THIERRY ATTARD'S DOUBLE FEATURE: Charles Marquis Warren

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Tuesday, 1 August 2023

THE VIRGINIAN - SEASON 3 ON DVD (ELEPHANT FILMS)

The Virginian, the classic western series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, ran for 9 seasons and 249 75-minute episodes on U.S. network NBC from 1962 to 1971. It is available on DVD (All Zone) from Elephant Films, which first released the fully restored series in its entirety from 2014, including episodes never shown on French television.

Since May, Elephant makes The Virginian available again. Seasons 1 to 3 and Seasons 4 to 6 can be bought individually or in "Le Virginien - Intégrale Volume 1 - Saisons 1 à 3" and "Le Virginien - Intégrale Volume 2 - Saisons 4 à 6". Seasons 7 to 9 will follow in September.

The Virginian is set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming at the end of the 19th century and centered on the charismatic and enigmatic foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, only known as "The Virginian". The character was created by American writer Owen Wister (1860-1938) for his novel The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, first published in 1902. The book was adapted for the stage as of 1903 and four movies were made between 1914 and 1946. Wister's work raised the interest of television in the late 1950s. At the suggestion of Frank Price, a story editor at Screen Gems (the TV subsidiary of Columbia Pictures), the company produced a 30-minute black and white pilot starring James Drury, a young actor from New York, as The Virginian. The pilot didn't sell and ended up as an episode of the anthology Decision, aired by NBC in summer 1958.

The western genre was very popular on U.S. television in the 1950s and 1960s. The most watched show of the 1961-1962 season was NBC's western Wagon Train (1957-1965), produced by Revue Studios, the TV arm of MCA (Music Corporation of America). The second and third most watched programmes were westerns too: Bonanza (1959-1973), also on NBC, and Gunsmoke (1955-1975) on CBS. In 1961, Jennings Lang, vice president of distributor MCA TV, sold new and old episodes of Wagon Train to ABC for $20 million after NBC refused the price proposed by MCA at the end of their five-year contract. Lang gave the executives of NBC something bigger to replace America's #1 programme... The Virginian, television's first 90-minute (with commercial breaks) western series. He asked Frank Price, who joined Revue in 1959, to write the format.

The network greenlit the series, to be filmed in colour (1) on 35mm and without a pilot. NBC called The Virginian "the most ambitious and costly programming in network television history" and explained that the 90 minutes allowed full character development and expanded storytelling. They promised location shooting and "at least one major guest star" every week (2). In March 1962 came the announcement that Broadway and film actor Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront) would play the key role of Judge Henry Garth, the owner of the Shiloh Ranch. The rest of the main cast was revealed in May: four years after the Screen Gems pilot, James Drury was chosen to be The Virginian. Doug McClure (Overland Trail, Checkmate) got the role of Trampas, the fun-loving top hand of The Virginian. Gary Clarke (Michael Shayne) was given the part of Steve Hill, a young cowboy.

The other regular characters announced were newspaperwoman Molly Wood, portrayed by Pippa Scott, and Judge Garth's teenage daughter Betsy, played by Roberta Shore. In May 1962, multiple production units started to work simultaneously to provide the 30 75-minute episodes planned, on a schedule requiring to make two or three episodes at the same time. Hence the variable presence of the main characters from an episode to another. With a budget estimated as much as $500,000 each on some episodes (3) and a duel vs Wagon Train on wednesdays to begin in fall 1962, failure was not an option. Long before the launch of The Virginian, NBC and Revue Studios grew dissatisfied with the work of executive producer Charles Marquis Warren on the series and decided to replace him.

