these tests on Ann Costigan, Bassett then has her reunited with her late husband's daughter at his office to see not only her reaction to the child but more importantly the child's reaction to her. This meeting does reveal any problems, so Bassett then arranges to have sodium pentothal administered to Costigan on the terrace of her home where she pushed her husband to his death, hoping that the location and effect of the "truth serum" will uncover what she was really feeling when she killed him. Sodium pentothal's use is also controversial. While it is generally recognized as able to reduce inhibition and the higher cortical brain function believed to be used when someone is lying, it is also a dangerous barbiturate and some have questioned the reliability of confessions obtained under its influence. Until recently it was used in this country in lethal injections until the overseas companies that made it refused to supply it for that use. In our story, the application of sodium pentothal on Costigan only makes her attempt to throw herself over the ledge where her husband died, or at least she appears to make an attempt. So Bassett then proceeds to playing his last card--putting Costigan under hypnosis and making a post-hypnotic suggestion that will force her to cut her hair short, after she had earlier claimed that her husband forbade her to do so, when she hears the triggering sound of the door clicking shut in her room. Bassett's intern Dr. Alden is at first skeptical of the technique's validity until Bassett puts him under and tells him that when he awakens he will have a powerful thirst that can only be quenched by water from the pitcher on Bassett's desk. Even though he recognizes where his thirst is coming from after awakening, Alden cannot quench it with anything other than the water from Bassett's pitcher. And so when Bassett puts Costigan under, she complies and cuts her hair, though it takes all night for her to finally succumb to the suggestion. Afterwards she finally confesses to killing her husband because he was old and ugly, to killing his first wife because she was fat, and to hating the daughter because she had to change her dirty diapers when she was a baby. Today testimony obtained through hypnosis is banned in almost every state, except Texas.

Regardless of the mostly outdated methods used in the pilot episode, it establishes Bassett as a medical professional who insists on exploring each case thoroughly until he finds an explanation that appears irrefutable. He is also depicted as a man who listens carefully to what his patients tell him and offers a recommendation that he feels is in their best interests, which may not align with those in power. In the second episode, "There Are Dragons in This Forest" (October 10, 1962), Bassett and Graham are called to examine a World War II veteran accused of desertion in the last days of the War and who is extradited from Germany to face a court martial. The accused, Mark Tyner, does not dispute that he left his unit and stayed in Germany, marrying a German woman with whom he has had two sons, but he does not seem to remember the events surrounding his alleged desertion. Rather than using the methods employed in the previous episode, Bassett and Graham have Tyner and his German wife Carla reenact in a kind of mini-drama their first meeting just before the armistice with Germany was declared. When Tyner becomes mentally blocked in recalling his encounter with Carla's fiance Werner at the time, Bassett and Graham step in to portray the two, forcing Tyner to interrupt when they get the details wrong, which leads to Tyner having to admit that he killed Werner because he assumed he was a Nazi when he was actually working undercover for the Allies. So while this reenactment absolves Tyner from the charge of desertion because he was still acting as a U.S. soldier when he thought he was killing a Nazi, it also exposes to his German wife that he killed her fiance but never told her, making for a very difficult reconciliation after 17 years of marriage and the raising of their two sons. The usually snarky TV Guide reviewer Gilbert Seldes was apparently moved by this episode in his review in the November 17, 1962 issue such that he offered no criticisms of the series but instead praised the series for its adherence to reality.

At the end of the episode, Tyner's wife forgives his killing perpetrated under the fog of war because the bonds of her current family are stronger than anything else, a resolution very similar to that in the Cold War-themed episode "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House" (October 24, 1962) in which George C. Scott plays a Soviet defector who has created a new life with an American wife and son until he begins feeling the pull of the fatherland and feels compelled to return to Russia. After all his tests and interviews, Bassett is forced to tell FBI agent Sterne that he cannot deprogram Anton Novak in such a short time and with no legal justification to detain him, there is nothing they can do to stop him from returning to Russia, that is, until Bassett is able to make Novak see that Russia will expect him to bring his wife and son with him, meaning that his son will undergo the same sort of state programming that he did. Finally recognizing that he does not want his son to be stripped of his free will and self-determination, Novak abandons his return at the last minute because again the bond of family is stronger than that of nationality.

One of the boldest episodes of those that aired in 1962 is "Of Roses and Nightingales and Other Lovely Things" (November 7, 1962), which deals with the issues of teenage pregnancy and abortion. In this story 15-year-old high school student Laura Hunter's increasingly hysterical behavior is revealed to be prompted by the fact that she is pregnant. When the school doctor recommends to her parents that they have her talk to Bassett, the parents at first tell him that at age 15 having a baby would be life-destroying, but he has to remind them that abortion is not legal and that getting an illegal one could be dangerous (a particularly poignant point from 60 years ago). However, Bassett does not object to abortion merely on legal or moral grounds, in talking with Laura he learns that she has an aversion to the idea of it because of an experience she had as a child with a mother cat who abandoned one of her kittens, allowing it to die. So Laura is determined to have the baby, but she also feels determined to keep it, which does not seem like the best choice for anyone involved. A gossipy neighbor of Laura's mother insists that the parents must pressure the parents of the boy who fathered the child to make the teenagers get married. But Laura admits that she is not in love with the boy and does not want to marry him, and once the parents drive by his house to get a look at him, they realize that he, too, is still a child and not ready for parenthood or marriage. All if which brings Bassett to the conclusion that the only real solution is for Laura to have the child and give it up for adoption. Laura is vehemently opposed to this option and even considers jumping out of the family treehouse to cause a miscarriage rather than surrender her baby, but her younger brother is able to talk her out of it, and finally the whole family comes to accept Bassett's proposed solution as the best for both Laura and the baby's future. While it might seem at first glance that the episode is a win for the so-called pro-life agenda, Bassett's approach is to let Laura make her own choice once she has carefully considered all the ramifications of that choice. The key to Bassett's character in the series, as he says in another episode, is that his job is not to tell people what they should do but to listen.

The series also undertakes a sensitive treatment of post-partum depression in "The Blues My Babe Gave to Me" (December 12, 1962), which dramatizes overwhelmed new mother Christine Warren unable to cope with her new, more restrictive role as mother to her infant while also battling a repressed false memory of having killed her younger sister whom she was forced to take care of at a young age. While at first glance many viewers might be quick to judge a mother who wants to kill her own baby, the episode provides a foundation of childhood trauma to explain such a compulsion. Childhood trauma also plays a prominent role in the aforementioned "Angie, You Made My Heart Stop" in which a young woman thinks she caused her father's heart attack by startling him during a game of hide-and-seek, resulting in a twisted sense of self as a bringer of death and a string of lies that only leads to further tragedy to confirm that narrative. Though the series occasionally resorts to melodrama for sensationalist effect, such as the rampaging mental patient from the first episode mentioned above, or a tortured run through the city by co-dependent sister Ruth Radwin in "Eat, Little Fishie, Eat" in seeking out her brother whom she feels bonded to, it also should be praised for tackling difficult subjects and attempting to educate the viewer about many misunderstood mental disorders. Seeing these mental patients through the eyes of Dr. Bassett, we are encouraged to suspend initial snap judgments and to just listen to gain a better understanding of the misery that other people are going through.

The theme song and single episode scores for The Eleventh Hour were composed by Harry Sukman. Sukman was born in Chicago on December 2, 1912 and made his concert debut on piano at age 12. In 1941 he was hired by the Mutual Broadcast System in Chicago as pianist and conductor and remained in that position until he moved to Paramount Studios in Hollywood in 1946. In 1954 he began getting assignments to compose scores for feature films for Ivan Tors Productions, including the science fiction dramas Riders to the Stars and Gog. He continued working on B-grade feature films throughout the 1950s such as The Phenix City Story, Sabu and the Magic Ring, and Verboten! His career in television began in 1957 when he was hired to score an individual episode for Tales of Wells Fargo. Three years later he began getting more assignments on Death Valley Days, Laramie, and Alcoa Theatre. Working with Morris Stoloff, he shared the Oscar for Best Score at the 1961 Academy Awards for Song Without End. The two were nominated again the following year for the score to Fanny but did not win. Sukman would garner one more Oscar nomination for the score to The Singing Nun at the 1967 Academy Awards. After scoring 4 episodes of Dr. Kildare for its first season, Sukman was tabbed to compose the music for The Eleventh Hour. He would score 56 more episodes for Dr. Kildare and began getting occasional assignment on other series such as The Virginian, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, and Peyton Place. After scoring most of the episodes for the short-lived 1966-67 western The Monroes, Sukman was hired to write the score for The High Chaparral in 1967, for which he received his first Emmy nomination. He worked on several other series during the late 1960s including Gentle Ben, Cowboy in Africa, and Bonanza as well as composing for occasional feature films and TV movies. He received his second Emmy nomination for his work on the 1979 TV mini-series version of Salem's Lot. He released a few albums of his piano instrumentals, beginning with Liberty Records in 1956, as well as a few more albums tied to his work on film scores. He died of a heart attack on his birthday in 1984 at the age of 72.

The first season has been released on DVD by Warner Archives.

The Actors

For the biography of Jack Ging, see the 1961 post on Tales of Wells Fargo.

