George Maharis
George Maharis | |
---|---|
Maharis in 1962 publicity photo | |
Born | |
Occupation(s) | Actor, singer, artist |
Years active | 1953–1993 |
George Maharis (born September 1, 1928)[1] is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66. Maharis also recorded numerous pop music albums at the height of his fame, and later starred in the TV series The Most Deadly Game.
Early years
Maharis was one of seven children born to Greek immigrants in Astoria, Queens.[1] He attended Flushing High School and served in the United States Marine Corps for 18 months.[2]
He studied at the Actors Studio and appeared in off-Broadway productions of Jean Genet's Deathwatch and Edward Albee's The Zoo Story. He appeared on Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, Goodyear Television Playhouse, Stirling Silliphant's Naked City and Otto Preminger's Exodus, and in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow as Bud Gardner, one of Joanne Gardner's relatives who married Janet Bergman Collins.
Route 66
In 1960, Maharis appeared as Buz Murdock in the TV series Route 66, which co-starred Martin Milner. Maharis was 32 at the time the series started, although the character he was playing was only 23. He received an Emmy nomination in 1962 for his continuing performance as Buz.
Maharis departed without completing his third season of the series, which saw him with health problems, including hepatitis.[3][4]
Maharis said he left Route 66 for health reasons, because of long hours and grueling conditions while shooting on location. "I have to protect my future", Maharis said in a 1963 interview. "If I keep going at the present pace, I'm a fool. Even if you have $4,000,000 in the bank, you can't buy another liver."[5]
Series producers Stirling Silliphant and Herbert B. Leonard disputed Maharis' stated position, arguing that he desired to break his contract in order to make movies.[5] Maharis biographer Karen Blocher wrote that "the producers felt betrayed and duped when they learned of Maharis's sexual orientation, and never trusted him again," and she speculated "in a less homophobic era, they might have communicated better, and worked things out."[6] After Maharis' departure, the show's appeal declined. Glenn Corbett acted in the role of Milner's new sidekick, Linc Case. A year later Route 66 was canceled.[citation needed]
Later career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/George_Maharis_1972.jpg/220px-George_Maharis_1972.jpg)
For Maharis, a string of films followed, including Quick, Before It Melts (1964), The Satan Bug and Sylvia (both 1965), A Covenant With Death and The Happening (both 1967), and The Desperados (1969).[7]
Returning to series television in 1970, Maharis starred as criminologist Jonathan Croft in The Most Deadly Game. The series lasted 12 episodes, ending in January 1971.
He modeled fully nude for the July 1973 issue of Playgirl magazine as one of the first celebrities to do so.[8][9]
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Maharis had featured roles in several television movies and also guest-starred on numerous television series, including Mission: Impossible, Fantasy Island, Kojak, McMillan & Wife, Barnaby Jones, Police Story, Switch, Cannon, Night Gallery, and The Bionic Woman, as well as Murder, She Wrote in 1990.[7]
He appeared as Count Machelli, King Cromwell's War Chancellor in The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982). He also starred with the Kenley Players in productions of Barefoot in the Park (1967) and How the Other Half Loves (1973) and in national touring company productions of Company and I Ought to Be in Pictures. In the 1980s, he performed in Las Vegas.[citation needed] Doppelganger (1993) was his last motion picture role.[7]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1953 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Dancer at the Dance Club | |
1957 | Goodyear Television Playhouse | ||
1958 | The Mugger | Nicholas Grecco | |
1959 | Brenner | ||
1960 | Alcoa Theatre | Johnny Cesare | |
1959–60 | Naked City | Johnny Gary | |
1960 | Exodus | Yaov | |
1961 | Splendor in the Grass | uncredited | |
1960–61 | Search for Tomorrow | Bud Gardner | |
1960–63 | Route 66 | Buz Murdock | |
1963 | The Judy Garland Show | ||
1964 | Quick, Before It Melts | Peter Santelli | |
1965 | Sylvia | Alan Macklin | |
1965 | The Satan Bug | Lee Barrett | |
1965 | Hullabaloo | ||
1966 | A Small Rebellion | Michael Kolinos | TV film |
1966 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Miles Catlan; Michael Kolinos | |
1967 | A Covenant with Death | Ben Lewis | |
1967 | The Happening | Taurus | |
1967 | The Danny Thomas Hour | Phil Pearson | |
1968 | Escape to Mindanao | Joe Walden | TV film |
1968 | Journey to the Unknown | Drake | |
1969 | The Desperados | Jacob Galt | |
1969 | The Monk | Gus Monk | TV film |
1970 | Land Raiders | Paul Cardenas | |
1970 | El Último Día de la Guerra (The Last Day of the War) | Sgt. Chips Slater | |
1970 | The Most Deadly Game | Jonathan Croft | |
1971 | Night Gallery | Peter Lacland | |
1971 | Cade's County | Deck Minty | |
1971 | Medical Center | Evan Kenbrook | |
1972 | Cannon | Paul Stubber | |
1972 | The Victim | Ben Chapel | TV film |
1973 | Mission: Impossible | Thomas Bachman | |
1973 | Barnaby Jones | Warren Davis | |
1974 | Movin' On | Harry Armour | |
1974 | The Wide World of Mystery | Walter | |
1974 | Shaft | Wally Doyle | |
