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Tales of Wells Fargo

Alder Gulch – Tales of Wells Fargo

Season 1. Ep.3. Jim is sent ot investigate a series of stagecoach robberies.

250px-Tales_of_Wells_Fargo_Dale_Robertson_1958Dale Robertson as Jim Hardie, 1958

Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series starring Dale Robertson that ran from March 18, 1957, to June 2, 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.

Synopsis
Set in the 1870’s and 1880’s, the series starred the Oklahoma native Dale Robertson as special agent Jim Hardie, noted at the time as “the left-handed gun.” The concept of Tales of Wells Fargo, a company troubleshooter in the American West, was also adapted by the syndicated series Pony Express, co-starring Grant Sullivan as detective Brett Clark, which aired in the 1959-1960 season, nearly coinciding with the centennial of the Pony Express. Even earlier, from 1954 to 1955, Jim Davis had starred as a railroad investigator, Matt Clark, in the syndicated Stories of the Century. Davis and Robertson, both of whom had unusual but similar-sounding speaking voices, each did the narration for their respective series.

In the 1957 Christmas episode entitled “Laredo,” Jim Hardie must track gunrunners across the United States/Mexican border in Laredo, Texas, a quest which keeps him from spending the holiday with friends as he had intended. Guest stars include Henry Rowland, Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., Karl Swenson, and Pierre Watkin.

Cast
dale-robertson-dies-dead-tv-western-starDale Robertson as Jim Hardie, Wells Fargo agent
William Demarest as Jeb Gaine (1961-1962)
Virginia Christine as Ovie (1961–1962)
Jack Ging as Beau McCloud
Lory Patrick as Tina (1961–1962)
Notable guest stars
Claude Akins
Rico Alaniz
Eddie Albert
Chris Alcaide
Roscoe Ates
Roy Barcroft
Trevor Bardette
Hugh Beaumont as Jesse James
Lane Bradford
Johnny Mack Brown
Edgar Buchanan
Walter Burke
James Coburn as Butch Cassidy
Chuck Connors as Sam Bass
Russ Conway
Ben Cooper
jeannecooper1Jeanne Cooper as Belle Starr
Walter Coy
Dennis Cross
John Dehner
Francis De Sales
John Doucette
Buddy Ebsen
Frank Ferguson
Ron Foster
Tom Greenway
Ron Hayes
Peter Helm
Kelo Henderson as Ike Clanton
Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr.
Clegg Hoyt
Brad Johnson
I. Stanford Jolley
Bobby Jordan, as Bob Ford
Robert Karnes
Celia Kaye
Douglas Kennedy
Wright King
Martin Landau as Doc Holliday
Michael Landon
Tyler MacDuff
Ann McCrea
Frank McGrath
Steve McQueen
11781-4507Tyler McVey
Carole Mathews
James Millhollin
Ewing Mitchell
George Mitchell
Read Morgan
Alan Napier
Jack Nicholson
Simon Oakland
Gregg Palmer
John M. Picard
Mike Ragan
Gilman Rankin
Dan Sheridan
Quintin Sondergaard
Warren Stevens as Clay Allison
Barbara Stuart
Olive Sturgess
Grant Sullivan
William Tannen
Ray Teal
Robert Vaughn

4c1167-001Broadcast History

The pilot for Tales of Wells Fargo originally premiered as an episode of the anthology series Schlitz Playhouse.

In the 1960-61 season, Wells Fargo was scheduled opposite ABC’s detective series Surfside 6 and CBS’s new sitcom Bringing Up Buddy, starring Frank Aletter. Wells Fargo and Surfside 6 survived another year, but Bringing Up Buddy was cancelled. Wells Fargo was the lead-in that year to a new NBC Western, Klondike, but that series, set in the Alaskan gold rush town of Skagway, survived only seventeen episodes.

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