Bret Maverick
Encyclopedia
Bret Maverick is an American Western
series starring James Garner
in the role that made him famous in the 1957
series Maverick
: a professional poker
player traveling alone year after year through the Old West from riverboat
to saloon. The series was produced by Garner's company Cherokee Productions (mistakenly dubbed "Comanche Productions" on the end credits) in association with Warner Bros. Television
.
Although the ratings were respectable, the show was unexpectedly canceled by NBC
at the end of the first season. Jack Kelly
, who had alternated the lead with Garner and later Roger Moore
in the original 1957-1962 series, had been slated to return as Bret's brother Bart Maverick in the second season, and briefly appeared at the very end of the only season. A number of scripts for the following season had been written and presented to Kelly, according to subsequent interviews; Bart was going to look after the saloon in Arizona while Bret ranged across the West.
NBC took the unusual step of rerunning the episodes two additional times - in the summer of 1988 to help provide 'new' programming during a writers strike, and in the summer of 1994 to play off publicity surrounding the Mel Gibson
movie remake of the original Maverick
series also featuring Garner.
The 1978 TV-movie The New Maverick
could be said to be the pilot for both this series and the 1979 failure Young Maverick
, a short-lived series which had featured Charles Frank
as preppie former Harvard student Ben Maverick, the son of Roger Moore's
character Beau Maverick (although Moore only appeared in the original series
).
Other recurring cast members of the series, set in the small Arizona town of Sweetwater, include country singer Ed Bruce
as Tom Guthrie, Bret's partner and co-owner of the Red Ox Saloon; Stuart Margolin
as crooked Native American Philo Sandeen; Richard Hamilton
as Cy Whitaker, the aging but feisty foreman of Maverick's ranch; Ramon Bieri
as local banker Elijah Crow; and Darleen Carr
as Mary Lou "M.L." Springer, a fetching owner, editor, and photographer of the local newspaper.
The 2-hour first episode was eventually trimmed and repackaged as a TV movie for rerunning on local stations under the title Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace
. Additionally the series' only two-part episode was similarly repackaged as Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope and Clarity
.
Writer/producer Roy Huggins
, original creator of the titular character but otherwise unconnected with this series despite Garner's request that he come aboard mid-season, speculated that one reason the new show didn't quite work was that Maverick, traditionally a drifter, had settled down in one place; this was going to be rectified the following season, in which Bret would travel while Bart ran the saloon in Arizona.
As a tribute to the character featured on this television series, on April 21, 2006, a ten-foot bronze statue of James Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma
, with Garner present at the ceremony.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series starring James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
in the role that made him famous in the 1957
1957 in television
The year 1957 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1957.-Events:*January 6 – Elvis Presley makes final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show....
series Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
: a professional poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player traveling alone year after year through the Old West from riverboat
Riverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
to saloon. The series was produced by Garner's company Cherokee Productions (mistakenly dubbed "Comanche Productions" on the end credits) in association with Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
.
Although the ratings were respectable, the show was unexpectedly canceled by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
at the end of the first season. Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly (actor)
Jack Kelly was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962...
, who had alternated the lead with Garner and later Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
in the original 1957-1962 series, had been slated to return as Bret's brother Bart Maverick in the second season, and briefly appeared at the very end of the only season. A number of scripts for the following season had been written and presented to Kelly, according to subsequent interviews; Bart was going to look after the saloon in Arizona while Bret ranged across the West.
NBC took the unusual step of rerunning the episodes two additional times - in the summer of 1988 to help provide 'new' programming during a writers strike, and in the summer of 1994 to play off publicity surrounding the Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
movie remake of the original Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
series also featuring Garner.
The 1978 TV-movie The New Maverick
The New Maverick
The New Maverick is a 1978 made-for-TV movie based on the 1957 television series Maverick, with James Garner as Bret Maverick, Charles Frank as newcomer cousin Ben Maverick , Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, and Susan Sullivan as "Poker Alice" Ivers. The TV-movie was a pilot for the series Young...
could be said to be the pilot for both this series and the 1979 failure Young Maverick
Young Maverick
Young Maverick is a 1979 television series that unsuccessfully attempted to recapture some of the magic of the highly successful 1957 series Maverick, which had starred James Garner as roving gambler Bret Maverick. Charles Frank played Ben Maverick, the son of Beau Maverick, making him Bret's...
, a short-lived series which had featured Charles Frank
Charles Frank
Charles R. Frank is an American actor noted for playing Bret Maverick's cousin Ben Maverick in the 1978 TV-movie The New Maverick with James Garner and Jack Kelly, and in the short-lived 1979 television series Young Maverick. Graduated with the class of 1969 from MIddlebury College.-Career:From...
as preppie former Harvard student Ben Maverick, the son of Roger Moore's
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
character Beau Maverick (although Moore only appeared in the original series
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
).
