The Virginian | |
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Also known as | The Men from Shiloh |
Genre | Western |
Based on | The Virginian by Owen Wister |
Written by |
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Directed by |
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Starring | |
Theme music composer |
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Opening theme |
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Ending theme |
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Composers |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 9 |
No. of episodes | 249 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
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Production locations | United States |
Cinematography |
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Running time | 65–75 minutes |
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Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | September 19, 1962 – March 24, 1971 |
Related | |
Laredo |
The Virginian (later renamed The Men from Shiloh in its final year) is an American Western television series starring James Drury in the title role, along with Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, and others. It originally aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971, for a total of 249 episodes. Drury had played the same role in 1958 in an unsuccessful pilot that became an episode of the NBC summer series Decision . Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute Western series (75 minutes excluding commercial breaks). Cobb left the series after four seasons, and was replaced over the years by mature character actors John Dehner, Charles Bickford, John McIntire, and Stewart Granger, all portraying different characters. It was set before Wyoming became a state in 1890, as mentioned several times as Wyoming Territory, although other references set it later, around 1898.
The series was loosely based on The Virginian: Horseman of the Plains , a 1902 Western novel by Owen Wister that Hollywood had previously adapted for movies. Percy Faith composed the show's original theme.
The series ran for nine seasons, making it network television's third-longest running Western series, [1] behind Bonanza at 14 seasons and 430 episodes, and Gunsmoke at 20 seasons and 635 episodes. [1]
When Revue Productions' hour long series Wagon Train moved from the NBC network to ABC, The Virginian was proposed to replace it. From the beginning, the 90-minute series was filmed in Technicolor on 35 mm movie film. [2] The half-hour pilot in 1958 was filmed in black-and-white.
The half-hour black and white pilot titled The Virginian aired in 1958 as part of the anthology series Decision , which in other weeks aired pilots for six other series.
In the pilot, unlike in the later series, the Virginian had a noticeable Southern accent and wore a belt buckle marked "CSA", indicating service in the Confederate States Army. [3] The portrayal of him as a young American Civil War veteran would indicate that the time period of the pilot was decades earlier than that of the series. He arrived by invitation at the ranch of Judge Henry (Robert Burton) to be an accountant and manager. He soon becomes involved in unraveling a plot to destroy the judge's efforts to create a new town in the surrounding region. Other actors in the pilot, some of whom appeared in the series years later, included Andrew Duggan, Jeanette Nolan, and Dan Blocker (in a small, nonspeaking role).
Set in the late 19th century, and loosely based on The Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains, a 1902 novel by Owen Wister, the series revolved around the foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, played by Drury. His top hand, Trampas (McClure), was the only character to remain with the show for the entire run, although Ross Elliott, as Sheriff Abbott, recurred throughout the run, appearing in 61 episodes over nine years. As in the book, the foreman went only by the name "the Virginian". The series was set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Various references in the first season indicate that setting is 1898:
The series focused on the foreman's quest to maintain an orderly lifestyle at Shiloh Ranch. The ranch was named after the two-day American Civil War Battle of Shiloh, at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The show's white Appaloosa was named Joe D., and Trampas' buckskin horse was named Buck.
Several cast changes were made throughout the program's run. In the first four seasons (1962–1966), the owner of the ranch was Judge Henry Garth (Cobb). His de facto daughter [lower-alpha 1] Betsy (Roberta Shore) lived at the ranch with him, and had a sister relationship with the ranch hands. Ranch hand Steve Hill (Gary Clarke) joined in episode storylines. Randy Boone joined the show in the second season as a youthful ranch hand who played guitar and sang duets with Betsy.
In 1965, Decca Records released an LP of songs from the two singing actors. In the episode "First to Thine Own Self" (February 12, 1964), Boone's character sings "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", written by Hank Williams in 1949.
