Famous Faces on "Bat Masterson" (Season One)
This popular American Western television series premiered in 1958 and provided a fictionalized account of the real-life marshal and gambler, Bat Masterson. Watch as as this superbly dressed frontier lawman, generally outfitted in a black suit and derby hat, goes in to action. Bat Masterson was a professional gambler, an Indian fighter, a scout, and a lawman. Always using his cane and wits before resorting to his gun. He roamed the west charming woman and defending the unjustly accused....Here are some of the stars who ran into "the man who became a legend , in his own time!"
List activity
14K views
• 5 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
116 people
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
American character actor and teacher. Born Jewel Guy in Powderly, Kentucky, on July 26, 1926, he was orphaned at three and adopted by Armen and Essa Knowland Best, who renamed him James Knowland Best and raised him in Corydon, Indiana. Following high school he worked briefly as a metalworker before joining the Army during World War II in July 1944. The majority of his service was as an MP in Wiesbaden, Germany just after the end of the war. While still in Germany, Best was transferred to Special Services and began his acting career. According to Best, he first acted in a European tour of "My Sister Eileen" directed by Arthur Penn. Upon his return to the U.S., he toured in road and stock companies in plays and musicals, and was finally spotted by a scout from Universal Pictures, who put him under contract. A handsome young man, his rural inflections perhaps kept him from frequent leading man roles. During the 1950s and '60s, he was a familiar face in movies and television in a wide range of roles, from Western bad guys to craven cowards and country bumpkins. Physical ailments curtailed his work for a long period late in his career, and he established a well-respected acting workshop in Los Angeles. He also served as artist-in-residence at the University of Mississippi, teaching and directing. He worked in both acting and producing capacities for Burt Reynolds on several of the latter's films in the late 1970s, before taking on his greatest commercial success. Although the The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) TV series was far beneath his talents, his role as Sheriff Rosco Coltrane was the part that gave him his greatest fame. He continued teaching, both in Hollywood and later in Florida (at the University of Central Florida). Semi-retired, he makes personal appearances and exhibits his paintings. James Best starred in the 2007 feature film, Moondance Alexander (2007), along with Don Johnson, Lori Loughlin, Kay Panabaker, Sasha Cohen and Whitney Sloan.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 4
'Stampede at Tent City' (29 Oct. 1958)
"Joe Best"- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jacques Aubuchon was born on 30 October 1924 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Silver Chalice (1954), Thunder Road (1958) and Man Against Crime (1949). He was married to Denise Caubisens. He died on 28 December 1991 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959)
"King Henry"- Actor
- Soundtrack
Raymond Bailey was a great example of "If at first you don't succeed..." After high school, Bailey headed for Hollywood with the intent on becoming a movie star, but soon found it tougher than he thought. Instead Bailey went into a high finance career working as stockbroker and banker. He made a second stab at Hollywood, and again had no success. He then became a seaman, working on various freighters and travelling all over the world. Bailey also worked on a pineapple plantation in Hawaii, and tried his luck in the local theatre. Deciding to give Hollywood one more try in 1938, he got lucky getting several small parts in the movies which eventually evolved into bigger character roles. When television became big, Bailey was in demand for parts and it was there he got his most famous part on the hit sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), as (ironically) banker Milburn Drysdale, whose fists were tighter than Elly May's pants. After the show ended, he did a few movie roles.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
'Two Graves for Swan Valley' (15 Oct.1958)
"Tom Noble, Justice of the Peace"- Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Fort Worth, Eve Brent began her career in radio and early television and later moved on to the college and little theater stage. Arriving in Hollywood with a husband and infant son in the 1950s, she landed some film (Gun Girls (1957), Journey to Freedom (1957), The Bride and the Beast (1958)) and episodic TV roles. Maverick director Samuel Fuller changed her name to Eve Brent when she appeared in his western Forty Guns (1957), the first of dozens of screen roles for her under that name. She then played Jane opposite Gordon Scott's Tarzan in Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958) and in episodes of a Tarzan TV series. In addition to her big-screen and episodic TV assignments, Brent has appeared in hundreds of commercials.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 25
Deadline (8 Apr. 1959)
"Lorna Adams" - Actor
- Soundtrack
John Carradine, the son of a reporter/artist and a surgeon, grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended Christ Church School and Graphic Art School, studying sculpture, and afterward roamed the South selling sketches. He made his acting debut in "Camille" in a New Orleans theatre in 1925. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1927, he worked in local theatre. He applied for a job as as scenic designer to Cecil B. DeMille, who rejected his designs but gave him voice work in several films. His on-screen debut was in Tol'able David (1930), billed as Peter Richmond. A protégé and close friend of John Barrymore, Carradine was an extremely prolific film character actor while simultaneously maintaining a stage career in classic leading roles such as Hamlet and Malvolio. In his later years he was typed as a horror star, putting in appearances in many low- and ultra-low-budget horror films. He was a member of the group of actors often used by director John Ford that became known as "The John Ford Stock Company". John Carradine died at age 82 of natural causes on November 27, 1988.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 23
The Tumbleweed Wagon (25 Mar. 1959)
"Sheriff Vince Morgan"- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Robert Conrad was a graduate of Northwestern University, spending his first few years out of school supporting himself and his family by driving a milk truck and singing in a Chicago cabaret. Conrad befriended up-and-coming actor Nick Adams during this period, and it was Adams who helped Conrad get his first Hollywood work in 1957. A few movie bit parts later, Conrad was signed for a comparative pittance by Warner Bros. studios, and in 1959 was cast as detective Tom Lopaka on the weekly adventure series Hawaiian Eye. Upon the 1963 cancellation of this series, Conrad made a handful of Spanish and American films and toured with a nightclub act in Australia and Mexico City. Cast as frontier secret agent James West in The Wild Wild West (1965) in 1965, Conrad brought home $5000 a week during the series' first season and enjoyed increasing remunerations as West remained on the air until 1969. There are those who insist that Wild Wild West would have been colorless without the co-starring presence of Ross Martin, an opinion with which Conrad has always agreed. The actor's bid to star in a 1970 series based on the venerable Nick Carter pulp stories got no further than a pilot episode, while the Jack Webb-produced 1971 Robert Conrad series The D.A. was canceled after 13 episodes. When Roy Scheider pulled out of the 1972 adventure weekly Assignment: Vienna, Conrad stepped in--and was out, along with the rest of Assignment: Vienna, by June of 1973. Conrad had better luck with 1976's Baa Baa Black Sheep, aka Black Sheep Squadron, a popular series based on the World War II exploits of Major "Pappy" Boyington. Cast as a nurse on this series was Conrad's daughter Nancy, setting a precedent for nepotism that the actor practiced as late as his tenth TV series, 1989's Jesse Hawkes, wherein Conrad co-starred with his sons Christian and Shane.
Though few of his series have survived past season one, Conrad has enjoyed success as a commercial spokesman and in the role of G. Gordon Liddy (whom the actor admired) in the 1982 TV movie Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982). As can be gathered from the Liddy assignment, Conrad's politics veered towards conservatism; in 1981, he and Charlton Heston were instrumental in toppling Ed Asner and his liberal contingent from power in the Screen Actors Guild.
As virile and athletic as ever in the 1990s, Robert Conrad continued to appear in action roles both on TV and in films; he also maintained strong ties with his hometown of Chicago, and could be counted on to show up at a moment's notice as a guest on the various all-night programs of Chicago radio personality Eddie Schwartz.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
"Juanito" (uncredited)- Actor
- Director
- Producer
William Conrad became a television star relatively late in his career. In fact, the former Army Air Corps World War II fighter pilot began his screen career playing heavies. He was Max, one of The Killers (1946) hired to finish off Burt Lancaster in his dingy lodgings. He was the corrupt state inspector Turck working for the syndicate in The Racket (1951). He was a mobster in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), the murderous gunslinger Tallman in Johnny Concho (1956) and sleazy nightclub owner Louie Castro who claimed to be 60% legitimate in Cry Danger (1951).
When not essaying outright villainy, Bill played characters like the tough fight promoter Quinn in Body and Soul (1947) or the doom-laden province commissioner in The Naked Jungle (1954). The portly, balding, crumple-faced, self-confessed gourmand had an ever-present weight problem (at one time 260 lbs.) which proved to be a natural obstacle to progressing to more substantial leading film roles. That, however, didn't hinder a very successful career in radio. In fact, Bill himself estimated that he had played in excess of 7,000 radio parts. Even if that was an exaggeration, his gravelly, resonant voice was certainly heard on countless broadcasts from "Buck Rogers" to "The Bullwinkle Show," from portraying Marshall Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke" on the radio (before James Arness got the part on screen) to narrating the adventures of Richard Kimball in the television program The Fugitive (1963). In "The Wax Works," an episode of the anthology series Suspense (1949) in 1956, he voiced each and every part.
Since his corpulence effectively precluded playing strapping characters like Matt Dillon, Bill began to concentrate on directing and producing by the early 1960's. This, ironically, included episodes of Gunsmoke (1955). In 1963, he contributed to saving 77 Sunset Strip (1958) for yet another season. Later in the decade, he produced and directed several films for Warner Brothers, including the thriller Brainstorm (1965) with Jeffrey Hunter and Anne Francis. He returned to acting in 1971 to become the unlikely star of the Quinn Martin production Cannon (1971), for which he is chiefly remembered. Bill imbued the tough-talking, no-nonsense character of Frank Cannon with enough humanity and wit to make the series compelling but, despite the show's popularity, he made his views clear in a 1976 Times interview that he found himself poorly served by the scripts he had been given. A planned sequel, The Return of Frank Cannon (1980) failed to get beyond the movie-length pilot, but the actor's popularity resulted in another starring role in Jake and the Fatman (1987) as District Attorney McCabe, co-starring with Joe Penny) and a brief run as eccentric detective Nero Wolfe (1981). A self-effacing man with a good sense of humor and never afraid to speak his mind, Bill Conrad died of heart failure in February 1994. He was elected to the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and (posthumously) to the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 4
'Stampede at Tent City' (29 Oct. 1958)
"Clark Benson"- Actor
- Soundtrack
Although this pint-sized actor started out in films often in innocuous college-student roles in mid-30s rah-rahs, playing alongside the likes of a pretty Gloria Stuart or a young, pre-"Oz" Judy Garland, casting directors would soon enough discover his flair for portraying intense neurotics or spineless double-dealers. Thus was he graduated from the innocuous to the noxious. In Warners' They Won't Forget (1937), for example, he plays the role of a student whose social engagement with a young Lana Turner, debuting here in a featured role, seems to have been broken by her whereas, possibly unbeknownst to him, she has quite mysteriously been murdered. Cook becomes so enraged, venting such venom, that the movie audience can only look upon him as a prime suspect in Lana's demise. In Universal's Phantom Lady (1944), he portrays a nightclub-orchestra drummer who, under the intoxicating influence of some substance or other, encounters Ella Raines during an afternoon's band practice. Thoroughly taken with her slinky allure, he enacts a drum-solo piece that is of such crescendo, and played with such innuendo, as to suggest - glaringly - nothing except his own fantasized sexual journey from cymbal foreplay through bass-drum climax.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
'Double Showdown' (8 Oct. 1958)
"Pete Sheeley" (as Elisha Cook)- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Broderick Crawford is best remembered for two roles: his Oscar-winning turn as Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) and as Chief Dan Mathews on the syndicated TV series Highway Patrol (1955). He was also memorable as Judy Holliday's vulgar partner in Born Yesterday (1950), roles both actors had originated on Broadway to great acclaim.
