Support Roles / Casting Agencies

[mrsl]

Every day I watch the Rifleman, and Bat Masterson, since it's second time around for both, most of my attention is the supporting players, more than the stars. It seems the support people on the Rifleman, were mainly soon-to-be stars such as Jim Coburn, Lee Marvin and Sammy Davis, Jr. whereas on Masterson, you rarely saw the people again, either before or after. There have been a few guests who made names for themselves, but very few. Did casting agents have certain lists they had access to or were they wide open? The reason I question this is, how can the casting director of one show have such foresight over another, if that's the case?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Anne

[Moraldo Rubini]

My first theory was that The Rifleman had a bigger budget, since -- according to my theory -- the three guests that you mentioned (James Coburn, Lee Marvin and Sammy Davis, Jr.) were already big names. So they would be considered "guest stars" rather than mere supporting characters. But I was partly wrong.

At least with James Coburn's example. For here's his history with the two shows. He appeared in:

The Rifleman (1958)
Bat Masterson (1959)
Bat Masterson (1960)
The Rifleman (1961)

So he made both, and went on to some success.

Although Lee Marvin appeared in The Virginian, Wagon Train and Bonanza, I couldn't find any evidence of his appearing in The Rifleman (or Bat Masterson). If he did, he would have already made a name for himself. By 1958 (when The Rifleman went on the air) he had already appeared in many A-pictures (Raintree County, Seven Men From Now [featured tonight on TCM], Pete Kelly's Blues, The Caine Mutiny, The Wild One, etc.]. He was a successfully working character actor.

Sammy Davis, Jr. was very well-known when he appeared in The Rifleman. He'd had a successful nightclub career, had already made Ocean's Eleven, Porgy and Bess, Anna Lucasta, Sargeant's 3 and was Mr. Wonderful on Broadway.

So I'm back to square one. I'm betting that The Rifleman either had the dough or was more willing to spend the dough than Bat Masterson, who chose more unknowns.

[MikeBSG]

This is a little off the topic, but I recently read "Company of Heroes," by Harry Carey Sr. He talks about the boom in TV westerns in the late Fifties and early Sixties, and he talks about being a guest on the show. Apparently there was a rendezvous point for the extras and guest stars to meet and then be driven out to the right sets each morning. I had never thought of that aspect of TV/movie production before.

[mrsl]

Moraldo:

Your observations are as usual right on the mark! I did a terrible job of differentiating between guest stars and supporting roles. In some cases however, the soon-to-be stars were often listed only in the regular credits instead of as 'guest stars'. Those are the ones I really meant to call attention to. Sometimes I have to sit and wait for the credits because I recognize the face, but can't put a name to it, and often, I hit myself in the head when I realize I was looking at a verrrrry young George Peppard or a verrrry old Lew Ayres. Also, I often find myself looking for Bing Russell and Vance Howard as ranch hands, and various bit parts in those TV shows. (Kurt Russell and Ron Howards' fathers BTW).


Anne

[Lzcutter]

Apparently there was a rendezvous point for the extras and guest stars to meet and then be driven out to the right sets each morning. I had never thought of that aspect of TV/movie production before.

Studios such as Paramount, Columbia and Warner Brothers all had movie ranches that were located in off their lots in the San Fernando Valley in towns like Simi Valley, Agoura and Burbank.

In addition there were movie ranches such as the Iverson, Corriganville, Pioneertown and Spahn's Movie Ranch. Iverson was famous for its rock formations known as the Gardens of the Gods. There was also a western town movie set up in Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills.

All of these movie ranches and locations were, before the days of freeways, harder to get to and took longer to get to. Often the studio would provide transportation buses and pick up the supporting cast and extras and bus them to the location.

In terms of Lone Pine, the cast and crew went on location because Lone Pine is about three hours drive out of Los Angeles.

All that travel time had to be taken into consideration because the shooting schedules for the day were planned out usually a head of schedule.

When Westerns became a television staple in the 1950s, many studios built western sets on the lots to cut down on expense and travel. However, if the script called for it and the budget was there, off to the Movie Ranch for a few days shoot was not unheard of.