Popular TV Westerns from the ‘50s & ‘60s just keep on rollin’

Next in line within the listing of favorite television Westerns originating during the 1950s and 1960s are “Maverick” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.” These two shows tied for the final spot in our “top 10” listing.

“Maverick” (1957-62) featured brothers Bret and Bart Maverick, who had “eyes for style and hearts for gambling,” remarked freelance journalist Meagan Drillinger. “The series followed the Mavericks migrating from town to town and frequenting riverboats in the Old West during the 1870s and early 1880s.

 

“Unlike other Westerns, the Maverick brothers didn’t adhere to strict macho stereotypes or possess the ‘quickdraw’ personalities typical of Western heroes,” she said.

Joe Leydon of Cowboys & Indians magazine said the “rambling gamblers Bret (James Garner) and Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) preferred dealing cards to shooting straight. They relied on smooth talk more than fast draws, resorting to gunplay only when they couldn’t charm or bluff their way out of trouble.”

 

“Maverick stood out from the multitude of other prime-time westerns during the 1950s and ‘60s by taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to cowboy conventions.” Leydon added. “The overall tone wasn’t entirely satirical – serious shootouts sporadically figured into the mix.”

When Garner quit over a contract dispute with the studio after the series’ third year, he was replaced by Roger Moore as cousin Beau Maverick. Actor Sean Connery was originally offered the role but turned it down. (Famously, the following decade, Moore would replace Connery as James Bond in the 007-film series.) 

During the fourth season, for a brief period...Garner lookalike Robert Colbert was cast as Brent Maverick, a brother to Bart and Bret. 

James Garner, who was born in Norman, Okla., had a difficult childhood and dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. After the war, he tried living with his father in Los Angeles and re-enrolling in high school. Neither worked out.

Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard and was deployed to Korea during the Korean War as a rifleman in an infantry division. He was wounded on two occasions and received two Purple Hearts as well as several other military awards. Following his discharge, he found work making TV commercials and eventually transitioned into acting roles for both TV and movies.

After “Maverick,” Garner had great success playing Jim Rockford in the TV series “The Rockford Files.”

 

Jack Kelly of Queens, N.Y., grew up in Hollywood where his father was a real estate broker. Kelly began acting in films at age 12 and tended to gravitate toward Westerns. Once his acting days were over, Kelly entered local politics in 1980 in Huntington Beach, Calif., serving on the city council and then as mayor.

 

“Wanted Dead or Alive” (1958-61) starred Steve McQueen as Josh Randall, a Confederate Civil War veteran who became a bounty hunter. He roamed the dusty roads of the Old West in the 1870s and ‘80s looking for outlaws to turn in.

Joe Leydon said: “As Josh Randall, McQueen ignited his superstardom, allowing him to showcase the charismatic qualities that would eventually earn him the nickname ‘The King of Cool.’”

“He was formidably armed with his trademark weapon of choice, a customized, sawed-off Winchester carbine rifle, affectionately referenced as his ‘Mare’s Leg.’”

 

“Randall usually worked alone and often preferred to capture rather than kill his quarry. But when shooting was necessary, he didn’t aim to please,” Leydon quipped.

Steve McQueen, who was born in Beech Grove, Ind., was basically raised by his grandparents and an aunt and uncle on a farm near Slater, Mo. He spent much of his early teenage years in an all-boys reform school for troubled adolescents in Chino Hills, Calif., near his mother’s home.

After leaving school and several run-ins with the law, McQueen joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He credited the service for turning his life around.

In 1952, with financial assistance from the GI Bill, McQueen began studying acting in New York City. He began to land minor roles in stage productions, leading to his Broadway debut in 1955. He soon moved to Hollywood and began to make his mark as a film actor.

Critics generally agree that McQueen’s most popular movies were: “The Great Escape” (1963), “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “Bullitt” (1968), “The Sand Pebbles” (1966) and “Love with the Proper Stranger” (1963).

Here are more top TV Westerns from ‘50s & ‘60s

In slots 7-9 on the list of “top 10” Western television series originating during the 1950s and 1960s, are: “Cheyenne,” “The Rifleman” and “The Big Valley.”

“‘Cheyenne’ (1955-63) told the story of Cheyenne Bodie, a kind-hearted cowboy wandering the Old West in the years following the American Civil War,” wrote TV critic Meagan Drillinger.

 

Joe Leydon of Cowboys & Indians magazine, said: “‘Cheyenne’ showcased Clint Walker in an irresistibly appealing portrayal of the title character, a broad-shouldered, good-humored cowboy who was raised by Cheyenne Indians (after losing his parents) and dedicated himself to doing good” in search of “frontier justice.”