Wendell Corey

Wendell Reid Corey was born on March 20, 1914 in Dracut, Massachusetts. His father was a Congregationalist minister who had a single feature film appearance in the 1951 western Rawhide and who traced his roots back to U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The younger Corey attended high school in Springfield, Massachusetts and initially considered a career in professional tennis but instead wound up selling appliances in a department store. His entry into the theater was by chance: a friend was acting in a local production of Street Scene in 1934 and when another member of the cast had to bow out, Corey was invited to fill in. After spending a year with the same theater group, he made his professional debut with a Holyoke company in a 1935 production of The Night of January 16. In 1938 he was employed by the Federal Theatre Project, part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, which is where he met his wife Alice Wiley. He made his Broadway debut in a 1942 production of Comes the Revelation. Corey served in the military during World War II and received the Legion of Honor award from Czechoslovakia. He resumed his theatrical career after returning to civilian life and in 1945 was spotted by film producer Hal Wallis while acting in Dream Girl. Wallis had Corey signed to a contract with Paramount Studios for whom he made his feature film debut in the 1947 noir thriller Desert Fury along with another Wallis discovery, Burt Lancaster. Corey worked steadily in feature films thereafter, mostly in supporting roles, most notably in Sorry, Wrong Number with Barbara Stanwyck, Any Number Can Play with Clark Gable, The File on Thelma Jordon again with Stanwyck, Holiday Affair with Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh, Harriet Craig with Joan Crawford, and Hitchcock's Rear Window with James Stewart and Grace Kelly. Beginning in the late 1940s, Corey also doubled up by appearing in radio dramas such as Cavalcade of America, Lux Radio Theatre, and Inner Sanctum. In 1951 he began appearing on television, at first on drama anthologies such as Schlitz Playhouse, Lux Video Theatre, and Robert Montgomery Presents. He played Lou Gehrig in a 1955 episode of Climax! while continuing to make a few feature films each year. He appeared in Elvis Presley's second feature Loving You in 1957 and began his first TV recurring role as Captain Ralph Baxter on Harbor Command. His next regular TV role came in the 1959 summer replacement series Peck's Bad Girl, which lasted 14 episodes. In 1961 he co-starred with Nanette Fabray on Westinghouse Playhouse, also known as The Nanette Fabray Show, in which he played her husband with two rude children from a previous marriage. During this period Corey also began getting involved in Republican politics. He was the Master of Ceremonies at both the 1956 and 1960 Republican National Conventions. He was elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1961, serving two years in that role, and was a board member of the Screen Actors Guild.

However, Corey's career also began to be affected by his alcoholism. Despite being cast in the lead role as Dr. Theodore Bassett on The Eleventh Hour in 1962, he left the series after its first season and was replaced by Ralph Bellamy. After supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Presidential Election, Corey was elected to the Santa Monica City Council in 1965, on which he served until his death. However, his feature film roles began declining into exploitation fare such as Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Cyborg 2087, and Picture Mommy Dead all in 1966. That year he also ran for an open Congressional seat but was defeated in the Republican primary. After appearing in feature films The Astro-Zombies and Buckskin in 1968, Corey played a washed-up movie director in The Star Maker later that year.  After returning from filming in Berlin, Corey became ill and died from cirrhosis of the liver at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital on November 8, 1968 at the age of 54.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 1, Episode 1, "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White": Vera Miles (shown on the left, starred in Wichita, The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The FBI Story, and Psycho) plays murderer Ann Costigan. Murray Hamilton (appeared in No Time for Sergeants, Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler, and Jaws and played Steve Baker on Love and Marriage  and Capt. Rutherford T. Grant on B.J. and the Bear) plays her defense attorney Walter Enley. Roger Perry (James Harrigan, Jr. on Harrigan and Son, Det. Sgt. Dan Kirby on Arrest and Trial, Charles Parker on The Facts of Life, and John Costello on Falcon Crest) plays psychiatric intern Dr. Edward Alden. Anne Seymour (appeared in All the King's Men, The Gift of Love, The Subterraneans, and Fitzwilly and played Lucia Garrett on Empire and Beatrice Hewitt on General Hospital) plays psychologist Lucy Anderson . 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 the murder trial judge. Harold Gould (Bowman Chamberlain on The Long Hot Summer, Harry Danton on The Feather and Father Gang, Martin Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, Jonah Foot on Foot in the Door, Ben Sprague on Spencer, and Miles Webber on The Golden Girls) plays schizophrenic patient Paul Brauner. Nelson Olmsted (Captain Masters, MD on The Phil Silvers Show) plays psychiatrist Dr. Kendall.

Season 1, Episode 2, "There Are Dragons in This Forest": Steven Hill (shown on the right, appeared in The Slender Thread, Yentl, Legal Eagles, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and The Firm and played Daniel Briggs on Mission: Impossible and D.A. Adam Schiff on Law & Order) plays World War II deserter Mark Tyner. Mai Zetterling (starred in Torment, Music in Darkness, Frieda, The Devil Inside, and The Man Who Finally Died and played Phylis Finley on My Wife and I) plays his German wife Carla Riehle. Dianne Foster (starred in Night Passage, The Last Hurrah, and The Deep Six) plays his American wife Fay Tyner. Lloyd Bochner (Chief Inspector Neil Campbell on Hong Kong and Cecil Colby on Dynasty) plays his defense attorney Capt. Norman Hobler. H.M. Wynant (Lt. Bauer on The Young Marrieds, Frosty on Batman, and Ed Chapman on Dallas) plays prosecuting attorney Lt. Jed Pruitt. Robert Karnes (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Lawless Years) plays the court martial Law Officer.

Season 1, Episode 3, "Make Me a Place": Barbara Rush (starred in When Worlds Collide, It Came From Outer Space, Magnificent Obsession, and Robin and the 7 Hoods and played Lizzie Hogan on Saints and Sinners, Marsha Russell on Peyton Place, Eudora Weldon on Flamingo Road, Nola Orsini on All My Children, and Ruth Camden on 7th Heaven) plays fashion designer Linda Kincaid. 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 her ex-husband Hal Kincaid. 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 her fiance Pete Harvey. Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand on Star Trek, the Star Trek feature films, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek New Voyages) plays fashion model Dawn. Joan Patrick (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Dr. Kildare) plays fashion model Sue. Mimi Dillard (Molly on Valentine's Day) plays Linda's maid Hilda.

Season 1, Episode 4, "I Don't Belong in a White-Painted House": George C. Scott (shown on the right, Oscar winner, starred in Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler, Dr. Strangelove, and Patton and played Neil Brock on East Side/West Side, President Samuel Arthur Tresch on Mr. President, and Joe Trapchek on Traps) plays Soviet defector Anton Novak. Colleen Dewhurst (multiple Emmy winner and wife of George C. Scott, starred in A Fine Madness, The Cowboys, Annie Hall, Ice Castles, and The Dead Zone and played Avery Brown, Sr. on Murphy Brown) plays his American wife Joanne. Rory O'Brien (Danny Morley on The Farmer's Daughter) plays his son John. John Anderson (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays FBI agent Sterne. Michael Strong (appeared in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, Point Blank, and Patton and played Oliver Barbour and Dick Appleman on The Edge of Night and Sgt. Clark on Our Private World) plays Soviet agent Sergei Berinkin. Pamela Baird (see the biography section of the 1961 post on Leave It to Beaver) plays the Novaks' babysitter Milly. William Swan (Walter Hines on All My Children) plays an airline desk clerk. John Newton (Bill Paley on Search for Tomorrow and Judge Eric Caffey on Law & Order) plays a soccer coach.

Season 1, Episode 5, "The Seventh Day of Creation": Katy Jurado (shown on the left, appeared in High Noon, Arrowhead, Trapeze, and One-Eyed Jacks and played Rosa Maria Rivera on a.k.a. Pablo, La Jurada on Mas alla del puente, and  Justina on Te sigo amando) plays widowed mother Rose Ramirez. Emily McLaughlin (Dr. Eileen Seaton on Young Dr. Malone and nurse Jessie Brewer on General Hospital) plays her next-door neighbor Myra Williams. Noah Keen (Det. Lt. Carl Bone on Arrest and Trial) plays Myra's husband Fred. Charles Herbert (appeared in The Colossus of New York, The Fly, Houseboat, and Please Don't Eat the Daisies and played David Barker on The Donna Reed Show, Peter McCauley on Men Into Space, and Rickey Selby on The Clear Horizon) plays their son Stevie. John McGiver (appeared in Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Manchurian Candidate, The Glass Bottom Boat, Midnight Cowboy, The Apple Dumpling Gang and played J.R. Castle on The Patty Duke Show, Walter Burnley on Many Happy Returns, Barton J. Reed on Mr. Terrific, and Dr. Luther Quince on The Jimmy Stewart Show) plays neighborhood alcoholic Mr. Mathewson. Amy Fields (Jean on The F.B.I.) plays young mother Lucille Girard. Paul Newlan (Police Capt. Grey on M Squad and Lt. Gen. Pritchard on 12 O'Clock High) plays Rose's son's custody case judge. Muriel Landers (appeared in Pillow Talk and Doctor Doolittle and played Rosa on Life With Luigi and Mildred Cosgrove on The Joey Bishop Show) plays prospective babysitter Mrs. Cooley. Barry Cahill (Capt. Curt Douglas on 12 O'Clock High and Buck Vernon on The Waltons) plays a policeman. Alfred Shelly (Ed Carney on The D.A.'s Man) plays the court bailiff.

Season 1, Episode 6, "Of Roses and Nightingales and Other Lovely Things": Davey Davison (Virginia Lewis on Days of Our Lives and Nurse Esther on General Hospital) plays pregnant high school student Laura Hunter. Pat Hingle (appeared in On the Waterfront, Splendor in the Grass, Hang 'Em High, Norma Rae, Sudden Impact, Batman (1989), Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, and Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and played Dr. Chapman on Gunsmoke and Chief Paulton on Stone) plays her father Bob. Kim Hunter (shown on the right, Oscar winner, starred in Stairway to Heaven, A Streetcar Named Desire, Deadline - U.S.A., and Planet of the Apes and played Nola Madison on The Edge of Night) plays her mother Virginia. Alexander Lockwood (Judge Owen Baker on Sam Benedict) plays her high school physician Dr. Jim Wilson. Judee Morton (appeared in Zotz! and The Slime People and played Dr. Smithson on General Hospital) plays Laura's high school classmate Nancy Sanders. Maxine Stuart (see the biography section for the 1962 post on Dr. Kildare) plays Nancy's mother Eunice. Tom Lowell (see the biography section for the 1962 post on Combat!) plays the unborn baby's father Stan Jordan.

