Zane Grey Theater/ Frontier Justice (1956-1961)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
An anthology based (earlier more so than later) on the novels and stories of Zane Grey.
Powell was often the star as well as the host.

Series Cast
Dick Powell ... Himself - Host / ... (144 episodes, 1956-1961)
Whitey Hughes ... Townsman / ... (10 episodes, 1958-1960)
Walter Sande ... Beecher / ... (7 episodes, 1956-1961)
Denver Pyle ... Sheriff / ... (7 episodes, 1956-1961)
Bill Erwin ... Clay Davis / ... (7 episodes, 1957-1961)
Jack Tornek ... Townsman / ... (7 episodes, 1957-1961)
Ethan Laidlaw ... Townsman / ... (7 episodes, 1957-1960)
Chris Alcaide ... Clay Culhane / ... (6 episodes, 1956-1958)
John Hackett ... Lieutenant / ... (6 episodes, 1958-1960)
Jason Johnson ... Dr. Harris / ... (6 episodes, 1956-1960)
Harry Lauter ... Hake Morris / ... (6 episodes, 1956-1960)
John Falvo ... Simpson / ... (6 episodes, 1957-1958)
Michael Hinn ... Adam Lawson / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1960)
John Pickard ... Sheriff / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1961)
Ed Nelson ... Albie / ... (5 episodes, 1958-1961)
Robert F. Hoy ... Cowhand / ... (5 episodes, 1958-1960)
William Henry ... Collard / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1960)
James Whitmore ... Ben Kincaid / ... (5 episodes, 1956-1961)
Paul Richards ... Frank Frayne / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1961)
Dabbs Greer ... Ed McColl / ... (5 episodes, 1956-1959)
Brett King ... Dolf Akins / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1960)
Joseph V. Perry ... Bartender / ... (5 episodes, 1958-1961)
Richard Shannon ... Clay Rickert / ... (5 episodes, 1957-1960)
Robert Ryan ... Captain Kraig / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1959)
Lloyd Bridges ... Dundee / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1961)
Barbara Stanwyck ... Belle Garrison / ... (4 episodes, 1958-1959)
Stephen McNally ... Big Luke Meredith / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1960)
Eddie Albert ... Bide Turley / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1958)
Gary Merrill ... Col. Boyd Nelson / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1961)
John Ericson ... Andy McCall / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1959)
John Dehner ... Colonel Overton / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1960)
Marsha Hunt ... Catha Duncan / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1960)
Beverly Garland ... Amy Schroeder / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1961)
Ben Cooper ... Clint Harding / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1960)
Claude Akins ... Chuck Wagner / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1961)
Michael Pate ... Charlie Spawn / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1960)
Jack Elam ... Cass / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1961)
Stacy Harris ... Doc Currie / ... (4 episodes, 1958-1960)
Willis Bouchey ... Gen. Price / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1957)
Parley Baer ... Clem Doud / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1959)
David Janssen ... Danny Ensign / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1959)
Peter Whitney ... Chub / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1961)
Harry Dean Stanton ... Fletcher / ... (4 episodes, 1958-1961)
James Anderson ... Frank Lomax / ... (4 episodes, 1957-1960)
Lane Bradford ... Ben Barrett / ... (4 episodes, 1959-1960)
DeForest Kelley ... Les Porter / ... (4 episodes, 1956-1960)

and many, many more, in a list that included
many well known names and some of Duke's 'Pals'
Chuck Hayward, Wendell Corey, Thomas Mitchell, Cesar Romero
Robert Culp, Karl Swenson, David Niven.Lee J. Cobb,
Walter Brennan, John Derek, Ernest Borgnine, Claudette Colbert,
Edmond O'Brien, Dan Duryea, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon,
Joan Crawford, Dennis Hopper, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn
Michael Landon, Leif Erickson, Paul Fix, Alan Hale Jr.,
Dub Taylor,Pernell Roberts, John Mitchum, John Hoyt

Series Cast- Frontier Justice
Lew Ayres... Himself - Host (11 episodes, 1958)
Melvyn Douglas... Host (11 episodes, 1959)
Ralph Bellamy... Host (9 episodes, 1961)

Series Directed
John English (24 episodes, 1956-1959)
James Sheldon (9 episodes, 1957-1959)
William D. Faralla (8 episodes, 1958-1960)
Robert Florey (6 episodes, 1956-1960)
Robert Gordon (6 episodes, 1958)
David Lowell Rich (6 episodes, 1959-1961)
Felix E. Feist (5 episodes, 1956-1957)
Christian Nyby (5 episodes, 1957-1958)
Budd Boetticher (4 episodes, 1960-1961)
Bernard Girard (3 episodes, 1956)
Alvin Ganzer (3 episodes, 1957-1959)
Sam Peckinpah (3 episodes, 1959-1960)
Don Taylor (3 episodes, 1961)
and many, many more ....