MCA hired Roy Huggins as a consultant to assess the problems of the episodes already produced and fix them. Huggins was a novelist, scriptwriter and producer who worked for Columbia, RKO, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. For television, he created the hit series Cheyenne (1955-1962), Maverick (1957-1962) and 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964) (4). Roy Huggins called Frank Price and Joel Rogosin to assist him and asked director Richard L. Bare to shoot new scenes. Charles Marquis Warren remained credited until mid-season, then Roy Huggins and Frank Price officially became executive producer and producer (respectively). Hugh O'Brian, Ricardo Montalbán, George C. Scott, Bette Davis or Vera Miles guest starred in a first season which fulfilled its promises. The Virginian ranked #26 in the ratings, closely following Wagon Train which fell to the 25th position.

In 1962, MCA acquired record company Decca, the owner of Universal Pictures and Revue Studios was renamed Universal Television the following year (5). In May 1963, Lee J. Cobb, James Drury, Doug McClure, Gary Clarke and Roberta Shore began to work on the second season of The Virginian. New executive producer Frank Price signed freelance writer Cy Chermak as story editor. Chermak worked on The Dakotas (1963) and Bonanza (6). Produced by Jules Schermer and Winston Miller, season 2 aired from September 1963 to May 1964 on wednesdays. Wagon Train switched to colour and 90 minutes for its seventh season (7) but moved to mondays. In November 1963, NBC announced that Randy Boone would join the regular cast. This young actor and singer from North Carolina, noticed in It's a Man's World (1962-1963), first appeared as guitar playing ranch hand Randy Benton in the 20th episode of the second season.

An episode solved the absence of journalist Molly Wood since the middle of season 1 but without Pippa Scott. Ross Elliott recurred as Sheriff Mark Abbott from season 1 to season 7 (except for season 4). L.Q. Jones played Belden, a semi-regular character, from season 2 to the final season. Gena Rowlands, Robert Redford, Dick York, Yvonne DeCarlo, Jack Klugman, Peter Graves or Darren McGavin were some of the guest stars of a second season which ranked #17 in the ratings. Produced by Joel Rogosin, Winston Miller, Frank Telford, Cy Chermak and Gene L. Coon, season 3 aired on NBC from September 1964 to May 1965 every wednesdays. Frank Price remained the executive producer and hired actor Clu Gulager in May 1964 to play the regular role of Deputy Sheriff Emmett Ryker. Gulager previously played different roles in individual episodes of seasons 1 and 2 of The Virginian. Written by Frank Fenton, directed by Don Richardson and guest starring Leslie Nielsen, season 3's first episode (titled Ryker) introduces the new character.

Gary Clarke appeared in three episodes of the third season before the departure of Steve Hill from Shiloh Ranch after The Girl from Yesterday (episode 9). Those cast changes required a new title sequence, with an emphasis on action (at the request of Jennings Lang). Roberta Shore and Randy Boone were credited together on a shot from their singing duet of Dark Challenge, the second episode. Katherine Crawford, who guest stars in Felicity's Spring (episode 5), is the daughter of Roy Huggins and she married Frank Price in 1965. Written by John Holloway and directed by Don McDougall, Felicity's Spring was the highest rated episode of the season. Linden Chiles plays a spoiled rich young man in Big Image... Little Man (episode 7), penned by Frank Chase and Carey Wilber and helmed by movie serials veteran William Witney. A young Kurt Russell plays in A Father For Toby, written by True Boardman from a story by Tom Seller and directed by Alan Crossland, Jr.

Vera Miles and John Gavin, who both starred in Psycho (1960), play together in Portrait Of A Widow (the 13th episode). Penned by Cy Chermak and helmed by Don McDougall, Hideout (episode 18) is the remake of a western from Universal Pictures called Sierra (1950), itself adapted from Stuart Hardy's novel The Mountains Are My Kingdom (1937) by Edna Anhalt. In We've Lost a Train, Trampas is sent to Mexico to pick up a prized bull. While at Laredo, he meets a group of Texas Rangers. Written by Borden Chase and directed by Earl Bellamy, the 30th episode of this third season served as a backdoor pilot for the comedy western series Laredo. Produced by Universal Television, Laredo ran on NBC for 56 one-hour colour episodes from 1965 to 1967 and starred Neville Brand (Reese Bennett), William Smith (Joe Riley), Peter Brown (Chad Cooper) and Philip Carey as Captain Edward Parmalee (8).

