Les Monroe

As a young man growing up in Jackson Hole I had the privilege of working as a stunt double, stand-in for one of the Schultz twins on the TV show "The Monroes". My cousin provided the horses for the show and got me the job for the summer. My favorite person on the set was Ben Johnson who played the one armed cowboy Sleeve. He played football with us kids and was very kind to us when we were treated mostly as invisible or in the way by the other stars especially Barbara Hershey who was a perfect snob. In nearly all of the episodes when you see one of the twins from the back or from far away or in any rough action that is really me.

Lived in the little town of Jackson, Wyoming at the time they shot this series here. They filmed this series mostly in Grand Teton National Park until the weather got too cold in the late fall and then they went back to LA and rebuilt the cabin set on a sound stage which you could easily tell. The location shots had a wide view of the Teton range with few trees and the interior sets had all these trees with a painted vista of the Tetons. That is also when the ratings went downhill on the latter episodes and ABC axed this show. It was quite neat to see the major guest stars fly in and out of Jackson and Barbra Hershey was actually very cordial. The little Twins on the series were cute as well. Anyway a good western.

Just had to Comment.

Well I wanted to say that this show was on the air when I was conceived, and my Mama just loved the little redhead girl Amy played by Tammy Locke, so much so she named me after her. I finally got to see an episode a few years back on the Western Channel and when I looked it up on here actually got to see a picture of Tammy Locke. Gotta Love the internet it made my day. Thanks to all who make this site possible. Keep up the good work, I've book marked your site and I use it often. Maybe some day I will be able to make a few user comments on movies I've seen and help others choose what to watch.

The Monroes was an unfortunately short lived series that never found its audience in the year it was on television. My guess is the expense of shooting the show completely on location in Wyoming was a factor in its cancellation.

The Monroe family had homesteaded a piece of ground that was in the middle of a pair of feuding cattle barons. This is reminiscent of the plot of the classic William Wyler western, The Big Country. The barons were the British Liam Sullivan, a very proper English gentleman, but who was rich and employed people who made sure he got his way. And the other group was headed by Robert Middleton who was a self righteous fellow a whole lot like Burl Ives from The Big Country.

There was no organized law around, these two guys made the law wherever their territory was. Adding to that was that The Monroes were orphans. Eldest son Michael Anderson, Jr. and eldest daughter Barbara Hershey barely teens themselves try to keep their younger siblings Keith and Kevin Schultz and Tammy Locke together as a unit. If this was civilization, they'd have been dumped on some relative or sent off to an orphanage.

Both Sullivan and Middleton would love to buy them out, but the kids stand their ground and attempt to make a home in the wilderness. The Monroes was a beautifully photographed family show and it was unfortunate it wasn't given more of a chance.

My family produced a weekly rodeo in Jackson the summer of 1966. I was 20 years old and had just finished a successful season attending college on a rodeo scholarship. One of the stars of The Monroes was Ben Johnson who, in 1953, as a professional cowboy won the world calf roping championship! Ben Johnson and I became acquainted and he introduced me to Jack Sonntag, the production manager of The Monroes who hired me as an extra to ride horses. I was given one, short speaking part coupled with a stunt which involved my getting shot off of my horse in the middle of the creek. All in all, it was a fun summer in Jackson Hole Wyoming, rodeoing on the weekends and making movies during the week. Two years ago I discovered that the Monroe series was available on DVD and of course I ordered it but I was disappointed with the quality of the DVD; they are way too dark. My grandkids watch the videos and think it's neat for their old grandpa to be in-the-movies.