James Garner as Bret Maverick as Bret Maverick and
Jack Kelly as
Bart Maverick James Garner starred as Bret Maverick, the epitome of a
poker-playing rounder, always seeking out high-stakes games and rarely remaining in one place for long. The show is generally cited as Garner's career breakout; his most prominent prior part was a major supporting role in
Sayonara (1957) starring
Marlon Brando.
Maverick shocked the industry by quickly besting the powerful
The Ed Sullivan Show and
The Steve Allen Show in the television ratings. Huggins inverted the usual cowboy hero characteristics familiar to television and film viewers of the time. Bret Maverick was vocally reluctant to risk his life, though he typically ended up being courageous in spite of himself. He frequently flimflammed adversaries, but only those who deserved it. Otherwise he was honest almost to a fault, in at least one case insisting on repaying a questionable large debt (in "According to
Hoyle"). None of the Mavericks were particularly fast draws with a pistol. Bart Maverick once commented to a lady friend, "My brother Bret can outdraw me any day of the week, and he's known as the Second Slowest Gun in the West." However, it was almost impossible for anyone to beat either of them in any sort of a fistfight, perhaps the one cowboy cliché that Huggins left intact. Garner appeared in three seasons and a single held-back episode broadcast in the middle of the fourth season. Leaving aside the short introductions of Jack Kelly episodes in the first season meant to acclimate viewers to Kelly, Garner appeared in 52 episodes altogether. Garner left the series in 1960 over a contract dispute. Warner Brothers had signed him to a 52 week contract at $1,250/week, but stopped paying him during the
1960 Writers Strike. Garner sued for breach of contract, and after winning his suit, he chose to move on rather than resign with Warner. File:James Garner Bret Maverick.JPG|Garner as Bret Maverick File:James Garner Jack Kelly Maverick 1959.JPG|Garner and
Jack Kelly File:James Garner Maverick 1960.JPG|Garner and
Suzanne Storrs File:James Garner Connie Stevens Maverick 1959.JPG|
Connie Stevens and Garner File:James Garner Diane McBain Maverick.JPG|Garner and
Diane McBain File:James Garner Jean Willes Maverick 1960.JPG|
Jean Willes and Garner
Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick Though James Garner was originally supposed to be the only Maverick, the studio eventually hired Jack Kelly to play brother Bart, starting with the eighth episode. The producers had realized that it took over a week to shoot a single episode, meaning that at some point the studio would run out of finished episodes to televise during the season, so Kelly was hired to rotate with Garner as the series lead, using two separate crews (while occasionally appearing together). In Bart's first episode, "Hostage," to engender audience empathy for the new character, the script called for him to be tied up and beaten by an evil police officer. According to series creator
Roy Huggins in an interview with the
Archive of American Television, the two brothers were purposely written to be virtual clones, with no apparent differences inherent in the scripts whatsoever. This included being traveling poker players, loving money, professing to be cowards (despite voluminous evidence to the contrary), spouting enigmatic words of advice their "Pappy" passed down to them, and carrying a $1,000 bill pinned to the inside of a coat for emergency purposes. There was, however, one distinct—but accidental—difference between the two. Garner's episodes tended to be more comedic due to his obvious talent in that area, while Kelly's were inclined to be more dramatic. Huggins noted in the interview that Kelly, while funnier than Garner off-camera, dropped a funny line while shooting a scene "like a load of coal". To get viewers used to the idea of a second Maverick, Garner filmed a series of brief vignettes that aired at the beginning of the Kelly-only episodes during much of the first season where he would introduce the evening's story. To foster as much parity as possible, Kelly did the same in a Garner-only episode, "Black Fire", by appearing in the opening vignette to introduce the story and narrating the episode itself. Huggins observed that the ratings for Kelly's episodes were always slightly higher during the first two seasons than Garner's. Huggins stated that he believed that this was a reflection of how well the audience liked Garner's episodes and the consequent word of mouth, so that viewers would be at their sets for the following episode, which would usually feature Kelly instead. The rating jumps for Kelly's episodes were tiny enough that they fell within the
margin of error, according to Huggins in this interview, but he maintains that they were remarkable in that they were consistent. The episodes featuring both Garner and Kelly were audience favorites. Bret and Bart often found themselves competing for women or money, or working together in some elaborate scheme to swindle someone who had just robbed one of them. Bret and Bart technically appeared together in sixteen episodes over the course of the series, but only shared a large amount of screen time in eleven of them ("Hostage," "The Wrecker," "Trail West to Fury," "Seed of Deception," "
Shady Deal at Sunny Acres," "Game of Chance," "Two Beggars on Horseback," "Pappy," "Maverick Springs," "Maverick and Juliet," and "The Maverick Line"). All but one of the other two-brother episodes are actually Garner-starring episodes with cameo appearances by Kelly, the exception being "The Jeweled Gun", in which their roles were switched at the last minute due to a schedule conflict and Garner wound up making his single cameo appearance in a Kelly episode. Though it was never said explicitly, Bret appears to be older, stating once in response to someone mentioning lightning striking twice in the same place, "That's just what my Pappy said when he looked in my brother Bart's crib." (Episode #22 — "A Flock of Trouble") In real life, Kelly was seven months older than Garner. Kelly wound up being the only Maverick to appear in all five seasons of the series in the wake of Garner's contentious departure after the third season.