Peter Brown and William Smith guest starred in different roles (for one episode each) during season 3 of The Virginian before the characters of Laredo were introduced in We've Lost a Train. Katharine Ross, Robert Culp, Steve Forrest, Barbara Eden, Rory Calhoun, Anne Francis, George Kennedy, Adam West or Ida Lupino are amongst the other guest stars of the season. Many familiar faces appear, such as Warren Stevens, Harold Gould, Slim Pickens, Peter Mark Richman, Robert Colbert, Bruce Dern, Tom Skeritt, Leonard Nimoy, etc. Even an unknown Raquel Welch as a saloon girl in episode 1. Actor Jerome Courtland, who co-stars in A Slight Case of Charity (episode 21), became an important television director. Other writers of this 1964-1965 season include Clair Huffaker, Mark Rodgers, Jean Holloway, Howard Browne, Gabrielle Upton and Gene L. Coon.

Bernard McEveety, Richard L. Bare, John Florea, Maury Geraghty, William Hale, Richard Benedict and Leon Benson are season 3's other directors. Percy Faith (Tammy Tell Me True) composed the theme music of The Virginian. Composers Sidney Fine, Leo Shuken, Jack Hayes, Lynn Murray, Harry Sukman and Van Cleave worked on the soundtrack. The third season of The Virginian ranked #22 in the ratings. Season 5 reached the Top 10. For its ninth season, the title changed for The Men from Shiloh and a new theme music was composed by Ennio Morricone. Only James Drury and Doug McClure stayed for the entire series. The success of The Virginian paved the way for more 90-minute programmes with continuing characters, like western Cimarron Strip (1967-1968) on CBS or NBC's The Name of the Game (1968-1971) and The NBC Mystery Movie (1971-1977).

The influence of The Virginian on the television industry didn't stop there. The good reception of the first 90-minute western series during the 1962-1963 season encouraged the emergence of the "Made-for-Television movie". In June 1963, MCA and NBC signed a deal to make two-hour colour feature films specifically for the network on a TV budget. The idea was inspired to Jennings Lang because networks competed to air theatrical films. The result was Project 120 and in november 1963 NBC announced the production of Johnny North, "television's first two-hour telefilm", starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson and John Cassavetes. Directed by Don Siegel, it was judged too violent by NBC and Universal released it theatrically as The Killers. Shown in October 1964, See How They Run became the first of those TV movies, folllowed by The Hanged Man in November of the same year.

After The Virginian, James Drury did some stage work and starred in the short-lived Firehouse (1974). He guest starred in a lot of series and attended numerous western festivals and conventions. Doug McClure rotated the lead with Hugh O'Brian and Tony Franciosa in Search (1972-1973). He replaced Dennis Cole in Barbary Coast (1975-1976) after the pilot. The TV movie Satan's Triangle (1975), where he played alongside Kim Novak, is cult in France. His last regular role in a series was in Out of This World (1987-1991). On the big screen, McClure starred in The Land That Time Forgot (1974), At The Earth's Core (1976) or The People That Time Forgot (1977). MCA decided to release some episodes of The Virginian in theaters abroad to recoup some of the production costs (9). Selected episodes of The Virginian arrived on French television from 1966.

The "Le Virginien - Intégrale Saison 3" 15-disc boxset from Elephant Films contains the 30 episodes of season 3, in English with French subtitles as they were never shown on French TV. Bonus material is comprised of an interview with Peter Brown and the trailers of other titles from Elephant Films.