In the third season, Clu Gulager, who had previously guest-starred twice in earlier seasons, was added to the show as deputy Emmett Ryker. At the end of season three, executive producer Frank Price was replaced by Norman Macdonnell. Conversely, season four's production was strained and troublesome. When Shore left the cast, Macdonnell added a new leading woman—Diane Roter, who played Jennifer, the judge's niece. When Cobb left the show in 1966, John Dehner, as Morgan Starr, was brought in as the manager of Shiloh when Judge Garth left to become the governor of Wyoming.
Producer Frank Price returned for season five. The characters of Randy, Morgan Starr, and Jennifer were subsequently replaced with characters of a more familiar tone. John Grainger (played by Charles Bickford) became the new owner. Elizabeth Grainger (played by Sara Lane), was John Grainger's granddaughter. Her brother Stacey (Don Quine) rounded out this new cast.
Although Price later left again, the series continued smoothly in the pattern he set. Due to Charles Bickford's sudden death in November 1967, season six saw Clay Grainger (John McIntire), take ownership of Shiloh after his brother John's apparent departure "on business". The sixth season also added Holly Grainger (played by Jeanette Nolan, McIntire's real-life wife, with whom he often worked professionally) as Clay's wife. Season seven had the entrance of David Sutton, played by David Hartman. Sutton was replaced in season eight with a younger hand, Jim Horn (Tim Matheson).
In season 9 (1970–1971), the name of the program was changed to The Men from Shiloh and the look of the series was completely redesigned. Ownership of the Shiloh Ranch was changed once more, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie (Stewart Granger) took over. [4] [5] Also Lee Majors joined as a new character, Roy Tate, introduced in the fifth episode of the season. Granger said of his character:
They had some idea of Colonel Mackenzie against the West. I wanted no part of that. Englishmen were running cattle here from the beginning. The English have this thing for land; for animals and crops... I said this old cocker's out of India and the colonies: he can take the American West on his own terms. [6]
In several countries, including the United Kingdom, the show went under the extended title The Virginian: Men from Shiloh. [7]
A new opening theme song was composed by Ennio Morricone, and the look of the show was changed reflecting a style similar to spaghetti Westerns, which were popular at the time. [8]
These changes brought a better ranking (number 18) in the top-30 primetime shows in the United States, after the previous year had the show slip out of the top-30 rankings for the first time. (It was one of only four Western series shown in primetime. [9] )
The final season operated on a "rotating lead actor" basis of the four stars, with normally just one lead appearing each week. Two of the four lead actors (Lee Majors and Doug McClure) never appeared together in the last season. The ranch itself played a very nominal part in season 9, with most scripts featuring the four stars away from the ranch. Little seemingly could save it, as the final season brought in several big guest stars to the remaining episodes. The studio and network were set on ending the series, as evidenced by rivals CBS and ABC making demographic moves away from rural-oriented shows (see "rural purge"). The final episode aired on March 24, 1971, ending the show's nine-season run.
The Virginian | |
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First appearance | "The Executioners" (1962) |
Last appearance | "Jump-up" (1971) |
Created by | Owen Wister |
Portrayed by | James Drury |
In-universe information | |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Foreman of the Shiloh Ranch in Medicine Bow, Wyoming |
Played by James Drury, [10] the Virginian was the tough foreman of the Shiloh Ranch. Based loosely on the character in the Owen Wister novel, he always stood his ground firmly. Respected by the town citizens and the hands of the ranch, he was a prominent figure in Medicine Bow. In the series, the Virginian is the ranch foreman from the first episode. This way, the producers were able to establish a feeling that he had been there for a while, thus keeping a consistent story line; this differed from the book, where he was the deputy foreman, eventually promoted to foreman. The Virginian usually wore a black hat, black leather vest, black boots, a maroon red shirt and a single right-handed holster and revolver. He often ordered Monongahela brand whiskey in saloons.
