Tales of Wells Fargo (1957–1962)

Plot Summary
Agent Jim Hardie shifts over its history from being mostly an agent helping
Wells Fargo cope with bad guys to being the owner of a ranch near
San Francisco who still does some agent work.
Written by Ed Stephan

Series Cast
Dale Robertson ... Jim Hardie (200 episodes, 1957-1962)
William Demarest ... Jeb Gaine / ... (25 episodes, 1961-1962)
Kit Carson ... Bartender / ... (23 episodes, 1957-1962)
Lory Patrick ... Tina Swenson / ... (15 episodes, 1961-1962)
Virginia Christine ... Ovie Swenson / ... (14 episodes, 1961-1962)
Jack Ging ... Beau McCloud (13 episodes, 1961)
Mary Jane Saunders ... Mary Gee Swenson / ... (13 episodes, 1961-1962)
Boyd Stockman ... Stage Driver / ... (12 episodes, 1957-1962)
Steve Darrell ... The Sheriff / ... (9 episodes, 1961-1962)
Russell Thorson ... Wells Fargo Manager / ... (8 episodes, 1957-1962)
and many, many more...

Series Directed
Earl Bellamy ... (45 episodes, 1957-1959)
R.G. Springsteen ... (16 episodes, 1961-1962)
William Witney ... (8 episodes, 1961-1962)

Series Produced
Nat Holt ... producer (57 episodes, 1957-1958)
Earle Lyon ... producer (34 episodes, 1960-1962)
and others...

Series Music
Richard Shores ... (14 episodes, 1961)
and others...

Cinematography
Bud Thackery ... (60 episodes, 1957-1962)
Ray Rennahan ... (10 episodes, 1957-1962)
and many others...

Trivia
Dale Robertson, a natural right-hander, taught himself to draw his gun
and shoot left-handed so that his character Jim Hardie would be more distinctive.

The horse Dale Robertson rode throughout the series, named "Jubilee", was his own.

The locomotive used in this series is the same one used in the series Casey Jones (1957).

Filming Locations
Denver Street, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA
Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
Lone Pine, California, USA
Newhall Ranch - Rt. 126, Valencia, California, USA
Stage 35, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA
Western Street, Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson
that ran from 1957 to 1962 on NBC.
Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format
until its final season when it expanded to an hour.

User Review

Those Who Would Rob From Wells Fargo
4 April 2009 | by bkoganbing (Buffalo, New York)

Quote from bko

If Dale Robertson had come along about ten years earlier he would have been a great cowboy hero and Herbert J. Yates no doubt would have had him in his stable of western heroes. But he came along just as the B western was going out of business on the big screen and quite frankly he was a much better actor than some of the B cowboys. He did some serious B films, never quite getting stardom on the big screen, though some of the films were good.

The small screen treated him better with the Tales Of Wells Fargo series in which Dale's character of Jim Hardie narrated his exploits in tracking down those who would rob from his employer the Wells Fargo company.

I think the series was good because it called for Robertson to be a detective as well as a cowboy hero. The scripts were intelligently written given the constraints of developing characters in only thirty minute episodes for the most part.

In the last season the show was expanded to sixty minutes, but the producers also decided to give Robertson's character Jim Hardie a ranch and something of a home life. It never seems to cease, a perfectly good format, tinkered with and then cancellation.

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Still Tales Of Wells Fargo gave Dale Robertson his career role, at least the one this fan remembers him best for.
And he was a left handed draw, the most well known one on television until Michael Landon
Little Joe Cartwright came along.