Season 1, Episode 7, "Angie, You Made My Heart Stop": Collin Wilcox Paxton (shown on the left, starred in To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22, and Jaws 2 and played Swannie O'Teale on Christy) plays young wife Angela Crain. Dabbs Greer (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Gunsmoke) plays her husband Ed. Norma Connolly (Lena Karr Gilroy on The Young Marrieds, Mrs. Yost on The Edge of Night, and Ruby Anderson on General Hospital) plays her sister Ruth Sanders. Albert Salmi (Yadkin on Daniel Boone and Pete Ritter on Petrocelli) plays museum guard Ken Bradley. David Sheiner (Norman Brodnik on Diana) plays defense attorney Dave Torbin. Paul Langton (Leslie Harrington on Peyton Place) plays Assistant D.A. Walter Maylie. Ted Knight (Phil Buckley on The Young Marrieds, Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Roger Dennis on The Ted Knight Show, and Henry Rush on Too Close for Comfort) plays crime scene investigator Det. Jansen. Helen Wallace (Nurse Lucy Webber on Dr. Kildare) plays a jailhouse matron. Jack Bernardi (Herschel Bernardi's brother) plays a sign painter.

Season 1, Episode 8, "Hooray, Hooray, the Circus Is Coming to Town": Burgess Meredith (shown on the right, starred in Of Mice and Men, Mine Own Executioner, Advise & Consent, and The Cardinal and played Martin Woodridge on Mr. Novak, The Penguin on Batman, V.C.R. Cameron on Search, the narrator on Korg: 70,000 B.C., and Dr. Willard Adams on Gloria) plays shipping tycoon Christopher Norbert II and his profligate son Christopher Norbert III. Edward Andrews (appeared in The Harder They Fall, Elmer Gantry, The Absent-Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Advise and Consent, and The Glass Bottom Boat and played Cmdr. Rogers Adrian on Broadside and Col. Fairburn on The Doris Day Show) plays Norbert's other son Richardson. Richard Evans (Paul Hanley on Peyton Place) plays Richardson's son Bennett. Vaughn Taylor (starred in Jailhouse Rock, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Psycho, and In Cold Blood and played Ernest P. Duckweather on Johnny Jupiter) plays the elder Norbert's lawyer Tobias. Henry Beckman (Commander Paul Richards on Flash Gordon, Mulligan on I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, George Anderson on Peyton Place, Colonel Harrigan on McHale's Navy, Capt. Roland Frances Clancey on Here Come the Brides, Pat Harwell on Funny Face, Harry Mark on Bronk, and Alf Scully on Check It Out) plays Richardson's lawyer Mills. Vic Perrin (the narrator on Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, was the control voice on The Outer Limits, and did voicework on Jonny Quest, Star Trek, Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, and Mission: Impossible!) plays struggling writer Anthony Coll. Henry Corden (Carlo on The Count of Monte Cristo, and Babbitt on The Monkees and did voicework on The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, The Atom Ant Show, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour and Return to the Planet of the Apes) plays former sailor Ex-Captain Blythe. Steven Terrell (Tom on The Pride of the Family) plays sculptor Bill Ives. Alberta Nelson (appeared in Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini and played Lori the waitress on Peyton Place) plays his wife Madelyn. Eve McVeagh (starred in High Noon, The Glass Web, and Tight Spot and played Frances Moseby on The Clear Horizon and Miss Hammond on Petticoat Junction) plays Christopher III's girlfriend Regina. Henry Jones (Dean Fred Baker on Channing, Owen Metcalf on The Girl With Something Extra, Judge Jonathan Dexter on Phyllis, Josh Alden on Mrs. Columbo, Homer McCoy on Gun Shy, B. Riley Wicker on Falcon Crest, and Hughes Whitney Lennox on I Married Dora) plays Christopher III's mental competency hearing judge. Jon Locke (Officer Garvey on Highway Patrol and Sleestack Leader on Land of the Lost) plays the court bailiff.

Season 1, Episode 9, "Cry a Little for Mary, Too": Keir Dullea (shown on the left, starred in David and Lisa, The Thin Red Line, Bunny Lake Is Missing, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and De Sade and played Dr. Mark Jarrett on Guiding Light, Devon on The Starlost, and Dr. Steven Meye on The Path) plays accused killer Jerry Bullock. Judith Evelyn (appeared in Rear Window, Hilda Crane, Giant, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Tingler and played The Woman on Wind) plays his mother Mrs. Bullock. S. John Launer (Marshall Houts on The Court of Last Resort and the judge 33 times on Perry Mason) plays his defense attorney Joe Kinderman. Edith Atwater (appeared in The Body Snatcher, Sweet Smell of Success, It Happened at the World's Fair, and True Grit and played Grace Morton on Peyton Place, Phyllis Hammond on Love on a Rooftop, Gertrude Hardy on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and Illsa Fogel on Kaz) plays prosecuting attorney Ann Tabor. Bert Remsen (Detective Lawrence on Peyton Place, Mr. Pell on Gibbsville, Mario on It's a Living, and Jack Crager on Dynasty) plays the murder trial judge. Harold Gould (see "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White" above) plays the victim's father Eric Stanger. Shirley O'Hara (Debbie Flett on The Bob Newhart Show) plays his wife. Mary Mitchel (appeared in Twist Around the Clock, Panic in Year Zero, A Swingin' Summer, and Dementia 13) plays Jerry's classmate Linda. Robert Biheller (Corky on Here Come the Brides) plays her friend Dan. Christopher Connelly (Norman Harrington on Peyton Place and Moses Pray on Paper Moon) plays another friend of theirs.

Season 1, Episode 10, "Eat, Little Fishie, Eat": Bradford Dillman (shown on the right, starred in A Crack in the Mirror, Francis of Assissi, Escape From the Planet of the Apes, The Way We Were, The Iceman Cometh, and The Swarm and played Rev. Andrew Webb on Dr. Kildare, Capt. David Young on Court Martial, Paul Hollister on King's Crossing, and Darryl Clayton on Falcon Crest) plays playwright Arnold Radwin. Nancy Wickwire (Lila Taylor Kelly on Guiding Light, Claire Cassen on As the World Turns, Liz Matthews on Another World, and Phyllis Anderson on Days of Our Lives) plays his older sister Ruth. Joe De Santis (appeared in Deadline - U.S.A., I Want to Live!, Al Capone, and Madame X) plays their father. Ruth Storey (see the biography section for the 1961 post on 87th Precinct) plays their mother. Barbara Stuart (Bessie on The Great Gildersleeve, Alice on Pete and Gladys, Bunny on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Peggy Ferguson on The McLean Stevenson Show, Marianne Danzig on Our Family Honor, and Alice on Huff) plays actress Maxine Waters. Robert Fuca (men's costumer on Mork & Mindy, Webster, and Hangin' With Mr. Cooper) plays prop man Eddie. Pat Renella (Roxy on The New Phil Silvers Show) plays a dark-haired man on the street.

Season 1, Episode 11, "The Blues My Babe Gave to Me": Inger Stevens (shown on the left, starred in The Buccaneer, A Guide for the Married Man, Madigan, and Hang 'Em High and played Katy Holstrum on The Farmer's Daughter) plays new mother Christine Warren. Robert Vaughn (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 her husband Peter. 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 his father Mr. Warren. Clark Howat (Dr. John Petrie on The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu and the police dispatcher on Harbor Command) plays their friend John Elwood.

Season 1, Episode 12, "Along About Late in the Afternoon": Franchot Tone (starred in Moulin Rouge (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty, Fast and Furious, Dark Waters, and I Love Trouble and played Dr. Daniel Niles Freeland on Ben Casey) plays newspaper editor Leo Haynes. Dean Harens (Noel Clinton on General Hospital and SAC Bryan Durant on The F.B.I.) plays his son Charles. Nan Leslie (Martha McGivern on The Californians) plays Charles' wife Yvonne. Chester Morris (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Diagnosis: Unknown) plays gangster Frankie Morrison. Edith Atwater (see "Cry a Little for Mary, Too" above) returns as Assistant D.A. Ann Tabor. Peter Adams (Capt. Arturo Toledano on Zorro) plays newspaper publisher Horace Clarke. Charles Seel (Otis the Bartender on Tombstone Territory, Mr. Krinkie on Dennis the Menace, and Tom Pride on The Road West) plays night watchman Joe. Jon Lormer (Harry Tate on Lawman, Sam Watkins on The Real McCoys, the autopsy surgeon on Perry Mason, Simon Benjamin on The Young Marrieds, and Judge Irwin A. Chester on Peyton Place) plays mental patient Krasner. George Takei (shown on the right, played Sulu on Star Trek and Kaito Nakamura on Heroes) plays Morrison case consultant Dr. Itsumoto.

