11/9/2023 0 Comments Wanted dead or alive series![]() ![]() ![]() On a hospitable note, my first day on the set, Steve steered me over to an ancient VW bug, invited me to sit in the front seat next to his driver’s position and instantly drove me over the entire old Republic lot. Steve and I were to start with the sharing of 11 episodes as partners on the series itself. Steve, with the permission of his ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ bosses, was to be given time off from the series to play the lead in an upcoming film produced by Frank Sinatra. “Somewhere near the end of ‘59 I had done all the signing of contracts stating I was to be his replacement-a gradual taking over his position in ‘Wanted…’. Soon-I’m getting ready to leave the series.’” I answered in the affirmative and he added something like, ‘It was terrific and they want you to replace me. He seemed genuinely glad to see me and right away asked if I had seen our episode of his show. Maybe a month later, my wife June and I ran into Steve at The Huntington Hartford Theatre during the intermission of a play. In the end the scene took on a life of its own and both of us felt good about it. On the day of the shooting of that scene he invited me into his dressing room…we went over it a couple of times and then we ran it again for the director on the set. He said maybe the director could give us some time. Sometime during the first day, after a brief rehearsal, I brought up what I thought was a well written scene between our two lead characters, adding that if we could find some extra time to go over it for the next day’s shooting, I’d appreciate it. Steve appeared to be typical of a series lead-politely cool and pragmatic. Later in ‘59 I was cast as the victim in another episode, “No Trail Back” (11/29/59), a story about a suspected rabies victim (me). Steve, to me, seemed wary of scene-stealing Buchanan, but the episode came off well. Yep, a comedy in a western with serious McQueen. Wright told WC, “In ‘59 I did two ‘Wanteds’, the first was a comedy, ‘Amos Carter’ (5/9/59) with Edgar Buchanan. He and McQueen form a partnership with the next episode, “The Partners”, and for a total of 11 episodes til the end of the second season. Wright King joined “Wanted…” as Jason Nichols, a sheriff’s deputy in Virginia City, with episode 57 (1/30/60), “Jason”. Oddly, this is the same exact time slot and competition CBS had lost out with “Trackdown” in ‘59. 21, ‘60–March 29, ‘61) opposite the established “Ozzie and Harriet” on ABC and the color “Price Is Right” on NBC caused “Wanted…” to falter, dropping below the Top 25, and it was canceled. However, a switch to Wednesday nights for the third season (Sept. The ‘59-‘60 season of “Wanted…” rose to 9th opposite the weak “Man and the Challenge” on NBC and the struggling “Jubilee USA”. “Wanted…” was 16th in overall ratings its first season, playing opposite “Perry Como” on NBC and “Jubilee USA” on ABC. With “Have Gun Will Travel” and “Gunsmoke” also on that night, CBS ruled the range. 6, ‘58, from 8:30-9pm ET on Saturday nights. Producer Vincent Fennelly was looking for an actor to play a bounty hunter in an episode of Robert Culp’s “Trackdown” and found McQueen “a little guy who looks tough enough to get the job done, but with a boyish appeal behind the toughness.” “The Bounty Hunter”, which aired 3/7/58, was a pilot for a new Four Star series CBS liked what they saw and ordered “Wanted…” for a Fall start. Performing in several plays and live TV, his only film roles prior to “Wanted” were in “Somebody Up There Likes Me”, “Never Love a Stranger” and “The Blob”. Discharged in ‘50, he attended school under the GI Bill of Rights, eventually getting into dramatics in NYC at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He then bummed around until he was old enough to join the Marines. Much of this was due to the close-knit working relationship of McQueen and scripter John Robinson (who wrote many original “Dragnet” episodes) to eliminate western clichés from “Wanted…”.īorn March 24, 1930, in Beech Grove, IN (a suburb of Indianapolis), Steve’s troubled childhood led him to reform school for 14 months. ![]() It was Steve McQueen’s unmistakable blue-eyed, individualistic, nonconformist attitude and charisma as intense, restless bounty hunter Josh Randall, who tracked down men (and women)-dead or alive-to collect the rewards for them, that made the series a ratings winner for 94 episodes between September 6, 1958, and March 29, 1961.Īlong the way Josh Randall diversed into seeking missing husbands, sons and fathers, hidden gold, a daughter taken by Indians, Army deserters, an amnesia victim, a man’s fiancée, a delinquent suitor, even a pet ewe (“Baa-Baa”-6/4/61) and Santa Claus (“The Eight Cent Reward”-12/20/58). Steve McQueen leaped off the small screen in one of the most memorable b/w half-hour TV western series, “Wanted Dead or Alive”, to become a bonafide movie star. ![]()
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