The Westerner (TV series)
| The Westerner | |
|---|---|
| Format | Western |
| Created by | Sam Peckinpah |
| Starring | Brian Keith John Dehner |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 30, 1960 – December 30, 1960 |
The Westerner is a 1960 Four Star Television Western series on NBC created by Sam Peckinpah. The series stars Brian Keith as Dave Blassingame and features John Dehner as semi-regular Burgundy Smith. The critically acclaimed show ran for only thirteen episodes due to low ratings (due to being placed in the same timeslot as The Flintstones and Route 66), one of which, "Line Camp," was the basis for the 1968 Charlton Heston film Will Penny.
The pilot for The Westerner appeared on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater. The musical score was largely the work of Four Star's Herschel Burke Gilbert. For rerun syndication, it was grouped with three other short-lived Western series from the same company, Black Saddle starring Peter Breck, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant, and Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, under the umbrella title The Westerners, bracketed with hosting sequences featuring Keenan Wynn.
Guest stars included Malcolm Atterbury, Ben Cooper, and John M. Pickard.
Blassingame's dog Brown was played by Spike, who was trained by Frank Weatherwax. He is best known for playing the title role in Old Yeller. Brown figured prominently in a number of episodes, was featured in all of them, and was always seen faithfully following Blassingame in the end credits.
An unsuccessful attempt to update and revive the series aired as a January 1963 episode of The Dick Powell Theater, "The Losers", featuring Lee Marvin as Dave Blassingame and Keenan Wynn as Burgundy Smith.
Brian Keith briefly played the same character again in 1991's The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, which featured a number of 1950s and 1960s television western series leads reprising their roles in quick cameo appearances (Gene Barry as Bat Masterson, Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp, Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie, David Carradine as Kung Fu's Caine, Chuck Connors as The Rifleman, and so on).