He was born William Broderick Crawford on December 9, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to vaudeville performers Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick. His mother had a brief movie career acting in Hollywood comedies. Broderick Crawford, large and burly, was no one's idea of a leading man due to his rough-and-tumble looks, but he broke through playing John Steinbeck's simple-minded giant Lenny in the Broadway adaptation of Steinbeck's novella "Of Mice and Men". After this Broadway success, Crawford moved to Hollywood and made his cinema debut in the comedy Woman Chases Man (1937), in a supporting role to stars Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins. When producer-director Lewis Milestone was casting the movie version of Steinbeck's classic (Of Mice and Men (1939)), he passed over Crawford and selected Lon Chaney Jr. to play Lenny.
After many supporting roles (including a memorable turn as a big but kindhearted lug in the comedy Larceny, Inc (1942)) and a stint in the military during World War II, Crawford had his breakthrough role in Robert Rossen's adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "All the King's Men". Crawford gave a masterly performance as the southern U.S. politician based on Louisiana's Huey Long. In addition to the Oscar, he also won the New York Film Critics' Award for Best Actor. All the King's Men (1949) was a hit, as was Born Yesterday (1950). (Crawford had also played the role on Broadway, succeeding Paul Douglas, who originated the role.) However, Crawford soon after became typecast as crude or brutish.
Five years after copping the Academy Award, TV producer Frederick W. Ziv hired Crawford to play the lead role in his syndicated police drama "Highway Patrol". The show ran for four seasons. Crawford's career, moribund in the early 1950s, revived, but he generally eschewed the big screen, preferring television, for the remainder of his career. He continued to act almost up until his death in Rancho Mirage, California, on April 26, 1986, at age 74, following a series of strokes.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
'Two Graves for Swan Valley' (15 Oct. 1958)
"Sgt. Foley "- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dublin-born Audrey Dalton knew right from childhood that she wanted to be an actress: She appeared in school plays and (after the family's move to London) applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. While Dalton was at RADA, a London-based Paramount executive saw her in a play and asked her to audition for the upcoming film The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953). Winning the part (and a Paramount contract), Dalton arrived in the U.S. in 1952 and co-starred in "Pleasure Island"; the studio loaned her out to 20th Century-Fox for My Cousin Rachel (1952) and Titanic (1953). Dalton later freelanced, working in films and on TV. Her first husband was assistant director James H. Brown, who is the father of her four children; she is now married to a retired engineer.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 9
The Treasure of Worry Hill (3 Dec. 1958)
"Abigail Feather"- Actress
- Additional Crew
Patricia Donahue was born on 6 March 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Wide World of Mystery (1973), Thriller (1973) and Department S (1969). She was married to Euan Lloyd, Sam Donahue and George Gerald Homer Hogan. She died on 11 June 2012 in the USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 6
'Bear Bait' (12 Nov. 1958)
"Joyce Howell"- Actor
- Writer
- Stunts
Don Eitner was born on 29 November 1934 in San Marino, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Sofi (1968), Kronos (1957) and Queen of Blood (1966). He was married to Sonja Haney. He died on 9 March 2018 in Burbank, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
Stagecoach Driver- Born in Birmingham, Alabama, to Episcopal minister Robert Fletcher and his wife Estelle, both of whom were deaf, Louise Fletcher was introduced to performing at a young age by the aunt who taught her to speak. After graduating from the University of North Carolina, she took a trip out west with her roommates, finding herself in Los Angeles without enough money to return home. She took a temporary job as a receptionist and signed up for acting classes at night. Soon she was working regularly in television and film, but after marrying producer Jerry Bick and having two sons, the actress took a long hiatus to raise her children.
Returning to work in 1974 in Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us (1974), Fletcher came to the attention of director Milos Forman, who was casting the difficult role of the nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). She won the role -- and then the Academy Award -- portraying deadly, inflexible Nurse Ratched, who has since become a cultural icon. Numerous film roles followed, including co-starring turns with Peter Falk in The Cheap Detective (1978) and with Richard Burton in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). Fletcher has appeared in a number of science fiction and horror classics such as Firestarter (1984), Brainstorm (1983), and Flowers in the Attic (1987).
Though she earned an Emmy Award nomination for her recurring role on Picket Fences (1992), Fletcher is perhaps best known to recent television audiences as Kai Winn from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and as Nora Bloom from the cult classic VR.5 (1995).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 10
Cheyenne Club (17 Dec. 1958)
"Sarah Lou Conant" - Tall, dark, and handsome, Reed Hadley appeared most frequently as either a villain or as an officer of the law during a film career of 35 years. His rich, bass voice was also frequently heard as narrator for movies and documentaries. He may be best remembered for his work in television, where he starred in Racket Squad (1950) and Public Defender (1954). Other highlights of his career include playing the title character in "Red Ryder" on the radio and "Zorro" in the Republic serial, Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 3
'Dynamite Blows Two Ways' (22 Oct. 1958)
"Raoul Cummings" - Actor
- Soundtrack
The son of the great character actor (and Errol Flynn sidekick) Alan Hale, Alan Hale Jr. (he dropped the Jr. after his father passed away) was literally born into the movies. Hale did his first movie as a baby and continued to act until his death. Unlike other child actors, Hale made a smooth transition in the movies and starred in several classics like Up Periscope (1959), The Lady Takes a Flyer (1958) and The West Point Story (1950), as well as many westerns. He did many television guest appearances as well before getting his role as Skipper Jonas Grumby on the cult comedy Gilligan's Island (1964). After the sitcom went off the air, Hale continued to act and even teamed up with Gilligan co-star Bob Denver in The Good Guys (1968), a CBS-TV comedy that lasted only two years. After that ended, Hale keep busy acting in guest appearances and maintained his business interests which included a restaurant and travel agency. On January 2, 1990, Alan Hale Jr. died at age 68 of thymus cancer at St. Vincent Medical Center (SVMC) in Los Angeles, California. Upon his death, his remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
"Bailey Harper" (as Alan Hale)- Internationally-known actor Brett Halsey, one of Hollywood's busiest and handsomest actors of the mid-to-late '50s and early '60s, was born Charles Oliver Hand to a builder/contractor in Santa Ana, California on June 20, 1933. Interested in performing from childhood (he appeared in local community and church plays), the young man found a modest "in" when he was hired as a teenage page at CBS Television studios. A chance meeting with the legendary Jack Benny and wife Mary Livingstone who taped "The Jack Benny Show" at CBS led to his being accepted to study at Universal-International's training school that also included at the time future Universal stars Clint Eastwood and David Janssen. These intense studies eventually led to a contract offered by the studio.
Before deciding to pursue acting full time, the young teenager joined the Navy and enjoyed a brief stint as a deejay. Once signed with Universal, the studio decided to take advantage of Brett's esteemed ancestry (as the nephew of famed WWII Admiral William "Bull" Halsey) and changed the young nascent actor's stage name to the more marquee-friendly "Brett Halsey." He gained extensive experience apprenticing in a string of Universal bit parts, glimpsed in such standard filming as Walking My Baby Back Home (1953), The Man from the Alamo (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954) (as one of the young Kettle brood), Revenge of the Creature (1955) (as a victim) and _The Girl He Left Behind (1956). Eventually Brett's camera-worthy dark-haired good looks, penetrating blue eyes and earnest 'matinee idol' demeanor found their way front-and-center on TV drama ("Brave Eagle," "Mackenzie's Raiders," "Gunsmoke," "Perry Mason," "Highway Patrol," Harbor Command" and "Sea Hunt").
In the late 1950s, Brett increased his cinematic visibility with the growing interest of low budget "juvenile delinquent" films. Several of Brett's features, such as _Hot Rod Rumble (1957) with 'Leigh Snowden', Roger Corman's cult classic The Cry Baby Killer (1958) with Jack Nicholson, High School Hellcats (1958) and _Speed Crazy (1959), the last two co-starring Yvonne Lime, have since attained camp and/or cult status. He ended that series of filming with The Girl in Lovers Lane (1960) with Joyce Meadows.
Keeping in step with the then-popular trend of showcasing cool, hunky "beefcake" talent in TV adventure series with interesting or exotic locales, such as when Edd Byrnes combed his way to teen idol status on "77 Sunset Strip," Van Williams and Troy Donahue checked into "Surfside Six" and Robert Conrad spruced up "Hawaiian Eye," Brett fell into a co-starring role with Barry Coe, Gary Lockwood and former child star Gigi Perreau in the one-season adventure series Follow the Sun (1961), as a free-lance magazine writer looking for action in Honolulu. For his work, he earned a Golden Globe Award for "New Star of the Year".
Following co-star/featured work in the war films To Hell and Back (1955), The Last Blitzkrieg (1958)_ and Jet Over the Atlantic (1959), the sci-fi thrillers Return of the Fly (1959) (with Vincent Price) and The Atomic Submarine (1959), the large-scale ensemble sudsers The Best of Everything (1959) and Return to Peyton Place (1961)_, the crime drama Desire in the Dust (1960) and the horror opus Twice-Told Tales (1963), the 28-year-old Brett decided to follow a number of other young vital and promising American actors who wished to take advantage of career opportunities opening up overseas in Italy. What was originally a one-time acting job in Italy led to a decade-long stay in films. Often billed as "Montgomery Ford," Brett starred as several sword-and-sandal type heroes in including the spectacles Le sette spade del vendicatore (1962) [The Seventh Sword], Il magnifico avventuriero (1963) [The Magnificent Adventurer] and The Avenger of Venice (1964) [The Avenger of Venice]. He also settled comfortably into the fashionable international spy, "spaghetti" western and giallo genres with a slew of work including Spy in Your Eye (1965) [Spy in Your Eye], Espionage in Lisbon (1965) [Espionage in Lisbon], The Hour of Truth (1965) [The Hour of Truth], Uccidete Johnny Ringo (1966) [Johnny Ringo], Der Kongreß amüsiert sich (1966) [Congress of Love], Web of Violence (1966) [Web of Violence], Bang Bang (1967), Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die! (1968) [Today We Kill...Tomorrow We Die], Tutto sul rosso (1968) [All on the Red], Wrath of God (1968) [Wrath of God], Twenty Thousand Dollars for Seven (1969) [Twenty Thousand Dollars for Seven], Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (1970) and Four Times That Night (1971) [Four Times That Night].
In the early 1970s, Brett returned to the United States and planted himself squarely into TV work again, particularly in daytime drama. He appeared with regularity on General Hospital (1963), Search for Tomorrow (1951), Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1967), and, his last, a two-year stint (1980-82) on The Young and the Restless (1973). Halsey continued sporadically in films as well, such as the comedy Where Does It Hurt? (1972) starring Peter Sellers, Ratboy (1986), The Godfather Part III (1990) and Beyond Justice (1991), while also finding steady work on the small screen - "Alias Smith and Jones," "Toma," "The Love Boat," "The Bionic Woman," "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island," "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," "Columbo," "Matt Houston" and "Cagney & Lacey".
At age 80+, the stalwart character actor continues to be seen from time to time with recent roles in the films Hierarchy (2009), The Scarlet Worm (2011), Club Utopia (2013) (in which he held a leading role), and Risk Factor (2015). Also known at one time as a film acting teacher, Halsey also writes novels ("The Magnificent Strangers") and screenplays while making occasional guest appearances at film festivals. One biography: "Brett Halsey: Art or Instinct in the Movies," which chronicles the actor's prolific career, was published in 2008. At various times, he has lived out of the country in Costa Rica, Canada and Italy.
