List of Maverick episodes

James Garner and Suzanne Storrs

The following is an episode list for ABC's 1957 comedy-western television series, Maverick, created by Roy Huggins and starring James Garner, Jack Kelly, Roger Moore, and Robert Colbert. Unusually for an American television program, Maverick's main cast varied episodically. As such, the starring cast members for each episode are listed below alongside other details.

Series leads

"Two Tickets to Ten Strike"

• Bret Maverick: James Garner (seasons 1-4; 55 episodes)
• Bart Maverick: Jack Kelly (seasons 1-5; 75 episodes)
• Beau Maverick: Roger Moore (season 4; 14 episodes*)
• Brent Maverick: Robert Colbert (season 4; 2 episodes*)

* Moore appeared in 15 episodes, but he played a different character in the second season Maverick episode "The Rivals" opposite Garner, while Colbert appeared in a different role in the fourth season episode "Hadley's Hunters" before making two appearances as Brent Maverick.

Featured recurring characters

Roger Moore and Kathleen Crowley

• Dandy Jim Buckley: Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (seasons 1-2; 5 episodes)
• Samantha Crawford: Diane Brewster (seasons 1-2; 4 episodes)
• Gentleman Jack Darby: Richard Long (seasons 2-3; 4 episodes)
• Big Mike McComb: Leo Gordon (seasons 1-2; 5 episodes)
• Cindy Lou Brown: Arlene Howell* (season 2; 3 episodes)
• Doc Holliday: Gerald Mohr* (season 1; 2 episodes) and Peter Breck (seasons 4-5; 5 episodes)
• Modesty Blaine: Mona Freeman (season 3; 2 episodes) and Kathleen Crowley* (season 5; 1 episode)
• Melanie Blake: Kathleen Crowley* (season 3; 2 episodes)
• Marla: Kathleen Crowley* (season 5; 2 episodes)
• Big Ed Murphy: John Dehner* (season 3; 1 episode) and Andrew Duggan* (season 5; 1 episode)
• Pearly Gates: Mike Road* (season 5; 2 episodes)

* These actors also appeared in other roles during the course of the series.

Also: Ben Gage delivers Marshal Matt Dillon parodies in four different episodes, playing sheriffs with different names but always looking and sounding like James Arness in Gunsmoke while delivering comedic lines.

Kathleen Crowley appears in eight episodes, a series record for leading ladies--"The Jeweled Gun," "Maverick Springs," "The Misfortune Teller," "A Bullet for the Teacher," "Kiz," "Dade City Dodge," "The Troubled Heir," and "One of Our Trains Is Missing."

Seasons

First season (1957-1958)

James Garner (as Bret Maverick) is the sole star for the first seven episodes. With episode eight, he's joined by Jack Kelly as brother Bart Maverick. From that point on, the two alternate leads from week to week, sometimes teaming up for the occasional episode. Recurring characters include rival gamblers/operators Samantha Crawford, Dandy Jim Buckley and Big Mike McComb.