(4) For the rest of Roy Huggins' career, see https://tattard2.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-virginian-season-2-on-dvd-elephant.html

(5) MCA formed Universal City Studios in 1964 to oversee its film and television activities.
(6) Later, Cy Chermak became the executive producer of Ironside (1967-1975) and CHiPs (1977-1983).
(7) Wagon Train reverted to black and white and 60 minutes for its eighth and final season.

(8) Robert Wolders and Claude Akins joined the regular cast for the second season.

(9) Ride a Dark Trail, the first episode of season 2, was edited with the 30th episode of the third season (We've Lost A Train, the pilot for Laredo) to form the movie Backtrack! (1969).

https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/5472590/serie-le-virginien?pid=10516775908 (Intégrale Saison 3)
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/offer/buy/10516775909/le-virginien-volume-1-saisons-1-a-3.html (Intégrale Volume 1 - Saisons 1 à 3)
http://www.elephantfilms.com

Tuesday, 18 July 2023

THE VIRGINIAN - SEASON 2 ON DVD (ELEPHANT FILMS)

NBC called The Virginian "the most ambitious and costly programming in network television history" and explained that the 90 minutes allowed full character development and expanded storytelling. They promised location shooting and "at least one major guest star" every week (2). In March 1962 came the announcement that Broadway and film actor Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront) would play the key role of Judge Henry Garth, the owner of the Shiloh Ranch. The rest of the main cast was revealed in May: four years after the Screen Gems pilot, James Drury was chosen to be The Virginian. Doug McClure (Overland Trail, Checkmate) got the role of Trampas, the fun-loving top hand of The Virginian though he was a villain in the book. Gary Clarke (Michael Shayne) was given the part of Steve Hill, a young cowboy.

The other regular characters announced were newspaper owner Molly Wood, portrayed by Pippa Scott, and Judge Garth's teenage daughter Betsy, played by Roberta Shore. In May 1962, multiple production units started to work simultaneously to provide the 30 75-minute episodes planned, on a schedule requiring to make two or three episodes at the same time. Hence the variable presence of the main characters from an episode to another. With a budget estimated as much as $500,000 each on some episodes (3) and a duel vs Wagon Train on wednesdays to begin in fall 1962, failure was not an option. Long before the launch of The Virginian, NBC and Revue Studios grew dissatisfied with the work of executive producer Charles Marquis Warren on the series and decided to replace him.

MCA hired Roy Huggins as a consultant to assess the problems of the episodes already produced and fix them. Huggins was a novelist, scriptwriter and producer who worked for Columbia, RKO, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. For television, he created the hit series Cheyenne (1955-1962), Maverick (1957-1962) and 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964). Roy Huggins called Frank Price and Joel Rogosin to assist him and asked director Richard L. Bare to shoot new scenes. Charles Marquis Warren remained credited until mid-season, then Roy Huggins and Frank Price officially became executive producer and producer (respectively). Hugh O'Brian, Ricardo Montalbán, George C. Scott, Bette Davis or Vera Miles guest starred in a first season which fulfilled its promises. The Virginian ranked #26 in the ratings, closely following Wagon Train which fell to the 25th position.

In May 1963, Lee J. Cobb, James Drury, Doug McClure, Gary Clarke and Roberta Shore began to work on the second season of The Virginian. New executive producer Frank Price signed freelance writer Cy Chermak as story editor. Chermak worked on The Dakotas (1963) and Bonanza (4). Produced by Jules Schermer and Winston Miller, season 2 aired from September 1963 to May 1964 on wednesdays. 26 episodes were originally intended but NBC ordered four more in December. Wagon Train switched to colour and 90 minutes for its seventh season (5) but was now on mondays. Written by E.M. Parsons from a story by Arthur Browne and directed by John Peyser, Ride A Dark Trail opens the season with the story of Trampas before his arrival at Shiloh Ranch. Writers Carey Wilber and Frank Fenton did the same for The Virginian in The Drifter, the 19th episode (directed by Don McDougall).