Roger Moore as Beau Maverick When Garner quit over a contract dispute with the studio after the series' third year, he was replaced by
Roger Moore as cousin Beau, namesake nephew of Beau "Pappy" Maverick.
Sean Connery was originally offered the role but turned it down. (Famously, the following decade, Moore would replace Connery as
James Bond in the 007-film series.) Moore had earlier played a completely different role in season 2, episode 18, "
The Rivals" (loosely based on the 1775 play, "
The Rivals"), a drawing room comedy episode with Garner in which Moore's character switched identities with Bret. Beau's first appearance was in the season four opener, "
The Bundle from Britain", in which he returns from an extended stay in England to meet cousin Bart, used to explain Moore's obvious English accent. Moore was almost exactly the same age as Kelly and brought a flair for light comedy fitting the show. Moore noted in his autobiography that the producers told him he was not being brought in to replace Garner. However, when he got to wardrobe, all of his costumes had the name "Jim Garner" scratched out on the tags. Moore also mentioned in the book that he, Garner, Kelly, and their wives would regularly gather at the Kelly home for what they called "poker school". There was also a dispute between the cast and producers during this time over the long hours they were putting in each day. The producers placed a time clock in the makeup department and required the actors to punch in. Moore brought his own makeup, and refused to punch the clock. Moore wrote in his book that Kelly was "similarly minded, and one day took the time clock and used it as a football." Moore had already performed
Maverick dialogue written for Garner in his earlier series,
The Alaskans. The studio had a policy of recycling scripts through their various television series to save money on writers, changing as little dialogue as possible, usually only names and locations. Recycled scripts were often credited to "W. Hermanos" (Spanish for "W. Brothers"). Moore quit after only fourteen episodes due to what he felt was a declining script quality (without having to resort to legal measures as Garner had). Moore stated that if he had gotten the level of writing Garner had enjoyed during the first two years of the show's run, he would have stayed.
Robert Colbert as Brent Maverick as Brent Maverick As ratings continued to slide following the departure of Roy Huggins and James Garner and the addition of Roger Moore, Garner
lookalike Robert Colbert was cast as Bart and Bret's brother, Brent Maverick. Colbert, who was already under contract to Warner Bros., had appeared on the show previously in the season four episode "Hadley's Hunters". Aware of his resemblance to Garner and wary of the comparisons that would inevitably result, Colbert pleaded with Warner Bros. not to cast him, saying "Put me in a dress and call me Brenda, but don't do this to me!" Colbert was introduced as Brent in the season four episode titled "The Forbidden City"; Kelly made what amounted to an extended
cameo appearance in the episode. Colbert would appear again by himself in "Benefit of Doubt", briefly featuring
Slim Pickens as a stagecoach driver. Those were his only appearances as Brent. For the fifth season (1961–1962), the studio simply did not call him back.
Guest cast •
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as James Aloysius "Dandy Jim" Buckley, a dapper and sophisticated con artist, who at various times was both friend and foe to Bret but maintained a markedly warmer friendship with Bart. •
Diane Brewster as Samantha Crawford, a charming and flirtatious con woman with a beguiling fake Southern accent who managed to dupe Bret and Bart out of large sums in different episodes—but not without having a little romance with each brother first. Brewster originated the role of con-artist Crawford on
Cheyenne the year before
Maverick went on the air (introducing herself to Cheyenne with her full name "Samantha Crawford" before proceeding to double-cross and rob everyone in sight including Cheyenne himself). "Samantha Crawford" was the maiden name of series creator
Roy Huggins' mother. •
Richard Long as John "Gentleman Jack" Darby. Gentleman Jack was intended to be the quasi-friendly rival opposing Bart that Dandy Jim's character was for Bret, and was created after Zimbalist had been cast in
77 Sunset Strip and was no longer available for lengthy appearances; Long later joined the cast of
77 Sunset Strip himself. All four (Bret, Bart, Dandy Jim, and Gentleman Jack) appear in the episode "
Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" but throughout the series, Gentleman Jack only had scenes with Bart among the principals. •
Leo Gordon as Big Mike McComb, Bret and Bart's Irish friend who aided them on several adventures. Gordon, also a screenwriter, would later script some episodes of the series but none of those in which he appeared. •
Kathleen Crowley as Modesty Blaine, Melanie Blake, and Marla, leading ladies with repeated appearances in various seasons.