Episode Title	Stars and Featured Recurring Characters
	Bret Maverick	Bart Maverick	Dandy Jim Buckley	Samantha Crawford	Big Mike McComb
War of the Silver Kings	Bret				Big Mike
> Note: With Edmund Lowe. According to Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television interview, a Warners-owned property called "War of the Copper Kings" was selected by the studio as the basis for this episode's script in order to cheat Huggins out of the series creator residuals.
Point Blank	Bret
> Note: With Karen Steele. Huggins wrote this episode as the pilot but Warner Brothers insisted on first airing an episode based on a property they previously owned. Huggins noted in his Archive of American Television interview that this was done to deny him the residuals for creating the series, a typical gambit for the studio at that time. Huggins wasn't given credit as series creator by the studio until the movie version with Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and Garner almost forty years later. Mike Connors appears in this episode as a different character than his subsequent role in "The Naked Gallows."
According to Hoyle	Bret			Samantha	Big Mike
> Note: Maverick debut of Samantha Crawford, in a high-stakes riverboat poker contest with Maverick. Diane Brewster had played Crawford the previous year in an episode of Cheyenne called "Dark Rider," and writer/producer Roy Huggins had given the character his mother's maiden name. This episode was written by Russell S. Hughes.
Ghost Rider	Bret
> Note: With Stacy Keach, Sr., Joanna Barnes, Rhodes Reason, and Edd Byrnes. Maverick offers a strange beauty a ride home in a buckboard then later learns that she had died days before he met her. Billed as "Stacy Keach," Stacy Keach's lookalike father portrays the sheriff.
The Long Hunt	Bret
> Note: In the aftermath of a failed stagecoach robbery, a gunshot criminal tells Maverick with his dying breaths that an innocent man remains in prison for a crime that he didn't commit, leaving the gambler with the responsibility of straightening it out. Maverick finds himself forced to intermittently become an amateur detective over a period of months.
Stage West	Bret
> Note: Based on a tensely dramatic Louis Lamour story. With Erin O'Brien, Edd Byrnes, and Chubby Johnson. O'Brien's name is listed at the beginning of the episode after Garner's, an honor only accorded a small handful of actors during the series (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Peggy King, Adam West, Troy Donahue, etc.). Ray Teal, later the sincere sheriff on Bonanza, performs one of his several Maverick turns as a vicious villain.
Relic of Fort Tejon	Bret
> Note: Features Maverick and an affectionate camel. The gambler quickly realizes that a saloon's poker game is rigged and finds himself facing down a professional killer. Tyler MacDuff appears as Drake.
Hostage!	Bret	Bart
> Note: Bart's first appearance occurs in this two-brother episode, the eighth in the series. For his first several shows, Jack Kelly as Bart wore a grey suit similar in color to his hat for greater contrast with Garner's standard black suit, but eventually switched to mainly a black suit himself while keeping the lighter colored hat, which remained his main costume through most of the run of the series. In his interview for the Archive of American Television, Roy Huggins noted that, unlike Garner's light touch, Kelly delivered a funny line as though he were "dropping a load of coal," and that Kelly was hilariously entertaining when he was "off camera."
Stampede	Bret		Dandy Jim
> Note: Dandy Jim Buckley's first of five appearances. One of many episodes that begin on a Mississippi riverboat. Chris Alcaide appears as Tony Cadiz in this epic adventure. Written by Gerald Drayson Adams.
The Jeweled Gun	Bret	Bart
> Note: The first of Kathleen Crowley's eight different appearances in several roles, a series record by a wide margin for leading ladies. Bret appears in this episode only briefly. Some of the plot was later cannabilized for a Garner episode entitled "A Rage for Vengeance." The early part of "The Jeweled Gun" occurs in a Spanish-influenced town. Huggins noted in his Archive of American Television interview that Garner was originally slated to play Kelly's role in this episode but the leads were switched at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict. Although Bart makes brief appearances in several Bret episodes, this is the only time Bret does so in a Bart episode. This is essentially Kelly's first solo episode. Dean Fredericks appears as Mitchell.
The Wrecker	Bret	Bart
> Note: Based on a Robert Louis Stevenson ocean adventure of the same name. This is the only episode with substantial time accorded to both brothers in which Kelly's role is larger than Garner's. According to Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television interview, the two-brother scripts designated the brothers as "Maverick 1" and "Maverick 2," with Garner choosing which role he wanted to play due to his seniority in the series. Huggins elaborates that all scripts, except one, were originally written with Garner in mind and the character designated as "Bret," which would later be changed to "Bart" during filming if Kelly were cast instead. The only exception was "Passage to Fort Doom," which was written specifically for Kelly as a lark for the writers.[citation needed]
