Lawman

At the same time John Russell was playing ranch owner Nathan Burdette, trying to free his no good brother Claude Akins from sheriff John Wayne in Rio Bravo he was working the other side of the law on television. These years were probably the high point of Russell's career, his most noted screen role and his most famous television role, Marshal Dan Troop of Laramie in Lawman.

Russell kept law and order in Laramie the same way that James Arness did it in Dodge City on Gunsmoke. Unlike Gunsmoke, Laramie never developed the all the minor characters that gave you the feel of Dodge City at the time. Instead it concentrated on Russell taking care of business and learning the business of law to his eager young deputy Peter Brown.

Brown played deputy Johnny McKay who was a most respectful young man, constantly referring to his boss as Mr. Troop. He was pretty handy with a shooting iron, but was inclined to be impulsive. Good thing Marshal Troop was around.

The other series regular was the Kitty Russell of Laramie, Lily played by Peggie Castle. This is where Lawman most resembled Gunsmoke. There was an unspoken understanding between Russell and Castle that even the smallest of children couldn't have missed. And I wasn't the smallest of children when Lawman was in first run.

Sadly Peggie Castle developed substance abuse problems after Lawman's run ended. I remember a small obituary marked her passing in the first half of the Seventies. She was one beautiful woman.

Lawman was good no nonsense western from that golden era of the adult television western. It was one of the best.

Lawman was a Warner Bros western. Jack Warner's studio had several great Westerns on the Air and seen now in syndication or on cable it is like visiting old friends. At one time they had 3 separate backlot streets for the many westerns shooting there. Maverick, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Bronco etc

John Russell was the Marshall and Peter Brown the Deputy .I like seeing this show on cable. Peter Brown was extraordinarily handsome and magnetic and was loved by women and definitely made a name for himself with the ladies. He did a magazine layout with one of his female friends and was married I believe 4 times.

It is awesome to see in addition to the stars Messrs. Russell and Brown WB stars such as Will Hutchins, Grant Williams, Edd Byrnes, , Jack Kelly, Robert Logan, William Reynolds, Gary Vinson, Mike Road, Ty Hardin, Van Williams, Andrew Duggan. Bob Conrad, Donald May. Watching Lawman, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, Maverick one could see these actors in various roles. Beautiful women such as Connie Stevens, Dorothy Provine, Diane McBain also were in the various WB shows. In addition to being cast in various shows these actors were cast in supporting roles of WB pictures.

Donald May plated a FBI agent in Fred McMurray's Kisses For My President, Messrs Brown and Hardin were in Merrill's Marauders, William Reynolds was in Troy Donahue's great Western A Distant Trumpet but so was Diane McBain Gary Vinson was in a Majority of One with Roz Russell and Alec Guiness, Clint Walker and Edd Byrnes were in Yellowstone Kelly, WB had its major contract stars Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin , and Bob Conrad in Palm Springs Weekend. WB StarsTy Hardin and Dorothy Provine were great in Wall of Noise directed by a fine director Richard Wilson. I saw one episode an none other than Robert Redford was in the cast!

There is a great group picture of Jack L. Warner walking in a WB backlot street with all the WB Stars such as Angie Dickinson, Troy Donahue, Natalie Wood, Efrem Zimbalist, Shirley Knight, and all of the actors and actresses mentioned above. They problem if that is the correct term is that there were so many actors with few movie roles to go around. Troy Donahue was starred in one big WB movie a year. Hampton Fancher, Chad Everett, were in his movies.

It was a wonderful era

RIP Russell, Brown, Zimbalist, Donahue, Conrad, Williams, Vinson, Road, Hardin,

Lawman was fantastic! Even though I'm 45 I never saw it during the 60's, I don't even know if it was on Australian TV during that era or not. We only noticed it when they had it running at 3 or 4 in the morning and we stumbled upon it by mistake whilst looking for something to watch after a particularly punishing night. Were we hooked! My mate started taping it each day and has about 50 or so Lawmans on video but alas they did not run all of them so we have over 100 to go! Do you know if they are on DVD at all? Marshal Dan had the straightest back in TV! We never did a body count but if the rate of bad guys that got shot each episode that we've seen is anything to go by surely there were no outlaws left in the wild west by the time the series ended! Where's Lawman when you need him now! "Get out there and march that badge up and down the street Johnny!" Troy from Sydney

"That is a specious analogy!"

It is a shame that this series hasn't been remastered and produced on video by Warner or some other professional movie house.

Copies of most episodes are available, but are usually of poor quality, being copies of copies of copies.

As I understand it, 92 episodes were produced during its run, but only 15 are noted here.

Some of the series writers, such as Richard Matheson, went on to become noted authors.

Excellent series, well written, well staged and well produced.

Michael Weldon,

Udon Thani, Thailand

I couldn't agree more, this 50s western series was superbly done and John Russell was perfect for the part, although he played Indians and also many other parts in western's especially, I feel the part of Dan Troop was tailor made for him and in my opinion was probably his best part, although I agree completely that it didn't run as long or received the accolades it should have done!