Overland Trail (TV series)

For the historic Overland Trail, see Overland Trail.

Overland Trail
Also known as	Overland Stage
Genre	Western
Written by	Martin Berkeley Borden Chase Fred Freiberger B.L. James Samuel A. Peeples
Directed by	Tay Garnett Sidney Salkow Lesley Selander Virgil Vogel William Witney
Starring	William Bendix Doug McClure
Theme music composer	Jeff Alexander Dave Kahn Stanley Wilson
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	17
Production
Executive producer(s)	Nat Holt
Producer(s)	Samuel A. Peeples
Running time	60 mins. (approx)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	February 7, 1960 – June 5, 1960

Overland Trail is a short-lived American Western series which aired on NBC from February 7 to June 6, 1960. The series starred William Bendix and Doug McClure,

Synopsis

Bendix portrayed Frederick Thomas "Fred" Kelly, fictitious superintendent of the Overland Stage Company. McClure appeared as Frank "Flip" Flippen, Bendix's young associate.^[1] Harry Guardino, appeared three times in the role of Johnny Caldwell.^[2]

Overland Trail aired opposite Lassie and Dennis the Menace on CBS and Walt Disney Presents and Maverick on ABC. Overland Trail left the air on September 11, 1960, after summer rebroadcasts. It was replaced by the last season of NBC's Shirley Temple's Storybook.^[3]

Notable guest stars

Notable guest stars included:

• John Anderson
• Claude Akins
• Lynn Bari
• Whitney Blake
• James Best
• Robert Bray
• John Carradine
• Walter Coy
• Frank Dekova
• Frank Ferguson
• Dianne Foster
• Sue George
• Ron Hayes
• Lang Jeffries
• Brad Johnson
• Werner Klemperer
• Robert Loggia
• Barbara Luna
• Barton MacLane
• John Marley
• Mercedes McCambridge
• Sean McClory
• John McIntire
• Denny Scott Miller
• Gerald Mohr
• Mary Tyler Moore
• Gregg Palmer
• John M. Pickard
• Slim Pickens
• Andrew Prine
• Judson Pratt
• Denver Pyle
• Gilman Rankin
• Karen Sharpe
• Quintin Sondergaard
• Harold J. Stone
• Kenneth Tobey
• David Wayne
• Adam West
• Peter Whitney
• Robert J. Wilke

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate
1-1	"Perilous Passage"	February 7, 1960
1-2	"The O'Mara Ladies"	February 14, 1960
1-3	"West of Boston"	February 21, 1960
1-4	"The High Bridge"	February 28, 1960
1-5	"Westbound Stage"	March 6, 1960
1-6	"All The O'Mara Horses"	March 13, 1960
1-7	"Daughter of the Sioux"	March 20, 1960
1-8	"Lawyer In Petticoats"	March 27, 1960
1-9	"The Vigilantes of Montana"	April 3, 1960
1-10	"Fire In the Hole"	April 17, 1960
1-11	"Mission Into Mexico"	April 24, 1960
1-12	"First Stage to Denver"	May 1, 1960
1-13	"Sour Annie"	May 8, 1960
1-14	"The Baron Comes Back"	May 15, 1960
1-15	"Escort Detail"	May 22, 1960
1-16	"The Reckoning"	May 29, 1960
1-17	"Most Dangerous Gentleman"	June 5, 1960

DVD release

On February 14, 2012, Timeless Media Group will release Overland Trail- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.^[4]

References

1. ^ Alex McNeil, Total Television" New York: Penquin Books, 1996, 4th ed., p. 634
2. ^ "Harry Guardino". Internet Movie Data Base. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0345340/. Retrieved February 2, 2009. 
3. ^ McNeil, Total Television, appendix
4. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Overland-Trail-The-Complete-Series/16207

External links

• Overland Trail at the Internet Movie Database
• Overland Trail at TV.com