Pony Express (TV series)

Last updated
Pony Express
Genre Western
Written by
Directed by
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes35
Production
Producers
  • Tom McKnight
  • Robert Stillman
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time25 mins.
Production company California National Productions
Original release
Network Syndication
ReleaseOctober 7, 1959 (1959-10-07) [1]  
May 31, 1960 (1960-05-31)

Pony Express is an American Western television series about the adventures of an agent in the 1860s of the Central Overland Express Company, better known as the Pony Express. [2] The half-hour program starring Grant Sullivan and Don Dorrell was created by California National Productions. [2] Pony Express ran for thirty-five episodes in syndication from the fall of October 1959 until May 1960. In its final days, the series just managed to coincide with the centennial of the Pony Express (April 3, 1860).[ citation needed ]

Contents

Overview

The series featured two recurring roles: Grant Sullivan as Brett Clark, a roving investigator for the company, and Don Dorrell as Donovan, a young Pony Express rider. The majority of the weekly episodes involved Clark and Donovan solving various Pony Express mysteries. [3]

Production

Pony Express was filmed at Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth in Los Angeles County, California.[ citation needed ] It was one of several western-themed television shows produced by CNP, including Boots and Saddles (1957–1958) and Union Pacific (1959–1960) and Frontier (1955-1956).[ citation needed ] CNP created the series for the 100th anniversary of the actual Pony Express. [4]

The Pony Express pilot, the first Western television pilot shot in colour, [1] was shot in February 1957 with James Best in the lead. This version did not sell (although Best was included in a TV Guide photo feature on upcoming TV westerns in June of that year) but was later aired, slightly re-edited, as an episode of the syndicated series.

Guest stars

Episodes

No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
1"The Story Of Julesberg"Lewis R. FosterTeleplay by: Sam Peckinpah ()
2"The Killer"James NielsenStory by: Tony Barrett
Teleplay by: Jack Laird
 ()
3"The Replacement"Jean YabroughTeleplay by: John Meredyth Lucas ()
4"The Last Mile"Frank AdreonTeleplay by: Joe Stone and Paul King  ()
5"Payoff"TBDTBD ()
6"Wrong Rope"Jean YabroughTeleplay by: Budd Lesser ()
7"The Deadly Sniper"Jean YabroughTeleplay by: Lee Berg and Harry Clork ()
8"Justice For Jenny"TBDTBD ()
9"The Treaty"TBDTBD ()
10"Message From New Orleans"Frank McDonaldTeleplay by: William R. Cox and Harry Clork ()
11"The Good Samaritan"Jean YabroughTeleplay by: Rudy Makoul and Joel Rogosin ()
12"The Peace Offering"TBDTBD ()
13"The Wrong Man"TBDTBD ()
14"The Reluctant Bride"TBDTBD ()
15"Lady's Choice"TBDTBD ()
16"Token Payment"TBDTeleplay by: Budd Lesser ()
17"We Ourselves"TBDTBD ()
18"Showdown At Thirty Mile Ridge"TBDTBD ()
19"Bandido"Frank McDonaldTeleplay by: Joe Stone and Paul King ()
20"Princess Of Crazy Creek"Frank McDonaldTeleplay by: Joe Stone and Paul King ()
21"The Theft"TBDTBD ()
22"Duel At Devil's Canyon"TBDTBD ()
23"Vendetta"TBDTBD ()
24"Mail For A Male"TBDTBD ()
25"The Breadwinner"TBDTBD ()
26"The Golden Circle"TBDTBD ()
27"The Station Keeper's Bride"TBDTBD ()
28"The Pendant"TBDTBD ()
29"Special Delivery"TBDTBD ()
30"The Wedding Of Big Zack"Frank McDonaldTeleplay by: Raphael Hayes ()
31"The Renegade"TBDTBD ()
32"Trial By Fury"TBDTBD ()
33"Reclaim"TBDTBD ()
34"Ghost Of Caribou Ridge"Frank McDonaldTeleplay by: Joe Stone and Paul King ()
35"The Search"Frank McDonaldTeleplay by: John Meredyth Lucas ()

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julesburg, Colorado</span> Town in Colorado, United States

Julesburg is the statutory town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Sedgwick County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,307 at the 2020 United States Census.

<i>Highway Patrol</i> (American TV series) 1955-1959 American television series

Highway Patrol is a 156-episode action crime drama series produced for syndication from 1955 to 1959. It was "one of the most popular syndicated series in television history", and it was the first American series broadcast in West Germany on that country's commercial TV channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Curtis</span> American actor and singer (1916–1991)

Ken Curtis was an American actor and singer best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the western television series Gunsmoke. He appeared on Gunsmoke earlier in other roles. His first appearance as Festus was in season 8, episode 13, "Us Haggens", which debuted December 8, 1962. His next appearance was Season 9, episode 2, October 5, 1963, as Kyle Kelly, in "Lover Boy". Curtis joined the cast of Gunsmoke permanently as Festus in "Prairie Wolfer", season 9 episode 16, which debuted January 18, 1964. This episode features the same title as a 1969 episode (S13E10).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Pyle</span> American actor (1920–1997)

Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor and director. He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985, as Mad Jack in the NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and as the titular character's father, Buck Webb, in CBS's The Doris Day Show. In many of his roles, he portrayed either authority figures, or gruff, demanding father figures, often as comic relief. Perhaps his most memorable film role was that of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967), as the lawman who relentlessly chased down and finally killed the notorious duo in an ambush.