1974 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Curtis Haynes | |
1974 | The Snoop Sisters | Robert Duware | |
1974 | Thriller | Mark Fields | |
1974 | Death in Space | Dr. Dan Summit | TV film |
1974 | McMillan & Wife | Walter Webley | |
1974 | Nakia | Joe Arnold | |
1975 | Murder on Flight 502 | Robert Davenport | TV film |
1976 | Ellery Queen | Dr. Tony Bender | |
1976 | Rich Man, Poor Man | Joey Quales | TV miniseries |
1976 | Good Heavens | Gary Lawrence | |
1976 | Jigsaw John | Robert Derek | |
1976 | Bert D'Angelo/Superstar | Lee Mitchell | |
1976 | Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby | Guy Woodhouse | TV film |
1976 | Gibbsville | ||
1976 | The Bionic Woman | Sgt. Bob Welton | |
1977 | SST: Death Flight | Les Phillips | TV film |
1977 | Kojak | Ringer | |
1973–77 | Police Story | Sgt. Hank Delany; J.R. Peters; Salter | |
1977 | The Feather and Father Gang | Sherwin | |
1977 | Switch | Clouston | |
1978 | Return to Fantasy Island | Benson | TV film |
1978 | Logan's Run | Gavin | |
1978 | Crash | Evan Walsh | TV docudrama |
1979–82 | Fantasy Island | Joe Capos; Prof. Alan Blair; Mario Ferini; Dr. Hal Workman; Jack Becker | |
1982 | The Sword and the Sorcerer | Machelli, Cromwell War Chancellor | |
1984 | Matt Houston | Dr. Charles Brockway | |
1984 | The Master | Simon Garrett | |
1989 | Superboy | Jack McAlister | |
1990 | Murder, She Wrote | Alex Burton | |
1993 | Doppelganger | Mike Wallace |
Art and music
Maharis released albums and singles through Epic Records earlier in his career. His only top-40 pop hit was his version of the standard "Teach Me Tonight", which hit number 25 in June 1962, although several other singles charted below the top 40. Later, he performed in nightclubs and pursued a secondary career as an impressionist painter. As of 2008, Maharis was still painting, splitting his time between New York and Beverly Hills.[8]
Selected discography
Albums
Original releases
- 1962 – George Maharis Sings! – Epic LN 24001/BN 26001[10]
- 1962 – Portrait in Music – Epic LN 24021/BN 26021[11]
- 1963 – Just Turn Me Loose! – Epic LN 24037/BN 26037[12]
- 1963 – Where Can You Go For a Broken Heart? – Epic LN 24064/BN 26064[13]
- 1964 – Make Love to Me – Epic LN 24079/BN 26079
- 1964 – Tonight You Belong to Me – Epic LN 24111/BN 26111
- 1966 – New Route: George Maharis – Epic LN 24191/BN 26191
Singles
Original releases
- 1962 – "After the Lights Go Down Low" / "Teach Me Tonight" – Epic 5-9504
- 1962 – "They Knew About You" / "Love Me as I Love You" – Epic 5-9522
- 1962 – "I'll Never Smile Again" / "Can't Help Falling In Love" – Epic 5-9545
- 1962 – "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" / "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" – Epic 3-9548
- 1962 – "Baby Has Gone Bye Bye" / "After One Kiss" – Epic 5-9555
- 1963 – "Don't Fence Me In" / "Alright, Okay, You Win" – Epic 5-9569
- 1963 – "Where Can You Go (For a Broken Heart)" / "Kiss Me" – Epic 5-9600
- 1963 – "That's How It Goes" / "It Isn't There" – Epic 5-9613
- 1963 – "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" / "Sara Darling" – Epic 5-9653
- 1964 – "Tonight You Belong to Me" / "The Object of My Affection" – Epic 5-9696
- 1965 – "I'm Coming Back for You" / "Lonely People Do Foolish Things" – Epic 5-9753
- 1965 – "Where Does Happiness Go" / "More I Cannot Do" – Epic 5-9772
- 1965 – "You Always Hurt the One You Love" / "Quien Sabe? (Who Knows? Who Knows?)" – Epic 5-9844
- 1965 – "A World Without Sunshine" / "Ivy" – Epic 5-9858
Reissues
- "Teach Me Tonight"/"Baby Has Gone Bye Bye" (At least one reissue on Memory Lane)
References
- ^ a b "Stars of TV's 'Route 66' working on opposite coasts". Albuquerque Journal. November 16, 2003. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
George Maharis was born September 1, 1928, in Astoria, N.Y.
- ^ Gehman, Richard (April 14, 1961). "George Maharis: TV's hard-driving rebel". TV Guide.
- ^ Genzlinger, Neil (May 18, 2012). "A Half-Century-Old Road to Today". The New York Times.
- ^ "George Is Back on the Road", Television Supplement to the Australian Women's Weekly, August 8, 1962, archived from the original on August 28, 2004
- ^ a b "They Come to Blows: Route 66", Movie Screen Yearbook 1963, 1963, archived from the original on October 26, 2009
- ^ Yiannis, John (November 12, 2015). "GayCultureLand: George Maharis". GayCultureLand.
- ^ a b c George Maharis at IMDb
- ^ a b Rahner, Mark (March 5, 2008). "George Maharis, 'Route 66' and that Corvette are back—on DVD". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017.
- ^ "A Penis on Every Page: The Rise and Fall of Playgirl". Esquire. June 24, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
- ^ George Maharis – George Maharis Sings! at AllMusic. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
- ^ George Maharis – Portrait in Music at AllMusic. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
- ^ George Maharis – Just Turn Me Loose! at AllMusic. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
- ^ George Maharis – Where Can You Go for a Broken Heart? at AllMusic. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1928 births
- Living people
- American male film actors
- American male stage actors
- American male television actors
- American people of Greek descent
- Epic Records artists
- Male actors from New York City
- Military personnel from New York City
- American male singers
- American male models
- 20th-century American male actors
- Playgirl Men of the Month