| The Legend of Jesse James | |
|---|---|
| Format | Western \ Drama |
| Created by | Samuel Peeples |
| Starring | Christopher Jones Allen Case Ann Doran Robert J. Wilke John Milford |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 34 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | Black and white |
| Original run | September 13, 1965 – May 9, 1966 |
The Legend of Jesse James is a 34-episode western television series starring Christopher Jones in the tile role of notorious outlaw Jesse James which aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, to May 9, 1966. Allen Case joined Jones as Jesse's brother, Frank James.
The series portrays James as a 19th century Robin Hood in Missouri, who robbed trains and banks to repay local residents whose property had been confiscated by railroad barons or greedy Northern bankers. The series depicts the barons as demanding that Mrs. James sell them her ranch. Other cast members included Ann Doran as Zerelda James Samuel, the mother of Jesse and Frank James; Robert J. Wilke as Marshal Sam Corbett, the lawman who vainly pursued the Jameses; John Milford as Cole Younger, a member of the gang who served a long prison sentence, and David Richards as Jim Younger, Cole's brother.[1]
Jesse James was married to Zerelda Amanda Mimms James, his first cousin, who was named for Jesse's mother. The Jameses married in 1874; she is not featured in the television series, which presents James in the early 1870s as a single young man, probably at twenty-four and twenty-five, the age of Christopher Jones at the time of the filming. Jesse James was betrayed and shot to death in the back of the head at the age of thirty-four by his 20-year-old partner in crime, Bob Ford.
The series had episodes entitled: "Three Men from Now", "The Dead Man's Hand" (a reference to Wild Bill Hickok's last poker hand of aces and eights), "Put Me in Touch with Jesse", "Vendetta", "The Judas Boot", "One Too Many Mornings", "The Widow Fay" (with Ann Sothern), "A Real Tough Town", "Things Just Don't Happen", "As Far as the Sea", "Dark Side of the Moon", "A Field of Wild Flowers", "Wanted Dead and Only", and the finale, "A Burying for Rosey".
In addition to Ann Sothern, other guest stars included Claude Akins, John Anderson, Whitney Blake, Lloyd Bochner, Charles Bronson, Walter Burke, Michael Burns, Harry Carey, Jr., John Carradine, John Cassavetes, Glenn Corbett, Dennis Cross, Richard Cutting, Royal Dano, Jack Elam, Gene Evans, Shug Fisher, Virginia Gregg, Mariette Hartley, Peter Helm (as Zeb Hicks in "The Cave"), Dennis Hopper, Jeffrey Hunter, Victor Jory, Sally Kellerman, George Kennedy, Gary Lockwood, Strother Martin, Kevin McCarthy, Tim McIntire, J. Pat O'Malley, Gregg Palmer, Nehemiah Persoff, Slim Pickens, Kurt Russell, Albert Salmi, Mickey Shaughnessy, Robert F. Simon, Warren Stevens, Harold J. Stone, Susan Strasberg, then wife of Christopher Jones), Liam Sullivan (as episode title character Benjamin Bates), Lyle Talbot, Buck Taylor, Vaughn Taylor, Tom Tully, Peter Whitney.
The Legend of Jesse James was created by Samuel Peeples for 20th Century Fox Television. It was filmed at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth in Los Angeles County, California. The series aired on Monday at 8:30 Eastern time after ABC's 12 O'Clock High military series. It faced tough competition: Lucille Ball's The Lucy Show on CBS and Richard Chamberlain's Dr. Kildare medical drama on NBC.[2]