When making the show, the producers chose not to reveal the Virginian's real name, and little about his past was actually made known, making the Virginian an intriguing and mysterious character. The foreman worked under five ranch owners throughout the series: Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb), Morgan Starr (John Dehner), John Grainger (Charles Bickford), Clay Grainger (John McIntire), and Colonel Alan Mackenzie (Stewart Granger). Drury was the only cast member to appear in the pilot (aired as an episode of the series Decision) and the entire nine season run of The Virginian, with McClure the only other cast member to remain with the show for all nine seasons of The Virginian, though not in the initial pilot.
Lee J. Cobb's Judge Garth was portrayed as a stern man with a soft side to his personality, acting as a father figure to the Virginian. Respected by all the townspeople as well as his employees, Garth was often looked to as mediator for certain matters. Cobb left the series near the end of season four. In the episode "Morgan Starr", the character was stated to have left Shiloh to become governor of Wyoming. Garth had previously said he would leave Shiloh to his daughter Betsy in "The Hero" (season three, episode four).
Played by Doug McClure, [10] the character of Trampas took on a completely different personality from the character in the novel. In Wister's book, Trampas was a villain throughout the story and at the end was shot by the Virginian. In the series, producers chose to make Trampas a fun-loving and rowdy character; McClure fit the part perfectly. Trampas, a sandy-haired, rowdy cowhand who eventually settled down on the ranch, was by far the most developed character in the series, as compared to the minimal history on the title character. Several episodes were made detailing his past. McClure added a touch of light comedy to the series to counterbalance the Virginian's serious manner. For part of season 9, the Trampas character wore a thick mustache and broader brimmed hat.
Played by Gary Clarke, Steve was a good friend of both Trampas' and the Virginian's. He was constantly getting Trampas in and out of his usual scrapes. The on-screen chemistry that Gary Clarke and Doug McClure possessed reflected a good friendship off screen, and was loved by fans worldwide. Although he was with the show at the beginning, Clarke was being phased out of the show at the end of season two, but remained as a guest star for a few episodes in season three, before departing permanently.
Played by Roberta Shore from seasons 1–4, Betsy was the only daughter of Judge Garth. Early in the series, she was made clear to be adopted, but nevertheless, the judge treated her as his own. Betsy and the ranch hands had a relationship similar to that of brother and sister. Trampas and Steve had a particular soft spot for her, often jumping to protect her, and looking out for her wellbeing. At the start of the series, Betsy was said to be 15 years old. In a season-four episode, "The Awakening", she married a minister (Glenn Corbett), and moved to Pennsylvania, reflecting Shore's departure from the show.
Played by Randy Boone from seasons 2–4, Randy was a young ranch hand who played guitar and sang. He came into the show as Steve Hill was being phased out as a regular cast member. Before the new Grainger family was brought in for season five, his character was discontinued.
At the beginning of season three, a new cast regular was introduced. Clu Gulager played the restless deputy Emmett Ryker. Ryker was the first cast regular not to live on Shiloh. A former lawman turned hired gun, because the pay was better, Ryker decided to settle in Medicine Bow before he took his new profession too far. He was hired by Sheriff Abbott, with whom he had been acquainted, after solving the murder of a prominent rancher in the introductory episode "Ryker". He became the sheriff in season four. Gulager remained with the show for four seasons, leaving briefly at the beginning of season five, then returning for the rest of season five before leaving for good toward the end of season six.
After Roberta Shore's departure, Diane Roter was brought in as the judge's niece. At the end of season four, along with Boone and Dehner, she left, making room for the new owners.
Halfway through season four, Morgan Starr was brought in to run the ranch for Judge Garth because of Garth's appointment as governor of Wyoming. John Dehner played a tough and demanding man, who was hard to befriend, as the Virginian and Trampas soon found out. Fans disliked Dehner's character, and he left the show at the end of the season.
At the beginning of season five, with Judge Garth, Betsy, and Jennifer gone, a new character was brought in to run Shiloh. [11] Charles Bickford played a stern but loving grandfather to his two grandchildren, Stacey and Elizabeth. Although the Virginian and Mr. Grainger never quite had the father–son relationship that the Virginian and Judge Garth had, they got along well. Charles Bickford's death on November 9, 1967, was a shock to the cast. He was replaced by John McIntire as his brother Clay.