The Quick and the Dead	Bret
> Note: With Gerald Mohr as Doc Holliday and film noir queen Marie Windsor as a saloon owner in this tense drama about an angry gunslinger. Written and directed by Douglas Heyes.
Naked Gallows		Bart
> Note: With Mike Connors, Sherry Jackson, Morris Ankrum, and Bing Russell. Bart's curiosity about a murder ushers in a world of trouble.
The Comstock Conspiracy	Bret
> Note: With Ruta Lee and Werner Klemperer. Convoluted mysteries keep compounding, leaving a flummoxed Bret to wonder why this is happening.
The Third Rider		Bart
> Note: With Dick Foran as a lawman thwarted by Bart in this action-packed dramatic episode.
Rage for Vengeance	Bret
> Note: With Catherine McLeod, Russ Conway as a sheriff, and a villainous John Russell. The only episode in the series in which Bret openly falls in love (with McLeod in her only series appearance) and wants to actually get married.
Rope of Cards	Bret
> Note: According to Roy Huggins in his Archive of American Television interview, every deck of cards in the United States sold out the day after this episode was first broadcast.
Diamond in the Rough		Bart
> Note: Written by Marion Hargrove from a story by Roy Huggins. Bart gets assaulted and shanghaied. With Fredd Wayne, Lilli Valenty, Jacqueline Beer, and Sig Ruman.
Day of Reckoning	Bret
> Note: A cowboy accuses Bret of cheating during a poker game and a blow to the head from the Marshall accidentally executes the complainant in this complex dramatic episode. With Jean Willes as Lil, Virginia Gregg as Amy Hardie, and Tod Griffin as Jack Wade.
The Savage Hills		Bart		Samantha
> Note: Bart takes a turn with Samantha Crawford on a riverboat adventure.
Trail West to Fury	Bret	Bart	Dandy Jim
> Note: A flashback episode about the Maverick brothers returning from the American Civil War, as told to Dandy Jim Buckley while the three of them are trapped during a flood. The plotline involves the Bret and Bart having to avoid Texas after being falsely accused of a murder there, with only a mysteriously disappeared "tall man" as a witness who could exonerate them if only they could locate him. Writer/producer Roy Huggins would recycle this plot as the basis for his later television series The Fugitive, with Diane Brewster in a recurring cameo role as Richard Kimble's murdered wife.
The Burning Sky		Bart
> Note: With a Mexican Gerald Mohr and Joanna Barnes. Roy Huggins observed in his videotaped Archive of American Television interview that the ratings for Kelly's episodes were always slightly higher during the first two seasons than Garner's. Huggins mentioned that he believed that this was a reflection of how well the audience liked Garner's episodes and the consequent word of mouth, so that viewers would be at their sets for the following episode, which would usually feature Kelly instead. The rating jumps for Kelly's episodes were tiny enough that they fell within the margin of error, according to Huggins in this interview, but he maintains that they were remarkable in that they were consistent.
The Seventh Hand	Bret			Samantha
> Note: When Samantha Crawford idly wonders about what it might be like to marry Bret, he responds, "We couldn't afford it." James Philbrook, in his first year as an actor, appears as Sloan in this episode.
Plunder of Paradise		Bart			Big Mike
> Note: With Ruta Lee as a dance hall singer. Bart and Big Mike McComb (Leo Gordon) wind up teamed as treasure hunters.
Black Fire	Bret
> Note: Uniquely for the series, Bart narrates this episode featuring only Bret. One of only two Garner episodes not included in Columbia House's 1990s library of series videotapes (the other was "Holiday at Hollow Rock"). Hans Conreid plays a friend who recruits Bret to borrow his identity for a family reunion. Charles Bateman made his first screen appearance as Cousin Jeff Martin.
Burial Ground of the Gods		Bart
> Note: With Claude Akins.
Seed of Deception	Bret	Bart
> Note: The Maverick brothers are mistaken for Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp in this two-brother episode. Huggins' wife Adele Mara plays a saloon dancer, and Bart is still wearing his grey suit. Ron Hayes made one of his first acting appearances in the episode. Bret and Bart would technically appear in sixteen episodes together over the course of the series but only share a large amount of screen time in eleven of them. The others are actually Garner's episodes with brief appearances by Kelly except "The Jeweled Gun," in which their roles were switched at the last minute due to a schedule conflict and Garner wound up making his single cameo appearance in a Kelly installment.