 

 

Tales of Wells Fargo (1961)

In our post on the 1960 episodes, we discussed the founding of Tales of Wells Fargo and its quick rise to fame, reaching #3 on the Nielsen charts in its first full season and continuing in the top 10 at #7 the following season, but despite star and 50% owner Dale Robertson's maneuvering to oust aging creator Nat Holt and replace him with Earle Lyon beginning in Season 5, the fleeting success of the series seems to be a case of the rising tide of westerns lifting all boats rather than Wells Fargo finding popularity because of its own merits. The program first appeared mid-season in March 1958, a season in which 9 of the top 30 programs were westerns. For the 1958-59 season, the high-water mark for westerns in which Wells Fargo placed #3, there were 14 westerns in the top 30--even Sugarfoot made the list at #21. By 1959-60, when Wells Fargo dipped slightly to #7, the waters had begun to recede as only 11 westerns cracked the top 30. The competition also begin to get tougher as popular programs like Rawhide and Maverick entered the fray. And though it did not crack the top 30 in its initial season, there would soon be a new sheriff in town--Bonanza, which stood out not only for its all-male quartet cast but more importantly because it was a 1-hour western in color. By 1960-1961 Wells Fargo had faded out of the top 30 and Bonanza entered at #17, while the top 30 contained only 8 westerns. It's clear where the direction of the genre was heading. When perennial top-rated Gunsmoke expanded from a 30-minute to 1-hour format while still remaining black-and-white for the 1961-62 season, it lost its top spot to Wagon Train while Bonanza vaulted to #2. Only 6 westerns made the top 30 that season.

The problem for Wells Fargo was that it had no distinguishing feature that set it apart from others of its ilk, and the attempts by its producers to change its downward trajectory were the same techniques used on other programs with similar unsuccessful results. For the Wells Fargo Season 5 episodes that aired in 1961 with Lyons at the helm, the producers attempted to pair the wholesome Jim Hardie with colorful characters and historical figures to spur interest. For the latter technique, they brought on famous pugilist John L. Sullivan in "The Hand That Shook the Hand" (February 6, 1961) in a yarn in which we do not actually see Sullivan box, but he accidentally injures a hustling prankster while in a drunken stupor and then vows to give up his violent career until he learns that his victim has miraculously recovered. The episode makes Hardie largely a bystander in the interchange between two colorful characters and places him in the town where it all happens with the lame explanation that he is between assignments. In other words, the story has nothing to do with his working for Wells Fargo.

Late in Season 5, the producers bring back two colorful characters featured in episodes from 1960, perhaps figuring that if they proved popular before then they can work their magic again. "The Repentant Outlaw" (May 29, 1961) marks the return of Edgar Buchanan's scofflaw Doc Dawson, who gets mixed up in the robbery of an army payroll that Hardie is supposed to be escorting when the leader of an outlaw gang escapes but is wounded, which sends his henchman searching for a doctor to remove the bullet and Dawson is the only "doctor" they can find. The following episode, "A Quiet Little Town" (June 5, 1961), brings back Hardie frenemy Wade Cather, played by John Dehner, when Hardie, again not on official business, shows up in the small town where his friend Marshal Dave Prescott was murdered and discovers that Cather is now serving as the town's marshal with the lame explanation that Prescott once saved his life, so he took the job to find out who killed him and now is worried that the same men will kill Hardie. Having to jazz up a story with colorful characters like Dawson and Cather only makes painfully obvious that the star of the show is too bland to attract and keep viewers.

Since the tactics employed in Season 5 did not raise Wells Fargo in the ratings, the producers tried throwing in the kitchen sink when it came to Season 6--they expanded the program to 60 minutes, shot it in color, added a new opening sequence and theme, and introduced a supporting cast of 5 new regular characters. Since Dale Robertson was an avid horse enthusiast, his character Jim Hardie buys himself a horse ranch and hires housekeeper and horse trainer Jebediah Gaine. The widow he buys the ranch from, Ovie Swenson, lives at the ranch next door with her two attractive daughters, one an adult school teacher and the other a vivacious teenage tomboy. NBC tried the same approach in attempting to revive Laramie during the 1961-62 season: though it had always been a 1-hour program, they added color and a new cast of supporting characters. Adding characters from older and younger demographics than the main star was an attempt to attract more viewers from those audience segments. Wells Fargo additionally decided to give Hardie a younger, more hot-headed sidekick by introducing the character of Beau McCloud, played by Jack Ging, in the season's first episode "Casket 7.3" (September 30, 1961). But as Ging soon discovered, the show was still all about Hardie and Dale Robertson. Robertson himself once commented that he was not a fan of either the "adult" westerns like Gunsmoke or the kiddie westerns that dominated the early 1950s and that he envisioned Wells Fargo as more of an entire-family-oriented program. This middle-of-the-road mentality perhaps explains why Wells Fargo in Season 6 tried to be all things to all demographics--roughly half the 1961 episodes revolve around Hardie's ranch and the town Gloribee, while the other half have Hardie and McCloud on the road tending to Wells Fargo business. Thus, it tried to incorporate both the home-bound format of shows like Bonanza, The Rifleman, and Gunsmoke with the wandering hero format of programs like Cheyenne, Have Gun -- Will Travel, and Maverick. Though the cast added two attractive young women as possible romantic interests for Hardie, he treats them more like sisters and thus no sparks fly.

Ging quickly grew tired of being Robertson's glorified waterboy and broke his contract, disappearing after the 13th episode, but this was actually an opportunity to make better use of iconic character actor William Demarest, who had been reduced to the role of buffoonish clown through the first third of Season 6. The final 1961 episode, "Trackback" (December 30, 1961), attempts to correct that one-dimensional portrayal by having his character Jeb Gaine go through an existential crisis as the result of reaching his 60th birthday and feeling that he was all washed up, or at least considered so by Hardie and the Swensons. He is able to reclaim his self-worth by using his experience and brains to send the outlaws trying to break a colleague out of the Gloribee jail right into Hardie's arms. 

Aging is a pervasive theme in the 1961 episodes of Wells Fargo. Beginning with the Season 5 tale "The Has-Been" (January 16, 1961) which includes a former star vocalist hallucinating about his deceased wife and former performing partner, the series dwells on characters who are past their prime or trying to make up for past transgressions. "Moment of Glory" (May 1, 1961) features a grandfather trying to impress his young grandson with fabricated fictions of his being an undercover government agent who has tangled with the likes of the Clanton Gang at the OK Corral. "The Lobo" (May 8, 1961) centers around retired outlaw Sam Horne trying to get his young daughter situated in a proper school in Santa Fe while fending off attempts to force him back to his criminal ways. "John Jones" (June 26, 1961) features another former outlaw who returns to the town where his former partners have become respectable citizens in an attempt to blackmail them after his own fortunes have turned sour. "A Fistful of Pride" (November 18, 1961) focuses on former boxing champion Bonzo Croydon trying to make a comeback to keep custody of his daughter and win back his estranged wife. And "Defiant at the Gate" (November 25, 1961) concerns aging robber Matt Blackner trying to provide an inheritance for his daughter whom he neglected for 20 years by entrusting her with $48,000 he stole and stiffed his former partners for. Perhaps the producers sensed that Wells Fargo was also past its prime and needed to prepare for the hereafter.

But while they may have made the right call in giving Demarest a bigger, more well-rounded role after Ging's departure, their biggest mistake for Season 6 was moving the program from its Monday night time slot to Saturday night opposite Perry Mason. Lyons, in an interview with the Western Clippings web site, lays the blame for the show's cancellation at the feet of new Universal Studios chief Lew Wasserman and his desire to cut costs, claiming that Wells Fargo was still doing respectably well in ratings. But between 1960-61 and 1961-62 Perry Mason jumped from #16 to #5 in the ratings. Some of that increase may have come at the expense of The Roaring 20s, which was cancelled in January 1962 and was replaced with two even more forgettable 30-minute programs--the animated Calvin and the Colonel and the family sit-com Room for One More, neither of which survived past the end of the season. But Perry Mason's climb may have also been aided by its new NBC neighbor, which tried to be every kind of western under the sun and wound up riding off into the sunset in 1962.

The new Season 6 theme for Tales of Wells Fargo was written by Harry Warren, one of the most successful songwriters of the Great American Songbook. Born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna on December 24, 1893 in Brooklyn, Warren was one of 11 children of an Italian bootmaker, whose accordion was his first instrument. By age 14 he was playing drums professionally and dropped out of school two years later. By 1915 he was working for Vitagraph Motion Picture Studios not only performing administrative tasks but also playing mood music on the piano for the performers, eventually working his way up to assistant director before entering the U.S. Navy in 1918, which is when he began writing songs. He is credited with some 800 compositions, 500 of which were published, and 21 of which reached #1 on Your Hit Parade. Among his better-known works are "I Only Have Eyes for You," "You'll Never Know," "There Will Never Be Another You," "Lullaby of Broadway," "Jeepers Creepers," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me," "That's Amore," and "At Last." He was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 3 for "Lullaby of Broadway" (1935), "You'll Never Know" (1943), and "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" (1945). On television, he composed the themes for The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and The Californians, and his songs showed up frequently on programs such as 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, and Surfside 6. He was the director of the music publishing rights organization ASCAP from 1929 to 1932, and was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971. He died 10 years later at age 87 on September 22, 1981. 

The Actors

For the biography of Dale Robertson, see the 1960 post on Tales of Wells Fargo.

