How the West Was Won is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 western

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...

 television series that featured an all star cast that included: James Arness

James Arness

James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...

, Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint is an American actress who has starred in films, on Broadway, and on television in a career spanning seven decades. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama film On the Waterfront , and later starred in the thriller film North by...

, Fionnula Flanagan, Bruce Boxleitner

Bruce Boxleitner

Bruce William Boxleitner is an American actor, and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King , and Babylon 5...

, G. W. Bailey

G. W. Bailey

George William "G.W." Bailey is an American stage, television and film actor. Although he appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H ; Lieutenant—and later, Captain—Thaddeus Harris in Police Academy...

, Trisha Noble

Trisha Noble

Patricia Ann Ruth "Trisha" Noble is an Australian singer and actress.-Biography:Noble was born in Sydney, Australia. Her father was comedian and singer Buster Noble and her mother was the entertainer Helen De Paul....

, William Shatner

William Shatner

William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...

, Jack Elam

Jack Elam

William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...

, Woody Strode

Woody Strode

Woodrow Wilson Woolwine "Woody" Strode was a decathlete and football star who went on to become a pioneering black American film actor. He was nominated for a Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his role in Spartacus in 1960...

, Anthony Zerbe

Anthony Zerbe

Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American stage, film and Emmy-winning television actor. Notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; Milton Krest in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill;...

, Richard Kiley, Lloyd Bridges

Lloyd Bridges

Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...

, Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...

, Kay Lenz

Kay Lenz

Kay Ann Lenz is an American actress.A former child performer, Lenz has worked primarily in television and has won two Emmy Awards.-Background:...

, Brian Keith

Brian Keith

Brian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...

, Vera Miles

Vera Miles

Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Psycho and Psycho II.-Early life:...

, Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...

 and Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Montalbán

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...

. Loosely based on the 1962 Cinerama film

How the West Was Won (film)

How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film. The picture was one of the last "old-fashioned" epic films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to enjoy great success. It follows four generations of a family as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean...

 of the same name, it aired as a mini-series in 1977, and as a regular series in 1978 and 1979. A 2.5-hour long pilot episode

Television pilot

A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

, The Macahans, ran in 1976. A total of 25 episodes were aired.

The show was a great success in Europe, apparently finding a larger and more lasting audience there than in the United States. It has been rebroadcast many times on various European networks, e.g. in France, Germany, Italy and Sweden, and has built a cult following. It was released on DVD in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 in November 2009.

A sequence of paintings by Charles Marion Russell

Charles Marion Russell

Charles Marion Russell , also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an artist of the Old American West. Russell created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Indians, and landscapes set in the Western United States, in addition to bronze sculptures...

 were shown during the end credits.

Cast

• James Arness
  James Arness
  James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
  
   as Zebulon "Zeb" Macahan
• Bruce Boxleitner
  Bruce Boxleitner
  Bruce William Boxleitner is an American actor, and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King , and Babylon 5...
  
   as Luke Macahan
• William Kirby Cullen as Joshua "Josh" Macahan
• Fionnula Flanagan as Molly Culhane
• Richard Kiley as Timothy Macahan
• Kathryn Holcomb as Laura Macahan
• Jared Martin
  Jared Martin
  Jared Martin is an American film and television actor.-Acting career:Born in Queens, New York to Charles E. Martin a cover artist for The New Yorker, and his wife, Florence, Jared Martin began acting at the age of ten, when his parents gave him the choice of either learning to play the piano, or...
  
   as Frank Grayson
• Eva Marie Saint
  Eva Marie Saint
  Eva Marie Saint is an American actress who has starred in films, on Broadway, and on television in a career spanning seven decades. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama film On the Waterfront , and later starred in the thriller film North by...
  
   as Kate Macahan
• Vicki Schreck as Jessica "Jessie" Macahan
• Harris Yulin
  Harris Yulin
  Harris Yulin is an American actor who has appeared in dozens of Hollywood and television films.-Life and career:Yulin was born in...
  
   as Deek Peasley

In the pilot episode, Bruce Boxleitner's character is called Seth and William Kirby Cullen's character is called Jed.

Guest stars included Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Montalbán

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...

 as Satangkai, Ron Hayes

Ron Hayes

Ronald G. Hayes was an American television actor who, as an activist in the environmental movement, worked for the establishment of the first Earth Day, observed on April 22, 1970. He was a member of the Sierra Club and a founder of the ecological interest group Wilderness World...

 as Sheriff Pinter, Harry Lauter

Harry Lauter

Herman Arthur "Harry" Lauter was an American character actor originally from White Plains, New York....

 as Sheriff Charlie Benton, Gregg Palmer

Gregg Palmer

Gregg Palmer, originally Palmer Lee is an American actor, known primarily for his prolific work in television westerns...

 as Loman, Tom Simcox

Tom Simcox

Thomas William Simcox, known as Tom Simcox is a former actor who resides in the unincorporated community of Leona Valley west of Palmdale in Los Angeles County, California....

 as Marshal Logan, Read Morgan

Read Morgan

Read Morgan is a former American actor whose longest-running role was as a United States Army cavalry officer in the 1960-1961 season of The Deputy, a western television series on NBC created by Norman Lear. Morgan appeared in thirty episodes as the one-eyed Sergeant Hapgood Tasker, recognized by...

 as Morton in "The Slavers", and John M. Pickard

John Pickard (American actor)

John M. Pickard was an American actor who appeared primarily in television Westerns.-Early life and career:...

 as Colonel Caine and Jim Turner (three episodes). Actors Richard Basehart

Richard Basehart

John Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...

, Ken Curtis

Ken Curtis

Ken Curtis was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the long-running CBS western television series Gunsmoke.-Early years:...

, Michael Conrad

Michael Conrad

Michael Conrad was an American television actor.-Career:Conrad had a long acting career in television from the 1950s to the 1980s...

, and Jack Elam

Jack Elam

William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...

also guest starred on this series.