Second season (1958-1959)

Garner and Kelly continue as alternating leads, with the odd 'team-up' episode. Semi-regulars Samatha Crawford and Dandy Jim Buckley exit partway through the season; new semi-regulars include Cindy Lou Brown and Gentleman Jack Darby. Big Mike McComb also returns from the first season.

Episode Title	Stars and Featured Recurring Characters
	Bret Maverick	Bart Maverick	Dandy Jim Buckley	Samantha Crawford	Big Mike McComb	Cindy Lou Brown	Gentleman Jack Darby
The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick	Bret
> Note: Framed by a similar-looking robber, a desperate Maverick finds himself trapped in jail while the citizenry construct a gallows for him right outside the window. Bret recalls that he and his brother had flipped a coin earlier to decide which Maverick would travel in what direction, ruminating that if it had landed differently, Bart would be sitting in that cell instead. With Whitney Blake, Ray Teal, and Jay Novello.
Lonesome Reunion	Bret
> Note: With John Russell and Joanna Barnes.
Alias Bart Maverick		Bart				Cindy Lou	Jack
> Note: Debuts of Richard Long as Gentleman Jack Darby and Arlene Howell as Cindy Lou Brown.
The Belcastle Brand	Bret
> Note: Garner's favorite episode.[citation needed] With Reginald Owen.
High Card Hangs		Bart	Dandy Jim
> Note: Note how much warmer Dandy Jim Buckley's friendship with Bart appears to be than his rivalry with Bart's brother Bret in the subsequent episode "The Jail at Junction Flats." With Dan Sheridan and Martin Landau.
Escape to Tampico	Bret
> Note: Set in Mexico, this episode features Gerald Mohr as a variation of Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca character, shot on the original Casablanca set.
The Judas Mask		Bart
> Note: Bart's chasing a Scandinavian dance hall girl who robbed him of $20,000, hoping to catch her before she vanishes into Mexico. With John Vivyan.
The Jail at Junction Flats	Bret		Dandy Jim
> Note: Dan Blocker briefly appears in flashback as a gunslinger, before getting the role of Hoss Cartwright in Bonanza. Patrick McVey appeared as Sheriff Morrison Pyne. Against his better judgement, Bret becomes a partner in one of Dandy Jim Buckley's schemes. The memorable ending offended many viewers when the episode was first broadcast. Written by Marion Hargrove.
The 39th Star		Bart
> Note: A coincidental pair of identical suitcases create a potentially lethal quandary for Bart. With Bethel Leslie and John Litel.
Shady Deal at Sunny Acres	Bret	Bart	Dandy Jim	Samantha	Big Mike	Cindy Lou	Gentleman Jack
> Note: The only episode to feature all seven of the recurring Maverick characters from the first two seasons, and the final appearance for both Samantha Crawford (Diane Brewster) and Dandy Jim Buckley (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.). Writer Roy Huggins notes the close patterning of the first half of later movie The Sting to this episode in his Archive of American Television interview. Upon being robbed by a ruthless banker (John Dehner) after depositing an evening's poker winnings, Bret recruits Bart to mount an intricate sting operation to recover the money. While Bart and all of the series' recurring characters join forces to dupe the banker, Bret sits whittling in a rocking chair across the street from the bank every day, responding to the queries of the local townspeople curious about how he plans to recover his money with "I'm working on it."
Island in the Swamp	Bret
> Note: With Edgar Buchanan, Erin O'Brien, and Arlene Howell. Howell does not play Cindy Lou Brown here, despite having just portrayed the character in the previous episode. Howell would return to the role of Cindy Lou Brown 12 episodes later, in "Passage To Fort Doom." Buchanan plays the leader of a group of Louisiana swamp dwellers who imprison Bret after Howell's character discovers the gambler tied up and floating down the river in a boat.
Prey of the Cat		Bart
> Note: With Wayne Morris.
Holiday at Hollow Rock	Bret
> Note: Bret rides into town to bet on the annual horse race, stopwatch in hand. One of two Garner episodes (the other being Black Fire) not included in Columbia House's 1990s library of series videotapes. Features Saundra Edwards. Tod Griffin made his second appearance in the series as Sheriff Jesse Carson.
The Spanish Dancer		Bart					Jack
> Note: Featuring Huggins' wife Adele Mara as a dancer in a gold rush mining camp, and Slim Pickens in a small role.
Game of Chance	Bret	Bart
> Note: With Belgian-born Roxane Berard who portrays a French countess, and Marcel Dalio as her uncle "the Baron." One of eleven episodes featuring both brothers with ample screen time for each, although Garner's role is somewhat larger in five of them: "Hostage!," "The Wrecker" (Kelly has more screen time in this one), "Trail West to Fury," "Seed of Deception," "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres," "Two Beggars on Horseback," "Pappy," "Maverick Springs," "Maverick and Juliet," and "The Maverick Line."
Gun-Shy	Bret
> Note: Maverick's Gunsmoke spoof, with Ben Gage as Marshal Mort Dooley (a comical version of Marshal Matt Dillon) and Reginald Owen as a con man.
Two Beggars on Horseback	Bret	Bart
> Note: Jack Kelly's favorite episode,[citation needed] featuring a race between the brothers to cash a check. The only time in the series in which Kelly's character wears a black hat; both brothers wear black hats in the opening sequences until Bart has to trade his to a stable operator in order to secure a horse. The title stems from an otherwise unrelated play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly called Beggar on Horseback. With Ray Teal as Stryker.
The Rivals	Bret	Bart
> Note: Features Roger Moore playing a non-Maverick character in a drawing room comedy based on a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan originally produced in 1775. Moore would later be a regular series lead as "Beau Maverick" (nephew of Bret and Bart's "Pappy," the original Beau Maverick) in season 4, filling the void left by Garner's departure before the beginning of that season, so this is the only episode featuring Garner and Moore together. Moore is billed at the beginning of the episode along with Garner and Kelly, an honor rarely accorded a guest star in the series. Bart appears only briefly, including a deep focus 3-shot at the episode's opening.
Duel at Sundown	Bret	Bart
> Note: Features villainous gunfighter Clint Eastwood in a fistfight with Bret. Bart appears briefly. Edgar Buchanan plays a close friend of Bret's while Abby Dalton portrays Buchanan's character's daughter. Written by Howard Browne. See separate article.
Yellow River		Bart
> Note: With Tol Avery and Robert Conrad. Script is recycled from second season episode of Cheyenne, "The Dark Rider,"[citation needed] which had featured Diane Brewster's first appearance as Samantha Crawford, predating the Maverick series.
The Saga of Waco Williams	Bret
> Note: This revered episode drew the largest viewership during the series' original run.[citation needed] Features Louise Fletcher and Wayde Preston, starring at the same time in Colt .45, as Waco Williams, a character that writer-producer Stephen J. Cannell later used as the prototype for "Lance White," Tom Selleck's role on The Rockford Files, a development that Cannell discusses in his Archive of American Television interview. Brad Johnson appears as Karl Bent, Jr. Written by Montgomery Pittman.
The Brasada Spur		Bart
> Note: With Julie Adams.
Passage to Fort Doom		Bart				Cindy Lou
> Note: Cindy Lou Brown's final appearance. Featuring Diane McBain and directed by Paul Henreid. The only episode written with Jack Kelly in mind during the early seasons; according to Roy Huggins' videotaped reminiscences for the Archive of American Television, the writers had previously been under orders from Huggins to always picture Garner as Maverick regardless of which actor would end up playing the part except regarding this episode, written expressly for Bart as a lark for the writers. The episode examines the power of a decision to be courageous under fire rather than running the other way. Ron Hayes also appears.
Two Tickets to Ten Strike	Bret
> Note: Bret finds himself momentarily attracted to a ditzy young woman (Connie Stevens) then hunts down some thugs in the wake of being assaulted on the street. Features Adam West as a villain. Veteran western film star Roscoe Ates appears as Joe the Barber.
Betrayal		Bart
> Note: With Pat Crowley and Ruta Lee as romantic rivals and Don "Red" Barry as a sheriff. While being held up by masked bandits, Bart realizes that another stagecoach passenger recognizes the voice of one of the robbers.
The Strange Journey of Jenny Hill	Bret				Big Mike
> Note: Big Mike McComb's final appearance. Singer Jenny Hill (Peggy King) can't figure out why Bret keeps following her from town to town. Peggy King was billed at the beginning of the episode in the opening titles, after Garner, a rare occurrence in the series. Others billed at the opening of other episodes include Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. in each appearance as Dandy Jim Buckley, Roger Moore in his non-Beau Maverick guest appearance in The Rivals, Adam West and Troy Donahue in Pappy, and Erin O'Brien in the Louis Lamour story Stage West.