 

Bodie was “an imposing but gentle cowboy,” wrote John Witiw of Movieweb.com. “Effectively a nomadic drifter, Cheyenne gets by, taking on various odd jobs and going on different adventures.” Cheyenne’s various occupations included: Army scout, deputy U.S. marshal, county sheriff, prospector, cattleman, hunter and city constable.

 

Clint Walker was born in Hartford, Ill. He dropped out of high school and joined the U.S. Merchant Marine at the age of 17. He worked an assortment of jobs as a factory hand, carnival roustabout, golf caddy, hotel doorman and security officer, before becoming an actor.

His first film role was in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1956) where Walker played the part of a Sardinian Captain of the Guard, positioned by the throne next to the Pharaoh (Yul Brynner).

 

“The Rifleman” (1958-63) revolved around the “trials and tribulations” faced by widowed rancher Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors), while raising his son Mark (Johnny Crawford) near the fictional North Fork in the New Mexico Territory during the 1880s, reported Meagan Drillinger.

Joe Leydon said: “Unfortunately, bad people just kept making their way to North Fork. And, even more unfortunately, Marshal Micah Torrance (Paul Fix) simply wasn’t up to the task of dealing with the undesirables on his own.”

“So, it frequently fell to Lucas to provide law enforcement back-up. The show endeavored to extol traditional family values while offering up heaping helpings of Wild West action,” Leydon said.

John Witiw commented: “‘The Rifleman’ was one of the first American prime-time series to revolve around a single parent. Though Lucas was no stranger to violence (thanks to his trademark souped-up Winchester rapid-fire rifle), a big theme of the series was ‘second chances,’ with Lucas often giving hard-on-their-luck souls jobs at his ranch.”

Chuck Connors, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., to play varsity baseball and basketball. He left college after two years, when he signed a professional baseball contract in 1940.

He was playing in the minor leagues when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942, during World War II. He served as a tank-warfare instructor at Fort Campbell, Ky., and later at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

After the war, Connors returned to professional sports. He is one of only 13 athletes in history to have played in both the National Basketball Association (Boston Celtics) and Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs).

Connors made his Hollywood debut in 1955, and his performance in Walt Disney’s “Old Yeller” (1957) is what led to his selection over about 40 other actors to be cast in “The Rifleman.”

Chuck Connors and Dorothy McGuire

Johnny Crawford, who was born in Los Angeles, was a child actor. At age 9, he was selected as one of Disney’s original Mouseketeers to form the Mickey Mouse Club. He appeared in several early Western films and TV shows. At age 12, he was chosen to play Mark on “The Rifleman.” We watched him grow up over the course of 168 episodes.

 

Later, Crawford had modest success as a rock’n’roll artist in the 1960s. In 1992, he formed the Johnny Crawford Orchestra, a vintage dance band.

“The Big Valley” (1965-69) was set between 1884-88 and became a “popular television series that blended good drama with plenty of action,” wrote Joe Leydon. “Barbara Stanwyck had a knack for working well in a frontier setting, and she found her best Western role not in movie theaters but on television.”

 

“Striking the perfect balance of stately dignity and feisty resourcefulness, Stanwyck starred to perfection in ‘The Big Valley’ as Victoria Barkley, owner of a massive ranch in the San Joaquin Valley near Stockton, Calif.”

 

John Witiw commented: “As Victoria was the main character of the series, ‘The Big Valley’ was one of the first Western series with a strong female lead.”

 She was surrounded by sons Jarrod (Richard Long), a local attorney, and Nick (Peter Breck), who managed the ranch, and daughter Audra (Linda Evans). 

Joining them was Heath (Lee Majors), the ranch foreman, who was an illegitimate son of Victoria’s late husband, adding to the intrigue of the family dynamics.

Barbara Stanwyck was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., orphaned at age 4, and partially raised in foster homes. She chose to pursue a career in show business rather than attend high school. She made her stage debut in the chorus line with the Ziegfeld Follies as a teenager.

 

From there she performed on Broadway and transitioned into films. Barbara Stanwyck appeared in 86 movies in 38 years before turning to television.

 

She was 58 when she debuted in “The Big Valley.”

Original members of “The Big Valley” cast who are still living, Linda Evans and Lee Majors, enjoyed success in other TV roles after “The Big Valley” faded away.

Evans, now 83, was born in Hartford, Conn., and raised in Los Angeles. Entertainment writer Jeremy Smith said Evans’ greatest “television triumph” occurred in 1981 with “Dynasty,” where she “torched the screen as the fiery Krystle Carrington.”