Brett is the father of five children. In 1954, he married imported Universal starlet Renate Hoy, an actress who won the "Miss Germany" beauty contest that same year. Together they had two children, the late Charles Oliver Hand, Jr. (a.k.a. punk rock performer "Rock Halsey" and/or "Rock Bottom") and Tracy Leigh. The couple divorced five years later. His second marriage (1960-1962) to exotic James Bond ("Thunderball") vixen Luciana Paluzzi, an Italian beauty, produced son Christian, who is a producer ("American Psycho"). Halsey and Paluzzi co-starred in Return to Peyton Place (1961) during their brief union. A third union (1964-1976) to German actress Heidi Brühl, best known here for her US role in the 1975 Clint Eastwood film "The Eiger Sanction," produced two more children: Clayton, a TV video editor ("Big Brother"), and Nicole. Halsey is presently wed to Victoria Korda, granddaughter of British filmmaker Alexander Korda.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959)
"Kyle Henderson" - Peter Hansen was born on 5 December 1921 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for General Hospital (1963), The War of the Roses (1989) and When Worlds Collide (1951). He was married to Florence Elizabeth (Betty) Moe. He died on 9 April 2017 in Santa Clarita, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 14
Election Day (14 Jan. 1959)
"Teddy Wright" (as Peter Hanson) - Anyone who loves B-movies of the 1950s appreciates this lovely actress Allison Hayes. She was born Mary Jane Hayes on March 6, 1930 in Charleston, West Virginia. The auburn-haired beauty was the 1949 Washington, D.C. entry into the Miss America pageant. Shortly afterwards, Mary Jane adopted the familiar first name of Allison. She got her start on local Washington television before heading to Hollywood in the early 1950s. Allison began her career with Universal Pictures; the studio groomed her, but only on the path of B-movies. In her film debut, Francis Joins the WACS (1954), she was a supporting actress to the speaking mule, which had the title role. She played the devilishly alluring "Livia" in The Undead (1957), and co-starred with B-movie legend Tor Johnson in The Unearthly (1957).
Allison achieved film immortality in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958), in which she tore the roof off the place, and killed rival Yvette Vickers. After that, Allison was a staple in classic B-grade horror films. She was in the exploitation classic The Hypnotic Eye (1960), which had a trailer showing an alleged hypnotist mesmerizing a volunteer as he stuck long needles in her arms (this was some of the typical ballyhoo going on at the time). However, Allison was a versatile actress; she did drama very well, as when she guest-starred on the television series The Untouchables (1959), in the highly-rated episode, The Rusty Heller Story (1960).
Allison had a flair for comedy, which she demonstrated when she appeared in the Dean Martin film, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963). Her last film appearance was with "The King", himself, Elvis Presley in Tickle Me (1965), with a hilarious script by the legendary writer Elwood Ullman. However, Allison's health declined steadily throughout the 1960s. Her death on February 27, 1977 was due either to leukemia or lead poisoning (due to doctor-prescribed calcium supplements). Allison Hayes died far too young; her fans will forever remember her legacy in films."Ellie Winters"
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (26 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959) - Allen Jaffe was born on 9 April 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Papillon (1973), Circle of Fear (1972) and The Outer Limits (1963). He was married to Jeri K. Decker. He died on 18 March 1989 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
"Indian Guard" (uncredited) - Music Artist
- Actor
- Soundtrack
George Jones was born on 12 September 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Ad Astra (2019), Only the Brave (2017) and Crazy Heart (2009). He was married to Nancy Sepulveda, Tammy Wynette, Shirley Ann Corley and Dorothy Bonvillion. He died on 26 April 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 7
A Noose Fits Anybody (19 Nov. 1958)
"Joe - 2nd Bartender" (as George C. Jones)- Actor
- Soundtrack
American character actor specializing in tough guys and heavies. A native of Yonkers, New York. He worked on the Broadway stage and then became an increasingly familiar figure in Westerns and crime dramas, after World War II. Although almost as familiar a presence in films as his contemporaries Warren Oates, Robert J. Wilke, and Leo Gordon, for some reason Lambert never became as well-known, despite having appeared in a great number of similar roles and films. His credits are often confused with those of the Scottish actor of the same name, Jack Lambert.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 22
Incident in Leadville (18 Mar. 1959)
"King Fisher"- If ever there was an actor born to play a tough Irish cop, it was Ken Lynch, and he played so many of them in his long career that he could probably do it in his sleep. His suspicious manner, aggressive attitude, steely eyes and snarling voice broke down many a quavering suspect. He also played military officers, business executives and private eyes, and every so often he'd be a sheriff in a western, but it was as a street cop or detective that most people remember him.
Born in Albany, NY, he started his acting career in radio dramas, and after gaining experience there he headed to Los Angeles, making his film debut in 1950. He appeared in quite a few movies over his career, but he also did an enormous amount of television work, and that's where most probably remember seeing him, as he turned up on pretty much every cop show, detective show and private-eye series ever made (he even showed up in an episode of the Jackie Gleason comedy series The Honeymooners (1955)--as a tough Irish detective!).
He died in 1990 in Burbank, CA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 25
Deadline (8 Apr. 1959)
"Tim Minto" - Actress
- Soundtrack
She was born Adelaide Delgado on August 28, 1923 (some references list 1925) to Spanish-speaking parents. The future Adela Mara began dances lesson at age 6 and was discovered as a young teenager by the legendary Xavier Cugat. Singing and dancing with his in the Detroit area, Cugat took the beautiful, brown-eyed brunette to New York where she performed in his shows at such esteemed clubs as the Copacabana.
While touring as a singer/dancer, she was spotted in Florida by a Columbia talent scout and signed to a Hollywood contract in 1942 at age 19. Starting off in bit exotic roles in such films as Honolulu Lu (1941), she quickly grew to alluring co-starring status opposite top banana Glynis Ahearn in Shut My Big Mouth (1942). There continued playing brisk leading ladies in a series of standard, uneventful "B" films including Vengeance of the West (1942) with Tex Ritter and Alias Boston Blackie (1942) starring Chester Morris.
A couple of years later she was transformed into a sexy platinum blonde pin-up after signing with Republic Studios and kept herself quite busy predominantly cast as senorita-types opposite cowboy stars Roy Rogers in Bells of Rosarita (1945) and Gene Autry in Twilight on the Rio Grande (1947). She was also fetching fodder in crime dramas including Blackmail (1947) and Web of Danger (1947) and a pleasant diversion in adventure pictures such as Wake of the Red Witch (1948) with John Wayne and The Avengers (1950).
Arguably Adele's best parts would come with Angel in Exile (1948) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), the latter again starring Duke Wayne. Seldom was she given the chance to capitalize on her acting talents, however, and her film career waned in the mid 1950s. Her last screen appearance would be in The Big Circus (1959) with Victor Mature. Adele subsequently moved into TV and was featured in a number of guest spots, primarily in westerns. She eventually abandoned her career and settled down to raise her three sons from her 1952 marriage to TV mogul Roy Huggins who produced many hit shows including 77 Sunset Strip (1958) and Maverick (1957). On a rare occasion, she would appear as a guest in one of his efforts, including an episode of the TV series Cool Million (1972).
Huggins died in 2002 and Adele passed away eight years later of natural causes in Los Angeles on May 7, 2010. The 87-year-old actress was interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
Double Showdown (8 Oct. 1958)
"Maria Costa"- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Born in Grodek, Poland, Ross Martin grew up on New York City's Lower East Side. He spoke Yiddish, Polish, and Russian before even learning English and later added French, Spanish, and Italian to his amazing repertoire.
Despite academic training (and receiving honors in) business, instruction, and law, M. Martin chose a career of acting. His first film was the George Pal production Conquest of Space (1955). Soon after, he caught the eye of Blake Edwards who cast him in a number of widely varied roles, culminating with a fantastic part in The Great Race (1965).
Ross somehow managed a series in between, the short-lived Mr. Lucky (1959). With the release of The Great Race (1965), CBS cast him in what was to become his most famous part, Secret Service agent Artemus Gordon in The Wild Wild West (1965), opposite Robert Conrad. Perhaps the show's cancellation in 1969 was for the best - he suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1968.
Afraid to take the risk of having a lead actor with a heart condition, the networks snubbed him with regards to a lead role, yet he appeared as a guest star in an amazing number of programs, not all dramatic masterpieces. Yet Ross loved to act, and took every role which came his way. Ross Martin collapsed while playing tennis, the heart condition finally taking its toll on July 3rd, 1981.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 9
The Treasure of Worry Hill (3 Dec. 1958)
"Caulder Larson"- A dark-haired, durably handsome and dependable cowboy actor equipped with a strong stance and taciturn seriousness both on and off camera, Dennis Moore was cast as both hero and villain in his three-decade-long career. A player in well over 200 "B"-level oaters and serials during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Moore never reached the rugged heights of top-flight stardom but did manage to find steady employment until only a few years before his death at age 56.
Moore was born Dennis Price Meadows on January 26, 1908, in Fort Worth, TX, the son of Texas-born Dennis Wesley Meadows and Tennessee-born Bessie Bebe Price Meadows. His initial interest in show business may have been sparked while employed as an usher at a movie theater. He eventually learned the tools of the trade performing on the dramatic stage in Texas and in stock companies in the early 1930s. His film career began in 1932 with uncredited appearances for a time in a variety of cliffhangers and westerns as various henchmen and cowhands, and he even worked as a stuntman on occasion. Billed first as Denny Meadows, he changed his stage name to the more catchy, marquee-friendly Dennis Moore by 1936, and legally changed his last name to Moore in the early 1950s. An avid flyer (he was once a transport pilot and flight instructor), a few of his roles reflected this passion. He played a pilot in the Tailspin Tommy (1934) serial and, while signed at Warner Brothers for a time, played Humphrey Bogart's flight engineer in China Clipper (1936).
By the 1940s he was freelancing at various minor studios and was occasionally given the action lead, such as in Fangs of the Wild (1939). He also appeared opposite stalwart cowboys Gene Autry, Buster Crabbe and Buck Jones, among others, and was seen in both the "Three Mesquiteers" and "Rough Riders" series.
Moore hit his peak in films during WW II when many of the big stars had enlisted or been drafted into the military (serious injuries incurred in a plane crash rendered him ineligible for military service). During this productive period he co-starred with Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune in the "Range Buster" series at Monogram Pictures and then co-starred with Tex Ritter and Jimmy Wakely in some of their popular western entries. He also was front and center in the Raiders of Ghost City (1944) and The Purple Monster Strikes (1945) serials, among others.
In mid-career, Moore turned from granite-jawed heroes to black-hatted bad guys and henchmen in many "Poverty Row" westerns, yet still snagged a couple of leads and co-leads in serials every now and then, including Perils of the Wilderness (1956) and Blazing the Overland Trail (1956). He also was seen quite frequently on TV western series (Tombstone Territory (1957), Sky King (1951), The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954), Bat Masterson (1958)) in standard guest spots. One of his last was a recurring part in Disney's The New Adventures of Spin and Marty (1957) on the "Mickey Mouse Club" series. He pretty much hung up his gun belt shortly thereafter.