Third season (1959-1960)

Writer/creator Roy Huggins leaves the show. Garner and Kelly are still the leads. Of the recurring characters, only Gentleman Jack Darby returns for season 3, and only for one episode.

Episode Title	Stars and Featured Recurring Character
	Bret Maverick	Bart Maverick	Gentleman Jack Darby
Pappy	Bret	Bart
> Note: James Garner as Bret in "Pappy" Features dual roles for series stars Garner and Kelly, as "Pappy" Beaurgard Maverick and Uncle Bentley Maverick, respectively (the previous generation of Maverick brothers, "Beau and Bent"). With Adam West, Troy Donahue, Henry Daniell, Kaye Elhardt, and Chubby Johnson. Roger Moore would join the show in the first episode of the following season as a different Beau Maverick, the young nephew of this episode's Beau Maverick. Series creator Roy Huggins, who had left the show at the conclusion of the previous season, complained in his Archive of American Television interview that Bret and Bart's "Pappy" was never meant to be seen by the audience (in the series' earliest references, he appears to have already died) and that Huggins was disappointed when the first thing the new producer did was construct an episode including the character.
Royal Four-Flush		Bart
> Note: With Roxane Berard.
The Sheriff of Duck 'n' Shoot	Bret	Bart
> Note: With Chubby Johnson as a genial deputy.
You Can't Beat the Percentage		Bart
> Note: With Gerald Mohr and Karen Steele in a suspense thriller.
The Cats of Paradise	Bret
> Note: Bret faces Buddy Ebsen as a trigger-happy sheriff, Don "Red" Barry as a black-clad business-card carrying gunfighter modeled on Paladin, and Mona Freeman as a slightly crazed-looking Modesty Blaine.
A Tale of Three Cities		Bart
> Note: Ben Gage does his Marshal Matt Dillon parody again; also featuring Patricia Crowley as a ravishing robber and Ray Teal as the sheriff of a neighboring town.
Full House	Bret
> Note: With Joel Grey as Billy the Kid, and Garner performing a bravura pistol-twirling exhibition as part of the plot. Jean Willes portrays an amorous Belle Starr and Nancy Kulp briefly appears as a drunken waitress with slightly slurred speech.
The Lass With the Poisonous Air		Bart
> Note: With Stacy Keach, Sr. Bart's dealing with too many women at once.
The Ghost Soldiers	Bret
> Note: An extremely beleaguered Bret must figure out some way to cope with an ocean of Native Americans laying siege to an almost-empty fort. Everyone inside is about to be killed, including him. This episode is told from multiple perspectives.
Easy Mark		Bart
> Note: With Edgar Buchanan and Jack Buetel. Buetel and Buchanan co-starred as Roy Bean and Jeff Taggert in the 1956 NBC television series Judge Roy Bean.
A Fellow's Brother	Bret	Bart
> Note: Bart appears only briefly. With Adam West.
Trooper Maverick		Bart
> Note: Bart finds himself stuck in the Army and can't get out.
Maverick Springs	Bret	Bart
> Note: With Kathleen Crowley as Melanie Blake and Tol Avery as the villain. The 1970s episode of The Rockford Files entitled "The Great Blue Lake Land Development Company" was more or less a cross between this episode and the earlier "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres."[citation needed] In his Archive of American Television interview, Rockford writer Stephen J. Cannell credits elements of some Maverick episodes as inspirations for many of The Rockford Files scripts.
The Goose-Drownder		Bart	Gentleman Jack
> Note: Kelly and Long Final appearance of Richard Long as Gentleman Jack Darby. During a downpour in a ghost town, one of Bart's lost loves (Fay Spain) turns up in a stagecoach. The episode remains unusual in that Bart is obviously quite enamored of the woman and wants to reconcile but cannot. This is also the only instance of one of the five recurring supporting characters from the "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" episode appearing after writer/producer Roy Huggins' departure at the end of the second season.
A Cure for Johnny Rain	Bret
> Note: Johnny and whiskey don't mix.
The Marquessa		Bart
> Note: With Adele Mara; Bart wins a saloon.
The Cruise of the Cynthia B	Bret	Bart
> Note: Bart appears only briefly. With Mona Freeman as Modesty Blaine, a role that would be played differently by Kathleen Crowley later in the series. A con man suckers Bret by appealing to his love for gambling and women.
Maverick and Juliet	Bret	Bart
> Note: The Maverick brothers run afoul of feuding hillbillies and wind up forced to play poker against one another with their lives at stake.
The White Widow		Bart
> Note: With Julie Adams and Pilar Seurat.
Guatemala City	Bret
> Note: Bret searches for an ex-girlfriend in Guatemala and befriends a female street urchin. With Suzanne Storrs and Patric Knowles.
The People's Friend		Bart
> Note: Features Bart as a local politician, a foreshadowing of Jack Kelly's later life. Francis De Sales appears as Mayor Culpepper.
A Flock of Trouble	Bret
> Note: Bret wins a herd of sheep in a poker game, thinking they're cattle.
The Iron Hand		Bart
> Note: Features a plump and acne-scarred Robert Redford in a supporting role in this taut cattle drive drama. The title is meant literally; the villain wields his prosthetic iron hand like a club to bludgeon those who cross him.
The Resurrection of Joe November	Bret
> Note: A riverboat adventure set primarily in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, with Roxane Berard, Joanna Barnes, and Don 'Red' Barry.
The Misfortune Teller	Bret
> Note: Another spoof of Gunsmoke's Marshal Matt Dillon with Ben Gage, this time also featuring Kathleen Crowley in her Mae West-like role of Melanie Blake, last seen in Maverick Springs, which she mentions, as well as a villainous astrologer who sets his sights for her.
Greenbacks, Unlimited	Bret
> Note: With Gage Clarke as a timid gambler and John Dehner as gang leader Big Ed Murphy, a role that Andrew Duggan would play in a subsequent season.