In November 1963, NBC announced that Randy Boone would join the regular cast. This young actor and singer from North Carolina, noticed in It's a Man's World (1962-1963), first appeared as guitar playing ranch hand Randy Benton in First to Thine Own Self (the 20th episode). Ross Elliott recurred as Sheriff Mark Abbott from season 1 to season 7 (except for season 4). L.Q. Jones played Andy Belden, a semi-regular character, from season 2 to the final season. The Fatal Journey, the 11th episode, solves the absence of newspaperwoman Molly Wood since the middle of season 1 without the actress Pippa Scott. Other writers of this 1963-1964 season include Bob and Wanda Duncan, Frank Chase, William Fay, Dean Riesner, Donn Mullally, John D.F. Black or Borden Chase.

Robert Ellis Miller, movie serials veterans John English and William Witney, Bernard McEveety, Earl Bellamy, Richard L. Bare and Andrew V. McLaglen are some of the other directors of season 2. Percy Faith (Tammy Tell Me True) composed the theme music of The Virginian. Composers Lennie Hayton, Sidney Fine, David Buttolph, Pete Rugolo and Richard Shores worked on the soundtrack. Gena Rowlands, Robert Redford, Dick York, Yvonne DeCarlo, Jack Klugman, Peter Graves or Darren McGavin are among the guest stars of this second season. Clu Gulager, who played a villain in a season 1 episode, returns in a different role. He came back again as Deputy Sheriff Emmett Ryker from season 3 to season 6.

Many familiar faces appear throughout season 2, such as Robert Colbert, Warren Oates, Madlyn Rhue, Mariette Hartley, Bruce Dern or David Carradine. Future Star Trek icons DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy can both be seen in Man of Violence (episode 14). Katherine Crawford, who plays Anna Swenson in the episode A Bride For Lars, is the daughter of Roy Huggins. She married Frank Price in 1965. The second season of The Virginian ranked #17 in the ratings. Season 3 was #22 and launched a spin-off, Laredo (1965-1967). Season 5 reached the Top 10. For its ninth season, the title changed for The Men from Shiloh and a new theme music was composed by Ennio Morricone. Only James Drury and Doug McClure stayed for the entire series.

The success of The Virginian paved the way for more 90-minute programmes with continuing characters, like western Cimarron Strip (1967-1968) on CBS or NBC's The Name of the Game (1968-1971) and The NBC Mystery Movie (1971-1977). Roy Huggins created The Fugitive (1963-1967) for ABC and stayed at Universal Television as a vice president (until 1966) and executive producer. There, he created and/or exec produced Run for Your Life (1965-1968), The Outsider (1968-1969), The Lawyers (1968-1972), Alias Smith and Jones (1971-1973), Cool Million (1972), Toma (1973-1974), The Rockford Files (1974-1980, co-created with Stephen J. Cannell), Baretta (1975-1978, created by Stephen J. Cannell) and City of Angels (1976, created with Cannell). Huggins came out of retirement in 1985 to become the executive producer of Hunter (1984-1991).

MCA decided to release some episodes of The Virginian in theaters abroad to recoup some of the production costs (6). Selected episodes of The Virginian arrived on French television from 1966. The "Le Virginien - Intégrale Saison 2" 15-disc boxset from Elephant Films contains the 30 episodes of season 2. The languages are French and English (with French subtitles). 13 episodes unaired on French TV are in English only. Bonus material is comprised of a presentation of the series and its season 2 by French journalist and acknowledged TV series expert Alain Carrazé, an interview with Gary Clarke, an interview with Robert Fuller (Wagon Train, Laramie) and the trailers of other titles from Elephant Films.

(1) Bonanza was the first TV western to be filmed in colour. Alex Quiroga, the colour consultant of Bonanza, and Robert Brower worked as consultants on The Virginian.
(2) NBC Press release (August 29, 1962).
(3) Sponsor (March 19, 1962).
(4) Later, Cy Chermak became the executive producer of Ironside (1967-1975) and CHiPs (1977-1983).
(5) Wagon Train reverted to black and white and 60 minutes for its eighth and final season.

