Colt .45 (TV series)
| Colt .45 | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Colt Cousins on the BBC |
| Genre | Western |
| Created by | Based on the film by Thomas W. Blackburn |
| Developed by | Roy Huggins |
| Starring | Wayde Preston Donald May |
| Theme music composer | Mack David and Jerry Livingston |
| Opening theme | performed by Hal Hopper |
| Composer(s) | Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 67 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | William T. Orr |
| Producer(s) | Roy Huggins Harry Tatelman Cedric Francis Mack David Joseph Hoffman |
| Editor(s) | James Moore,[disambiguation needed  ] supervisor |
| Location(s) | California Warner Bros. back lot and Warner Ranch |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | 1.33:1 monochrome |
| Audio format | monaural |
| First shown in | Fridays at 10pm |
| Original run | 18 October 1957 – 21 June 1960 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Colt .45 |
| Related shows | Maverick |
Colt .45 (also known as The Colt Cousins) is an American Western television series shown on ABC between 1957 and 1960[1]. The half-hour show derives from the 1950 Warner Brothers film of the same name starring Randolph Scott and formed part of the William T. Orr-produced "family" of Westerns which Warner produced for ABC in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Roy Huggins developed the series, casting Wayde Preston in the part of undercover government agent "Christopher Colt". Colt's cover would be as a travelling Wild West pistol salesman, hence the double entendre of the show's title[2].
After about the first season, Preston and the studio had a falling-out and Christopher Colt's cousin, "Sam Colt, Jr.", portrayed by Donald May, became the series lead in 1959. Preston would eventually return for the final episodes.
The series was one of several Warner Bros. westerns on ABC during this period, including Maverick with James Garner, Jack Kelly, and Roger Moore, Sugarfoot with Will Hutchins, Cheyenne with Clint Walker, Bronco with Ty Hardin, and Lawman with John Russell and Peter Brown. Various series leads occasionally did crossover episodes on some of the other shows, and one of the most imaginative was the "Hadley's Hunters" episode of Maverick, in which Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick comes upon Christopher Colt's sales satchel, abandoned in a room and covered with dust since the series had been cancelled the previous season[3].
The original opening theme music was performed by Hal Hopper, who also performed the theme for another western TV series, 26 Men.
[edit] Guest stars
Colt .45 guest stars included:
- Chris Alcaide played Grimes in the 1957 episode "Small Man".
- Francis De Sales starred in "Sign in the Sand" (1958).
- Ron Foster, as Tommy Potts in "Bounty List" (1960)
- Ron Hagerthy, as Deputy Jim Benson, and I. Stanford Jolley, in 1960 episode "Impasse"
- Ron Hayes, who later starred in the syndicated series The Everglades
- Tyler McVey appeared as Colonel Ben Williams in the 1960 episode "Absent Without Leave".
- Dan Sheridan
- Bob Steele in the series' first episode, "The Peacemaker" (1957)
- Barbara Stuart appeared as Belle in the 1959 episode "The Magic Box".
- Randy Stuart, as Julie in the 1958 episode "Blood Money"
- Gary Vinson appeared in the episode "The Runaway Groom".
- John Vivyan, later cast as Mr. Lucky, a CBS adventure series
[edit] References
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