Series Produced by
Hal Hudson .... producer (76 episodes, 1956-1960)
Aaron Spelling .... producer (5 episodes, 1959-1961)
Stephen Lord .... associate producer (3 episodes, 1961)
Helen Ainsworth .... producer (unknown episodes)
Herbert E. Mendelson .... associate producer (unknown episodes)

Series Writing Credits
Aaron Spelling (24 episodes, 1956-1961)
John McGreevey (13 episodes, 1956-1959)
Luke Short (10 episodes, 1956-1960)
Christopher Knopf (7 episodes, 1958-1961)
Frederick Louis Fox (6 episodes, 1956-1959)
Zane Grey (6 episodes, 1956-1958)
Harold Swanton (5 episodes, 1956-1959)
Harold Shumate (5 episodes, 1956-1957)
Howard Dimsdale (5 episodes, 1958-1961)
Bob Barbash (4 episodes, 1957-1960)
Sam Peckinpah (4 episodes, 1958-1960)
and many, many more ...

Series Original Music
Joseph Mullendore (4 episodes, 1959-1961)
Harry Lubin (unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography
Guy Roe (32 episodes, 1956-1959)
George E. Diskant (30 episodes, 1956-1961)
Charles Burke (4 episodes, 1957-1959)
Frank G. Carson (4 episodes, 1960-1961)
Howard Schwartz (3 episodes, 1959)
Frank Redman (2 episodes, 1956)

Trivia
Future successful future TV producer Aaron Spelling started out as a writer on this show.

This show was unique because it was the only Western anthology on TV at the time.
Anthologies were popular on early TV and were the equivalent of today's TV movies.
Because of this format, it attracted many stars who wanted to appear on it.

This show was originally developed to be adaptations of short stories and novels
by the great Western author Zane Grey.
However, the material ran out (the books were far too long for a half-hour show),
and later original material was commissioned.

Filming Locations
Andy Jauregui Ranch - Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA
Apacheland Studios - 4369 S. Kings Ranch Road, Gold Canyon, Arizona, USA
CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA
Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
Jack Ingram Ranch - 22255 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
Melody Ranch - 24715 Oak Creek Avenue, Newhall, California, USA
Walker Ranch - 19152 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA

Watch this Episode

[extendedmedia]

Frontier Justice is a CBS television Western anthology series
which had thirty-one telecasts over the summers of 1958, 1959, and 1961.
It was a repackaging of episodes from CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater,
and was hosted by Lew Ayres, Melvyn Douglas, and Ralph Bellamy, one each summer.
The program was a production of Four Star Television.

Starring in various episodes were Eddie Albert, Phyllis Avery, Russ Conway, John Derek,
William Fawcett, Dean Jagger, David Janssen, Ida Lupino, Strother Martin, Jack Palance,
John Payne, Judson Pratt, Denver Pyle, Robert Ryan, Stuart Whitman, and James Whitmore, among others.

The half-hour, black-and-white program, a summer-replacement series, debuted on Monday, July 7, 1958,
and ended its run on Thursday, September 28, 1961.
It was produced by Four Star Television, co-owned by Dick Powell, David Niven,
Charles Boyer, and Ida Lupino.

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre,
is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.

Created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace, Zane Grey Theatre
was originally based on the short stories and novels of Western author Zane Grey,
but as the episodes continued, new material was included.
Aaron Spelling, wrote twenty Zane Grey episodes.
The series opened each week with a prelude of the episode followed by the introduction,
the firing of a gun, with the proclamation: "From out of the West, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater."
Much of the musical score was handled by Four Star's Herschel Burke Gilbert.

Powell appeared as various characters in 15 of the 149 episodes and hosted the entire run.
A half-hour program, Zane Grey Theatre debuted at 8:30 Eastern on Friday, October 5, 1956,
and ran until the end of the 1960-1961 season, when Powell switched to NBC
for a new hour-long anthology of drama and comedy called The Dick Powell Show,
which he maintained until shortly after Powell's death from cancer.

It had a cast that was a who's who of well known names
and included many of Duke's 'Pals'

User Review

Quote

Episode 21 of Season 2, The Sharpshooter is The Rifleman
26 February 2006 | by chuckju (Los Angeles, CA) –

Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford are Lucas and Mark McCain
is this excellent half hour western. It was so good they decided to make it a series.
Thus "The Rifleman" was born.

This was far better than any subsequent episode of The Rifleman series,
which was a bit too "nice" to be realistic.

I cannot recall if McCain's rifle in this Zane Grey episode
had the nifty fast-action features of the series' rifle.

I am surprised that there are no other comments on this generally
very good western anthology series on TV.
It was certainly a popular feature on Friday nights about 60 years ago.

I believe the host, Dick Powell, left the series to host his own hour long
Dick Powell Theater on Tuesday nights.
This series of individual one hour dramas basically lasted until Powell's death.
All of these shows should be issued on DVD while those of us who liked
and would buy them are still alive.

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