Played by Don Quine, Stacey Grainger, the grandson of John Grainger, lived at Shiloh, beginning in season five. [11] He worked alongside Trampas, and the two become good friends. Stacey's sister Elizabeth looked up to him as a big brother, and he filled the role more than competently. Quine's two seasons on The Virginian were the only ones that finished in the Nielsen rating top-15 year-end rankings.
Stacey's younger sister Elizabeth (Sara Lane) was the granddaughter of John Grainger, starting in season five. [11] Trampas, the Virginian, and Stacey all looked out for her wellbeing. Elizabeth was cast as a teenage girl enjoying her life on the frontier. She loved horses, riding the range, and going to the ever-present Saturday-night dances. Sara Lane departed the series in season eight.
After the death of Charles Bickford, John McIntire was hired as his brother, Liz and Stacey's great uncle. Clay had a wife, Holly (Jeanette Nolan), and was the ranch owner for seasons five through eight. McIntire had earlier taken over the lead role in Wagon Train upon the death of Ward Bond, assuming the role of the new wagonmaster. In season 9, The Virginian was revamped, and McIntire, along with Nolan, Lane, David Hartman, and Tim Matheson, left the show.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 30 | September 19, 1962 | May 1, 1963 | |
2 | 30 | September 18, 1963 | May 6, 1964 | |
3 | 30 | September 16, 1964 | April 21, 1965 | |
4 | 30 | September 15, 1965 | April 20, 1966 | |
5 | 29 | September 14, 1966 | April 12, 1967 | |
6 | 26 | September 13, 1967 | March 20, 1968 | |
7 | 26 | September 18, 1968 | April 9, 1969 | |
8 | 24 | September 17, 1969 | March 18, 1970 | |
9 | 24 | September 16, 1970 | March 24, 1971 |
The Virginian aired Wednesday at 7:30–9:00 pm on NBC for its entire run.
Season | Rank | Rating |
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1962–1963 | #26 | 21.7 |
1963–1964 | #17 | 24.0 |
1964–1965 | #22 | |
1965–1966 | #23 | 22.0 (Tied with The Wild Wild West and The Jackie Gleason Show ) |
1966–1967 | #10 | 22.8 (Tied with Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. , The Lawrence Welk Show and The Ed Sullivan Show ) |
1967–1968 | #14 | 22.9 |
1968–1969 | #17 | 21.8 |
1969–1970 | Not in the Top 30 | |
1970–1971 | #18 | 21.2 |
Drury was an active advocate of the series since the end of the original airings. He traveled across the United States, Ireland, and several other countries, appearing in Western-themed conventions, festivals, celebrations, news programs, and TV specials to promote The Virginian. Along with Gary Clarke and Roberta Shore, he participated in interviews for the Encore Westerns channel. Drury also reunited with key cast members Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, and Roberta Shore at these events.[ citation needed ]
In 2012, Drury also reunited with L. Q. Jones, Clu Gulager, Diane Roter, Sara Lane, and Don Quine in addition to Boone, Clarke, and Shore. Three events were held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Virginian, at the Memphis Film Festival on May 31, 2012, the Western Legends Roundup on August 16, 2012, and the Autry National Center and Museum on September 22, 2012. During the 50th-anniversary event, INSP, the exclusive cable home to current reruns of "The Virginian" filmed content with the surviving cast to use in the "Cast Favorites Marathon", which continues to be aired several times each year. In 2017, INSP began airing The Men from Shiloh during their Saddle Up Weekends programming block.[ citation needed ]
In April 1965, an episode of The Virginian titled "We've Lost a Train" served as a backdoor pilot for the TV series Laredo .
The cable channels of Encore Westerns, MoviePlex, and RetroPlex began airing complete, uncut commercial free episodes of The Virginian starting with a premier marathon in January 2010 and ending in December 2011. Seasons one through eight were shown.