A highly private man who was considered a loner by nature, little is known about his private life. He was married more than once, perhaps up to four times according to surviving relatives. His final marriage, in 1947 to Marilyn Mason, produced one daughter, Linda, and lasted until his death. He subsequently moved to Big Bear Lake, CA, where he operated a gift shop for the last few years of his life. He died on March 1, 1964, at age 56 of rheumatic heart disease combined with circulatory problems.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
Tim Clovis - Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
American actor who had early success as a sunny juvenile, but whose career declined following World War II, in which he was a highly-decorated hero. A native of Los Angeles, Morris played football at Los Angeles Junior College, then worked as a forest ranger. Returning to school, he studied acting at Los Angeles Junior College and at the acclaimed Pasadena Playhouse. A Warner Bros. talent scout spotted him at the Playhouse and he signed with the studio in 1936. Blond and open-faced, he was a perfect type for boy-next-door parts and within a year had made a success in the title role of Kid Galahad (1937). While filming Flight Angels (1940), Morris became interested in flying and became a pilot. With war in the wind, he joined the Naval Reserve and became a Navy flier in 1942, leaving his film career behind for the duration of the war. Assigned to the carrier Essex in the Pacific, Morris shot down seven Japanese planes and contributed to the sinking of five ships. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. Following the war, Morris returned to films, but his nearly four-year absence had cost him his burgeoning stardom. He continued to topline movies, but the pictures, for the most part, sank in quality. Losing his boyish looks but not demeanor, Morris spent most of the Fifties in low-budget Westerns. A wonderful performance as a weakling in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) might have given impetus to a new career as a character actor, had Morris lived. However, he suffered a massive heart attack while visiting aboard the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard in San Francisco Bay and was pronounced dead after being transported to Oakland Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He was 45. His last film was not released until two years after his death.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 20
Battle of the Pass (25 Feb. 1959)
"Mace Pomeroy"- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Conrad Nagel was born on 16 March 1897 in Keokuk, Iowa, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Ship from Shanghai (1930), Quality Street (1927) and Kongo (1932). He was married to Michael Coulson Smith, Lynn Merrick and Ruth Helms. He died on 24 February 1970 in New York City, New York, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
"Harry Varden"- Actor
- Special Effects
- Producer
Ed Nelson was aiming for a career in the legal profession until he caught the acting bug during his second year of college. In 1952, he headed off to New York City, where he studied direction and production at the School of Radio Technique. He returned to his native New Orleans where he worked as an assistant director at WDSU-TV; he also narrated (and sometimes wrote) episodes of the New Orleans-made TV series N.O.P.D. (1955) with Stacy Harris. Nelson made the acquaintance of Roger Corman when the maverick movie-maker came to Louisiana to shoot the feature Swamp Women (1956); Nelson says he did "everything" on the picture, from playing a part and working as a location manager to wrestling an alligator(!). Nelson worked in many other Corman movies on Corman's Hollywood home turf, including Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), where Nelson played the crab. In later years, Nelson became one of TV's hottest stars via the nighttime soap opera Peyton Place (1964).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 21
Marked Deck (11 Mar. 1959)
"Jedrow"- Director
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Gene Nelson was barely a teen when he saw the Fred Astaire movie Flying Down to Rio (1933), which would change his life. It was then that he decided he would be a dancer. After graduating from high school, Nelson joined the Sonja Henie Ice Show and toured for 3 years before joining the Army in World War II. After he was discharged, he appeared in a handful of movies before 1950. He worked with Debbie Reynolds in The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950), Doris Day in Tea for Two (1950) and Virginia Mayo in She's Working Her Way Through College (1952). He would be best known for his role of cowboy Will Parker in Oklahoma! (1955), where he would twirl the lasso to the tune of "Kansas City".
After his dancing days ended he turned to directing TV and films, including two Elvis Presley movies, Kissin' Cousins (1964) and Harum Scarum (1965). For television he directed episodes of I Dream of Jeannie (1965), Star Trek (1966), The Rifleman (1958), The Donna Reed Show (1958) and many others.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 24
Brunette Bombshell (1 Apr. 1959)
"Police Commissioner Whit Morrison"- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Forever and fondly remembered as Don Adams' foil on the popular Mel Brooks/Buck Henry spy series Get Smart (1965), character actor Ed Platt (also billed as Edward C. Platt) had been around for two decades prior to copping that rare comedy role. Born in Staten Island, New York, on Valentine's Day, 1916, he inherited an appreciation of music on his mother's side. He spent a part of his childhood in Kentucky and in upstate New York where he attended Northwood, a private school in Lake Placid, and was a member of the ski jump team. He majored in romantic languages at Princeton University but left a year later to study at the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati after his thoughts turned to a possible operatic career. He later was accepted into Juilliard.
Instead of opera, however, Ed first became a band vocalist with Paul Whiteman and Orchestra. He then sang bass as part of the Mozart Opera Company in New York. With the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company in 1942, he appeared in the operettas "The Mikado," "The Gondoliers" and "The Pirates of Penzance".
WWII interrupted his early career. Ed served as a radio operator with the army and would find himself on radio again in the post-war years where his deep, resonant voice proved ideal. A number of musical comedy roles also came his way again. In 1947, he made it to Broadway with the musical "Allegro." Star José Ferrer took an interest in Ed while they both were appearing in "The Shrike" on Broadway in 1952.
Around 1953, Edward moved to Texas to be near his brother and began anchoring the local news and kiddie birthday party show called "Uncle Eddie's Kiddie Party." Ferrer remembered Platt and invited him to Hollywood where Ferrer was starring in the film version of The Shrike (1955). Ed recreated his stage role. He also earned fine notices as James Dean's understanding juvenile officer in the classic film Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
This led to a plethora of film and TV support offers where the balding actor made fine use of his dark, rich voice, stern intensity and pragmatic air, portraying a slew of professional and shady types in crime yarns, soap dramas and war pictures -- everything from principals and prosecutors to mobsters and murderers.
After years of playing it serious, which included stints on the daytime drama General Hospital (1963), Ed finally was able to focus on comedy as "The Chief" to Don Adams klutzy secret agent on Get Smart (1965), a show that inevitably found a cult audience. Picking up a few occasional guest spots in its aftermath, he later tried producing.
Twice married and the father of four, Platt died on March 19, 1974. Death was attributed to a massive heart attack at the time. Years later his son revealed that his father, suffering from acute depression and undergoing severe financial pressures, committed suicide at his Santa Monica, California apartment.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 22
Incident in Leadville (18 Mar. 1959)
"Roy Evans"- Actor
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
A rather wanderlust fellow before he latched onto acting, Denver Pyle--who made a career of playing drawling, somewhat slow Southern types--was actually born in Colorado in 1920, to a farming family. He attended a university for a time but dropped out to become a drummer. When that didn't pan out he drifted from job to job, doing everything from working the oil fields in Oklahoma to the shrimp boats in Texas. In 1940 he moseyed off to Los Angeles and briefly found employment as a (somewhat unlikely) NBC page. That particular career was interrupted by World War II, and Pyle enlisted in the navy. Wounded in the battle of Guadalcanal, he received a medical discharge in 1943. Working for an aircraft plant in Los Angeles as a riveter, the rangy actor was introduced to the entertainment field after receiving a role in an amateur theater production and getting spotted by a talent scout. Training with such renowned teachers as Maria Ouspenskaya and Michael Chekhov, he made his film debut in The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947). Pyle went on to roles in hundreds of film and TV parts, bringing a touch of Western authenticity to many of his roles. A minor villain or sidekick in the early 1950s, he often received no billing. Prematurely white-haired (a family trait), he became a familiar face on episodes of Gunsmoke (1955) and Bonanza (1959) and also developed a close association with actor John Wayne, appearing in many of Wayne's later films, including The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Alamo (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973). Pyle's more important movie roles came late in his career. One of his most memorable was in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) as Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, the handcuffed hostage of the duo, who spits in Bonnie's (Faye Dunaway) face after she coyly poses with him for a camera shot. He settled easily into hillbilly/mountain men types in his later years and became a household face for his crotchety presence in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1977) and, especially, The Dukes of Hazzard (1979). He died of lung cancer at age 77.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 21
Marked Deck (11 Mar. 1959)
"Dan Morgan"- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Kasey Rogers was born Josie Imogene Rogers in Morehouse, Missouri, to Ina Mae (Mocabee) and Eben Elijah Rogers. She moved with her family to California at age two and a half. She got the nickname "Casey" when her neighborhood playmates discovered how well she handled a baseball bat ("I could hit a baseball farther than anybody in grammar school except Robert Lewis - he and I were always the opposing captains of the sixth grade baseball teams!"); she later changed the "C" in "Casey" to a "K". Paramount changed her name to Laura Elliott during her late 1940s-early '50s stint there, but she went back to Kasey Rogers soon after leaving that studio. Twice-married and the mother of four (and a grandmother), Rogers turned her talents to writing and development, including the proposed new TV series Son of a Witch.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
Two Graves for Swan Valley (15 Oct. 1958)
"Hotel Owner"
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 14
Election Day (14 Jan. 1959)
"Kitty Meadows"- Actor
- Soundtrack
Johnny Silver was born on 16 April 1918 in Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Guys and Dolls (1955), Spaceballs (1987) and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). He was married to Gloria Manos. He died on 1 February 2003 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
"Drummer"- Fay Spain was was your typical B-movie drive-in bad girl - sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette, always bodacious. A tease, a taunt, and a temptress throughout most her career, Fay Spain was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1932, as Lona May Spain to R.C. Spain and Arminta Frances Cochran. She headed to New York where she initially found summer stock work and a bit of television exposure. One of her earliest TV appearances was not as an actress but as a contestant on You Bet Your Life (1950), starring Groucho Marx.
By 1956, this fetching starlet was winning episodic roles on the more popular shows of the day, including Perry Mason (1957), Cheyenne (1955) and Gunsmoke (1955). She was also gaining notice on the covers of magazines. This cheesecake attention led directly to her juvenile delinquent debut in Dragstrip Girl (1957) with John Ashley and Steven Terrell, where she immediately established herself as the party girl boys are willing to race cars and fight over. Other equally low-budget films followed, with Teenage Doll (1957), The Crooked Circle (1957), and The Abductors (1957).
She made an aggressive move into higher quality films with Erskine Caldwell's best-seller God's Little Acre (1958) as "Darlin' Jill", another amoral sexpot, and as Rod Steiger's moll in Al Capone (1959), but then it was right back to Grade Z level work with The Beat Generation (1959) co-starring Mamie Van Doren, The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960) in which she tempts Martin Milner with the old forbidden fruit routine, and a 1962 Italian spectacle as an evil queen trying to thwart the actions of Hercules. Although Fay made some efforts to return to TV work, her career was pretty much over by the mid-60s. One of her last roles was a bit part as a mafioso matriarch in The Godfather Part II (1974). Fay Spain died of cancer at age 50 in 1983.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 23
The Tumbleweed Wagon (25 Mar. 1959)
"Julie Poe" - Actor
- Soundtrack
Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, to Ersel (Moberly), a cook, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a barber and tobacco farmer. He lived in Lexington, Kentucky and graduated from Lafayette Senior High School with the class of 1944. Drafted into the Navy, he served as a cook in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was on board an LST during the Battle of Okinawa. He then returned to the University of Kentucky to appear in a production of "Pygmalion", before heading out to California and honing his craft at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse. Stanton then toured around the United States with a male choir, worked in children's theater, and then headed back to California.
His first role on screen was in the tepid movie Tomahawk Trail (1957), but he was quickly noticed and appeared regularly in minor roles as cowboys and soldiers through the late 1950s and early 1960s. His star continued to rise and he received better roles in which he could showcase his laid-back style, such as in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Dillinger (1973), The Godfather Part II (1974), and in Alien (1979). It was around this time that Stanton came to the attention of director Wim Wenders, who cast him in his finest role yet as Travis in the moving Paris, Texas (1984). Next indie director Alex Cox gave Stanton a role that brought him to the forefront, in the quirky cult film Repo Man (1984).
