Rawhide (1959-1966)

There are 68 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 52,039 times. The latest Post () was by The Ringo Kid.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

  • RAWHIDE


    CBS TELEVISION



    Information from IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Gil Favor, as the trail boss is on a cattle drive,
    with his side kick and ramrod, Rowdy Yates,
    run into, all sorts of characters and adventures,
    on a continuous cattle drive..
    by ethanedwards


    Series Cast
    Clint Eastwood ... Rowdy Yates (217 episodes, 1959-1965)
    Paul Brinegar ... Wishbone (215 episodes, 1959-1965)
    Steve Raines ... Jim Quince (214 episodes, 1959-1965)
    Eric Fleming ... Gil Favor (202 episodes, 1959-1965)
    James Murdock ... Mushy (202 episodes, 1959-1965)
    Rocky Shahan ... Joe Scarlett / ... (181 episodes, 1959-1965)
    Robert Cabal ... Hey Soos (112 episodes, 1959-1965)
    Sheb Wooley ... Pete Nola


    and manyof Duke's 'Pals'
    John Ireland, Edward Faulkner
    Burgess Meredith ,Cesar Romero
    Bob Steele, Dan Duryea
    Jay C. Flippen, Marie Windsor
    Broderick Crawford ,John Agar
    Chill Wills,Albert Dekker
    Neville Brand, Debra Paget
    Strother Martin ,Timothy Carey
    William Fawcett ,Harry Carey Jr.
    Hank Worden ,Woody Strode


    Other guest stars, included:-


    Buddy Ebsen, Lon Chaney Jr., Jack Lord, Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, Claude Akins, Eddie Albert, Michael Ansara, Mary Astor, Frankie Avalon, John Drew Barrymore, James Best, Charles Bronson, McDonald Carey, Jr., Elisha Cook, Linda Cristal, Robert Culp, Royal Dano, Troy Donahue, Brian Donlevy, , Barbara Eden, Leif Erickson, Beverly Garland, Charles Herbert, Earl Holliman, Alan Hale, Jr., Dwayne Hickman, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Ruta Lee, Jock Mahoney, Mercedes McCambridge, Burgess Meredith, Robert Middleton, Vera Miles, Martin Milner, Leslie Nielsen, Susan Oliver, J. Pat O'Malley, Marion Ross, Harry Dean Stanton, Barbara Stanwyck, Ed Wynn, & Dick York,


    Series Directed
    Andrew V. McLaglen (6 episodes, 1959-1962)
    Joseph Kane (6 episodes, 1960)
    who worked with Duke.
    and many more...


    Trivia
    * Soon after Clint Eastwood made his Italian westerns, Jolly Films (which produced Per un pugno di dollari (1964)) came out with a film called (in English) "The Magnificent Stranger", which was actually two episodes of "Rawhide" (1959) edited together ("The Backshooter" and "Incident of the Running Man"). Clint Eastwood sued and the film was withdrawn.


    * Clint Eastwood got his role in "Rawhide" (1959) while visiting a friend at the CBS lot when a studio exec spotted him because he "looked like a cowboy."


    "Rawhide Theme"
    Created and Composed by Dimitri Tiomkin
    Lyrics by Ned Washington
    Recorded by Frankie Laine


    Goof
    In some episodes Gil Favor is seen wearing Wrangler jeans - rivets and the trademark "W" on two pockets. The Wrangler brand wasn't sold until 1947.


    Filming Locations
    Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA
    (western streets)
    Big Sky Ranch - 4927 Bennett Road, Simi Valley, California, USA
    Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA
    CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA
    Chinese Camp, California, USA
    Lone Pine, California, USA
    Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
    Nogales, Arizona, USA
    Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA
    Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 12 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network
    on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965,
    before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966,
    with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes.
    Starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood, the series
    was produced and sometimes directed by Charles Marquis Warren
    who also produced early episodes of Gunsmoke.


    Spanning seven and a half years, Rawhide was the fifth-longest-running American television Western,
    beaten only by eight years of Wagon Train, nine years of The Virginian,
    fourteen years of Bonanza, and twenty years of Gunsmoke.


    Another childhood favourite, but to me,
    not as great as the ones, already mentioned.
    Ironically, Clint Eastwood was critiscized in this series,
    and critics felt he would go no futher.
    Great knowledgeable critics, heh!!!!


    Interestingly Clint began filming
    A Fistful of Dollars, in 1964 while on a summer break from Rawhide.
    Apparently he took with him, and wore the same boots,
    shirt and gun grips that he wore on the series.
    He got the role after practically every other
    cowboy actor in Hollywood had turned it down.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 3 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Another childhood favourite, but to me,
    not as great as the ones, already mentioned.
    Ironically, Clint Eastwood was critiscized in this series,
    and critic felt he would go no futher.
    Great knowledgeable critics, heh!!!!




    Hi Keith:

    I agree with you - not as good as many of the other classic westerns that were previously mentioned, but no one can deny that it had one of the classic theme songs which 50 odd years later, I can still sing word-for-word..!!

