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SHOOTING STARS OF THE SMALL SCREEN:

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
TV WESTERN ACTORS,
1946-PRESENT

by Douglas Brode

(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009)
Foreword by Fess Parker
Illustrated
Pages 370
Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-292-71849-4
$39.95

Reviewed by Dr. Kirk Bane

September 1, 2021

"Los Angeles Rams footballer Roosevelt Grier helped to disarm Sirhan Sirhan following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (6/6/1968). He joined the DANIEL BOONE cast for the final season (1969-1970) as Gabe Cooper, a big, burly, sweet-spirited runaway slave who finds solace-and equality!-in Boonesborough." So observes Syracuse University professor Douglas Brode in this entertaining, informative, and amply illustrated publication, which highlights more than 450 actors, both the famous and the lesser known, who appeared in TV Westerns from the 1940s to the 21st century.

Among the actors Professor Brode discusses are Nick Adams (THE REBEL), Amanda Blake (GUNSMOKE), Richard Boone (HAVE GUN-WILL TRAVEL; HEC RAMSEY), David Carradine (KUNG FU), Chuck Connors (THE RIFLEMAN; BRANDED), Linda Cristal (THE HIGH CHAPARRAL), Gail Davis (ANNIE OAKLEY), Clint Eastwood (RAWHIDE), Dale Evans (THE ROY ROGERS SHOW), Lorne Greene (BONANZA), Christopher Jones (THE LEGEND OF JESSIE JAMES), Brian Keith (THE WESTERNER), Steve McQueen (WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE), Terry Moore (EMPIRE), Hugh O'Brian (THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP), Timothy Olyphant (DEADWOOD), Jane Seymour (DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN), Jay Silverheels (THE LONE RANGER), and Barbara Stanwyck (THE BIG VALLEY). Brode asserts that THE BIG VALLEY, which ran from 1965-1969, provided "an alternative to BONANZA," because it posited "matriarchy for the first time in a TV Western. Stanwyck played Victoria Barkley, running a ranch in San Joaquin Valley near Stockton and keeping several sons and one daughter in line while proving a woman in charge could succeed." Moreover, Brode contends that THE LEGEND OF JESSIE JAMES, which aired 1965-1966, was "a TV whitewashing of the gang leader during the post-Civil War years…The single-season show remains noteworthy as the precursor to BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), romanticizing outlaws of the past as metaphors for the then-emerging Youth Movement."

A number of Texans, of course, appear in Professor Brode's book. These include Tioga's Gene Autry (THE GENE AUTRY SHOW), De Kalb's Dan Blocker (BONANZA), Snyder's Powers Boothe (DEADWOOD), Beaumont's L. Q. Jones (CHEYENNE; RAWHIDE; THE VIRGINIAN), San Saba's Tommy Lee Jones (LONESOME DOVE), Houston's Dewey Martin (DANIEL BOONE), Kingston's Audie Murphy (WHISPERING SMITH), and Fort Worth's Fess Parker (DAVY CROCKETT; DANIEL BOONE). Furthermore, some of the Westerns Brode discusses were set in the Lone Star State. For example, TEMPLE HOUSTON, which ran from 1963-1964 on NBC and featured "The Yellow Rose of Texas" as its opening theme, starred Jeffrey Hunter as Sam Houston's son, a frontier attorney.

Western actor Harry Carey, Jr., calls SHOOTING STARS OF THE SMALL SCREEN "a gem of a book: one that can be used for reference or just read for pleasure. It's a must for all the Western movie and TV buffs who want to know about their heroes. It's a wonderful job of work painstakingly researched and well written." Agreed. In short, fans of TV oaters will relish this insightful and comprehensive volume. "Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!"



Review by Dr. Kirk Bane, Central Texas Historical Association


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