THE BARON (1966-1967) – This ITC/ABC venture starred rugged he-man Steve Forrest as wealthy Texan John Mannering, who works for British Intelligence under the codename the Baron. Mannering’s assistant was Cordelia Winfield, played by the British actress Sue Lloyd.
Underneath his two-fisted Texan surface persona, John Mannering was highly cultured and knew his way around the art world just like Joe Bob Briggs was the surface persona for John Bloom, Dallas’ classical music and opera critic. (Yes, I still love wildly inappropriate comparisons.)
Viewers are told that the Baron started working in intelligence operations during World War II as part of the real-life Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives unit recovering plundered works of art from the Nazis who stole them.
Mannering’s cover in London was an antique dealer and jet-set playboy. He drove around in a Jensen C-V8 that had the personalized license plate BAR 1. The Baron was originally a character from novels but John Mannering bore little resemblance to his printed page counterpart.
Dalek creator Terry Nation was one of the writers for this series, which ran for 30 1-hour episodes. Continue reading
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