Stanton was now heavily in demand, and his unique look got him cast as everything from a suburban father in the mainstream Pretty in Pink (1986) to a soft-hearted, but ill-fated, private investigator in Wild at Heart (1990) and a crazy yet cunning scientist in Escape from New York (1981). Apart from his film performances, he was also an accomplished musician, and "The Harry Dean Stanton Band" and their unique spin on mariachi music played together for well over a decade. They toured internationally. He became a cult figure of cinema and music and when Debbie Harry sang the lyric, "I want to dance with Harry Dean..." in her 1990s hit "I Want That Man", she was talking about him. Stanton remained consistently active on screen, lastly appearing in films including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Green Mile (1999) and The Man Who Cried (2000).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 25
Deadline (8 Apr. 1959)
"Jay Simms" (as Dean Stanton)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Stevenson was born on 10 October 1915 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Get Smart (1965), Zero Hour! (1957) and State Department: File 649 (1949). He was married to Margaret (Peggy) Constance. He died on 4 March 1975 in Northridge, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 11
General Sherman's March Through Dodge City (24 Dec. 1958)
"Luke" (as Robert J. Stevenson)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Never a big name but always a reliable staple on TV crime shows during the 1960s and 1970s, Harold J. Stone usually was seen in a strong, unsympathetic vein -- an unyielding father or husband, corrupt businessman, menacing crime figure, etc. A sober-looking gent with a block jaw, Romanesque-styled nose and steely gray-black hair, he was also prone to playing ethnic types of varying origins.
Born Harold Jacob Hochstein in New York City on March 3, 1913, the scion of a Jewish acting family who established themselves in the Yiddish theater, Stone started on stage with his father as a child. He once entertained a career in medicine, attaining a BA degree at the University of Buffalo Medical School, but acting proved too strong a desire. After initially finding work in radio, Stone made his Broadway bow with "The World We Make" (1939), which led to other productions such as "Morning Star" (1940) and "A Bell for Adano" (1944). His early work in New York on stage and TV eventually paved the way to a modest character career in movies and a move to Hollywood.
In the 1950s Stone began to provide a minor, shady presence in such "A" films as Humphrey Bogart's The Harder They Fall (1956), Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956), the Rocky Graziano biopic Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), the ultimate gladiator spectacle Spartacus (1960) and the gangster epic The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) in which he played Chicago mobster Frank Nitti. He also played a no-nonsense foil to good friend Jerry Lewis in a few of his wacky 60s comedies. None of these, however, did much to improve his standing. Television, on the other hand, became a strong and steady medium for Stone, and he became a fixture in hundreds of police dramas including 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Naked City (1958), The Untouchables (1959), Mannix (1967), Mission: Impossible (1966), The Rockford Files (1974) and Kojak (1973). He was once Emmy-nominated for a dramatic guest role.
Left a widower by his first wife Joan in 1960, by whom he had two children, he continued to work primarily on episodic TV into the mid-1980s before retiring and settling down with his second wife Miriam (from 1962), who bore him another child. He died in Woodland Hills, California at age 92.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 26
Man of Action (22 Apr. 1959)
"Jess Hobart"- Actor
- Soundtrack
Of Swedish descent, burly, light-haired character actor Karl Swenson was born in Brooklyn and started his four-decade career on radio. Throughout the late 30s and 40s, his voice could be heard all over the airwaves, appearing in scores of daytime serials ("Lorenzo Jones") and mystery dramas ("Inner Sanctum Mysteries"). He gave visual life to one of his serial characters, Walter Manning, in "Portia Faces Life" when it went to TV in 1953. It was during his lengthy work in this medium that he met his wife, stage and radio actress Joan Tompkins. They appeared together throughout their careers on TV and in a few films. In the 1950s, he kept afloat on TV in rugged guest spots (Dr. Kildare (1961), Gunsmoke (1955), Maverick (1957), Mission: Impossible (1966) and Hawaii Five-O (1968)). He didn't appear in films until age 50+ with minor roles in Kings Go Forth (1958), North to Alaska (1960), The Birds (1963) and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). His voice was also well utilized in such animated features as The Sword in the Stone (1963) as the voice of Merlin. Karl met actor Michael Landon on the set of Bonanza (1959), appearing in four separate episodes over time. Landon remembered him when he began to film Little House on the Prairie (1974). Cast in the recurring role of lumber mill owner Lars Hanson, he remained with the show until his death in 1978 of a heart attack. His character on the show also died.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 10
Cheyenne Club (17 Dec. 1958)
"Jim Pate"- Joseph Turkel was an American character actor. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films The Killing, Paths of Glory, and The Shining, and as Dr. Eldon Tyrell in Blade Runner. He also had roles in three of Bert I. Gordon's films. Joseph Turkel was born in Brooklyn on July 15, 1927, to Benjamin Turkel, who was a tailor, and Gazella (née Goldfisher), a homemaker and occasional opera singer. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants. He had two brothers, Harold and David. Turkel joined the United States Army when he was seventeen and served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (26 Nov. 1958)
"Woody Larkin" - Born on August 26, 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri, Yvette Vickers majored in picture and theatre arts at UCLA for three years. On a trip to New York in the mid-1950s, she was cast as the White Rain Girl in commercials. She returned to the West Coast, working in various television series until she debuted in her first movie, Short Cut to Hell (1957), James Cagney's first directing effort. She played Allison Hayes' slatternly rival in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and Bruno VeSota's slatternly wife in Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959). After doing a half dozen more movies through the end of the 1950s, the blonde, blue-eyed actress appeared once in 1963 in Hud (1963), in What's the Matter with Helen? (1971), and in the television movie The Dead Don't Die (1975).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
"Jessie Simmons" - Actor
- Writer
Gary Vinson was born on 22 October 1936 in El Segundo, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Roaring 20's (1960), Pistols 'n' Petticoats (1966) and Battlestar Galactica (1978). He was married to Lavonne Rose Wuertzer and Paula Jeanne Hill. He died on 15 October 1984 in Redondo Beach, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 7
'A Noose Fits Anybody' (19 Nov. 1958)
"Billy Thompson"- Actress
- Soundtrack
Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen) was born in Marysvale, Utah, and attended Brigham Young University. She trained for the stage under Maria Ouspenskaya before she began playing leading roles in B pictures in the late 1940s. So many B films in fact, that she garnered the title of 'Queen of the Bs'.
She was a talent - to paraphrase a cliché - of the right type and the right time. If film noir could have manufactured an archetype, it would most definitely have been Marie.
With Ms Windsor's bedroom eyes ('they didn't fit for a 'goody-goody wife, or a nice little girlfriend' ) she smouldered on screens, in scenes with John Garfield, and many others, in some of her best work. Marie's femme fatale (Ms Windsor was later quoted as saying a femme fatale is '...usually the woman who gets the man into bed... then into trouble') was on screen, most notably her role as the manipulative, double-crossing wife of Elisha Cook Jr. in The Killing (1956) (which earned her "Look" magazine's Best Supporting Actress award).
Marie later said she loved playing them because they're '... the type of character audience's never forget'.
Some of her favourites amongst her own films, in addition to The Killing (1956), are The Narrow Margin (1952) and Hellfire (1949).
Marie married was married twice before she met Jack Hupp, a realtor with whom she had a son. After retiring from films, Marie took up sculpting and painting.
Marie passed away one day before her 81st birthday. She's interred with her husband in her hometown.
Marie said audience's 'loved to hate her', and this is only partially true; audience's love Ms Windsor for the dynamism she portrayed, and as film noir gains new fans every day - more than 3/4 of a century since their heyday, it's a love affair which shows no signs of abating.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 5
'The Fighter' (5 Nov. 1958)
"Polly Landers"- Actor
- Producer
Prolific American character actor of primarily villainous roles. The son of German parents, Cincinnati feed-store manager August Wilke and his wife Rose, Robert Joseph Wilke grew up in Cincinnati. He worked as a lifeguard at a Miami, Florida, hotel, where he made contacts in the film business. He was able to obtain work as a stuntman and continued as such until the mid-'40s, when he began getting actual roles in low-budget westerns and serials. A prominent appearance as one of the heavies in High Noon (1952) led to work in higher-quality films. He worked extensively in television as well as movies, and became an enormously familiar face, though a fairly anonymous one to the general public. His weathered visage made him a perfect western bad guy, but he occasionally played sympathetic parts as well, as in Days of Heaven (1978). An expert golfer, he was said by his friend Claude Akins to have earned more money on the golf course than he ever did in movies. He died in 1989.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 5
'The Fighter' (5 Nov. 1958)
"Bull Kirby"- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of those familiar character actors who seems to have been born old, Will Wright specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints,crooked small-town politicians and the like. A former newspaper reporter in San Francisco, he switched careers and entered vaudeville, then took to the stage. He ventured from acting to producing, and staged shows on Broadway as well as other cities, eventually making his way to Hollywood. He appeared in over 100 films and did much TV work, including a recurring role on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Although his hunched-over figure, craggy face and somewhat sour disposition made it seem like he started out his 20+-year career as an old man, he was actually only 68 when he died of cancer in Hollywood in 1962.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 20
Battle of the Pass (25 Feb. 1959)
"Billy Willow"- H.M. Wynant's many-faceted career began at age 19 when he left his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, after having attended Wayne State University for just two years. He arrived in New York City with only $125 in his pocket and a lot of ambition. Jerome Robbins hired him on the spot at Wynant's first audition, an open call for the Broadway musical "High Button Shoes" starring Eddie Foy. H.M. was working as a draftsman and told Robbins that he had to go to work the next day, Robbins said, "Then quit!" Thus began a career in theater which included productions such as "As You Like It" with Katharine Hepburn, "Love of Four Colonels" starring Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer, "Venus Observed" directed by Laurence Olivier, "The Sound of Music" with Shirley Jones and "Teahouse of the August Moon" starring David Wayne and John Forsythe. These performances garnered him many outstanding reviews and led to a prolific motion picture and television career. In 1956, RKO Pictures cast Wynant, based on his theatrical reputation, sight unseen, in a co-starring role of "Crazy Wolf" in the western, Run of the Arrow (1957). In those days, he was known as Haim Weiner, which was his given name. In New York, he had changed his name to Haim Winant, and the film's director, Samuel Fuller, changed it again to H.M. Wynant, and he's been known by that name ever since. Wynant was true to form as a wild Indian and performed many of his own stunts. A budding film career ensued. In addition to his theatrical career in New York and his film career in Hollywood, he became part of television history by appearing in many live, dramatic television shows. Recently, Wynant's Los Angeles stage performances included playing the lead role in "Karlaboy", a suspense ghost story written by screenwriter Steven Peros. Jules Aaron directed him in "The Sisters Rosensweig" and in "Philadelphia Story" and he continues his work in film, television, commercials, radio and voice-overs. H.M. is the proud father of three grown boys who also have successful show business careers: William Winant, a professor and avant-garde percussionist; Scott Winant, an Emmy-winning producer and director; and Bruce Winant, an actor and singer on Broadway as well as film and television. H.M. lives in Southern California with his wife, Paula, and their young daughter, Pasha (born in 2000).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
"Stone Calf" - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
With effortless class and elegant charm Gene Barry took '50s and '60s TV by storm, after a rather lackluster start on the musical stage and in films. Born Eugene Klass in New York City on June 14, 1919, to Martin (an amateur violinist), and Eva (an amateur singer), he showed a gift at an early age as a violin virtuoso, obviously inherited from his father. After attending various public schools, he graduated Valedictorian from New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Possessing an impressive baritone voice, he concentrated on singing after breaking his arm playing football in school ended any thoughts of a symphonic career. At age 17 he earned a singing scholarship awarded by David Sarnoff (the head of RCA at the time), to the Chatham Square School of Music, and studied there for two years. In the meantime Gene found work in nightclubs, choirs, fairs and emceeing variety shows, and briefly appeared on the vaudeville stage and on radio, winning a prize on Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" program.