Mona Freeman played Modesty Blaine twice while Crowley played the role once. Crowley played leading ladies in eight different episodes, a series record. •
Arlene Howell as Cindy Lou Brown, another beautiful con woman whom Bart and Gentleman Jack fought over. Cindy Lou appeared in three episodes, "Alias Bart Maverick", "Passage to Fort Doom", and eye-blinkingly briefly in "
Shady Deal at Sunny Acres". •
Gerald Mohr and
Peter Breck as
Doc Holliday. Mohr originally played the role in season one as a vengeful but charismatic killer in "The Quick and the Dead". However, in seasons four and five, Breck portrayed Holliday starkly differently as an unsettlingly unpleasant crooked rogue who was always getting Bart in trouble with his scams. •
John Dehner and
Andrew Duggan each played gangster Big Ed Murphy once, among other roles in the series. •
Mike Road played gambler Pearly Gates twice during the final season. In both his appearances, he was accompanied by Kathleen Crowley's character named Marla. Some performers, such as Kathleen Crowley,
Tol Avery and
Gage Clarke appeared seven or eight times over the course of the series in various roles. For example, character actor
Chubby Johnson's eight episodes were "Stage West" as a wily stagecoach depot manager, "The Strange Journey of Jenny Hill" as a drunken messenger in an alley, "Pappy" as a whiskey-serving storekeeper, "The Sheriff of Duck 'n' Shoot" as a comically loquacious deputy, "The Misfortune Teller" as a different deputy, "The Maverick Line" as an obstreperous stagecoach driver, "Destination Devil's Flat" as another deputy, and "The Cactus Switch" as a different stagecoach driver. Eventual
Oscar-winner
Joel Grey played
Billy the Kid in "Full House," an unusual third-season episode that featured a bravura pistol-twirling exhibition by Garner as part of the plot.
Robert Redford, in his first professional appearance on film, joined Kelly as a major supporting player on a desperate cattle drive in "The Iron Hand."
Stacy Keach Sr. played a sheriff and two different marshals in three episodes, including "Ghost Rider."
Edgar Buchanan portrayed extremely widely varying roles in five episodes.
Ben Gage lampooned
Marshal Matt Dillon of
Gunsmoke in four different episodes, most obviously as "Marshal Mort Dooley" in the spoof "Gun-Shy" with James Garner, which sent up
Gunsmoke's entire regular cast, and more subtly in "A Tale of Three Cities" with Jack Kelly, "The Misfortune Teller" with Garner, and "A Technical Error" with Kelly. Gerald Mohr appeared in seven different episodes: "The Quick and the Dead" with Bret, "Seed of Deception" (in a brief cameo) with Bret and Bart, "The Burning Sky" with Bart, "Escape to Tampico" with Bret, "You Can't Beat the Percentage" with Bart, "Mano Nera" with Bart, and "The Deadly Image" with Bart and Bart's
evil twin.
Clint Eastwood,
Slim Pickens,
Lee Van Cleef,
John Carradine,
Buddy Ebsen,
Hans Conried,
Alan Hale Jr.,
Jim Backus,
Claude Akins, subsequent Oscar-winner
George Kennedy,
John Gavin,
Mike Connors,
Chad Everett,
Patric Knowles, and
Adam West appeared at least once during the run of the series. Glamorously beautiful young actresses included subsequent
Oscar-winner
Louise Fletcher as well as
Mala Powers,
Coleen Gray,
Paula Raymond,
Ruta Lee,
Marie Windsor,
Abby Dalton,
Karen Steele,
Dawn Wells,
Connie Stevens,
Merry Anders,
Kaye Elhardt,
Sherry Jackson,
Pippa Scott,
Saundra Edwards,
Peggy McCay,
Patricia "Pat" Crowley,
Roxane Berard and
Adele Mara, some of whom appeared several times. The show's stentorian-voiced announcer ("Maverick! Starring Jack Kelly and Robert Colbert!") was character actor
Ed Reimers. Reimers was best known as spokesman for the
Allstate Corporation in their long-running series of
television commercials in the
United States, advising viewers that they were "in good hands with Allstate." ==Writers==