STAGECOACH WEST (1960-1961) STARRING WAYNE ROGERS

STAGECOACH WEST (1960-1961) – This Friday, August 1st will mark the Frontierado Holiday this year, so let me slip in a few more seasonal blog posts along with my usual items. Stagecoach West starred Wayne Rogers as Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh!

Obviously, I’m kidding, but Rogers really did play a stagecoach driver named Luke Perry, a courageous, gunslinging hero who basically rode shotgun for himself, given his skill with firearms. Robert Bray co-starred as the older Simon “Sime” Kane, Luke’s partner in the Timberline Stage, headquartered in Outpost, Wyoming.

Sime’s young son Davey was played by child star Richard Eyer. Davey’s dogs Hannibal and Hannibal II (after the first Hannibal ran away) were also on hand. Thirty-eight 1-hour episodes were produced. 

STANDOUT EPISODES:   

HIGH LONESOME – Stagecoach driver Luke Perry meets his latest load of passengers, among them Simon Kane, a man searching for his runaway wife. His son Davey travels with him and Sime told the boy his mother died to keep the more painful truth from him.

Luke helps protect Sime from another passenger – a gunman hired to kill Simon over secrets from his past. In the end, Luke invites Sime and Davey to get a fresh start working with him on the stageline. James Best played the gunman and Jane Greer played Kane’s long-missing wife.   

THE LAND BEYOND – On Simon’s first run, Luke shows him the ropes as lead driver and Sime in relief, our heroes’ passengers include an eloped married couple. The bride’s powerful father has sent a hired gunman (deja vu) to kill the groom and bring back his daughter. Guest starring Gigi Perreau and John Anderson.

THE UNWANTED – Luke Perry makes an unscheduled stop to rotate a declining horse out of the lead spot, prompting a panicked passenger (Richard Crane) to insist Luke is making all of them sitting ducks for bandits. A fistfight ends in gunplay, with Luke blowing the man away. His angry widow abandons her little girl to Luke’s care while she flees in her mourning. Bethel Leslie, Gerald Mohr and Cactus Mack guest star.

A FORK IN THE ROAD – The Timberline Stage is transporting the coffin of a late military hero westward for burial. A gang of outlaws try to steal the coffin in order to hold the man’s remains for ransom from the government. Guest starring Jack Warden, Jack Elam and Richard Devon.

A TIME TO RUN – Luke gets caught in the middle when a party of Mexican rebels who fought to overthrow Emperor Maximilian in 1867 trail a traitorous general (Cesar Romero) to our hero’s latest batch of passengers. Also starring William Schallert and Barbara Nichols. 

RED SAND – A sandstorm provides a change of pace in this episode. The stagecoach picks up a wounded man (Dean Jones) who is an outlaw determined to hijack the stage to escape a pursuing posse. Diana Millay, Edgar Buchanan, Guy Stockwell and Harold J. Stone guest star.

THE SAGA OF JEREMY BOONE – World-wise Luke tries to nudge a cash-carrying young man into realizing that a gorgeous woman is really a con artist after his money when she and her secret, gunslinging partner are all among the latest passengers. Guest starring Ben Cooper and Sheila Pinkham. 

THE STORM – During a blizzard, Luke is driving a doctor on an emergency call to treat a gunshot man. The wounded man and his female partner (Beverly Garland) are outlaws and force the medical treatment at gunpoint while the woman tries to steal Luke’s horses. Among the cast are J. Pat O’Malley and Tom Drake.

OBJECT: PATRIMONY – A young engaged couple on the way to where their wedding will take place buy out all the tickets on Luke’s latest run. Along the way, they encounter Robert Vaughn as a criminal who holds our hero and the couple hostage for $20,000 from one of the bumped passengers. Guest starring Warren Oates, Pippa Scott, Dennis Patrick and Dave Willock.

THE BRASS LILLY – A famous female singer (Jean Hagen) arrives in Outpost, Wyoming to perform a few shows. During her stay she gets injured by a stray bullet from the town’s wild and wooly lifestyle. Everyone is disillusioned by what a selfish, mean-spirited snob she turns out to be. 

