The Texan (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Texan is a Western
television series
starring popular B movie
star Rory Calhoun
. It aired on the CBS television network
from 1958-1960.
Confederate
veteran from Texas
who had been a captain roaming the American West to help people in need. Often the plot would center around Longley helping an old friend or a relative of an old friend. He was known by reputation as a fearsome gunfighter, which saved him time but caused him trouble.
The Bill Longley of The Texan was in no way the real Bill Longley, an outlaw hanged in 1878 in Giddings
, Texas.
Calhoun had formed a production company with Victor Orsatti they named Rorvic that co-produced The Texan in partnership with Desilu Productions
, the production company founded by Lucille Ball
and her first husband, Desi Arnaz, Sr.
.
The Texan ran for only two seasons. In the last part of the second season, it was preceded on the CBS schedule by Kate Smith
's return to network television, her unsuccessful The Kate Smith Show
. The first season, sponsored by Viceroy
, was the better because in the second season, the network reused some of the material and footage from the first season. After the 79-episode run, Calhoun returned to starring and co-starring in "B" Westerns, and making occasional television appearances. Louis L'Amour
wrote teleplays for several episodes.
In the 1960-1961 television season, rebroadcasts of The Texan ran on ABC
opposite CBS's As the World Turns
and NBC
's Make Room for Daddy.
On November 18, 2008, The Texan was released on DVD (70 of its original 78 episodes).
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
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
starring popular B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
star Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
. It aired on the CBS television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
from 1958-1960.
Production notes
In The Texan, Calhoun played Bill Longley, an American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
veteran from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
who had been a captain roaming the American West to help people in need. Often the plot would center around Longley helping an old friend or a relative of an old friend. He was known by reputation as a fearsome gunfighter, which saved him time but caused him trouble.
The Bill Longley of The Texan was in no way the real Bill Longley, an outlaw hanged in 1878 in Giddings
Giddings, Texas
Giddings is the county seat of Lee County, Texas, United States situated on the intersection of U.S. Highways 77 and 290, east of Austin. Its population was 5,105 at the 2000 census. The city's motto is "Giddings Texas: Experience Hometown Hospitality"....
, Texas.
Calhoun had formed a production company with Victor Orsatti they named Rorvic that co-produced The Texan in partnership with Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
, the production company founded by Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
and her first husband, Desi Arnaz, Sr.
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
.
The Texan ran for only two seasons. In the last part of the second season, it was preceded on the CBS schedule by Kate Smith
Kate Smith
Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith was an American Popular singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s.Smith was born in Greenville, Virginia...
's return to network television, her unsuccessful The Kate Smith Show
The Kate Smith Show
The Kate Smith Show is a half-hour, short-lived variety program which aired on CBS television from January 25 to July 18, 1960. The program features singer Kate Smith and the Harry Simeone Chorale.-Background:...
. The first season, sponsored by Viceroy
Viceroy (cigarette)
Viceroy cigarettes are made by Brown & Williamson, which was owned by British American Tobacco, and, since 2004, by Reynolds American Inc., a joint venture between the U.S. branch of British American Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company....
, was the better because in the second season, the network reused some of the material and footage from the first season. After the 79-episode run, Calhoun returned to starring and co-starring in "B" Westerns, and making occasional television appearances. Louis L'Amour
Louis L'Amour
Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American author. His books consisted primarily of Western fiction novels , however he also wrote historical fiction , science fiction , nonfiction , as well as poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into movies...
wrote teleplays for several episodes.
In the 1960-1961 television season, rebroadcasts of The Texan ran on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
opposite CBS's As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
and 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...
's Make Room for Daddy.
On November 18, 2008, The Texan was released on DVD (70 of its original 78 episodes).
Guest stars
- Chris AlcaideChris AlcaideChristopher "Chris" Alcaide was an American actor particularly known for his role in television westerns. He surfaced to national attention as Deputy Joshua Tate in the 1956 film Gunslinger, co-starring Beverly Garland as a woman marshal.In 2003, Alcaide was among recipients, including the Sons of...
appeared four times, including his last role as Deputy Luke Smith in "Presentation Gun" (1960). - Pat ConwayPat ConwayPatrick Douglas Conway, known as Pat Conway , was an American actor best known for his role as young but tough Sheriff Clay Hollister on the ABC and then syndicated western television series Tombstone Territory . He was a maternal grandson of silent film star Francis X...
appeared as Mike Kaler in the episode "The Troubled Town". Conway also portrayed SheriffSheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Clay Hollister on the ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and later syndicatedTelevision syndicationIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western, Tombstone TerritoryTombstone TerritoryTombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959...
