Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
Synopsis. Rancher Big Coley sells Bret three hundred head of sheep, without telling Maverick that the flock is one of the objects in the middle of a war between cattlemen and sheepherders.
Guest stars in “A Flock of Trouble” include Myrna Fahey, the onetime beauty queen and Pasadena Playhouse alumnus whom Batman fans know as Blaze, False Face’s colorfully bewigged moll.
Synopsis. En route to Denver, Bart and Laura Nelson spend the night at a stagecoach station run by Nero and Verna Lyme, an amiable couple with a deadly pastime: They sniff out wealthy passengers and kill them for their money.
“Last Stop: Oblivion” is a taut melodrama that is enhanced by the inspired casting of Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies, Davy Crockett, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Barnaby Jones) and Virginia Christine (Mrs. Olsen of the Folgers Coffee commercials) as the deadly Mr. and Mrs. Lyme.
Synopsis. Down on his luck in Desert Gap, Bart meets a leprechaun named Muldoon, who grants him five wishes after Maverick freed him from a bottle. But after his first wish comes true, Bart’s troubles only increase.
“Mr. Muldoon’s Partner” features Mickey Shaughnessy, the colorful, comical Irish singer/actor who also played a pivotal role in launching the career of Robert Colbert, the actor who played Brent Maverick.
HALLIESynopsis. Hallie McCulloch, a con artist acquaintance of Maverick, swindles our hero out of $2,000, then claims that she needs the money to pay off two men who want to kill her.
The third of three attempts to resurrect Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star. This episode not only features Dixie Carter (Designing Women), but was written by Marion Hargrove, arguably the most famous writer of the original series.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.Synopsis. Outside Yellow River, Kansas, Bart and Abigail Allen, along with a team of five trail hands, attempt to lead a herd of cattle to Kansas. Along the way, the group encounters Jean Baxter, a mysterious woman whose father was murdered by two men. Abbie and Bart invite Jean to join them—unaware that the “woman” is really escaped killer Billy Young in disguise.
“Yellow River” marks one of the earliest TV appearances of Robert Conrad, the iconic actor best known as Secret Service agent James T. West on The Wild, Wild West.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
Synopsis. In the town of Silverdale, Bart rescues Ellsworth Greeley, a Reform Party candidate for state senator, from an assassination attempt. When Greeley can’t finish the campaign, Bart agrees to run in his place. Maverick’s opponent? Wellington Cosgrove, an underhanded politician who is not committing murder in order to win.
Jack Kelly entered politics in real life. Running on the campaign slogan “Let Maverick Solve Your Problems,” Kelly was elected to the Huntington Beach city council, where he served from 1980-1988, and again from 1990 until his death in 1992.
Synopsis. A dapper con artist and his equally devious wife frame Beau for the theft of a priceless diamond necklace.
“Diamond Flush” is not only the second of two episodes in which Roger Moore (as Beau) whistles the theme from the Maverick series, but the third of four episodes written by Leo Gordon, the actor who played Big Mike McComb during Maverick‘s first two seasons.
THE MAYFLOWER WOMEN’S HISTORICAL SOCIETYSynopsis. A research librarian for a historical society coerces Maverick into signing a contract that grants her organization exclusive rights to produce goods that bear our hero’s likeness.
The third of three attempts to revive Maverick in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star. This episode features Neva Patterson, Garner’s co-star in Nichols (NBC, 1971-1972), the short-lived turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Western that Garner also produced for Warner Bros. Television.
Synopsis. In the town of Sundown, Bret finds himself snookered into breaking up a romance between ranch heiress Carrie Christiansen and a gold-digger named Red Hardigan. Maverick has to think quickly when Hardigan, the fastest gun in the county, challenges him to a duel.
Guest star Clint Eastwood had just started starring in the CBS Western Rawhide at the time this episode aired. More than forty years later, Eastwood and James Garner worked together again in the feature motion picture Space Cowboys.
Synopsis. In San Francisco, Bret sets out to apprehend two jewel thieves and collect the $25,000 reward for their capture.