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Wagon Train
The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller a year after Horton had decided to leave the series. The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.
  • First aired on 09/18/1957 (TV Show)
  • Western / Drama / Family
  • 8 Seasons
  • Cast
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Headshot of John McIntire
John McIntire

Character's name: "Christopher Hale"
Birthday: 06/27/1907
Date of Death: 01/30/1991
Birthplace: Spokane, Washington, USA
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many more television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in November 1960, as the star of NBC's Wagon Train. He played Christopher Hale, the leader of the wagon train (and successor to Bond's character, Seth Adams) from early 1961 to the series' end in 1965. He also replaced Charles Bickford, upon Bickford's death in 1967, as ranch owner Clay Grainger (brother of Bickford's character) on NBC's The Virginian for four seasons. McIntire died on January 30, 1991 (aged 83) from emphysema and lung cancer in Pasadena in Los Angeles County. Aside from Nolan, he was also survived by their daughter, Holly McIntire-Wright and a grandson Luke Wright. McIntire and Nolan's son, actor/musician Tim McIntire, predeceased his parents, having died in 1986 from heart problems. CLR

Headshot of Robert Fuller
Robert Fuller

Character's name: "Cooper Smith"
Birthday: 07/29/1933
Birthplace: Dyersburg, Tennessee
Biography:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Robert Fuller (born July 29, 1933) is an American former television Western actor and current rancher. In his five decades of television, he's best known for starring roles on the popular 1960s western series Laramie as Jess Harper, and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith, as well as his work for his lead role, Dr. Kelly Brackett, in the popular 1970s medical drama Emergency!, opposite his best friends Julie London and her husband Bobby Troup.  Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Fuller, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Headshot of Michael Burns
Michael Burns

Character's name: "Barnaby West"
Birthday: 12/30/1947

Headshot of Frank McGrath
Frank McGrath

Character's name: "Charlie Wooster"
Birthday: 02/02/1903
Date of Death: 05/13/1967
Birthplace: Mound City, Missouri, USA
Biography:
Benjamin Franklin McGrath (February 2, 1903 – May 13, 1967) was an American television and film actor and stunt performer who played the comical, optimistic cook with the white beard, Charlie B. Wooster, on the western series Wagon Train for five seasons on NBC and then three seasons on ABC. McGrath appeared in all 272 episodes in the eight seasons of the series, which had ended its run only two years before his death. McGrath's Wooster character hence provided the meals and companionship for both fictional trail masters, Ward Bond as Seth Adams and John McIntire as Christopher "Chris" Hale. McGrath was born in Mound City in Holt County in far northwestern Missouri. McGrath married Libby Quay Buschlen (1902–1978), a native of Ontario, Canada. He died May 13, 1967 at the age of sixty-four of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, California, and was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. CLR From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Headshot of Terry Wilson
Terry Wilson

Character's name: "Bill Hawks"
Birthday: 09/03/1923
Date of Death: 03/30/1999
Birthplace: Huntington Park, California, USA
Biography:
Terry W. Wilson (September 3, 1923 – March 30, 1999) was an American actor most noted for his role as "Bill Hawks", the assistant trail master, in all 267 episodes of the NBC and ABC western television series, Wagon Train, which aired from 1957 to 1965. Wilson appeared in more than thirty-five films and television programs between 1948 and 1981. Many of his early roles were uncredited. On July 2, 1953, he was cast as a stagecoach guard in episode 121, "Woman from Omaha", of The Lone Ranger. In 1956, he had another uncredited role as a robber in the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Cheyenne, the first television western in an hour-long format, starring Clint Walker. Wilson was with Wagon Train for the entire run and worked with all the other stars on the program, including Ward Bond, Robert Horton, John McIntire, Robert Fuller, Frank McGrath, Denny Miller, and Michael Burns. Terry enlisted and served in the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946. CLR Wilson died at age 75 on March 30, 1999. He was survived by his wife Mary Ann Wilson and three children.

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