Fourth season (1960-1961)

Jack Kelly stays on as Bart Maverick, who now alternates the lead with Roger Moore as cousin Beau Maverick. Kelly and Moore are also featured in three two-cousin episodes. With the exception of a single episode held over from the third season, Garner is no longer a part of the show. Before the end of the season, Moore also leaves. At the very end of the season, Moore is briefly replaced by Garner lookalike Robert Colbert as Bart's brother Brent Maverick.

Peter Breck would make one appearance as Doc Holliday in this season, becoming a semi-regular in the series' final episodes.

Episode Title	Starring
	Bret Maverick	Bart Maverick	Beau Maverick	Brent Maverick	Doc Holliday
The Bundle From Britain		Bart	Beau
> Note: Roger Moore's first appearance as Cousin Beau, met at the dock by Bart after crossing the Atlantic from England. An evenly balanced two-cousin episode according more or less equal time to each Maverick. Confusingly, Moore's character is the namesake nephew of Bret and Bart's father, the original Beau Maverick, portrayed by James Garner in "Pappy," the first episode of the third season. Moore was recruited at Jack Warner's insistence to fill the void left by Garner's departure from the series and actually wore some of the same suits that Garner had worn. Moore had also earlier performed many of Garner's scenes on a series called The Alaskans, using scripts that had been recycled from Maverick with only names and locales changed, an extremely common Warner Bros. custom at the time. The Maverick actors were almost exactly the same age; Garner had been 29 when the series began while Kelly and Moore were both a year older.
Hadley's Hunters		Bart
> Note: This episode features several ten-second cameos from western leads in other Warner Brothers series, including Lawman, Bronco, Cheyenne, and Sugarfoot. Garner lookalike Robert Colbert also appeared as a key character, wearing a hat similar to Bret's, then was cast later in the season as a new Maverick brother named Brent. Edgar Buchanan plays a rogue sheriff and George Kennedy portrays his deputy. Veteran western film star Roscoe Ates also appeared in this episode.
The Town That Wasn't There			Beau
> Note: With Merry Anders, John Astin, and Lane Chandler.
Arizona Black Maria		Bart
> Note: With a pre-Gilligan Alan Hale, Jr. and Joanna Barnes.
Last Wire From Stop Gap		Bart	Beau
> Note: Bart and Beau discover a secret telegraph station hidden in a cave in this two-cousin episode. Notice that when the Maverick cousins enter a room, Kelly goes in front, just as Garner normally used to, and when they're standing or sitting together in scenes, Kelly is usually on the viewer's left, just as Garner most frequently was in two-brother episodes. Also, the Mavericks never appear in suits in this installment, both instead wearing their buckskin jackets throughout, as was the case with most episodes featuring Kelly and Moore together. With Tol Avery.
Mano Nera		Bart
> Note: With Gerald Mohr in an episode set in New Orleans.
A Bullet For the Teacher			Beau
> Note: With Kathleen Crowley, Max Baer, Jr., child actor Ronnie Dapo, Joan Tompkins as Mary Burch, and Brad Johnson as Jim Reardon. Co-written by Leo Gordon, who scripted several episodes in addition to playing "Big Mike McComb" the first two seasons.
The Witch of Hound Dog		Bart
> Note: With Wayde Preston in an episode featuring a beautiful witch who appears to have magical powers.
Thunder From the North			Beau
> Note: Beau finds himself embroiled with a nest of unscrupulous shopkeepers who've been methodically swindling the local Native American tribe. With Andra Martin.
The Maverick Line	Bret	Bart
> Note: Bret's last appearance for almost twenty years (until the 1978 TV-movie The New Maverick), in a memorable two-brother episode filmed the previous season with Buddy Ebsen as a comical highwayman and Chubby Johnson as a cantankerous stagecoach driver. This was originally slated to be the first episode of the season until Garner was granted his freedom from Warner Bros. by the courts and the studio realized that he wouldn't return to the series, whereupon The Bundle From Britain with Roger Moore became the season's first offering instead. Bret and Bart have more or less equal screen time in this comical episode, in which they unexpectedly inherit a stagecoach business they don't want. During the show's opening titles prior to the beginning of the episode, with Ed Reimers announcing the cast in voiceover, the credits include only Garner and Kelly, as though it were the previous season, with no mention of Roger Moore.
Bolt From the Blue			Beau
> Note: Written and directed by Robert Altman, with Sugarfoot's Will Hutchins playing a frontier lawyer.