IMAGE OF A MAN – Luke gets caught up in the doings of one of his latest passengers at their destination. The passenger is a once-great lawyer now working as a prosecutor trying to convict the criminal son of the rich and powerful town boss. That boss wants his son found not guilty – or else. DeForrest Kelley, Dabbs Greer, John Dehner and Regis Toomey guest star.

THE ARSONIST – On the way to San Francisco, Luke must piece together the odd circumstances linking three of his latest passengers. One is a retiring bookkeeper who was awarded $5,000 on his last day, another is the man’s young, cheating wife (Adele Mara) who is conspiring with another passenger, her lover, to rob and kill the hapless bookkeeper.

THE ROOT OF EVIL – Luke transports an undercover U.S. Army spy (Philip Carey) on his honeymoon to a stagecoach station where he can turn over Top Secret documents to another undercover man. Enemy agents have stripped the station of all weapons and besiege Luke, the spy and the spy’s new bride inside the station. Also starring Linda Lawson and Don Haggerty.

THE REMOUNTS – Luke, Simon and Davey get caught up in trying to thwart a scheme by horse thieves to make off with an entire herd of horses intended for the U.S. Cavalry. Among the guest cast are Don Burnett, James Griffith and Don C. Harvey.

HOUSE OF VIOLENCE – A deadly gang of payroll thieves need to be dislodged from the stagecoach station in which they have holed up against a posse and our heroes. JACK LORD and MARION ROSS guest star.

FORT WYATT CROSSING – Luke’s latest run lands him in the middle of a renegade band of Native Americans, a wounded cavalry officer and a fortune in gold coins. Madlyn Rhue, Warren Oates, Alvy Moore and Lawrence Dobkin are among the guest cast.

NEVER WALK ALONE – Luke tries to help an old friend (William Campbell) when he is released from prison and trying to go straight with his true love (Karen Sharpe) but winds up framed for a fresh bank robbery by one of his former criminal colleagues (Lee Van Cleef). Claire Carlton appears.

THE BIG GUN – Luke’s latest stagecoach run involves transporting a Gatling Gun to a remote army outpost. Along the way he must outfight and outmaneuver Mexican revolutionaries and a gang of bank robbers, all of whom want the weapon. Barbara Luna guest stars along with DeForrest Kelley and Cesar Romero.

THE DEAD DON’T CRY – Luke takes a leave of absence from the Timberline Stage to visit his brother Sam (Todd Lasswell) in Tucson, AZ. He learns from Sam’s lady love Linda Anson (MARY TYLER MOORE herself!) that he was mistakenly wanted for murder and though the real killer was recently caught, several bounty hunters are still on Sam’s trail. Luke sets out to save his brother.

BLIND MAN’S BLUFF – Luke and Simon become involved in a situation centered on a former gunfighter (James Drury) who is now blind. Filled with bitterness over losing his sight AND his saloon singer girlfriend (Ruta Lee), the blind man plots to kill the woman and her piano player husband. 

THE BOLD WHIP – When Luke and Simon try to expand their stagecoach line along a route further to the north they run afoul of conspirators running guns to Native Americans currently at war with the U.S. government. Guest starring Carolyn Kearney.

THE GUARDIAN ANGELS – Luke and Davey’s latest passengers are a preacher, a gambler, a disgraced lawman and an eastern snob. They all wind up at odds with a former army officer who now rides with a combined gang of whites and Native Americans. Also starring Malcolm Atterbury as the preacher. 

THE RENEGADES – Luke and Simon get hijacked by five escaped soldiers who face execution in a court martial. At gunpoint the desperate men try to force our heroes to get them to Canada. Among the guest cast are Warren Oates, Ed Kemmer and Psychotronic film regular Tristram Coffin.

THE MARKER – In this last episode of the series, Luke helps beautiful saloon girl Jenny Forbes (Ruta Lee in a different role than before) who is on the run from a violent gambler-gunslinger who insists he “won” her in a card game. Mingo (Mort Mills), the pursuing villain, has a grave marker made out with Luke’s name on it to try intimidating him.

*** And that was Stagecoach West! I like to think that Luke and Jenny got married and lived happily ever after, but I’m a hopeless romantic. 

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