<i>Death Valley Days</i> American television series

Death Valley Days is an American Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dabbs Greer</span> American actor (1917–2007)

Robert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American character actor in film and television for over 60 years. With nearly 100 film roles and appearances in nearly 600 television episodes of various series, Greer may be best remembered as series regular Mr. Jonas in Gunsmoke, as Coach Ossie Weiss in the sitcom Hank, and as series regular Reverend Robert Alden in Little House on the Prairie. Greer is probably better known to later audiences for his final film role as the 108-year-old Paul Edgecomb, the character played by Tom Hanks in 1999's The Green Mile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitney Blake</span> American actress and director (1926–2002)

Whitney Blake was an American film and television actress, director, and producer. She is known for her four seasons portraying Dorothy Baxter, the mother, on the 1960s sitcom Hazel, and as co-creator and writer of the sitcom One Day at a Time. With her first husband she had three children, including actress Meredith Baxter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Gordon</span> American actor (1922–2000)

Leo Vincent Gordon was an American character actor and screenwriter. During more than 40 years in film and television he was most frequently cast as a supporting actor playing brutish bad guys but occasionally played more sympathetic roles just as effectively.

R.C.M.P. was a Canadian television drama series about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The series ran a single season, consisting of 39 weekly half-hour episodes that aired from 28 October 1959 to 19 October 1960 on CBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Dark</span> American actor (1920–1971)

Christopher Dark was an American actor. He graduated from Cornell University and did post graduate work at Columbia University. He served as an army medic in the Philippines during WWII, and received honors. He began his career in theater in NY, and then moved to Hollywood in 1952. He was a member of the Foreign Film Committee for SAG for most of his career. As well as acting, he also wrote many scripts, including collaborations with Ida Lupino and Christopher Cary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Slate</span> American actor (1926–2006)

Jeremy Slate was an American film and television actor, and songwriter. He is best known for portraying Larry Lahr in The Aquanauts (1960–1961), Chuck Wilson in One Life to Live (1979–1987) and as Deputy Sheriff Ben Latta in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jock Mahoney</span> American actor (1919–89)

Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney, known professionally as Jock Mahoney, was an American actor and stuntman. He starred in two Action/Adventure television series, The Range Rider and Yancy Derringer. He played Tarzan in two feature films and was associated in various capacities with several other Tarzan productions. He was credited variously as Jacques O'Mahoney,Jock O'Mahoney, Jack Mahoney, and finally Jock Mahoney.

<i>Fury</i> (American TV series) American TV series or program

Fury is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1955 to 1960. It stars Peter Graves as Jim Newton, who operates the Broken Wheel Ranch in California; Bobby Diamond as Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey. Roger Mobley co-starred in the two final seasons as Homer "Packy" Lambert, a friend of Joey's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Birch (actor)</span> American actor (1912–1969)

Paul Birch was an American actor. He was a film star of 39 movies, 50 stage dramas, and numerous television series, including the Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mort Mills</span> American actor (1919–1993)

Mort Mills was an American film and television actor who had roles in over 150 movies and television episodes. He was often the town lawman or the local bad guy in many popular westerns of the 1950s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Moore (actor)</span> American actor (1908-1964)

Dennis Moore was an American actor who specialized in Western films and film serials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dewey Martin (actor)</span> American actor (1923–2018)

Dewey Dallas Martin was an American film and television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Kennedy (actor)</span> American actor (1915–1973)

Douglas Richards Kennedy was an American actor who appeared in more than 190 films from 1935 to 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant Sullivan (actor)</span> American actor

Grant Sullivan was an American actor who starred as investigator Brett Clark in the television series, Pony Express, which aired in syndication from 1959 to 1960. He starred with Don Dorrell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Dorrell</span> American film and television actor

Donald Evans Dorrell was an American film and television actor. He was best known for playing the role of Donovan in the American western television series Pony Express.

References

  1. 1 2 "Do You Remember... "Pony Express"".
  2. 1 2 Jackson, Ronald; Abbot, Doug (April 23, 2008). 50 Years of The Television Western. AuthorHouse. p. 181. ISBN   978-1434359254.
  3. Marill, Alvin H. (2011). Television Westerns: Six Decades of Sagebrush Sheriffs, Scalawags and Sidewinders. Scarecrow Press. p. 66. ISBN   978-0-8108-8132-7.
  4. Erikson, Hal (November 5, 2001). Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years 1947-1987. McFarland & Company. p. 181. ISBN   978-0786411986.