The Inspiration Network cable channel began a three-year agreement to run The Virginian starting with a marathon of episodes on September 22, 2012, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show. Cozi TV, the NBCUniversal classic television digital specialty network, began airing episodes in 2013. The show later returned to Encore Westerns and continues to air every weekday; a marathon of Drury-centric episodes was run shortly after his death in April 2020.
Timeless Media Group (under license from NBCUniversal) has released all seasons of The Virginian on DVD in Region 1. All episodes on all releases have been fully restored and digitally remastered in full color and are available in special collectors' edition tin cases. They also each include a bonus disk with interviews from the actors. [12]
Euro Video of Germany released season one, part one, in Germany, on October 14, 2010. Season one, part two, was released June 16, 2011. The release is presented with original English audio with German subtitles, as well as a German-dubbed soundtrack.
Acorn Media UK released the first season of The Virginian on DVD in the UK on April 4, 2011. The DVD also contains an interview with James Drury.
DVD name | Ep # | Release date |
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The Complete First Season | 30 | May 25, 2010 |
The Complete Second Season | 30 | December 21, 2010 |
The Complete Third Season | 30 | March 15, 2011 |
The Complete Fourth Season | 30 | May 17, 2011 |
The Complete Fifth Season | 29 | October 25, 2011 |
The Complete Sixth Season | 26 | May 1, 2012 |
The Complete Seventh Season | 26 | February 5, 2013 |
The Complete Eighth Season | 24 | July 16, 2013 |
The Final Season: The Men from Shiloh | 24 | October 25, 2011 |
Gold Key Comics published a single issue of a comic book tie-in in summer 1963. [13]
Transogram published a board game in 1962. [14]
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated series The Simpsons. He was originally voiced by Phil Hartman and first appeared in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". McClure is a washed-up actor who is usually shown doing low-level work, most notably hosting manipulative infomercials and questionable educational films. He appears as the main character in "A Fish Called Selma", in which he marries Selma Bouvier to aid his failing career and quash rumors about his personal life. McClure also hosts "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" and "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase".
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. A Revue Studios production, the program originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, owner of the Sherman Ranch, along with his younger brother Andy, played by Robert L. Crawford Jr.; Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, an immature, hot-headed drifter who shows up at the Sherman Ranch in the premiere episode; and Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy, who keeps the homestead/stage stop running while Slim and Jess usually alternate starring roles during the show. Actress Spring Byington was later added to the cast.
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage, as well as for his television role in the series, The Virginian. He often played arrogant, intimidating and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectable figures such as judges and police officers. Cobb originated the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's 1949 play Death of a Salesman under the direction of Elia Kazan, and was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Brothers Karamazov (1958).
Charles Ambrose Bickford was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Song of Bernadette (1943), The Farmer's Daughter (1947) and Johnny Belinda (1948). His other roles include Whirlpool (1950), A Star Is Born (1954) and The Big Country (1958).
Wagon Train is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). Wagon Train debuted on September 18, 1957 and reached the top of the Nielsen ratings. It is the fictional adventure story of a large westbound wagon train through the American frontier from Missouri to California. Its format attracted famous guest stars for each episode appearing as travelers or residents of the settlements that the regular cast encountered.
The Doris Day Show is an American sitcom which was originally broadcast on CBS from September 1968 until March 1973, remaining on the air for five seasons and 128 episodes.
The Virginian is a 1902 novel by the American author Owen Wister (1860–1938), set in Wyoming Territory during the 1880s. It describes the life of a cowboy on a cattle ranch and is considered the first true fictional western ever written, aside from short stories and pulp dime novels, though modern scholars debate this. The Virginian paved the way for many more westerns by such authors as Zane Grey, Max Brand, Louis L'Amour and several others. The novel was adapted from several short stories published in Harper's Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post between Nov 1893 and May 1902.
Douglas Osborne McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. He is best known for his role as the cowboy Trampas during the entire run from 1962 to 1971 of the series The Virginian and mayor turned police chief Kyle Applegate on Out of This World. From 1961 to 1963, he was married to actress BarBara Luna.
