The Restless Gun

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The Restless Gun
Genre	Western
Directed by	Christian Nyby Edward Ludwig Sam Strangis Jus Addiss
Starring	John Payne
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	78
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Payne
Producer(s)	David Dortort Felix Jackson
Location(s)	California
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (first season) ABC (second season)
Picture format	1.33 : 1 monochrome
Audio format	monaural
Original run	1957 – 1959
External links
IMDb profile

The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC. The series starred John Payne as a gregarious, intelligent, wandering cowhand/gunslinger. The half-hour black and white 1957-59 program ran for 78 episodes. The pilot was broadcast as an installment of the anthology series The Schlitz Playhouse of Stars on March 29, 1957; it was based on the old radio series "The Six Shooter" and Payne's character had the same name: Britt Ponset. This was changed to Vint Bonner when the actual series began. Some episodes of the series were based on the radio programs. Actors making appearances on the series included Henry Hull, Edgar Buchanan, Jack Elam, Dan Blocker, James Coburn, John Dehner, Claude Akins, Denver Pyle, Olive Carey, Robert Fuller, Ellen Corby, Don Grady, John Mitchum (Robert Mitchum's brother), Mala Powers, Fay Spain, and Ray Teal. Blocker and Coburn each had their first substantive screen roles on the show. One of the show's producers, David Dortort, would go on to produce the more successful Bonanza TV series, which debuted right after The Restless Gun was cancelled.