William Demarest

Carl William Demarest was born February 27, 1892 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of a second-hand furniture salesman. His family moved to New Jersey when he was a child and he formed an act playing cello with his two brothers (his older brother Rube also became an actor in films) at local resort hotels. He then began performing solo as a dancer and comedian as well as a professional boxer under the name Battling McGovern before joining the U.S. Army during World War I. After the war he found fame working in vaudeville, particularly after forming an act with his first wife Estelle Colette, whom he married in 1923 (she was 6 years older than he and had a child from a previous marriage), billing themselves Demarest and Colette. From vaudeville he moved on to Broadway and eventually Hollywood, though he failed an initial screen test for Jack Warner in 1926. But by the following year he appeared in no fewer than 16 features and shorts, including the first talkie short, A Night at Coffee Dan's, and the first talkie feature, The Jazz Singer, though he was not credited in the latter. He appeared in 7 more films in 1928 but was not fond of Hollywood and returned to vaudeville until his comedy act was billed during an intermission between two Mae West films in 1933, prompting him to remark "If Mae West and Paramount are going to put me out of the vaudeville business, I'll go back to Hollywood and join Paramount." In 1935 he appeared in the first of six films with Fred MacMurray, Hands Across the Table. In 1939 he appeared in Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and the following year appeared in the first of eight films directed by Preston Sturges, The Great McGinty. He would go on to appear in Sturges' best known works such as The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. By 1943 he was such a fixture in Hollywood playing golden-hearted curmudgeons that he had a cameo playing himself in Stage Door Canteen and did the same two years later in Duffy's Tavern. In 1946 he received his lone Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Al Jolson's fictional mentor Steve Martin in The Jolson Story, a role he would reprise in Jolson Sings Again in 1949. By the late 1950s when his feature film roles began diminishing, he moved into television starring as crochety music publisher William Harris in Love and Marriage which lasted only 18 episodes before cancellation in late January 1960. He appeared 6 times as Mr. Daly on The Danny Thomas Show between 1957-61, and was added to the cast of Tales of Wells Fargo as Jeb Gaine at the beginning of Season 6 in the fall of 1961.

After Wells Fargo was cancelled, Demarest's TV appearances were sparse, but he managed a few high-profile feature film roles in Son of Flubber, Viva Las Vegas, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and That Darn Cat! before he was tapped for the biggest TV role of his career--succeeding William Frawley on My Three Sons as former seaman Uncle Charlie O'Casey, which he played for the remaining duration of the series from 1965-72. He received an Emmy nomination for this role in 1968, but after My Three Sons, Demarest largely retired to Palm Springs, except for an occasional guest spot on McMillan and Wife or Ellery Queen, a couple of TV movies, and an appearance in The Wild McCullochs and Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood. He busied himself running his own charitable foundation and hosting a yearly golf tournament in Palm Springs, and in 1979 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He contracted prostate cancer and suffered from pneumonia before dying from a heart attack on December 27, 1983 at the age of 91.

Jack Ging

Jack Lee Ging was born in Alva, Oklahoma on November 30, 1931. Both sets of grandparents had participated in the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893. His parents divorced when he was young, which led to him living with various relatives due to his mother's unusual work hours as a waitress. For a time he attended boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico but eventually returned to Oklahoma when his mother became ill. He attended the University of Oklahoma, where he played for three years on the football team and scored a total of 5 touchdowns during a career that included an appearance in the 1954 Orange Bowl. After graduation he briefly played professionally with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League before enlisting and serving four years in the Marines. After being honorably discharged, Ging decided to pursue an acting career after seeing Tyrone Power in a theatrical production and received a recommendation for an acting coach from Power. He studied at Sandy Meisner's Playhouse in New York and by 1958 made his first TV appearance on episodes of The Rough Riders and Highway Patrol. That year also marked the first of 8 appearances on McKenzie's Raiders in various generic lieutenant roles. His military background also came in handy in his first feature film appearance in Rally Round the Flag, Boys! with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward also released in 1958. He landed his first starring role in the 1960 feature Tess of the Storm Country opposite Diane Baker, followed by another military role in Sniper's Ridge in 1961 while also guest starring on TV programs such as The Twilight Zone, Bat Masterson, and This Man Dawson. His role as reformed Confederate sympathizer Beau McCloud on Season 6 of Tales of Wells Fargo was his first named recurring role, but it lasted only 13 episodes. Though Dale Robertson, as a fellow Oklahoman, had lobbied for Ging to be cast as his younger sidekick, Ging later recalled in an interview on the Western Clippings web site that despite the show being expanded to an hour, it was still all Robertson's show, and Ging's character didn't have much to do--"I was just holding Dale Robertson's horse." So Ging says he just left the show and was suspended for six months for breaking his contract, but he says since he was being represented by MCA they managed to smooth things over.

The next season he was cast in his longest-running recurring television role as young psychiatrist Dr. Paul Graham on The Eleventh Hour co-starring Wendell Corey, which ran two seasons from 1962-64, during which Ging also crossed over the role of Graham on a 1963 episode of Dr. Kildare. His acting credits for the next few years were sparse, but the multi-talented athlete Ging also excelled at golf, winning a Crosby golf tournament, as well as tennis, winning the Clint Eastwood Celebrity Tennis tournament. He played for sometimes thousands of dollars on golf-course bets with the likes of Dean Martin and James Garner. In 1967 he appeared on a two-part The Magical World of Disney film that was spun off into the feature Mosby's Marauders and the following year appeared in the first of three Clint Eastwood films--Hang 'Em High, which would be followed by Play Misty for Me and High Plains Drifter. In 1970 he made the first of seven appearances as Lt. Dan Ives on Mannix, the last coming in 1974. Other guest spots in the 1970s included appearances on The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and Kojak. In 1979 he played Det. Chuck Morris on the Brenda Vaccaro series Dear Detective, which was canceled after 4 episodes. His next recurring role was playing Lt. Ted Quinlan on the Vietnam vet adventure series Riptide, appearing 30 times over 3 seasons before his character was killed off, which gave him the opportunity to play Gen. Harlan "Bull" Fulbright 6 times during Season 4 of The A-Team with Fulbright also getting killed off by the end of the season. His last recurring role came as Chief Hollings in the Palm Springs-based Connie Sellecca vehicle P.S. I Luv U in 1991-92. His last acting credit came in a 1994 episode of Wings. At age 88, he is believed to be living in the Los Angeles area with his third wife Sharon Ramona Thompson.

Virginia Christine

Virginia Christine Ricketts was born in Stanton, Iowa, a community largely of Swedish immigrants, including her mother, on March 5, 1920. With both parents being musicians, Christine studied piano and won statewide honors while in high school in vocal and instrumental music. But her real passion was acting, and at age 17 she won a nationwide drama competition the same year her family moved to Los Angeles, where she then attended UCLA. While in college she began working as a voice actor on radio, but her biggest break came when she met German-born character actor Fritz Feld, 20 years her senior, and the couple married in 1940. Two years later Feld directed Christine in a Los Angeles theatrical production of Hedda Gabler to which he invited representatives from the major movie studios, resulting in a contract with Warner Brothers for Christine. She made her feature film debut supporting Errol Flynn in Edge of Darkness playing a Norwegian peasant girl named, ironically, Miss Olson. Though she was given a lead role in Truck Busters opposite Richard Travis that same year, Warner Brothers dropped her after only a year, but she signed with Universal Studios, appearing in the western The Old Texas Trail and playing a female mummy alongside Lon Chaney, Jr. in The Mummy's Curse. By the mid-1940s she supplemented her film work with radio appearances on programs such as Romance, Gunsmoke, and Fort Laramie. She had a supporting role in the 1946 film noir classic The Killers and also appeared in the Don Siegel remake in 1964. In 1950 she had her first role in a film produced by Stanley Kramer, The Men, which was also Marlon Brando's debut. Thereafter Kramer would use her often in pivotal roles in classics such as Cyrano de Bergerac, High Noon, Not as a Stranger, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Other notable feature films included Dragnet, The Cobweb, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Elvis Presley's Flaming Star. Her television debut came with three appearances on the crime drama Front Page Detective in 1951. By the mid-1950s her television appearances outnumbered her feature film roles as she had multiple guest spots on the original Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and anthology series such as Science Fiction Theatre and Studio 57. Her role as widow Ovie Swenson on the final season of Tales of Wells Fargo was the only recurring TV role of her career, but not her best known because beginning in 1960 she began appearing as helpful neighbor Mrs. Olson on commercials for Folgers coffee, a series that would continue for 21 years and invite parodies by everyone from Johnny Carson and Jackie Gleason to Ann-Margaret. Her hometown of Stanton, Iowa converted the local water tower into a giant coffee pot in her honor.

Her workload did not diminish with the cancellation of Tales of Wells Fargo in 1962; she continued to find frequent guest-star work on Perry Mason, Wagon Train, The Virginian, and The F.B.I. through the remainder of the 1960s. Things finally began to slow down as Christine entered her 50s in the 1970s with occasional appearances on Nanny and the Professor, Ironside, and Kojak. In the late 1970s and early 1980s she called on her past experience in radio drama to provide voice work on the TV series Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and The Puppy's Further Adventures. Her last on-screen appearance was in a 1986 episode of The Insiders. In retirement she was made honorary mayor of Brentwood, volunteered for Planned Parenthood, and judged the annual American College Theatre Festival. Her husband of 53 years passed away in 1993, and Christine followed him three years later on July 24, 1996 at the age of 76.

Mary Jane Saunders

Born Mary Jayne Saunders in Pasadena, California on October 12, 1943, Saunders was the daughter of an auto parts dealer and homemaker who submitted her picture at age 5 to a casting call advertised by Paramount Studios. Saunders was selected to play a 5-year-old girl in the 1949 Bob Hope and Lucille Ball comedy Sorrowful Jones, which also included future Tales of Wells Fargo castmate William Demarest. In 1950 she received third billing in the William Holden comedy Father Is a Bachelor and starred along with Ray Milland and Rosalind Russell in A Woman of Distinction. She made her TV debut the following year with single guest spots on The Bigelow Theatre, Boston Blackie, and Front Page Detective, but her career would slow down for the rest of the decade with feature roles in The Girl Next Door in 1953 and not another full-length movie for 6 years in uncredited parts in The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker and Beloved Infidel. Meanwhile, she had occasional TV roles on The Loretta Young Show, The Great Gildersleeve, and The Danny Thomas Show, but she was averaging only a single appearance per year until she landed the part of vivacious teenager Mary Gee on the final season of Tales of Wells Fargo.

