The Deputy (TV series)

The Deputy
Allen Case as McCord on the set with guest star Vivian Vance, 1959
Genre	Western
Created by	Roland Kibbee Norman Lear
Starring	Henry Fonda Allen Case Read Morgan Wallace Ford Betty Lou Keim
Narrated by	Henry Fonda
Theme music composer	Jack Marshall
Composer	Jack Marshall
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	76 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Henry Fonda William Frye
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Top Gun Productions Revue Studios
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 12, 1959 (1959-09-12) – July 1, 1961 (1961-07-01)

The Deputy is an American western series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1961 The series stars Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.

Synopsis

Further information: List of The Deputy episodes

Fonda narrated most episodes and appeared briefly at the beginning and ending of most segments. He played the lead in only six episodes in the first season and thirteen in the second. Usually he would give his deputy the assignment and, on rare occasions, would thank him at the conclusion of the episode. As Fred MacMurray later did while shooting the sitcom series My Three Sons, Fonda performed all of his work on The Deputy in several lengthy sessions so as to leave himself free for other projects. Although based in Silver City, the marshal's district also covered several nearby towns. Deputy McCord was a storekeeper who bore arms with great reluctance. Wallace Ford starred as the elderly Marshal, Herk Lamson, with Betty Lou Keim as McCord's sister, Fran, in the first season. Read Morgan joined the show in the second season as Sergeant Hapgood Tasker, known as "Sarge", a one-eyed United States Army cavalry enlisted man stationed in town.

Production notes

The series was created by Roland Kibbee and Norman Lear. It was produced by Revue Studios and featured a jazz guitar score by Jack Marshall.

The Deputy aired at 9 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. In its first year, it followed NBC's short-lived adventure series, The Man and the Challenge. It faced competition from Mr. Lucky on CBS and from The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC. In the second season, CBS dropped Mr. Lucky, and The Deputy faced competition from the second half of Checkmate.

DVD release

On October 26, 2010, Timeless Media Group released the complete series on DVD in Region 1. The 12-disc set features all 76 episodes of the series.

External links

• The Deputy at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show