Kiz		Bart	Beau
> Note: With Kathleen Crowley as eccentric millionairess Kiz, who tells Beau that a killer is after her, convincing him that she's crazy.
Dodge City or Bust		Bart
> Note: With Howard McNear ("Floyd the Barber" on The Andy Griffith Show as well as "Doc Adams" in the original radio Gunsmoke). Bart's wanted for murder after protecting a ravishing woman (Diana Millay).
The Bold Fenian Men			Beau
> Note: An Army colonel forces Beau to infiltrate a band of Irish revolutionaries.
Destination Devil's Flat		Bart
> Note: With Peter Breck, Merry Anders, and Chubby Johnson.
A State of Siege		Bart
> Note: With Ray Danton as Don Felipe and Slim Pickens as a stagecoach driver.
Family Pride			Beau
> Note: With Karl Swenson, Denver Pyle, and Stacy Keach, Sr. An early plot point involves standard time which was not introduced to the United States until 1883, eight years after the 1875 setting for this episode.
The Cactus Switch		Bart	Beau
> Note: With Fay Spain as Lana Cain, Lane Chandler as the sheriff, Edgar Buchanan (later "Uncle Joe" on Petticoat Junction) as a ruthless villain, and Chubby Johnson.
Dutchman's Gold			Beau
> Note: With Mala Powers.
The Ice Man		Bart
> Note: With Andrew Duggan, Shirley Knight, and a frozen corpse.
Diamond Flush			Beau
> Note: With Roxane Berard; Berard was leading lady to Garner, Kelly, and Moore during the course of the series in different roles. Co-written by actor/writer Leo Gordon, who had portrayed "Big Mike McComb" in the first two seasons.
Last Stop: Oblivion		Bart
> Note: With a vicious Don 'Red' Barry and a murderous Buddy Ebsen.
Flood's Folly			Beau
> Note: A rich woman's relatives are conspiring to have her declared insane.
Maverick At Law		Bart
> Note: With Tol Avery.
Red Dog			Beau
> Note: Beau Maverick's fitting final episode. Beau stumbles onto a cave which soon serves as the gathering place of a motley and dangerous gang of gunslinging criminals, including John Carradine and Lee Van Cleef. Sherry Jackson delivers an energetic performance as a gunman's feisty and promiscuous woman. Unhappy with many of the other scripts, Roger Moore leaves the show, remarking that if his stories had been as good as Garner's in the first two seasons, he would have stayed.
The Deadly Image		Bart
> Note: This is the inevitable episode---a staple in almost every TV series---in which the lead character has an evil exact double played by the same actor, with the same voice. With Gerald Mohr. Co-written by actor/writer Leo Gordon.
Triple Indemnity		Bart			Doc
> Note: With Peter Breck as Doc Holiday. This is the initial appearance of Breck in a recurring role as Holiday, whose interpretation is much more personable than the serious, darker portrayal by Gerald Mohr (who played the gunman in earlier episodes “The Quick and the Dead” and briefly in “Seed of Deception”). In fact, Holliday is a friendly acquaintance of Bart’s, who helps (initially) set up a scheme. This relationship continues in four more episodes in Season Five. Also, while Garner had already left the program prior to the start of the season (Kelly and Moore are listed as the series stars in the opening credits), Bret is mentioned predominately throughout the plot as Bart purchases a $50,000 double indemnity insurance policy with his brother (not cousin Beau) as the beneficiary.
The Forbidden City		Bart		Brent
> Note: Strapping Garner lookalike Robert Colbert's debut as Brent Maverick, a character dressed exactly like Bret Maverick. Bart only appears rather briefly in the episode. When the studio told contract player Colbert that he'd have to play a role patterned so precisely after Garner's, he said, "Put me in a dress and call me Brenda, but don't do this to me."
Substitute Gun		Bart
> Note: With Coleen Gray, the actress who played John Wayne's character's fiancee at the beginning of the 1948 movie Red River.
Benefit of the Doubt				Brent
> Note: The second and last appearance of Brent Maverick, and his only solo episode. With Ellen Burstyn and Slim Pickens. Colbert was four years younger than Kelly and Moore, making him about the same age that Kelly had been in the series' first season. The studio had intended Kelly, Moore, and Colbert to appear in the series at the same time and some publicity shots of the three of them together survive. Colbert has noted that he was simply not called back for the following season and heard nothing from the studio about it one way or the other.
The Devil's Necklace (Parts I & II)		Bart
> Note: The only two-part episode in the series, a flashback story involving a fort in which everyone but Bart had been killed by Native Americans. With John Dehner, Steve Brodie, John Hoyt, and Chad Everett.