The young actor made it to Broadway in 1942 with the musical "New Moon", and went on to appear in the 1944 Mae West vehicle "Catherine Was Great", where he met and subsequently married chorus girl Betty Barry, whose stage name was Julie Carson at the time. For the rest of the decade, Gene appeared in a random selection of plays and musicals, which did little to elevate his Broadway standing. Hollywood finally beckoned in the 1950's, after gaining some notice on the program "Hollywood Screen Test", and Paramount signed him to a contract.
Gene had stoic co-starring roles in such dramatic "B" films as The Atomic City (1952) (his debut movie), Those Redheads from Seattle (1953), and Alaska Seas (1954), none of which capitalized on his singing ability. The one movie in which he did sing, Red Garters (1954), did not fare well with the public. His most recognizable role during this period was as Dr. Clayton Forrester, a scientist who finds himself in the midst of a Martian invasion in the cult science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds (1953).
Television became his preferred medium after being offered the title role in Bat Masterson (1958), and he quickly established a very successful niche as a suave, dapper gentleman in this and other TV productions. Despite the elegant, globe-trotting typecast that befell him, his other TV characters proved just as well-received: jet-setting detective Amos Burke in Burke's Law (1963), for which he won a Golden Globe, and the impeccably dressed publishing tycoon Glenn Howard in The Name of the Game (1968). Gene revisited the stage and cabaret venues in the 1970's when his on-camera career hit a lull, appearing frequently with his wife as his leading lady.
The singer/actor made a triumphant return to Broadway in 1983, starring as a wealthy gay socialite in the musical version of the popular French film La Cage aux Folles (1978), earning him a Tony nomination - but he lost the award to his more flamboyant co-star George Hearn. After a year on Broadway, he joined the road company in San Francisco, and played Los Angeles for a lengthy run. Other musicals included "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", "Watergate: The Musical" (as Nixon), "Fiddler on the Roof" (with his wife) and "No, No, Nanette". Gene also appeared in his one-man cabaret show entitled "Gene Barry in One" from time to time.
In later years he made only occasional TV and stage appearances (bringing back his famous characters Bat Masterson and Amos Burke, much to the enjoyment of his fans), preferring to indulge in his favorite hobby - painting. He made a very brief return to feature films, sharing a cameo scene with one-time co-star Ann Robinson in Steven Spielberg's epic remake of The War of the Worlds (2005), with both of them playing the Tom Cruise character's mother and father in-law.
Gene was a political activist, a passion he shared with his wife Betty, who died in 2003 after an almost 60 year marriage. The couple had two sons of their own, and later in life they adopted a daughter. Gene passed away on December 9, 2009 at the age of 90."William Barclay 'Bat' Masterson"
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
Double Showdown (8 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
Two Graves for Swan Valley (15 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 3
Dynamite Blows Two Ways (22 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 4
Stampede at Tent City (29 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 5
The Fighter (5 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 6
Bear Bait (12 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 7
A Noose Fits Anybody (19 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (26 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 9
The Treasure of Worry Hill (3 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 10
Cheyenne Club (17 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 11
General Sherman's March Through Dodge City (24 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 12
Trail Pirate (31 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 14
Election Day (14 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959)- Bill Baldwin was born on 26 November 1913 in Pueblo, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for Rocky II (1979), Rocky (1976) and Rocky III (1982). He died on 17 November 1982 in Los Angeles County, California, USA."Narrator" (uncredited)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
Double Showdown (8 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
Two Graves for Swan Valley (15 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 3
Dynamite Blows Two Ways (22 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 4
Stampede at Tent City (29 Oct. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 5
The Fighter (5 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 6
Bear Bait (12 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 7
A Noose Fits Anybody (19 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (26 Nov. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 9
The Treasure of Worry Hill (3 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 10
Cheyenne Club (17 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 11
General Sherman's March Through Dodge City (24 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 12
Trail Pirate (31 Dec. 1958)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 14
Election Day (14 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959) - Andy Albin was born on 25 December 1907 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963), Gable and Lombard (1976) and Mean Dog Blues (1978). He was married to Dolores Albin. He died on 27 December 1994 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
"Eddie" - Kenneth Alton was born on 15 February 1929. He was an actor, known for Thunder Pass (1954), Kronos (1957) and Time Limit (1957). He died on 15 August 2009.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 12
Trail Pirate (31 Dec. 1958)
"Hyde" - Robert Anderson was born on 12 July 1920 in Casey Township, North Dakota, USA. He was an actor, known for Coronado 9 (1960), My Friend Flicka (1955) and Death Valley Days (1952). He died on 4 January 1996 in Desert Hot Springs, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 9
The Treasure of Worry Hill (3 Dec. 1958)
"Richard Woodman" (as Bob Anderson) - Actor
- Sound Department
Barry Atwater was born on 16 May 1918 in Denver, Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for Star Trek (1966), One Step Beyond (1959) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964). He died on 24 May 1978 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 12
Trail Pirate (31 Dec. 1958)
"Egan"- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Richard Bakalyan was born on 29 January 1931 in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Chinatown (1974), The Fox and the Hound (1981) and Von Ryan's Express (1965). He was married to Elizabeth Lena (Betty Lee) Baumann. He died on 27 February 2015 in Elmira, New York, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
"Sam Teller"- Actor
- Additional Crew
An American character actor described to some as a 'rugged outdoor western/war type', proved to be Walter Barnes status in motion pictures for nearly thirty years. A pro football player, Barnes made a mark into playing roles in pictures with his performance in the 1959 film "Westbound". Although, Barnes found work in countless foreign films of the 1960s, he usually played roles ranging from crusty law officials to occasional villains, in notable roles in "Captain Sinbad", John Wayne's "Cahill US Marshal", Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter", "Pete's Dragon" and "Day of the Animals". Also as a veteran of television, Barnes has had guest starring roles in such series including "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide" and "Cheyenne". He also played Bo Svenson's father on the early 80s TV series "Walking Tall" and appeared in the 1985-86 mini series "North and South". A diabetic, Barnes retired from acting in the late 1980s and eventually moved into the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, California, where he passed away in January of 1998.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959)
"Paulson"- Moody Blanchard was born on 2 August 1925 in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Route 66 (1960), Highway Patrol (1955) and Men Into Space (1959). He died on 4 January 1994 in Waldport, Oregon, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
"Red" - Actress
- Stunts
Ernestine Clark is known for Sunny (1941), The Magical World of Disney (1954) and Bat Masterson (1958). She was previously married to Parley Baer.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 7
A Noose Fits Anybody (19 Nov. 1958)
"Lola Faire"- Harry Clexx was born on 18 December 1901 in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Sea Hunt (1958), Peter Gunn (1958) and Highway Patrol (1955). He died on 13 September 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
"Hotel Clerk" - Actor
- Soundtrack
John Close was born on 1 June 1921 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Sudden Danger (1955), The Girl on the Bridge (1951) and Whirlybirds (1957). He was married to Paula Teagarden and Juanita Close. He died on 21 December 1963 in Palm Springs, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 10
Cheyenne Club (17 Dec. 1958)
"Homesteader"- Kathleen Crowley represented her home state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant in 1949, placed sixth and (with the scholarship money she won) enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York. She played the plum title roles in prestigious TV productions of A Star Is Born (1951) and Jane Eyre (1951), caught the eye of Hollywood and became a 20th Century-Fox contractee in 1952. Freelancing after leaving the studio, she kept busy in feature films (mostly Westerns and horror/sci-fi titles) and TV. Crowley turned up at film conventions in Memphis, Baltimore and New Jersey before her death in 2017.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 22
Incident in Leadville (18 Mar. 1959)
"Jo Hart" - Actress
- Soundtrack
Susan Cummings was born on 10 July 1930 in Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for Swamp Women (1956), Soldiers of Fortune (1955) and Utah Blaine (1957). She was married to Robert Edward Strasser, Charles Pawley and Keith Larsen. She died on 3 December 2016 in Chandler, Arizona, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 3
'Dynamite Blows Two Ways' (22 Oct. 1958)
"Valorie Mitchell"- King Donovan was born on 25 January 1918 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Promises..... Promises! (1963) and Playhouse 90 (1956). He was married to Imogene Coca and Anne Catherine Thomas. He died on 30 June 1987 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
Double Showdown (8 Oct. 1958)
"Shorty Keenan" - Actress
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Anne Dore was born in 1930 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. She was an actress, known for Space Patrol (1950), Siren of Bagdad (1953) and Land of the Giants (1968). She died in 1977 in California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
"Jezebel"- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Paul Dubov was born on 10 October 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Backstairs at the White House (1979), Shock Corridor (1963) and The Crimson Kimono (1959). He was married to Gwen Bagni. He died on 20 September 1979 in Encino, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
"Danny Dowling the Sharpshooter"- Joan Elan was born on 24 July 1928 in Colombo, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]. She was an actress, known for Darby's Rangers (1958), Matinee Theatre (1955) and Front Row Center (1955). She was married to Harry Franklin ("Bud") Nye Jr.. She died on 7 January 1981 in New York City, New York, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 26
Man of Action (22 Apr. 1959)
"Deborah Jenkins" - Roy Engel was born on 13 September 1913 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952), The Man from Planet X (1951) and Rogue River (1951). He died on 29 December 1980 in Burbank, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 20
Battle of the Pass (25 Feb. 1959)
"Maloney" - Darlene Fields was born on 2 January 1927. She was an actress, known for Gunsight Ridge (1957), Spook Chasers (1957) and The Snow Creature (1954). She died on 26 April 1976.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 11
General Sherman's March Through Dodge City (24 Dec. 1958)
"Cherry" - Harry Fleer was born on 26 March 1916 in Quincy, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Black Sheep Squadron (1976), Tormented (1960) and Little Giants (1994). He died on 14 October 1994 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
"Darby Cole" - Actor
- Soundtrack
Milton Frome was born on 24 February 1909 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Batman: The Movie (1966), The Nutty Professor (1963) and The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967). He was married to Marjorie Ann Widman. He died on 21 March 1989 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 6
'Bear Bait' (12 Nov. 1958)
"Sheriff Clark"- Lance Fuller was born on 6 December 1928 in Somerset, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for This Island Earth (1955), God's Little Acre (1958) and Kentucky Rifle (1955). He was married to Joi Lansing. He died on 22 December 2001 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad
"Chad Hornsby/ 'Bat' Masterson Imposter" - John Gallaudet was born on 23 August 1903 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for In Cold Blood (1967), Side Street (1949) and Murder Is News (1937). He was married to Constance Helen MacKenzie and Wynne Gibson. He died on 5 November 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 11
General Sherman's March Through Dodge City (24 Dec. 1958)
"Gen. William T. Sherman" - Actress
- Soundtrack
Lisa Gaye was born on 6 March 1935 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), Hawaiian Eye (1959) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1957). She was married to Bently Clyde Ware. She died on 14 July 2016 in Houston, Texas, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
"Lori Dowling / Lori La Rue"- Actor
- Writer
Big, burly character actor, one of the toughest of screen heavies. New York-born Leo Gordon's combination of a powerful physique, deep, menacing voice and icy, withering glare was guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of even the bravest screen hero. Director Don Siegel, who used Gordon in his prison film Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), once said that "Leo Gordon was the scariest man I have ever met"--this coming from a man who had directed John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Bette Midler! Siegel wasn't talking about just Gordon's screen presence. As a "heavy", Gordon was the real deal--before becoming an actor (he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Gordon served five years in San Quentin State Prison for armed robbery (during which he was shot several times point-blank by police--and survived). "Riot in Cell Block 11" was filmed at Folsom State Prison--where Gordon also served time--and the Folsom warden remembered him as a troublemaker.At first he refused to allow the film to be shot there if Gordon was to be in it, but Siegel was able to convince him that Gordon was no threat to the prison.
