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The Deputy
Format	Western
Created by	Roland Kibbee Norman Lear
Starring	Henry Fonda Allen Case Read Morgan Wallace Ford Betty Lou Keim Gary Hunley
Opening theme	Jack Marshall
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	75
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Frye
Running time	30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 12, 1959 – July 1, 1961

The Deputy is a 1959-1961 half-hour NBC western series featuring Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.^[1]

Production

Fonda narrated most episodes and appeared briefly at the beginning and ending of most segements. He played the lead in only six episodes in the first season and thirteen in the second. Usually he would give his deputy the assignment then more or less thank him afterward at the conclusion of the episode. As Fred MacMurray later did while shooting the Sitcom series My Three Sons, Fonda performed all of his work on The Deputy in several lengthy sessions so as to leave himself free for other projects. The difference in quality between Fonda's episodes and Case's was often cited by both critics at the time and Fonda himself in later interviews. Fonda wore a growth of stubble on his face as Fry, decades before the Sonny Crockett character in Miami Vice did the same and attracted so much attention that special razors were marketed to achieve that look.

Though based in Silver City, the sheriff's district also covered several nearby towns as well. Deputy McCord was a storekeeper who bore arms with great reluctance. Wallace Ford starred as the elderly marshall, Herk Lamson, with Betty Lou Keim as Clay's sister, Fran McCord, in the first series. Read Morgan joined the show in the second series as Sergeant Hapgood Tasker, known as "Sarge", a one-eyed United States Army Cavalry officer stationed in town.

The series was created by Norman Lear, who would go on to develop some of the biggest TV comedy hits of the 1970s, like All in the Family, Sanford and Son and Maude. The show was also produced by Revue Studios, and featured a high-tuned Jazz Guitar score by Jack Marshall, who later composed The Munsters theme.

Robert Redford appeared in the episode "The Last Gunfight", which aired on April 30, 1960. Other guest stars appearing on The Deputy included Chris Alcaide, Phyllis Avery, Roxane Berard, Dennis Cross, Francis De Sales, Dean Fredericks, Billy Gray, Tom Greenway, Clu Gulager, Wallace Ford, Tod Griffin, Ron Hayes, Gregg Palmer, Tyler McVey, Denver Pyle, Vito Scotti, Quintin Sondergaard, Kim Spalding, and Gary Vinson. Robert Redford made his TV debut in the episode The Last Gunfight (April 30, 1960). The format of the half hour show with its older professional lawman and his young assistant was similar to Warner Brothers Television's Lawman.

The Deputy aired at 9 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. In its first year, it followed NBC's short-lived Adventure series, The Man and the Challenge, starring, among others, George Nader and Jack Ging. It faced competition from Mr. Lucky on CBS and from The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC. In the second season, CBS dropped Mr. Lucky, and The Deputy faced competition from the second half of Checkmate, co-starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure.

Four years after The Deputy, Case co-starred for a season as Frank James with Christopher Jones in the title role of ABC's The Legend of Jesse James.

References

External links

• The Deputy at the Internet Movie Database
• The Deputy at TV.com