John Herrick McIntire was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in November 1960, as the star of NBC's Wagon Train. He played Christopher Hale, the leader of the wagon train from early 1961 to the series' end in 1965. He also replaced Charles Bickford, upon Bickford's death in 1967, as ranch owner Clay Grainger on NBC's The Virginian for four seasons.
Robert Fuller is an American horse rancher and retired actor. He began his career on television, guest-starring primarily on Western programs, while appearing in several movies, including: The Brain from Planet Arous, Teenage Thunder, Return of the Seven (1966), Incident at Phantom Hill (1966), and The Hard Ride (1971). In his five decades of television, Fuller was known for his deep, raspy voice and was familiar to television viewers throughout the 1960s from his co-star roles on the popular 1960s Western series Laramie as Jess Harper and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith. He was also well known for his starring role as Dr. Kelly Brackett in the 1970s medical/action drama Emergency!
Jeanette Nolan was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series The Virginian (1962–1971) and Dirty Sally (1974), and in films such as Macbeth (1948).
Roberta Jymme Schourup, better known as Roberta Shore, is a retired American actress and performer. She is notable for her roles in the original Shaggy Dog film and as Betsy Garth on the Western television series The Virginian. A devout Mormon, Shore broke her contract to focus on her marriage and family, retiring at the age of 22. She lives in Utah.
John Dehner, also credited Dehner Forkum, was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performance credits, often in roles as sophisticated con men, shady authority figures, and other smooth-talking villains. His credits just in feature films, televised series, and in made-for-TV movies number almost 300 productions. Dehner worked extensively as a radio actor during the latter half of that medium's "golden age,” accumulating hundreds of additional credits on nationally broadcast series. His most notable starring role was as Paladin on the radio version of the television Western Have Gun – Will Travel, which aired for 106 episodes on CBS from 1958 to 1960. He continued to work as a voice actor in film, such as narrating the film The Hallelujah Trail. Earlier in his career, Dehner also worked briefly for Walt Disney Studios, serving as an assistant animator from 1940 to March 1941 at the company's facilities in Burbank, California. He appeared in Columbo episodes "Swan Song" (1974) with Johnny Cash, and as Commodore Otis Swanson in "Last Salute to the Commodore" (1976). He appeared in a two part episode of Mission: Impossible.
James Child Drury Jr. was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series The Virginian, which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 to 1971.
The Virginian is a 1929 American pre-Code Western film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper, Walter Huston, and Richard Arlen. The film was based on the 1902 novel The Virginian by Owen Wister and adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle.
The Virginian is a 1946 American Western film directed by Stuart Gilmore and starring Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, and Barbara Britton. Based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel of the same name, the film was adapted from the popular 1904 theatrical play Wister had collaborated on with playwright Kirke La Shelle. The Virginian is about an eastern school teacher who comes to Medicine Bow in Wyoming and encounters life on the frontier. The film is a remake of the 1929 movie with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. There have been several versions of the story, beginning with a 1914 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and including a 1960s television series that bore little relation to the book other than the title. The film was originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, and is currently owned by EMKA.
Séan Joseph McClory was an Irish actor whose career spanned six decades and included well over 100 films and television series. He was sometimes billed as Shawn McGlory or Sean McGlory.
Gary Clarke is an American actor best known for his role as Steve Hill in the NBC Western television series The Virginian with James Drury and Doug McClure.
Diane Roter is an American actress best known for her appearances in the long-running TV Western The Virginian in its fourth season, which ran from 1965 to 1966. She then appeared in an episode of Laredo, which was a spin-off from The Virginian series in 1966 and later appeared in an episode of the TV show Family Affair in 1969. She is also known as Danielle Roter and made appearances in television and film from 1959 until 1970. She currently is a professional writer, actor, director, critic, and arts journalist. She is a certified teaching artist. She has also worked as an editor, computer tutor, algebra teacher, writing and performance coach, and political organizer. She is as also known as Dani Roter.