Television work picked up just a touch after Wells Fargo with guest spots on Wagon Train, The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, and Daniel Boone. But after appearances on I Spy and Petticoat Junction in 1966, Saunders married professional baseball player Jay Johnstone, then a member of the California Angels, in 1967 and retired from acting. Johnstone played for nearly 20 seasons on 8 different teams, including 3 World Series champions, and was known as a clubhouse prankster. He later worked as a radio announcer for the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies and appeared in the first Naked Gun film.

 

 

 Lory Patrick

Born Loretta Basham on April 8, 1938 in Beckley, West Virginia, Patrick has become more famous for her marriages than her acting career. After beginning a career in modeling in Detroit and spending three years in New York studying acting, she broke into television in 1961 with appearances on The Loretta Young Show and The Case of the Dangerous Robin before being cast as Ovie Swenson's older daughter Tina on the final season of Tales of Wells Fargo. She appeared in 15 episodes during the show's final season but found steady work thereafter with guest spots on Wagon Train, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and Laramie over the next two years. She made her feature film debut in 1964 in the teenage exploitation flick Surf Party, even receiving a credit on one song from the soundtrack album along with co-stars Jackie DeShannon and Patricia Morrow. She had three appearances as Nurse Betty Taylor in the final season of Dr. Kildare in 1965, but then married irascible science fiction author Harlan Ellison on January 30, 1966, a marriage that lasted less than two months. She had no acting credits that year but returned for single appearances on Bonanza and This Is the Life as well as an unnamed receptionist in the feature How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 1967, then retired from acting. Nothing has been published about what she did over the next 6 years, but on June 2, 1973 she married actor Dean Jones, whom she had played opposite in the 1961 episode "A Killing in Calico" (December 16, 1961) of Tales of Wells Fargo. Jones and Patrick became born-again Christians, and he became a spokesman for Compassion International and later founded the Christian Rescue Fund to bring persecuted Christians to safety. She wrote a best-selling religious book Hearing God.  Jones passed away from Parkinson's Disease on September 1, 2015, though Patrick is still living.

Steve Darrell

Born Daryl Eugene Horsfall in Osage, Iowa on November 19, 1904, Darrell was one of four children and was still living with his parents as of the 1930 U.S. census. The following year he began his acting career by joining the Trousdale Players in Des Moines, Iowa. At some point he moved west and made his feature film debut  in an uncredited role as a gangster in the 1938 feature Angels With Dirty Faces. His first screen credit came the next year in Code of the Secret Service and from that point on he found steady work in minor parts in a steady stream of B-grade westerns and crime dramas. At the same time, he kept up a theatrical career, appearing in a Broadway production of The Barber Had Two Sons in 1943 and a Los Angeles production of Arsenic and Old Lace at the Beaux Arts Theater in 1944. Perhaps his highest profile role in the 1940s was playing Frank James opposite Clayton Moore as Jesse James in the 1948 serial Adventures of Frank and Jesse James. Playing in support of Gene Autry in features such as Riders in the Sky and Cow Town led to his television debut on The Gene Autry Show in 1950. As the 1950s progressed and the B-westerns faded, Darrell switched over to the suddenly popular western TV format on programs such as The Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley, and The Adventures of Kit Carson. The more adult westerns of the later 1950s also provided steady work on Cheyenne, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, and Wanted Dead or Alive. And in the 1960s he continued showing up on Laramie, Wagon Train, and Shotgun Slade. His role as the Gloribee sheriff, who was eventually named Hal Humphrey, on the final season of Tales of Wells Fargo was his only recurring role. Though he found a few more guest spots afterward on The Virginian, Rawhide, and Gunsmoke, Darrell logged his last credit on a 1967 episode of Daniel Boone before succumbing to a brain tumor three years later at the age of 65 on August 14, 1970.

Notable Guest Stars

Season 5, Episode 15, "Border Rengades": John Beradino (shown on the left, former major league baseball player, played Special Agent Steve Daniels on I Led 3 Lives, Sgt. Vince Cavelli on The New Breed, and Dr. Steve Hardy on General Hospital) plays gun smuggler Virgil McCready. Elaine Devry (daughter of a Disney animator who was Mickey Rooney's fourth wife) plays mine owner Carolyn Robbins.

Season 5, Episode 16, "Captain Scofield": DeForest Kelley (shown on the right, played Dr. McCoy on Star Trek) plays wounded army deserter Capt. Cole Scofield. William Keene (played various reverends on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.) plays Bull Creek physician Dr. Crosier. William Tannen (Deputy Hal Norton on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays army imposter Keenan. 

Season 5, Episode 17, "The Has-Been": Adam West (shown on the left, played Det. Sgt. Steve Nelson on The Detectives, Bruce Wayne on Batman, Captain Rick Wright on The Last Precinct, Dr. Noah Goddard on Black Scorpion, and voiced Mayor Adam West on Family Guy) plays former soldier and renowned gunman Steve Draco. Andra Martin (former wife of Ty Hardin, starred in The Big Beat, The Thing That Couldn't Die, Up Periscope, and A Fever in the Blood) plays army widow Laura Halliday. J. Pat O'Malley (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Frontier Circus) plays has-been singer Cedric Manning. 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 an unnamed outlaw. Marshall Reed (Inspector Fred Asher on The Lineup) plays an army officer.

Season 5, Episode 18, "Town Against a Man": Val Avery (appeared in The Magnificent Seven, Papillon, and Donnie Brasco and played Lt. Al Costello on East Side/West Side) plays ranch owner Frank "Bully" Armstrong. Jackie Russell (shown on the right, played Peggy Connolly on The Joey Bishop Show) plays his pretty daughter Lorna. Yvette Vickers (starred in Reform School Girl, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and Attack of the Giant Leeches) plays his plain daughter Carol. Lurene Tuttle (appeared in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Ma Barker's Killer Brood, Psycho, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, and The Fortune Cookie and played Doris Dunston on Father of the Bride and Hannah Yarby on Julia) plays Frank's sister Madie. Mark Tapscott (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Tall Man) plays wealthy banker Paul Warren. Michael Hinn (George Haig on Johnny Ringo) plays attorney Leo Kinsman.

Season 5, Episode 19, "The Barefoot Bandit": Don C. Harvey (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Rawhide) plays Wells Fargo agent Al Wiley. Joan Marshall (Sailor Duval on Bold Venture) plays fight manager Lisa Lindsey. Paul Sorensen (Andy Bradley on Dallas) plays Bonanza Flats tough guy Chuck Kramer. George Selk (see the biography section for the 1960 post on Gunsmoke) plays a telegraph messenger. 

Season 5, Episode 20, "The Hand That Shook the Hand": Claude Akins (shown on the left, played Sonny Pruett on Movin' On and Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo on B.J and the Bear and on Lobo) plays renowned pugilist John L. Sullivan. Vito Scotti (Jose on The Deputy, Capt. Gaspar Fomento on The Flying Nun, Gino on To Rome With Love, and Mr. Velasquez on Barefoot in the Park) plays hustling prankster Abner Dabler. Thalmus Rasulala (starred in Cool Breeze, Blacula, Willie Dynamite, and Mr. Ricco and played Lt. Jack Neal on One Life to Live, Bill Thomas on What's Happening!!, Tangeneva on General Hospital, and Capt. Boltz on Dragnet (1989)) plays saloon cook George.

Season 5, Episode 21, "That Washburn Girl": Jack Nicholson (shown on the right, starred in Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chinatown, The Shining, and Terms of Endearment and played Jaime Angel on Dr. Kildare) plays Wells Fargo worker's brother Tom Washburn. Anne Whitfield (Barbara Harris on Days of Our Lives) plays his fiance Ruby Coe. 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 her ex-con father Jonas. 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 gun salesman Dean Chase. Chubby Johnson (Concho on Temple Houston) plays stage driver Scotty.

Season 5, Episode 22, "The Diamond Dude": James Millhollin (Anson Foster on Grindl) plays New York jeweler Leroy Finch. Robert Middleton (Barney Wales on The Monroes) plays notorious thief Bodie Seaton. Grant Sullivan (Brett Clark on Pony Express) plays Seaton's associate Beam. 

Season 5, Episode 24, "Fraud": Steve Brodie (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays crooked Mayor Walt Lawson. Sue Ane Langdon (shown on the left, played Kitty Marsh on Bachelor Father, Lillian Nuvo on Arnie, Rosie on Grandpa Goes to Washington, and Darlene on When the Whistle Blows) saloon pianist Jessica Brown. Guy Stockwell (brother of Dean Stockwell, played Chris Parker on Adventures in Paradise) plays her boyfriend Bob Guthrie. Gregg Palmer (see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Lawson's gunman Lupo. Michael Whalen (starred in White Fang, Career Woman, The Lady Escapes, Inside Story, and The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues) plays photographer Abel Boyce.

Season 5, Episode 25, "Stage From Yuma": Brad Dexter (shown on the right, starred in Macao, Between Heaven and Hell, and Run Silent, Run Deep) plays wanted outlaw Bud Pierce. Kelly Thordsen (Colorado Charlie on Yancy Derringer) plays outlaw ringleader Rafe. Harry Harvey, Jr. (son of Harry Harvey, and script supervisor and director on Mannix) plays outlaw Lew Walter. Tom Greenway (Sheriff Jack Bronson on State Trooper) plays the Yuma sheriff. 