. - Russ ConwayRuss Conway (actor)Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor who appeared on film and television between 1947 and 1975.-Early years:...
portrayed Bob Jason in the 1960 episode "Borrowed Time". - Walter CoyWalter CoyWalter Darwin Coy was an American stage, radio, film, and, principally, television actor, originally from Great Falls, Montana. He was best known for narrating the NBC western anthology series, Frontier, which aired early Sunday evenings in the 1955-1956 season.-Career:Coy performed on Broadway...
portrayed Doc Nelson in the 1960 episode "Town Divided." - Dennis CrossDennis CrossDennis Cross was an American actor who was the lead star of the syndicated television series The Blue Angels, fictional stories of daredevil United States Navy pilots which aired from 1960-1961...
guest starred in the 1958 episode "Law of the Gun". - Tod GriffinTod GriffinTod Griffin, born as Arthur Griffin , was an American actor of stage, film, and television, originally from Birmingham, Alabama.-Early years:...
appeared twice as Kurt Branden in "Trouble on the Trail" (1959) and "Badman" (1960). - Ron HagerthyRon HagerthyRonald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
guest starred as Neil Pierce in the 1958 episode "The First Notch" and in title role of "Johnny Tuvo" in 1960. - Ron HayesRon HayesRonald 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...
appeared twice on the series in the episodes "The Ringer" and "Showdown". - George MacreadyGeorge MacreadyGeorge Peabody Macready, Jr. , was an American stage, film, and television actor often cast in roles as polished villains.-Background:...
portrayed Big Jim Sammett in "A Time of the Year" (1958). - Patrick McVeyPatrick McVeyPatrick McVey was an American actor who starred in three television series between 1950 and 1961, Big Town, Boots and Saddles, and Manhunt.-Early life and career:...
guest starred as Marshal Dodson in "Outpost" (1959). - Gregg PalmerGregg PalmerGregg Palmer, originally Palmer Lee is an American actor, known primarily for his prolific work in television westerns...
appeared in the 1958 episode "The Troubled Town". - James PhilbrookJames PhilbrookJames Philbrook was an American actor who appeared in supporting roles in three short-lived television series between 1959 and 1963: The Islanders on ABC and The Investigators and The New Loretta Young Show, both on CBS...
appeared as Yancey Lewis in the episode "Return to Friendly" (1959). - John M. PickardJohn Pickard (American actor)John M. Pickard was an American actor who appeared primarily in television Westerns.-Early life and career:...
as Ben Kirby in "The Gunfighter" (1959) and as Jess Walton in "Borrowed Time" (1960) - Gilman RankinGilman RankinGilman W. Rankin was a Massachusetts-born actor who appeared primarily in television westerns between 1956 and 1975. Between 1957 and 1959, he had a supporting role as Deputy Charlie Riggs in seven episodes of the series Tombstone Territory...
, also of Tombstone Territory, appeared on The Texan. - Robert F. SimonRobert F. SimonRobert F. Simon was an American character actor, often portraying military or authority figure roles. Though his face was recognized by audiences, he was mostly unknown by name...
appeared as Will Crandall in the episode "Reunion" and as Vance in another segment "The Guilty and the Innocent". - Barbara StuartBarbara StuartBarbara Ann Stuart was an American actress.-Major roles:Stuart portrayed "Miss Bunny", the girlfriend of Sergeant Vincent Carter, played by Frank Sutton, on three seasons of CBS's Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C....
appeared as Poker Alice in three 1960 episodes, "The Taming of Rio Nada", "Sixgun Street", and "The Terrified Town". - Beverly WashburnBeverly WashburnBeverly Washburn is an American actress who appeared as a young girl in NBC's The Loretta Young Show and as an older teenager in Loretta Young's 1962-1963 CBS family drama, The New Loretta Young Show...
appeared as Henrietta Tovers in "No Tears for the Dead" (1958) and as Greta Banden in "Badman" (1960).