 

Majors, now 86, was born in Wyandotte, Mich. He was orphaned as a toddler and adopted by an aunt and uncle who raised him in Middlesboro, Ky. Jeremy Smith said Majors “found his ideal role in 1973 as NASA astronaut Col. Steve Austin in ‘The Six Million Dollar Man.’” 

(Majors’ wife at the time, model and actress Farrah Fawcett, made guest appearances in four episodes.)

Time to reveal 2 more great TV Westerns

Continuing the quest to pick the top television Westerns from the 1950s and 1960s, an esteemed panel of critics chose “The Wild Wild West” to round out the “top five” – following those previously mentioned: “Have Gun – Will Travel,” “Wagon Train,” “Rawhide” and “Bonanza.”

 “‘The Wild Wild West’ (1965-69) got wonderfully weird with the Western genre,” commented freelance journalist Meagan Drillinger.

 

“The show has federal government agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) tasked by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant to protect the Southwest” during his years in the White House (1869-77).

 

“West and Gordon travel around the region in a specially designed, private train car loaded with ‘steampunk-esque’ gadgets to help them on their assignments,” Drillinger said. “The duo takes on numerous ‘proto-supervillains,’ with West usually bringing the bare-knuckled action and Gordon as a master of disguise.”

“The most striking thing about ‘The Wild Wild West’ is how much unabashed fun the whole thing is,” often blending elements of science fiction into a Western thriller, Drillinger said.

John Witiw of Movieweb.com said: “Before the Secret Service, there was James West and Artemus Gordon, a gunslinger and inventor, to keep the peace and thwart evil in the rough-and-tumble American West. The series was pitched as ‘James Bond on horseback.’”

Robert Conrad, who was born in Chicago, dropped out of high school at age 15 to work full-time. He loaded trucks for major freight companies and also drove a milk delivery truck. Conrad studied theater arts at Northwestern University, intent on pursuing an acting career.

Conrad’s first role, as such, was to pose outside a Chicago theater where the film “Giant” (1956) was showing, because he bore a resemblance to its lead actor James Dean.

Ross Martin was born in a section of Poland that is now within Ukraine. His European family immigrated to New York City when he was an infant and settled in The Bronx. Martin spoke Polish, Yiddish and some Russian before learning English…and later added French, Spanish and Italian.

Martin graduated from City College of New York and also earned a law degree. He chose a career in acting, however, and broke into the entertainment business as a comedian.

Selected for the sixth slot among “top Westerns” that began airing in the 1950s and 1960s is “Gunsmoke” (1955-75), which was set in the frontier town of Dodge City, Kan., right after the Civil War.

 

“‘Gunsmoke was the longest-running Western in the history of American television (20 seasons and 635 episodes) and one of the longest-running TV dramas of any sort,” wrote Joe Leydon of Cowboys & Indians magazine.

 

“Gunsmoke immediately transformed James Arness into a home-screen superstar for his portrayal of Matt Dillon, the straight-shooting U.S. marshal, but Arness wasn’t the only attraction,” Leydon noted.

 

“He was backed by a colorful array of supporting players – most notably Milburn Stone as the crusty Galen ‘Doc’ Adams, Amanda Blake as saloon owner Miss Kitty Russell, Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis as deputies Chester B. Goode and Festus Haggen, respectively.” 

“And, for three seasons, Burt Reynolds was the town blacksmith Quint Asper.”

 

Most episodes involve disruptions caused by those arriving from outside Dodge City. Since Dillon’s authority extends beyond the town limits, some episodes focus on his travels, while other plots revolve around mishaps occurring while Dillon is gone. (Both deputies are shown to be loyal, but often inept or indecisive at handling problems when Dillon is not around.)

James Arness was born in Minneapolis and was attending Beloit (Wis.) College when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio in 1944, about 35 miles south of Rome, Italy.

Arness was medically evacuated back to the United States. His injuries required several surgeries. He was awarded the Purple Heart and several other military honors and medals.

Following his honorable discharge in 1945, Arness was hired as a radio announcer at WLOL in Minneapolis. He later hitchhiked to Hollywood and made his movie debut in 1947 as Loretta Young’s brother in “The Farmer’s Daughter.”

Milburn Stone of Burrton, Kan., declined a congressional appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1922 to pursue an acting career. He ventured into vaudeville, performing song-and-dance routines. He appeared in several Broadway productions before being cast in Hollywood films in the 1930s.

Amanda Blake, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., was a telephone operator before attending Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., and Brenau Academy in Gainesville, Ga. These experiences were steppingstones to an acting career in Hollywood. 

In the late 1940s, Blake was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as the studio saw her as “its next Greer Garson.”