Law of the Plainsman

Law of the Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on NBC from October 1, 1959, until September 22, 1960.^[1]

Law of the Plainsman
Michael Ansara as Sam Buckhart.
Starring	Michael Ansara Gina Gillespie Robert Harland Dayton Lummis Nora Marlowe
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	30
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	October 1, 1959 (1959-10-01) – September 22, 1960 (1960-09-22)

The character of Native American U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart was introduced in two episodes ("The Indian" and "The Raid") of the popular ABC Western television series The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors. As with The Rifleman, this series was produced by Four Star Productions in association with Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions.

Law of the Plainsman is distinctive in that it was one of the few television programs that featured a Native American as the lead character, a bold move for American network television at that time. Ansara had earlier appeared in the series Broken Arrow, having portrayed the Apache chief, Cochise. Ansara, however, was not Native American but of Syrian descent.^[2]

Plot

Ansara played Sam Buckhart, an Apache Indian who saved the life of a U.S. Cavalry officer after an Indian ambush. When the officer later died, he left Sam money that was used for an education at private schools and Harvard University. After school, he returned to New Mexico where he became a deputy marshal working for Marshal Andy Morrison. He lived in a boarding house run by Martha Commager. Other continuing characters include 8-year old Tess Logan, an orphan who had been rescued by Buckhart, and a second Deputy Marshal, Billy Lordan.^[3]

Cast

• Michael Ansara as Deputy Marshal Sam Buckhart

Recurring

• Gina Gillespie as Tess Wilkins (15 episodes)
• Dayton Lummis as Marshal Andy Morrison (9 episodes)
• Nora Marlowe as Martha Commager (7 episodes)
• Robert Harland as Deputy Billy Lordan^[4] (7 episodes)
• Wayne Rogers as Deputy Billy Lordan (3 episodes)

Guest cast

• Chris Alcaide appeared three times, including the role of Charlie Wolf in "Blood Trails" (1960)
• John Anderson appeared three times
• Richard Anderson
• Rayford Barnes
• Lane Bradford
• Paul Carr
• Roberto Contreras appeared twice
• Richard Devon
• Don Dubbins
• Bill Erwin as Dr. Palmer in the episode "The Gibbet" (1959)
• Gene Evans
• Paul Fix
• William Fawcett
• Dabbs Greer
• Robert Hoy
• Clegg Hoyt as Hungerford in "The Dude"
• Ray Kellogg appeared twice.
• Brett King appeared as Costello in the episode "A Matter of Life and Death" (1959)
• Jess Kirkpatrick
• Scott Marlowe as Clancy Jones in "The Show-Off"
• Ken Mayer
• Tyler McVey as Marshal Penrose in "The Imposter"
• John Milford appeared twice
• George Mitchell
• Gene Nelson
• J. Pat O'Malley appeared twice
• Michael Pate
• Joseph V. Perry appeared twice
• Denver Pyle
• Michael Raffetto as Father Robles in "Endurance" (1960)
• Sam Reese
• Robert F. Simon as Frank Keller in the episode "The Gibbet"
• Hope Summers
• Stephen Talbot as Stevie Mullen in the episode "Fear" (1960)
• Lee Van Cleef
• Robert Vaughn appeared as Theodore Roosevelt in "The Dude" and as Ross Drake in "The Innocents" (both 1959)
• Garry Walberg
• Peter Whitney appeared three times
• Robert J. Wilke

Episodes

No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Prairie Incident"	Douglas Heyes	Harry Kronman	October 1, 1959 (1959-10-01)
2	"Full Circle"	Jerry Hopper	David Lang	October 8, 1959 (1959-10-08)
3	"A Matter of Life and Death"	Richard Whorf	Cyril Hume	October 15, 1959 (1959-10-15)
4	"The Hostiles"	Don Medford	Calvin Clements Sr.	October 22, 1959 (1959-10-22)
5	"Passenger to Mescalero"	William F. Claxton	Palmer Thompson	October 29, 1959 (1959-10-29)
6	"Blood Trails"	Richard Whorf	Arthur Browne, Jr.	November 5, 1959 (1959-11-05)
7	"Desperate Decision"	Robert Gordon	David Lang	November 12, 1959 (1959-11-12)
8	"Appointment in Santa Fe"	William F. Claxton	Arthur Browne, Jr.	November 19, 1959 (1959-11-19)
9	"The Gibbet"	William F. Claxton	Pat Fielder	November 26, 1959 (1959-11-26)
10	"The Dude"	Ted Post	Cyril Hume	December 3, 1959 (1959-12-03)
11	"The Innocent"	Ted Post	Bob Barbash	December 10, 1959 (1959-12-10)
12	"Clear Title"	John Peyser	David P. Harmon	December 17, 1959 (1959-12-17)
13	"Toll Road"	James Sheldon	Calvin Clements Sr.	December 24, 1959 (1959-12-24)
14	"Calculated Risk"	James Neilson	Arthur Dales	December 31, 1959 (1959-12-31)
15	"Fear"	Paul Wendkos	Arthur Browne, Jr.	January 7, 1960 (1960-01-07)
16	"Endurance"	John Peyser	Milton S. Gelman	January 14, 1960 (1960-01-14)
17	"The Comet"	John Peyser	Cyril Hume	January 21, 1960 (1960-01-21)
18	"The Rawhiders"	Paul Landres	Jay Simms	January 28, 1960 (1960-01-28)
19	"The Imposter"	David Lowell Rich	David Lang	February 4, 1960 (1960-02-04)
20	"Common Ground"	John Peyser	Calvin Clements Sr.	February 11, 1960 (1960-02-11)
21	"The Matriarch"	Arthur Hilton	Teddi Sherman	February 18, 1960 (1960-02-18)
22	"A Question of Courage"	John Rich	Donn Mullally	February 25, 1960 (1960-02-25)
23	"Dangerous Barriers"	Paul Landres	Harry Kronman	March 10, 1960 (1960-03-10)
24	"The Show-Off"	John Peyser	John Dunkel	March 17, 1960 (1960-03-17)
25	"Rabbit's Fang"	Paul Landres	Jay Simms	March 24, 1960 (1960-03-24)
26	"Stella"	Paul Landres	James Edwards	March 31, 1960 (1960-03-31)
27	"Amnesty"	Robert Gordon	Lee Berg	April 7, 1960 (1960-04-07)
28	"Jeb's Daughter"	Paul Landres	Arthur Browne, Jr.	April 14, 1960 (1960-04-14)
29	"Cavern of the Wind"	Paul Landres	Richard Fielder	April 21, 1960 (1960-04-21)
30	"Trojan Horse"	Paul Wendkos	Bob Barbash	May 5, 1960 (1960-05-05)

Production

The series was produced by Four Star Television with Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions.^[5]

Broadcast

The show only lasted one season. For syndicated reruns it was grouped with three other short-lived Western series from the same company, Black Saddle starring Peter Breck, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Sam Peckinpah's critically acclaimed creation, The Westerner starring Brian Keith, under the umbrella title The Westerners, with new introductions and wrap-ups by Keenan Wynn.^[6][7]