Season 5, Episode 26, "Prince Jim": Gina Gillespie (shown on the left, played Tess on Law of the Plainsman and Mimi Scott on Karen) plays orphan Carol Butler. Kristine Miller (appeared in Desert Fury, I Walk Alone, Too Late for Tears, and Young Daniel Boone and played Margaret Jones on Stories of the Century) plays her aunt Ruth Hudson. Norman Leavitt (Ralph on Trackdown) plays drummer Willy Zane. Denny Scott Miller (see the biography section of the 1961 post on Wagon Train) plays livery stable owner Stickson. Robert Sampson (Sgt. Walsh on Steve Canyon, Father Mike Fitzgerald on Bridget Love Bernie, and Sheriff Turk Tobias on Falcon Crest) plays his accomplice Hal. Wally Brown (appeared in Notorious, The Left Handed Gun, and The Absent-Minded Professor and played Jed Fame on Cimarron City and Chauncey Kowalski on The Roaring '20's) plays town drunk Charlie.

Season 5, Episode 27, "The Remittance Man": William Mims (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Blazing Rock Sheriff Dan Gillette. Yvonne Craig (shown on the right, starred in Gidget, High Time, Kissin' Cousins, Ski Party, and One Spy Too Many and played Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, on Batman and Grandma on Olivia) plays his daughter Libby. David Frankham (appeared in Return of the Fly, Master of the World, and King Rat and played Reverend Daniels on The Bold and the Beautiful) plays her fiance Noel Briggs. Ron Soble (appeared in The Cincinnati Kid, True Grit, and Papillon and played Dirty Jim on The Monroes) plays bounty hunter Gabe Adams. Henry Wills (Pernell Roberts' stunt double on Bonanza and the stunt coordinator on The High Chaparral) plays stage driver Wally.

Season 5, Episode 28, "The Jealous Man": Ed Nelson (Michael Rossi on Peyton Place, Ward Fuller on The Silent Force, and Sen. Mark Denning on Capitol) plays jealous husband Andy Thorpe. Faith Domergue (starred in Cult of the Cobra, This Island Earth, and It Came From Beneath the Sea) plays his wife Kitty. 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 his father Henry. Tommy Ivo (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1961 post on The Donna Reed Show) plays his younger brother Lou.

Season 5, Episode 29, "Something Pretty": Peter Whitney (Sergeant Buck Sinclair on The Rough Riders and Lafe Crick on The Beverly Hillbillies) plays prospector Moose Gilliam. James Seay (shown on the near right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays easterner Banning. Leonard Nimoy (shown on the far right, played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, Paris on Mission: Impossible, and Dr. William Bell on Fringe) plays outlaw Coleman. Dennis Moore (Deputy Lee on Tombstone Territory) plays lawman Marshal Buxton.

Season 5, Episode 30, "Lady Trouble": Robert Armstrong (shown on the left, starred in King Kong, The Son of Kong, Framed, Dive Bomber, Blood on the Sun, and Mighty Joe Young and played Sheriff Andy Anderson on State Trooper) plays Saddle Ridge Wells Fargo agent Jess Walden. Josephine Hutchinson (appeared in The Story of Louis Pasteur, Son of Frankenstein, Tom Brown's Schooldays, and North by Northwest) plays mining company owner Agatha Webster. Barry Cahill (Capt. Curt Douglas on 12 O'Clock High and Buck Vernon on The Waltons) plays outlaw Stu Redmond. Terry Frost (Sgt. Bruce Moore/Morse/Morris on Highway Patrol) plays a Wells Fargo guard. 

Season 5, Episode 31, "Moment of Glory": Eddy Waller (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1961 post on Laramie) plays yarn-spinning Grandpa Charlie Bridger. Bryan Russell (brother of actress Jeannie Russell) plays his grandson Pete. Wallace Rooney (Andrew Winters on The Doctors) plays Calico Wells Fargo agent Mr. Bennett. Joel Ashley (Pvt. Boone on Boots and Saddles) plays rival stagecoach line owner Bart Dillon.

Season 5, Episode 32, "The Lobo": Jim Davis (shown on the left, played Matt Clark on Stories of the Century, Wes Cameron on Rescue 8, Marshal Bill Winter on The Cowboys, and Jock Ewing on Dallas) plays wanted outlaw Sam Horne. Claire du Brey (starred in The Winged Mystery, The Magic Eye, Modern Love, and Jane Eyre (1934) and played Aunt Angela on Where's Raymond?) plays White Oaks Hotel proprietor Ma. Charles Watts (Judge Harvey Blandon on Bachelor Father) plays White Oaks Wells Fargo agent Hi Walker. Chubby Johnson (see "That Washburn Girl" above) plays returns as stage driver Scotty. 

Season 5, Episode 33, "Rifles for Red Hand": Ziva Rodann (appeared in Forty Guns, The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, The Story of Ruth, and College Confidential and played Nefertiti on Batman) plays casino and saloon owner Leah Harper. Stanley Adams (Lt. Morse on Not for Hire) plays gun smuggler Sam Tustin. Carleton G. Young (shown on the right, appeared in Queen of Burlesque, The Kissing Bandit, His Kind of Woman, and Hard, Fast and Beautiful! and played Harry Steeger on The Court of Last Resort) plays U.S. Army Capt. Rawlings. Clegg Hoyt (Mac on Dr. Kildare) plays trapper Jebediah Skane. 

Season 5, Episode 34, "Gunman's Revenge": 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 Yuma Wells Fargo employee Pete Carter. Jennie Lynn (Jennie Baker on Love and Marriage) plays his daughter Nell. Roy Wright (Callahan on The Islanders) plays his boss Neil Brand. Ollie O'Toole (Mr. Meeker on Circus Boy) plays Wells Fargo clerk Al Wiley. Robert Foulk (shown on the left, played 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 Yuma Sheriff Nolan. Chuck Connors (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Rifleman) plays vengeful gunman Rocky Nelson. Helen Wallace (Nurse Lucy Webber on Dr. Kildare) plays judge's wife Mrs. Castro.

Season 5, Episode 35, "The Repentant Outlaw": Edgar Buchanan (shown on the right, played Uncle Joe Carson on The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction, Red Connors on Hopalong Cassidy, Judge Roy Bean on Judge Roy Bean, Doc Burrage on The Rifleman, and J.J. Jackson on Cade's County) plays huckster Doc Dawson. Lew Gallo (Major Joseph Cobb on 12 O'Clock High and directed multiple episodes of That Girl, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Love American Style, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and The New Mike Hammer) plays captured outlaw Maxey. John Dennis (Dutch Schultz on The Lawless Years) plays his accomplice Red. Craig Duncan (Sgt. Stanfield/Banfield on Mackenzie's Raiders) plays army payroll Sgt. Morgan. Ralph Reed (see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays a young swindler in the saloon.

Season 5, Episode 36, "A Quiet Little Town": John Dehner (Duke Williams on The Roaring '20's, Commodore Cecil Wyntoon on The Baileys of Balboa, Morgan Starr on The Virginian, Cyril Bennett on The Doris Day Show, Dr. Charles Cleveland Claver on The New Temperatures Rising Show, Barrett Fears on Big Hawaii, Marshal Edge Troy on Young Maverick, Lt. Joseph Broggi on Enos, Hadden Marshall on Bare Essence, and Billy Joe Erskine on The Colbys) plays Hardie's old frenemy Wade Cather. Shirley Ballard (shown on the left, Miss California of 1944, wife of Jason Evers, continuity supervisor on Water Under the Bridge and The Sullivans) plays unhappy marshal's wife Meg Prescott. William Leslie (appeared in The Long Gray Line, Hellcats of the Navy, Up Periscope, and Mutiny in Outer Space and was the narrator on The Prosecutors: In Pursuit of Justice) plays banker Thorne Whitman. 

Season 5, Episode 37, "Bitter Vengeance": Richard Hale (starred in Abilene Town, Kim, San Antone, Red Garters, and To Kill a Mockingbird) plays alcoholic stage waystation owner Ben Martin. Phyllis Coates (shown on the right, played Alice McDokes in 18 shorts, starred in Outlaws of Texas, Man From Sonora, Superman and the Mole-Men, Jungle Drums of Africa, and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and played Lois Lane on Adventures of Superman, Gloria on The Duke, Madge Allen on Professional Father, and Clarissa Holliday on This Is Alice) plays his daughter Ruby. 

Season 5, Episode 38, "John Jones": Justice Watson (J.W. Harrington on Holiday Lodge) plays former outlaw John Jones. Roy Barcroft (Col. Logan on The Adventures of Spin and Marty and Roy on Gunsmoke) plays his former partner Clem Boland. Warren Oates (starred in In the Heat of the Night, The Wild Bunch, and Stripes and played Ves Painter on Stoney Burke) plays Boland's son Chuck. Forrest Lewis (Mr. Peavey on The Great Gildersleeve) plays small-town Marshal Ezra.

Season 5, Episode 39, "The Dowry": Alan Napier (shown on the left, appeared in The House of the Seven Gables, Lassie Come Home, Joan of Arc, Marnie, The Loved One, and Batman: The Movie and played Gen. Steele on Don't Call Me Charlie and Alfred the butler on Batman) plays wealthy land owner Bertram Le Tour. Lisa Gaye (Gwen Kirby on How to Marry a Millionaire) plays his grand-daughter Michelle Bovarde. George Chandler (Mac Benson on Waterfront, Uncle Petrie Martin on Lassie, and Ichabod Adams on Ichabod and Me) plays riverboat Capt. Billy. 

Season 6, Episode 1, "Casket 7.3": Howard Keel (shown on the right, starred in Annie Get Your Gun, Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Kismet, and Invasion of the Triffids and played Clayton Farlow on Dallas) plays former Confederate sergeant Justin Brox. Suzanne Lloyd (Raquel Toledano on Zorro) plays his wife Christine. Torin Thatcher (appeared in Great Expectations, The Crimson Pirate, The Robe, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, and Witness for the Prosecution) plays government agent Alexander Prescott. Stephen Roberts (Stan Peeples on Mr. Novak) plays eastern head of Wells Fargo Mr. Nichols. Eve McVeagh (starred in High Noon, The Glass Web, and Tight Spot and played Miss Hammond on Petticoat Junction) plays Mrs. Russo, a guest at Brox's party. Norman Leavitt (see "Prince Jim" above) plays Matthew, a clerk aboard the Wells Fargo ship.

