The Deputy (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = The Deputy


caption =
format = Western
runtime = 30 min.
creator = Roland Kibbee
Norman Lear
starring = Henry Fonda
Allen Case
Read Morgan
Wallace Ford
Betty Lou Keim
Gary Hunley
country = USA
executive_producer = William Frye
network = NBC
opentheme = Jack Marshall
camera =
first_aired = September 12 1959
last_aired = July 1 1961
num_episodes = 75
num_seasons = 2
tv_com_id = 2332
imdb_id = 0052462
website =

"The Deputy" is a 1959-1961 half-hour NBC Television Network western series featuring Henry Fonda as Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord. Fonda narrated most episodes and appeared briefly at the beginnings and ends, playing the lead in only six episodes in the first season and thirteen in the second. Usually he would give his deputy the assignment then more or less thank him afterward at the episode's conclusion. As Fred MacMurray later did while shooting the sitcom series "My Three Sons", Fonda shot all his work at once to leave himself free for other projects. The difference in quality between Fonda's episodes and Case's was often cited by both critics at the time and Fonda himself in later interviews. Fonda wore a growth of stubble on his face as Fry, decades before the Sonny Crockett character in "Miami Vice" did the same and attracted so much attention that special razors were marketed to achieve that look.

The series was created by Norman Lear, who would go on to develop some of the biggest TV comedy hits of the 1970s, like "All in the Family", "Sanford and Son" and "Maude". The show was also produced by Revue Studios, and featured a high-tuned jazz guitar score by Jack Marshall, who later composed "The Munsters" theme. Actors appearing in the series included Denver Pyle, Clu Gulager, Roxane Berard, Vito Scotti, and Wallace Ford.

External links

*