    Your comment about the critics and Clint Eastwood was funny - wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall when these same critics, for example, got together over a beer with the numerous people who turned down The Beatles when they were shopping around for a record label back in 1962 or 1963.becasue they thought they would never amount to anything..:teeth_smile:

  • Hi may2,


    Interestingly Clint began filming
    A Fistful of Dollars, in 1964 while on a summer break from Rawhide.
    Apparently he took with him, and wore the same boots,
    shirt and gun grips that he wore on the series.
    He got the role after practically every other
    cowboy actor in Hollywood had turned it down.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England


  • I had read somewhere that Clint wasn't too keen on the role originally either (he eventually took it on for a $15,000 paycheck after James Coburn either turned it down outright or Sergio Leone wouldn't budge on th $25,000 that Coburn was asking for).

    But Clint's wife persuaded him to take on the role saying that at worst, they would enjoy a modest paycheck coupled with a summer vacation in Italy and Spain (where the exterior shots were filmed).

    So Clint acquiesced and the rest is history as they say..!!

  • I loved this series as well, but probably only saw about one-third of the total episodes made.
    BTW - Did they ever get the herd to market? They had so many distractions that the herd had to stay in one place for days at a time while they tended to other matters!:teeth_smile:
    Cheers - Jay:beer:

    Cheers - Jay:beer:
    "Not hardly!!!"

  • I've only been privvy to seeing maybe ten episodes and I greatly enjoyed all of them. One that stuck in my mind had Strother Martin in it.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

  • The 30 September marked the accidental death of Eric Fleming, who played trail boss in Rawhide, with Rowdy ( Eastwood) as ramrod.


    Poor Eric was drowned aged 42, 42 years ago, only a few years after leaving Rawhide whilst filming in South America when a canoe overturned.


    There were 2 in the canoe, Eric was a very experienced swimmer and diver but the current dragged him down the Heluaga River, whereas the other man was able to swim to safety.


    Eric's body was found 3 days later, and his fiancee was at t he river that day he drowned, they were to be married 2 days later, this was the final shoot i think, and they were then retiring to Hawiia where he had brought a farm.


    RIP Eric.


  • Thanks for this Jessie, it was indeed a tragic event.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • Just also wanted to add that they have Clint Eastwoods picture pretty central on the DVD series covers... i guess he is alive, he has the big name etc.. he draws the people that are too young to remember Eric, and how he was pivotal in carrying that series, and after he left at the end of series 7, series 8 with Rowdy as ramrod only lasted half the season beofre it was pulled, once Eric left that was it, the audience had already seen so many of their favourites get pushed, but the Boss gone... no way...................... it just was not going to fly.
    No Boss..no takers.....


    Eric also did 2 episodes of Bonanza, 1 of them in 2 parts and aired the day it was announced he had drowned, it starred Dina Merril and was called " The persued" it's on utube the other episode was a single airing close to the other one.
    Also i think i may have the date of Eric s death wrong, have to double check, but i think it was 28 Sept not the 30..

    Edited once, last by jessie ().

  • Just also wanted to add that they have Clint Eastwoods picture pretty central on the DVD series covers... i guess he is alive, he has the big name etc.. he draws the people that are too young to remember Eric, and how he was pivotal in carrying that series, and after he left at the end of series 7, series 8 with Rowdy as ramrod only lasted half the season beofre it was pulled, once Eric left that was it, the audience had already seen so many of their favourites get pushed, but the Boss gone... no way...................... it just was not going to fly.
    No Boss..no takers.....


    Eric also did 2 episodes of Bonanza, 1 of them in 2 parts and aired the day it was announced he had drowned, it starred Dina Merril and was called " The persued" it's on utube the other episode was a single airing close to the other one.
    Also i think i may have the date of Eric s death wrong, have to double check, but i think it was 28 Sept not the 30..


    I agree Jessie, once you lose your main characters, the series has gone.
    Eric died on September 28th. 1966.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • Let us not forget Sheb Wooley who played Pete the scout. Sheb was in some pretty good westerns - "War Wagon", "High Noon", "Outlaw Josie Wales" and "Silverado". I think the last film he was in was "Hoosiers".
    His part in "Rio Bravo" was completely edited out from the film.
    For the more ancient of us, he also wrote and performed the song "Purple People Eater". When I was about nine years old, my folks gave me fifty cents while we were in a tavern. I cleaned the place out after I had played it on the juke box six times in a row.



    We deal in lead, friend.



  • I don't know what they have going with this "incident" thing but all the eps I've watched so far (4) are titled "Incident" this and "Incident" that. Kinda silly, I think.

    Man, listening to old Frankie Laine sing "Rawhide" sure brings back memories. The show itself was not one of my favorite television Westerns but I always liked Frankie Laine's singing. And, considering the fact there are no Westerns at all on TV these days, I 'm even enjoying the adventures of Rowdy, Gil, Wishbone and the rest of the gang.

    De gustibus non est disputandum

  • I watched what was without a doubt one of the stupidest TV episodes, of ANY series, that ever aired. It was about the 5th or 6th episode of "Rawhide" and the title was "Incident on the Edge of Madness" or something like that. Guest stars were Lon Chaney Jr. and Virginia Mayo. I swear, if that had been the first episode of "Rawhide", the series would probably have been canceled immediately following that particular show, and Clint's career would have been nipped in the bud. It was truly terrible.

    De gustibus non est disputandum