Season 6, Episode 2, "The Dodger": Philip Carey (shown on the left, 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 ex-con Jay Squire. Claude Akins (see "The Hand That Shook the Hand" above) plays his "lieutenant" Harry Rakeover. Jon Lormer (Harry Tate on Lawman, Sam Watkins on The Real McCoys, the autopsy surgeon on Perry Mason, Simon Benjamin on The Young Marrieds, and Judge Irwin A. Chester on Peyton Place) plays general store proprietor Mr. Taylor. Paul Barselou (played various bartenders in 9 episodes of Bewitched) plays barber and undertaker Happy.

Season 6, Episode 3, "Treasure Coach": Robert Vaughn (shown on the right, 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, and Albert Stroller on Hustle) plays outlaw Billy Brigode. Pat Crowley (Joan Nash on Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Georgia Cameron on Joe Forrester, Emily Fallmont on Dynasty, and Natalie DeWitt on The Bold and the Beautiful) plays his estranged wife Lydia. J. Pat O'Malley (see "The Has-Been" above) plays physician Dr. Cobb. Jocelyn Brando (Marlon Brando's sister, appeared in The Big Heat, The Ugly American, The Chase, and Mommie Dearest and played Mrs. Reeves on Dallas) plays his wife Frances.

Season 6, Episode 4, "Death Raffle": Gary Clarke (shown on the left, played Dick Hamilton on Michael Shayne, Steve Hill on The Virginian, and Capt. Richards on Hondo) plays ex-con Davey Hewitt. Kelly Thordsen (see "Stage From Yuma" above) plays blacksmith Sam Hobb. Bennye Getteys (Judith Potter on The Brighter Day) plays Hobb's daughter Jessamie. William Tannen (see "Captain Scofield" above) plays banker Mr. Japes. Gregg Palmer (see "Fraud" above) plays Hewitt's former outlaw partner Steger. Grant Sullivan (see "The Diamond Dude" above) plays Steger's accomplice Dutch. Paul Bryar (Sheriff Harve Anders on The Long, Hot Summer) plays railroad clerk Sam.

Season 6, Episode 5, "Tanoa": Richard Hale (see "Bitter Vengeance" above) plays aging Indian chief Pochalo. Rodolfo Acosta (shown on the right, played Vaquero on The High Chaparral)) plays his cousin Red Knife. Charles Watts (see "The Lobo" above) plays Wells Fargo executive Mr. Anderson. Hal Needham (see "The Has-Been" above) plays an Indian brave. Sara Taft (Aunt Alex on The Young Marrieds) plays baking contest judge Mrs. Forbes.

Season 6, Episode 6, "Mr. Mute": Vito Scotti (shown on the left, see "The Hand That Shook the Hand" above) plays Italian professional clown Mr. Mute. 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 train robber LaPorte. Ron Soble (see "The Remittance Man" above) plays his accomplice Frank Dorcus. Chubby Johnson (see "That Washburn Girl" above) plays Jeb Gaine antagonist Ernie. 

Season 6, Episode 7, "Jeremiah": Albert Salmi (shown on the right, played Yadkin on Daniel Boone and Pete Ritter on Petrocelli) plays outlaw Jeremiah Logart. Nancy Gates (starred in The Great Gildersleeve, The Atomic City, The Member of the Wedding, and Some Came Running) plays his former henchman's widow Amelia Cavendish. Bryan Russell (see "Moment of Glory" above) plays her son Jody. X Brands (Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah on Yancy Derringer) plays Logart associate Brock. 

Season 6, Episode 8, "A Fistful of Pride": Eddie Albert (shown on the left, starred in Roman Holiday, Oklahoma!, The Teahouse of the August Moon, The Sun Also Rises, The Longest Day, and The Longest Yard and played Larry Tucker on Leave It to Larry, Oliver Wendell Douglas on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, and Frank MacBride on Switch) plays former boxing champion Bonzo Croydon. Barbara Stuart (Bessie on The Great Gildersleeve, Alice on Pete and Gladys, Bunny on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Wilma Winslow on The Queen and I, Peggy Ferguson on The McLean Stevenson Show, Marianne Danzig on Our Family Honor, and Alice on Huff) plays his estranged wife Lucy. Gina Gillespie (see "Prince Jim" above) plays their daughter Cindy. Ed Nelson (see "The Jealous Man" above) plays up-and-coming boxer The Frisco Kid. David White (Larry Tate on Bewitched) plays his manager Dooley. H.M. Wynant (Lt. Bauer on The Young Marrieds, Frosty on Batman, and Ed Chapman on Dallas) plays San Francisco gambler Carson. Dennis McCarthy (Dr. Sam Hodges on Cimarron City) plays Gloribee bettor Willis. Harry Holcombe (appeared in The Fortune Cookie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Foxy Brown, Escape to Witch Mountain, and Empire of the Ants and played Frank Gardner on Search for Tomorrow, Doc Benson on My Mother the Car, Mr. Kendricks on Barefoot in the Park, and Dr. J.P. Martin on Bonanza) plays the Gloribee judge.

Season 6, Episode 9, "Defiant at the Gate": Tom Tully (starred in Destination Tokyo, The Lady in the Lake, The Turning Point, The Jazz Singer (1952), and The Caine Mutiny and played Inspector Matt Grebb on The Lineup and Tom Starett on Shane) plays aging outlaw Matt Blackner. Gloria Talbott (shown on the right, starred in The Cyclops, Daughter of Dr. Jekyll,  and I Married a Monster From Outer Space and played Moneta on Zorro) plays his daughter Narcissa. Frank Ferguson (Gus Broeberg on My Friend Flicka, Eli Carson on Peyton Place, and Dr. Barton Stuart on Petticoat Junction) plays his former partner Deacon. L.Q. Jones (Beldon on The Virginian, Sheriff Lew Wallace on The Yellow Rose, and Nathan Wayne on Renegade) plays his former partner Striker.

Season 6, Episode 10, "Man of Another Breed": Wright King (shown on the left, see the biography section for the 1960 post on Wanted Dead or Alive) plays young robber Will Norris. Robert Middleton (see "The Diamond Dude" above) plays homesteader Caleb Timmons. Debra Paget (starred in Broken Arrow, Les Miserables, Prince Valiant, The Ten Commandments, Love Me Tender, and Journey to the Lost City) plays his young wife Kate. Dee Pollock (Billy Urchin on Gunslinger) plays his son Arly. Willis Bouchey (Mayor Terwilliger on The Great Gildersleeve, Springer on Pete and Gladys, and the judge 23 times on Perry Mason) plays aging Wells Fargo agent Frank Danes. John Zaremba (see "The Jealous Man" above) plays a sheriff.

 

Season 6, Episode 11, "Kelly's Clover Girls": Virginia Field (appeared in Little Lord Fauntleroy, Thank You, Jeeves!, Stage Door Canteen, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) plays madame Kelly Green. Dawn Wells (shown on the right, played Mary Ann Summers on Gilligan's Island) plays her young understudy Molly. Lisa Gaye (see "The Dowry" above) plays her more experienced employee Sunset. Michael Pate (starred in Face to Face, Julius Caesar, Hondo, and Tower of London and played Chief Vittoro on Hondo and Det. Sgt. Vic Maddern on Matlock) plays wanted killer Paul Jennings Kalo. Hank Patterson (Fred Ziffel on Green Acres and Petticoat Junction and Hank Miller on Gunsmoke) plays transport driver Coleman Flagg. William Mims (see "The Remittance Man" above) plays trail boss Canby. Glenn Strange (see the biography section for the 1961 post on Gunsmoke) plays one of his drovers Sam Craiger. Phil Chambers (see "Gunman's Revenge" above) plays Wells Fargo agent Bill.

Season 6, Episode 12, "A Killing in Calico": Dean Jones (shown on the left, starred in Jailhouse Rock, That Darn Cat!, The Ugly Dachshund, The Love Bug, The Million Dollar Duck, and Beethoven and played Ensign O'Toole on Ensign O'Toole, Linc McCray on The Chicago Teddy Bears, and Jim Douglas on Herbie, the Love Bug) plays outlaw gunman Jamie Coburn. Patricia Breslin (Amanda Peoples Miller on The People's Choice, Laura Brooks on Peyton Place, and Meg Bentley on General Hospital) plays his wife Theresa. John Larch (starred in The Wrecking Crew, Play Misty for Me, and Dirty Harry and played Deputy District Attorney Jerry Miller on Arrest and Trial, Gerald Wilson on Dynasty, and Arlen & Atticus Ward on Dallas) plays former employer Birch Morgan. George Brenlin (Benny on General Hospital and Duke Dukowski on Adam-12) plays gun for hire Wolf. Byron Foulger (Mr. Nash on Captain Nice and Wendell Gibbs on Petticoat Junction) plays a telegrapher. Herb Vigran (Judge Brooker on Gunsmoke) plays a clothier.

Season 6, Episode 14, "Trackback": Leo Gordon (Big Mike McComb on Maverick) plays wanted robber Frank Lambert. Richard Rust (Hank Tabor on Sam Benedict and Jason Vining on General Hospital) plays his younger brother Wally. Morgan Woodward (shown on the right, see the biography section for the 1960 post on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp) plays Frank's accomplice Steve Taggart. Edward Mallory (Bill Riley on Morning Star and Bill Horton on Days of Our Lives) plays Gloribee deputy Ron.