Contrary to his image, though, Gordon was not just a one-note villain. He did play sympathetic parts on occasion, notably in the western Black Patch (1957)--which he also wrote--and in Roger Corman's civil rights drama The Intruder (1962), and turned in first-rate performances, especially in the latter film. Gordon was also a screenwriter, turning out several screenplays for Corman. He wasn't just limited to writing low-budget sci-fi films, either; he penned the screenplay for the WWII epic Tobruk (1967), writing in a meaty part for himself as Kruger, a tough sergeant in a platoon of German Jews masquerading as Nazi soldiers to help blow up a German oil storage facility.
Leo Gordon died in Los Angeles, CA, in 2000 at age 78 of heart failure.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (26 Nov. 1958)
"Joe Quince"- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 18
Sharpshooter (11 Feb. 1959)
"Luke Fischer"- Nancy Hadley was born on 1 August 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for One Step Beyond (1959), Matinee Theatre (1955) and Highway Patrol (1955). She was previously married to John Falvo.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (26 Nov. 1958)
"Jan Larkin" - Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 6
Bear Bait (12 Nov. 1958)
"Roger" - Dean Harens was born on 30 June 1920 in South Bend, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Christmas Holiday (1944), Wonder Woman (1975) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950). He was married to June Dayton. He died on 20 May 1996 in Van Nuys, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 10
Cheyenne Club (17 Dec. 1958)
"Steven Haley" - Actor
- Soundtrack
The son of a physician, Raymond Hatton entered films in 1909, eventually appearing in almost 500 other pictures. In early silents he formed a comedy team with big, burly Wallace Beery. He was best known as the tobacco-chewing, rip-snorting Rusty Joslin in the Three Mesquiteers series. He was also in the Rough Riders series and appeared as Johnny Mack Brown's sidekick as well. His last Western was, fittingly, Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
Adam Fairbanks, Gunsmith- Actress
- Soundtrack
Marcia Henderson was born on 22 July 1929 in Andover, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for All I Desire (1953), The Wayward Girl (1957) and Matinee Theatre (1955). She was married to Robert Ivers and Robert Brodsky. She died on 23 November 1987 in Yakima, Washington, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
Two Graves for Swan Valley (15 Oct. 1958)
"Molly Doyle'- Actor
- Soundtrack
American leading actor who began his career as a juvenile in the 1930s. The son of a stock broker, he attended Los Angeles and Hollywood High Schools. Upon graduation, he trained for stagecraft at the Pasadena Playhouse School having by then already debuted on screen, aged eight, in an uncredited bit part. In 1927, William spent a year at Punaho College in Honolulu where he befriended the Olympic swimming champion and surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku who would later help secure him his first job in talking pictures. By 1928, he worked as stage manager for David Belasco and Guy Bates Post, and, five years later, was signed by 20th Century Fox to a five-year contract. It was at first intended that he be given the stage name of 'William Lawrence', but, in the end, 'Bill Henry' was the name that stuck. The early part of his career in the movies consisted mainly of playing callow youths, an image he managed to shake off in later years when he became a star of B-westerns. He was a frequent presence in the films of John Ford as one of this director's unofficial stock company of players. William's favorite hobby was collecting books. According to at least one account, he reinvented himself as a landscape gardener after his retirement from films in the mid-70s.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 7
A Noose Fits Anybody (19 Nov. 1958)
"Sheriff Griff Hanley" (as Bill Henry)- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
- Writer
Clark Howat was born on 22 January 1918 in Calaveras County, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Airport (1970), The Giant Claw (1957) and Billy Jack (1971). He was married to Muriel Mansell. He died on 30 October 2009 in Arroyo Grande, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959)
"Murdoch"- Helen Jay was born on 2 November 1925 in New York, USA. She was an actress, known for She Devil (1957), The Deadly Mantis (1957) and Science Fiction Theatre (1955). She died on 18 September 1989 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 22
Incident in Leadville (18 Mar. 1959)
"Jennie - Dress Shop Proprietor" - A tall, powerfully built man, Douglas Kennedy entered films after graduating from Amherst. Making his debut in 1940, he appeared in many westerns and detective thrillers, often as a villain. World War II interrupted his career, and he spent the war years as a Signal Corps officer and an operative in the OSS and US Army Intelligence. After the war he returned to Hollywood, where he began playing supporting roles in larger films and an occasional lead in a lower-budget film. He is most fondly remembered, though, by audiences of the 1950s for two roles: his western TV series Steve Donovan, Western Marshal (1955), and as one of the policemen taken over by the Martians in the sci-fi classic Invaders from Mars (1953).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
"Sheriff Jeb Crater" - Brett King was born on 29 December 1920 in Ocean Beach, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Battleground (1949), The Racket (1951) and Yancy Derringer (1958). He died on 14 January 1999 in Palm Beach, Florida, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
"Hub Elliott" - Jean Paul King was born on 1 December 1904 in Alda, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for Burke's Law (1963), Peter Gunn (1958) and Highway Patrol (1955). He died on 21 August 1965 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
"Curly - the Bartender" - A knockout curvaceous blonde screen siren with a smart, confident air, Peggy Knudsen had the charisma to make it in Hollywood. Somehow, stardom eluded her. She was of Irish and Norwegian ancestry, the daughter of a Duluth fire chief. Peggy studied violin as a child and later showed some promise acting in school plays. Her mother consequently moved the family to Chicago, where the youngster got her start on the CBS daytime radio drama "The Woman in White". Aged nineteen, she then made her way to Broadway to debut in a small part in "My Sister Eileen", as replacement for Jo Ann Sayers. Movies eventually beckoned, and, in 1945, Peggy was signed by Warner Brothers after being 'spotted' at the Stage Door Canteen. The studio publicity machine promptly heralded her arrival by nicknaming her "the lure". Peggy's first significant role was as Mona Mars in the film noir classic link=tt0038355]. She replaced the original actress when the part was recast to add sizzle to the Bogart/Bacall vehicle. Though a small part, Peggy received good critical notices. She then appeared in support of Errol Flynn in Never Say Goodbye (1946) and John Garfield in Humoresque (1946).
Despite these A-grade films, her subsequent career turned out to be desultory. Warners had a not undeserved reputation for often failing to effectively cast (rather than typecast) their starlets. With Peggy, they missed the boat altogether. In the absence of suitable vehicles, she was first relegated to playing one-dimensional hard-boiled toughs or the proverbial 'other woman', then loaned out. With Sol M. Wurtzel's B-unit at 20th Century Fox (and, subsequently, at Monogram) she fared rather better, finally getting to play leads. However, her films, -- Roses Are Red (1947), Trouble Preferred (1948), Perilous Waters (1948) and Half Past Midnight (1948) -- were little seen low budget affairs. Unsurprisingly, Peggy turned towards television, becoming a prolific guest star on such prime time shows as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), Perry Mason (1957) and Bat Masterson (1958). A projected co-starring role in a 1962 sitcom, entitled "Howie", never materialised, since CBS refused to acquire the pilot episode. Nonetheless, for her contribution to TV, Peggy was awarded a Star on the 'Walk of Fame' on Hollywood Boulevard in 1960, a scant consolation for missing out on stardom. A debilitating affliction with arthritis brought about her premature retirement from acting in 1965. She spent much of her sadly few remaining years cared for by her close friend, the actress Jennifer Jones, who also reputedly paid for her medical expenses. Peggy died in July 1980, aged 57.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 16
A Personal Matter (28 Jan. 1959)
"Louisa Carey" - Veteran character actor Paul Lambert was born in El Paso, Texas, and brought up in Kansas City. He was an Army Air Corps lieutenant in World War II. Using the G.I. Bill, he attended the Actors Lab in Los Angeles and several acting schools in New York. He made his motion picture debut in Spartacus (1960). He began his acting career on the New York stage in the 1950s. His stage credits include a role in the Broadway production of "A Little Night Music". In addition to being an actor, he was also a playwright and stage director, and wrote, directed and acted in his own play, "Interior Hollywood Day". In addition, he was in a record 14 productions of the prestigious Playhouse 90 (1956).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
Two Graves for Swan Valley (15 Oct. 1958)
"Pete the Blacksmith" - Robert Lynn was born on 11 November 1897 in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Perry Mason (1957), Highway Patrol (1955) and Adventures of the Falcon (1954). He was married to Helen Mayon. He died on 18 December 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
"Transfer Clerk" - Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Born on June 9, 1931 in Chicago, Joan Marshall attended St. Clement's School. Looking far more mature than her age would indicate, when she was just 14 years old she auditioned for, and was hired, as a showgirl at Chicago's Chez Paree, one of the country's foremost nightclubs in the 1940s and 1950s. Two years later, she was appearing in Las Vegas productions. Vegas was where she met her first husband and her son, Steven, was born. Her daughter Shari was born three years later. Moving to Beverly Hills, she starred on the television series Bold Venture (1959) (1959-60 season). She made around 10 feature films, liking only a few of them. In 1961, she starred in Homicidal (1961) (billed as "Jean Arless"), playing two roles, one male and one female. This small film has developed a cult-like following.
She was signed by CBS and appeared often on such television shows as The Jack Benny Program (1950) and The Red Skelton Hour (1951). She had a gift for comedy, which often was overlooked because of her beauty. Possessing a flair for writing, in the 1970s, she collaborated with her old school friend, the award-winning writer Dirk Wayne Summers, co-scripting sitcoms.
She married film director Hal Ashby and, over the first six months of their marriage, and at his insistence, she related personal experiences of her life. Ashby (and Robert Towne) turned these details of her life into the romantic comedy film Shampoo (1975). She was reportedly displeased her husband had used such personal details in creating this film.
Her real-life wedding (to Ashby) can be seen in the opening scenes behind the credits in Ashby's romantic comedy film The Landlord (1970). Ashby died in 1988 and, two years later, Joan married business executive Mel Bartfield. Although there were many rumors that Joan was secretly wed to Richard Chamberlain, this was not the case. She and Chamberlain were -- and remained -- very close friends. After visiting Jamaica, West Indies, she fell in love with the island nation, where she had a home, and where she died of lung cancer on June 28, 1992, at the age of 61. Her ashes were spread under her favorite tree on the property.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 4
Stampede at Tent City (29 Oct. 1958)
"Laura Hopkins"- Fiery, dark-haired, exotic-looking Donna Martell was born of Italian ancestry Irene Palma de Maria, the daughter of a master tailor for a major clothing manufacturing company. She attended L.A. City College where she excelled at athletics, especially baseball. During this time, Donna was persuaded by a classmate to audition for a theatrical agent from the Donaldson-Middleton Agency. At just 17 years of age, she was "signed on the spot" by Republic Studios to appear in as an ingénue alongside Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in the western Apache Rose (1947).