(6) Ride a Dark Trail, the first episode of season 2, was edited with the 30th episode of the third season (We've Lost A Train, the pilot for Laredo) to form the movie Backtrack! (1969).

https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/5472590/serie-le-virginien?pid=10516775904 (Intégrale Saison 1)
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/shop/5472590/serie-le-virginien?pid=10516775905 (Intégrale Saison 2)
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/5472590/serie-le-virginien?pid=10516775908 (Intégrale Saison 3)
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/offer/buy/10516775909/le-virginien-volume-1-saisons-1-a-3.html (Intégrale Volume 1 - Saisons 1 à 3)
http://www.elephantfilms.com
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/boutique/ElephantFilm

See also:

Monday, 26 June 2023

THE VIRGINIAN - SEASON 1 ON DVD (ELEPHANT FILMS)

Now Elephant makes The Virginian available again, starting with seasons 1 to 3 (since last month). They can be bought individually or in "Le Virginien - Intégrale Volume 1 - Saisons 1 à 3" boxset. Seasons 4 to 6 will follow in July.

The Virginian is set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming at the end of the 19th century and centered on the charismatic and enigmatic foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, only known as "The Virginian". The character was created by American writer Owen Wister (1860-1938) for his novel The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, first published in 1902. The book was adapted for the stage as of 1903 and there were four movies based on Wister's work between 1914 and 1946. In the late 1950s, The Virginian raised the interest of Frank Price, a story editor at Screen Gems (the television arm of Columbia Pictures), who recommended it for a possible series. The company produced a 30-minute black and white pilot written by Leslie Stevens (creator of the 1963-1965 sci-fi series The Outer Limits) and starring James Drury, a young actor from New York, as The Virginian. The pilot didn't sell and was recycled as an episode of Decision, an anthology shown by NBC during summer 1958. But Frank Price and James Drury would hear again of The Virginian.

The western genre was very popular on U.S. television in the 1950s and 1960s. The first two most watched shows of the 1961-1962 season were NBC's westerns Wagon Train (1957-1965) and Bonanza (1959-1973). The third was Gunsmoke (1955-1975) on CBS, a western too. Wagon Train was produced by Revue Studios, the TV subsidiary of MCA (Music Corporation of America). Revue was also behind western series Tales of Wells Fargo (1957-1962) and Laramie (1959-1963) for NBC and Rawhide (1959-1965), co-starring Clint Eastwood, for CBS. In 1961, Jennings Lang, vice president of distributor MCA TV, sold Wagon Train to ABC for $20 million (reruns included) after NBC refused the price proposed by MCA at the end of their five-year contract. Lang gave the executives of NBC something bigger to replace America's #1 programme... The Virginian, television's first 90-minute (with commercial breaks) western series. He asked Frank Price, who joined Revue in 1959, to write the format.

NBC greenlit the series, to be filmed in colour (1) on 35mm and without a pilot. The network called The Virginian "the most ambitious and costly programming in network television history" and explained that the 90 minutes allowed full character development and expanded storytelling. They promised location shooting and "at least one major guest star" every week (2). In March 1962, it was announced that Broadway and film actor Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront) would play the key role of Judge Henry Garth, the owner of the Shiloh Ranch. The rest of the main cast was revealed in May: four years after the Screen Gems pilot, James Drury was chosen to be The Virginian. Doug McClure (Overland Trail, Checkmate) got the role of Trampas, the fun-loving top hand of The Virginian though he was a bad guy in the book. Gary Clarke (Michael Shayne) was given the part of Steve Hill, a young cowboy.