Jack Kelly and Julie Adams

Fifth season (1961-1962)

Jack Kelly is now the sole star of new Maverick offerings. This season's episodes alternated with reruns of some of Garner's earlier shows (both solo and Garner/Kelly team-ups, including "The Saga of Waco Williams"), but during Kelly's new installments, neither Bret, Beau, nor Brent are ever mentioned; the series' new episodes had finally reverted to the original single-Maverick formula observed for the initial seven episodes, only with Kelly as Maverick instead of Garner. However, Garner's name once again appears in the weekly series opening credits before all the newly produced shows, albeit now with second billing under Kelly (Ed Reimers announces "Maverick! Starring Jack Kelly and James Garner!" each week over the opening credits).

Peter Breck returns as Doc Holliday, becoming a semi-regular in these final episodes. He appears in 4 of the 13 episodes produced for this season, including the series finale. Mike Road appears as "Pearly Gates" in two episodes.

Episode Title	Starring		Notes
	Bart Maverick	Doc Holliday
Dade City Dodge	Bart		With Kathleen Crowley (as "Marla"), Mike Road (as "Pearly Gates"), and Gage Clarke. Gates cheated Maverick, who hunts down the smooth con artist and his gorgeous paramour.
The Art Lovers	Bart		With Jack Cassidy; Maverick is sentenced to being a butler after being cheated by an acquaintance.
The Golden Fleecing	Bart		With John Qualen; Maverick becomes an impromptu stock broker, dealing in Chinatown.
Three Queens Full	Bart		Bonanza spoof with Jim Backus and Merry Anders, featuring the characters "Moose" and "Small Paul" Wheelwright. Amusingly, Backus (famous for providing the cartoon voice of "Mr. Magoo") plays the patriarch patterned after stentorian Lorne Greene's Bonanza role.
A Technical Error	Bart	Doc	With Ben Gage as a sheriff (spoofing Marshal Matt Dillon and Gunsmoke, as he had done in "Gun-Shy", "A Tale of Three Cities," and "The Misfortune Teller"), and Reginald Owen, who purposely loses his near-bankrupt bank to Maverick in a card game.
Poker Face	Bart		With Tol Avery; while traveling by stagecoach, Maverick strikes a bargain with a highwayman.
Mr. Muldoon's Partner	Bart		An Irish-themed leprechaun comedy with Mickey Rooney's lookalike son, Tim Rooney. The only episode in which Kelly wears his hat on the back of his head for long stretches the way Garner used to.
Epitaph for a Gambler	Bart		With film noir queen Marie Windsor; Maverick wishes he hadn't won that casino after all.
The Maverick Report	Bart	Doc	Maverick wins a newspaper that's about to be sued by a senator.
Marshall Maverick	Bart	Doc	With John Dehner as an impersonator of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and finally, Maverick himself.
The Troubled Heir	Bart		With Kathleen Crowley, Alan Hale, Jr., and Mike Road (as "Pearly Gates"). Gates and Marla (Crowley) rob Maverick so they can run off and marry.
The Money Machine	Bart		With Andrew Duggan as Big Ed Murphy, a role played in Greenbacks, Unlimited during the third season by John Dehner. Murphy sells a machine that somehow magically manufactures money to Maverick's headstrong young cousin, portrayed by Kathy Bennett. Everyone in this episode, related or not, jarringly refers to Maverick's father as "Pappy Maverick," a nickname used only by the Maverick brothers themselves in all earlier episodes (even the younger Beau, played by Roger Moore, referred to his cousin Bart's father as "Uncle Beau").
One of Our Trains Is Missing	Bart	Doc	With Kathleen Crowley as Modesty Blaine, a role also played in earlier episodes by Mona Freeman. The episode and the series ends with Maverick, Doc Holliday, and Modesty Blaine walking the train tracks into the sunset while arguing about how they'd divide a reward that Maverick had just received from Diamond Jim Brady. Jack Kelly always maintained that no one from the studio called to tell him that the series had been canceled; he read about it in the newspaper.

External links

Garner with Bob Hope in 1961 publicity appearance on Hope's TV show

• Internet Movie Database Maverick Episodes
• Maverick Episode Guide at epguides.com
• TV Guide Maverick Episode List
• Maverick at TV.com
• Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television Interview
• Stephen J. Cannell's Archive of American Television explanation of Huggins' approach
• Museum of Broadcast Communications: Maverick
• James Garner's Archive of American Television Interview
• James Garner Interview on the Charlie Rose Show