Initially billed as Donna DeMario, she went on to receive steady offers to work in westerns, due in no small part to her equestrian skills (she owned a Palomino named Pal, stabled at the San Bernardino Orange Ranch). Though wooed by three of the majors (MGM, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers), Donna opted to sign with Universal-International. However, after two years, she became dissatisfied with the meager roles offered her and she decided to go freelance, in due course establishing herself as a prolific and capable television actress. Often cast as south-of-the-border senoritas, she played leads opposite most of the famous western leading men of the era, including Gene Autry, Randolph Scott, Dale Robertson (Tales of Wells Fargo (1957)), Gene Barry (Bat Masterson (1958)) and Clint Walker (Cheyenne (1955)). In 2002, Donna won the Golden Boot Award for her contribution to the western genre.
In addition to her sagebrush heroines, Donna also played an Indian princess in Last Train from Bombay (1952) and Jennifer Jones's sister in the lavishly produced romantic A-grader Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). In retrospect, she may wish to forget her role as the commander of a spacecraft in the rare sci-fi feature Project Moon Base (1953), filmed in ten days (!) on a shoestring budget at the old Hal Roach studio in Culver City. Her character in this dreadful (and, indeed, misogynistic) picture was called Colonel Briteis (pronounced 'Bright Eyes'). Its sole saving grace was brevity (63 minutes).
In a later interview, Donna asserted that she had never socialized with her male co-stars, "unless it was for publicity". From 1953, she was married to the baseball player Gene Corso (of the Pittsburgh Pirates) who died in 1996.
Donna's acting career came to an end in 1963, though she continued to appear in some TV commercials. For several years, she ran her own business, selling floor coverings. Later still, she became a frequent attendee at film festivals and conventions.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
"Barbara Rafferty" - Actor
- Writer
- Director
Charles Maxwell was born on 28 December 1913 in Long Island, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Star Trek (1966), The Hank McCune Show (1949) and A Life at Stake (1955). He died on 7 August 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
Double Showdown (8 Oct. 1958)
"Marshal Ed Caulder"- Patrick McVey was born on 17 March 1910 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for North by Northwest (1959), Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and Party Girl (1958). He was married to Courteen Landis. He died on 6 July 1973 in New York City, New York, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 2
Two Graves for Swan Valley (15 Oct. 1958)
"Angus McLarnin" - Emile Meyer was born on 18 August 1910 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Paths of Glory (1957), Shane (1953) and Sweet Smell of Success (1957). He died on 19 March 1987 in Covington, Louisiana, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 20
Battle of the Pass (25 Feb. 1959)
"Gen. Zachary Moran" - Despite the fact that hefty, beetle-browed character actor Robert Middleton (born Samuel G. Messer) was known for most of his career as a mop-faced villain capable of the most vicious and contemptible of crimes, the man himself was quite a happy and hearty gent who loved to play practical jokes, particularly on his family. Robert was educated at the University of Cincinnati and the Carnegie Institute of Technology, where he studied music. His deep, mellifluous voice earned him steady work as a radio announcer which, in turn, sparked his interest in acting.
In the early 1950s Middleton made it to Broadway, appearing in "Ondine." This in turn led to films and TV, where he solidified his evil image in such strong fare as The Desperate Hours (1955) as a sadistic killer, The Court Jester (1955) as a grim and determined knight who jousts with Danny Kaye in the famous "pellet with the poison" sequence, and as a sinister politician in The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977). Betwixt and between were an array of brutish mountain daddies, corrupt, cigar-chomping town bosses and lynch mob leaders. Occasionally he showed a bit of levity, as in his recurring role as Jackie Gleason's boss on The Honeymooners (1955) sketches. Middleton died of congestive heart failure in Hollywood at the age of 66.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 1
'Double Showdown' (8 Oct. 1958)
"Big Keel Roberts " - Hailing from Chicago (his birth has also been noted as late as 1907 which to the purpose would be too late), Gavin Muir had that sort of lean and hungry John Carradine face and slight build that begged for character villain parts. Indeed he was bit by the acting bug and started in regional theater but jumped to Broadway by 1920, though his first role noted was "Enter Madame" in 1922. This play was also the debut Broadway performance for another young actor destined for Hollywood -- but a sadly short career -- Ross Alexander. By 1923 Muir's abilities beckoned further demands, and he produced and performed in the comedy "Love Set". In fact the majority of his plays were comedy rather than drama. And with twenty-one plays to his credit (until 1939) and making the round of famous New York houses, the St. James and the Lyceum, for example, Muir worked with some Broadway's greatest leads and some later fellow film actors, such as, Harry Davenport, Robert Warwick, and Henry Hull. Although he had one film for an uncredited part in 1932, he was a fixture of the Broadway theater season until 1933. Although Muir still had a few more Broadway plays to do, he was finding his niche in Hollywood. The next year he was in the film adaptation of the play Mary of Scotland (1936) directed by John Ford. Along with an assemblage of some of the best character actors of Hollywood, Muir joined a rogues' gallery of self-seeking Scottish lords who included: Robert Barrat, William Stack, and Ian Keith trying to discredit the young queen. Muir was busy thereafter through the war years of the 1940s his acting, and especially his various British accents (he was sometimes mistaken as a British actor) but others were in demand as military officer, doctor, noble, dignitary - and, of course, villains. Into the 1950s he even endured Abbott and Costello in their continued pop success, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), one of five such formula 'Meet' films. The film parts continued to get leaner, so he ventured into TV, doing playhouse theater and also some series. He was a regular-the butler Hollister - on The Betty Hutton Show (1959) and did not retire until later 1965 after over seventy screen appearances.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 26
Man of Action (22 Apr. 1959)
"Oliver Jenkins" - Actress
- Soundtrack
Joan O'Brien began her show-biz career while she was in high school, on a local TV music show in California with Tennessee Ernie Ford. Soon, she was a successful singer, and made the jump to acting. In about half the films she ever made, it appeared that Joan played a nurse. Perhaps her most memorable appearance was in Blake Edwards' Operation Petticoat (1959), as the nurse who gets in everyone's way because her, umm, "proportions" cause uncomfortable crowding in a small submarine. Because of her, Cary Grant becomes the first officer in the history of the U.S. Navy to sink an enemy truck! She again played a nurse in the Jerry Lewis film, It's Only Money (1962), and yet one more time with Elvis Presley in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)--and, according to legend, fired up a hot off-screen romance with Elvis. Also in 1963, in a strange sort of "Columbo" connection, she was voted "most likely to wed Robert Vaughn". Joan's final movie was Get Yourself a College Girl (1964), a "Swinging Sixties" teenfest also featuring Nancy Sinatra, with music by The Animals and The Dave Clark Five. After that, she went back to singing for a while, touring with the Harry James Orchestra. She left show business for good to concentrate on raising her kids, and later became a successful executive with the Hilton Hotel chain.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 15
One Bullet from Broken Bow (21 Jan. 1959)
"Dolores Clark"- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
In the early days of 1950s science-fiction, one of the first people to become identified with the genre was actor William Phipps. Aside from furnishing the voice of Prince Charming in Disney's cartoon classic Cinderella (1950), Phipps also hid his boyish face beneath a beard as the star of Arch Oboler's end-of-the-world melodrama Five (1951); made a token appearance in Oboler's The Twonky (1953); encountered Martians in both Invaders from Mars (1953) and The War of the Worlds (1953); and took on the Abominable Snowman as one of the leads in The Snow Creature (1954). Most notoriously, he even grappled with Moon maidens set on world conquest in the almost indescribable Cat-Women of the Moon (1953). Phipps was born in Vincennes, Indiana, and grew up in St. Francisville, Illinois; he knew from boyhood that he was destined to be an actor and appeared in several plays in grade school and at Eastern Illinois University. Hitchhiking to Hollywood in 1941, he worked on the stage and later in films, beginning with RKO's Crossfire (1947). Over the next 60 years he amassed a long list of film and TV credits; he also did commercials and voiceover work, including the narration for the special 190-minute TV version of David Lynch's Dune (1984).Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 17
License to Cheat (4 Feb. 1959)
"Ken Wills"- Patricia Powell was born on 22 October 1929 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Peter Gunn (1958), Lux Playhouse (1958) and Lux Video Theatre (1950). She was married to Aaron Gary Fieger, Raymond R. Herrmann, Jr., Frank Atlass, Daniel Arnstein and Clarence Norton Edelson. She died on 18 June 2019 in New York, New York, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 19
River Boat (18 Feb. 1959)
"Nora Henderson" - Actor
- Make-Up Department
Los Angeles-born Holly Bane (who later changed his name to the more macho-sounding Mike Ragan) didn't start out to be an actor--he wanted to be a big-band musician. That didn't work out for him, unfortunately, so he wound up getting a job as an office boy at MGM at age 15. From there he worked his way into the makeup department, working on such productions as The Good Earth (1937) and under the tutelage of famed make-up artist Jack Dawn. He soon began working in front of the camera, first in bit parts in action pictures, but service in the US Marine Corps during World War II put the brakes on his acting career. Upon his return to civilian life at war's end he went back to his make-up job, but eventually decided to trade it for work as a full-time actor. His stocky build and somewhat menacing attitude got him a lot of work in westerns as a heavy, usually a gunfighter or henchman, often at Republic Pictures.
He actually divided his time between acting and make-up work, and in the 1960s, when westerns began to fade from the scene, he went back to make-up full time, eventually working on many prominent TV shows, such as Welcome Back, Kotter (1975), Barney Miller (1975) and Fish (1977).
He died in 1995 in Los Angeles of complications from emphysema.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 26
Man of Action (22 Apr. 1959)
"'Tip-Toe' Mallory" (as Mike Ragan)- Actor
- Soundtrack
Richard Reeves was born on 10 August 1912 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Target Earth (1954), Adventures of Superman (1952) and I Love Lucy (1951). He died on 17 March 1967 in Northridge, California, USA.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 13
Double Trouble in Trinidad (7 Jan. 1959)
"George Swift" (as Dick Reeves)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Jack Reitzen was born on May 27, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is known for his work on Appointment with Murder (1948), Adventures of Superman (1952) and Terry and the Pirates (1952). He was married to Joyce Buck and Nancy J. Arnold. He died on June 13, 1998 in Santa Barbara, California, USA. Jack Reitzen had one son, Robert Reitzen.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 8
Dude's Folly (Nov. 1958)
"Packy Morrow"- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tall (6'2"), burly, and reliable character actor Gene Roth was born Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth on January 8, 1903 in Redfield, South Dakota. He was the youngest of three sons born to German father Eugene Stutenroth and Swedish mother Anna Christina Olsen. Roth and his two brothers were raised by their mother after their father abandoned them when Gene was only two years old. Gene graduated from West High School in Minneapolis in 1920. He began his acting career doing uncredited bit roles in silent pictures in the early 1920's. Moreover, Roth worked as a movie theater manager and built and installed pipe organs before his acting career took off in the 1940's following his arrival in Hollywood, California in 1943.
Often cast as threatening heavies (he's perhaps best known for his portrayals of bad guys in many 1940's comedy shorts he did with The Three Stooges), scruffy working class types, and rough-around-the-edges law officers (he played initially skeptical small town sheriffs in the 1950's creature feature classics Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) and The Spider (1958)), Gene worked profusely in both films and television alike in a career that spanned a little over two decades. After retiring from acting in the early 1970's, Roth worked part time as a liquor counterman at a drug store and was an active participant in the nostalgia convention circuit. He was married four times and was the father of three children. Gene's life came to a tragic untimely end at age 73 when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street in Los Angeles, California on July 19, 1976.Bat Masterson: Season 1, Episode 14
Election Day (14 Jan. 1959)
"Mayor Oliver Hinton"