The other regular characters announced were newspaper owner Molly Wood, portrayed by Pippa Scott, and Judge Garth's teenage daughter Betsy, played by Roberta Shore. Revue's Richard Irving was to serve as executive producer and Frank Price as producer but Charles Marquis Warren (Rawhide, Gunsmoke) was named executive producer of The Virginian instead. Filming started in May 1962 with multiple production units working simultaneously to provide the 30 75-minute episodes planned. The shooting schedule required to make two or three episodes at the same time, hence the variable presence of the main characters from an episode to another. With a budget estimated as much as $500,000 each on some episodes (3) and a duel vs Wagon Train on wednesdays to begin in fall 1962, failure was not an option.

Long before the launch of The Virginian, NBC and Revue Studios grew dissatisfied with the work of Charles Marquis Warren and decided to replace him. MCA hired Roy Huggins as a consultant to assess the problems of the 13 episodes already produced and fix them. Huggins was a novelist, scriptwriter and producer who worked for Columbia Pictures, RKO, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. For television, he created the hit series Cheyenne (1955-1962), Maverick (1957-1962) and 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964). Roy Huggins called Frank Price and Joel Rogosin to assist him and asked director Richard L. Bare to shoot new scenes. Charles Marquis Warren remained credited until mid-season, then Roy Huggins and Frank Price officially became executive producer and producer (respectively).

Roy Huggins wrote the stories of several episodes (4). Westerns scriptwriter and director Burt Kennedy, who penned the story of an episode and helmed it, later directed Return of the Seven (1966) and Support Your Local Sheriff (1969). Samuel Fuller wrote and directed an episode before doing the film Shock Corridor (1963). One of the writers, Roland Kibbee, created It Takes a Thief (1968-1970). Other directors include Earl Bellamy, James Sheldon, Douglas Heyes, movie serials veterans William Witney and John English or Ted Post. The latter directed Clint Eastwood in Hang'Em High (1968) and Magnum Force (1973). The other producers of The Virginian (season 1) were Morton Fine & David Friedkin, Roland Kibbee, Warren Duff and Winston Miller.

Percy Faith (Tammy Tell Me True) composed the theme music of The Virginian. Richard Shores, Morton Stevens and Pete Rugolo are among the composers who worked on the season 1 soundtrack. This first season aired from September 1962 to May 1963 on NBC and its list of guest stars is impressive right from The Executioners, the first episode shown. Fresh from The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-1961), Hugh O'Brian plays a man who arrives at Medicine Bow after a hanging. He seduces the school teacher played by Colleen Dewhurst. Ricardo Montalbán, of Fantasy Island and Star Trek fame, displays his customary flamboyance as a Columbian gentleman in The Big Deal. George C. Scott is a teacher who recites Oscar Wilde in The Brazen Bell. Lee Marvin is a villain in It Tolls For Thee, Samuel Fuller's episode.

Bette Davis plays a bank clerk in The Accomplice. Tom Tryon (Texas John Slaughter) is a seaman in The Man from the Sea. Vera Miles (Psycho) guest stars in The Man Who Couldn't Die. Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) faces Nina Foch in Vengeance is the Spur. In The Golden Door, Karlheinz Böhm (Peeping Tom, Sissi) portrays an immigrant accused of murder. Actress, director, writer and producer Ida Lupino guest star with her then husband Howard Duff in A Distant Fury. Singer Nancy Sinatra is a saloon singer in If You Have Tears. Many familiar faces appear throughout the first season, such as Jack Warden, Eddie Albert, Robert Colbert, Tom Skeritt, James Gregory, Harold Gould, Victor French, Carol Lynley, Steve Forrest, David White, Bradford Dillman, Ed Asner, Don Galloway, etc. Even Robert Vaughn before The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a pre-fame Robert Duvall, as well as future pop culture icons DeForest Kelley and James Doohan (Star Trek).