Other recurring cast members of the series, set in the small Arizona town of Sweetwater, include country singer Ed Bruce
Ed Bruce
William Edwin "Ed" Bruce, Jr. is an American country music songwriter and singer. He is known for penning the 1975 song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" .-Early life & songwriting career:...
as Tom Guthrie, Bret's partner and co-owner of the Red Ox Saloon; Stuart Margolin
Stuart Margolin
Stuart Margolin is an American film and television actor and director.-Television:Margolin is best known for his role on the television show The Rockford Files, playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin, the shifty friend and former cellmate of Jim Rockford...
as crooked Native American Philo Sandeen; Richard Hamilton
Richard Hamilton (actor)
Richard Hamilton was an American film, television, theater, and radio actor. He was raised in California, where he worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, before moving to Broadway. There, he performed in award-winning productions of Buried Child and Mornings at Seven...
as Cy Whitaker, the aging but feisty foreman of Maverick's ranch; Ramon Bieri
Ramon Bieri
Ramon Arens Bieri was an American actor who has starred in many films and many TV shows.-Biography:He co-starred on the short-lived 1981 TV series Bret Maverick with James Garner. Bieri appeared in many TV movies as well...
as local banker Elijah Crow; and Darleen Carr
Darleen Carr
Darleen Carr is an American actress best known for a recurring role in the 1981–82 television series Bret Maverick opposite James Garner...
as Mary Lou "M.L." Springer, a fetching owner, editor, and photographer of the local newspaper.
The 2-hour first episode was eventually trimmed and repackaged as a TV movie for rerunning on local stations under the title Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace
Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace
Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace is the 1981 2-hour pilot episode of the television series Bret Maverick, trimmed to a quicker pace and repackaged as a TV-movie for rerunning on local television stations. The 1981 show was based on the 1957 series Maverick, catching up with professional poker-player...
. Additionally the series' only two-part episode was similarly repackaged as Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope and Clarity
Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope and Clarity
Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope, and Clarity starring James Garner is a two-part episode of the 1981-82 television series Bret Maverick edited together and released to local television stations as a TV-movie. The show involves a religious cult that swindles the townspeople out of a tract of land and...
.
Writer/producer Roy Huggins
Roy Huggins
Roy Huggins was an American novelist and an influential writer/creator and producer of character-driven television series, including Maverick, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files....
, original creator of the titular character but otherwise unconnected with this series despite Garner's request that he come aboard mid-season, speculated that one reason the new show didn't quite work was that Maverick, traditionally a drifter, had settled down in one place; this was going to be rectified the following season, in which Bret would travel while Bart ran the saloon in Arizona.
As a tribute to the character featured on this television series, on April 21, 2006, a ten-foot bronze statue of James Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
, with Garner present at the ceremony.
Cast
- James GarnerJames GarnerJames Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
... Bret Maverick - Ed BruceEd BruceWilliam Edwin "Ed" Bruce, Jr. is an American country music songwriter and singer. He is known for penning the 1975 song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" .-Early life & songwriting career:...
... Tom Guthrie - Ramon BieriRamon BieriRamon Arens Bieri was an American actor who has starred in many films and many TV shows.-Biography:He co-starred on the short-lived 1981 TV series Bret Maverick with James Garner. Bieri appeared in many TV movies as well...
... Elijah Crow - John Shearin ... Mitchel Dowd
- David Knell ... Rodney Catlow
- Richard HamiltonRichard Hamilton (actor)Richard Hamilton was an American film, television, theater, and radio actor. He was raised in California, where he worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, before moving to Broadway. There, he performed in award-winning productions of Buried Child and Mornings at Seven...
... Cy Whittaker - Stuart MargolinStuart MargolinStuart Margolin is an American film and television actor and director.-Television:Margolin is best known for his role on the television show The Rockford Files, playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin, the shifty friend and former cellmate of Jim Rockford...
... Philo Sandeen - Darleen CarrDarleen CarrDarleen Carr is an American actress best known for a recurring role in the 1981–82 television series Bret Maverick opposite James Garner...
... Mary Lou Springer - Jack Garner ... Jack the bartender
- Luis Delgado ... Shifty Delgrado
- Tommy Bush ... Deputy Sturgess
- Priscilla Morrill ... Mrs. Springer
- Marj DusayMarj DusayMarj Dusay is an actress known for her roles on American soap operas...
... Kate Hanrahan (occasional)