Katherine Crawford, who plays Alice Lawford in the episode Say Goodbye to All That, is the daughter of Roy Huggins. She married Frank Price in 1965. Two episodes from season 1 are the remakes of westerns produced by Universal Pictures. Duel at Shiloh, which explains how Steve Hill came to work at the ranch, is based on the screenplay of Man Without a Star (1955) and a 1952 novel. Brian Keith guest stars as the character played by Kirk Douglas in the film. The Judgment is adapted from Day of the Badman (1958). Clu Gulager, who plays the villain, returned in a different role in 1963 and as Deputy Sheriff Emmett Ryker from season 3 to season 6. Ross Elliott recurred as Sheriff Mark Abbott from season 1 to season 7 (except for season 4). MCA decided to release some episodes of The Virginian in theaters abroad to recoup some of the production costs, starting with The Brazen Bell.

In 1962, MCA acquired record company Decca, the owner of Universal Pictures, and Revue Studios was renamed Universal Television the following year. MCA formed Universal City Studios in 1964 to oversee their film and television activities. The Virginian was renewed for a second season. Its third season ranked #22 in the ratings and launched a spin-off, Laredo (1965-1967). Season 5 reached the Top 10. For its ninth season, the title changed for The Men from Shiloh and a new theme music was composed by Ennio Morricone. Only James Drury and Doug McClure stayed for the entire series. The success of The Virginian prompted Wagon Train to switch to colour and 90 minutes for its seventh season (1963-1964) (5) and paved the way for more 90-minute programmes with continuing characters, like western Cimarron Strip (1967-1968) on CBS or NBC's The Name of the Game (1968-1971) and The NBC Mystery Movie (1971-1977).

Roy Huggins created The Fugitive (1963-1967) for ABC and stayed at Universal Television as a vice president (until 1966) and executive producer. There, he created and/or exec produced Run for Your Life (1965-1968), The Outsider (1968-1969), The Lawyers (1968-1972), Alias Smith and Jones (1971-1973) (6), Cool Million (1972), Toma (1973-1974), The Rockford Files (1974-1980, co-created with Stephen J. Cannell), Baretta (1975-1978, created by Stephen J. Cannell) and City of Angels (1976, created with Cannell). Huggins came out of retirement in 1985 to become the executive producer of Hunter (1984-1991). After The Virginian, James Drury did some stage work and starred in the short-lived Firehouse (1974). He guest starred in a lot of series and attended numerous western festivals and conventions.

Doug McClure rotated the lead with Hugh O'Brian and Tony Franciosa in Search (1972-1973). He replaced Dennis Cole in Barbary Coast (1975-1976) after the pilot. The TV movie Satan's Triangle (1975), where he played alongside Kim Novak, is cult in France. His last regular role in a series was in Out of This World (1987-1991). On the big screen, McClure starred in The Land That Time Forgot (1974), At The Earth's Core (1976) or The People That Time Forgot (1977). Selected episodes of The Virginian arrived on French television from 1966. The "Le Virginien - Intégrale Saison 1" 15-disc boxset from Elephant Films contains the 30 episodes of season 1. The languages are French and English (with French subtitles). 14 episodes unaired on French TV are in English only.

Bonus material is comprised of an interview with James Drury, an interview with Roberta Shore and the trailers of other titles from Elephant: The Rockford Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-1975), Madigan and The Equalizer (with Edward Woodward). An incredible concentration of talents (on and off screen), likeable main characters, interesting supporting characters, various stories and a beautiful colour cinematography make these boxsets of The Virginian indispensable.

(1) Bonanza was the first TV western to be filmed in colour. Alex Quiroga, the colour consultant of Bonanza, worked on the first four seasons of The Virginian.
(2) NBC Press release (August 29, 1962).
(3) Sponsor (March 19, 1962).
(4) Under the pseudonyms of Thomas Fitzroy and John Francis O'Mara.
(5) Wagon Train reverted to black and white and 60 minutes for its eighth and final season.

(6) The Girl in Boxcar #3, a season 1 episode of Alias Smith and Jones, is based on a story by Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek) written for an episode of the first season of The Virginian titled Run Away Home.