Russ Conway (actor) - Western Roles

Western Roles

Over the years, Conway guest starred in many television westerns, including a forgotten 1953 episode "McCoy of Abilene", about the 1860s cattleman Joseph McCoy in Abilene and Dodge City, Kansas, a segment of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, then on NBC. Conway's co-stars on Hallmark were Frances Bavier, Marjorie Lord, Leo Penn, James Best, and George Nader as Joseph McCoy.

He appeared in the syndicated westerns, Hopalong Cassidy and twice on the Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo series The Cisco Kid in the roles of an outlaw in "Cisco Meets the Gorilla" and as E.W. Akers in "The Ventriloquist". He portrayed a character named "Stirling" in the 1957 episode "Judith" of the syndicated The Gray Ghost, an American Civil War drama based on the life of Confederate cavalry officer John Singleton Mosby. He appeared in 1957 and 1958 on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater in the episodes "No Man Living" and "The Accuser".

In 1957, he guest starred as Jared Martin (also the name of a subsequent actor) in the episode "Show of Force" on CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel starring Richard Boone. He further appeared as the character Frank Russell in the episode "Girl in the Cab" of the syndicated Casey Jones, starring Alan Hale, Jr., in the title role of railroad engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones. Conway was cast in two 1958 segments, "Diamonds in the Rough" and "When the Cat's Away" of Rod Cameron's State Trooper modern western crime drama.

Conway twice was cast in episodes of the NBC children's western series, Fury, as Red Cummings in "Joey Goes Hunting" (1955) and in one of the later segments entitled "A Present for Packy" (1960).

Often placed in law-enforcement roles, Conway portrayed a sheriff in the 1958 episode "Rage for Vengeance" of ABC's Maverick and as Marshal Short in the 1958 episode "Ghosts of Cimarron" of another ABC/Warner Brothers western, Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker.He appeared in the 1959 episode "Act of Faith" of the NBC western series, The Californians.

He guest starred as Bart McCallin in the 1959 episode "McCallin's Daughter on CBS's Trackdown, starring Robert Culp, and twice on its sequel, Wanted: Dead or Alive, with Steve McQueen. He appeared on two other CBS series, Rory Calhoun's The Texan and Earl Holliman's Hotel de Paree, set in a fictitious Colorado town. He guest starred as another unnamed marshal in the episode "The Giant Killer" of the ABC-Warner Brothers production, Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins. Conway appeared with Roscoe Ates on "Long Odds" of Dale Robertson's Tales of Wells Fargo, in "St. Louis Woman" of The Tall Man, and as Tyler in "Trail Drive" of Laramie, all on NBC.

Between 1959 and 1962, Conway guest starred three times on the Eric Fleming/Clint Eastwood CBS series, Rawhide, in the episodes entitled "Incident of the Town in Terror", "The Incident of the Running Man", and "Deserter's Patrol". He guest starred on other westerns: Rory Calhoun's The Texan, Peter Graves's Fury, Pat Conway's Tombstone Territory and Ty Hardin's Bronco as well as so many more: The Californians, The Rough Riders, Lawman, and Frontier Justice.

From 1961-1968, he appeared four times on NBC's Bonanza: as Dave Hart in "The Tax Collector", as attorney Jeremy Grant in "The Man Without Land", as Judge Horace Wheeler in "False Witness", and as Balenger in "The Passing of a King". Other NBC western roles were on Jeffrey Hunter's Temple Houston and Chuck Connors's acclaimed but short-lived Branded. From 1963-1967, he appeared in four episodes of NBC's The Virginian: "Run Away Home", "Ryker" as Ed Hale, "The Dream of Stavros Karas" as Charley Cousins, and "Bitter Harvest" as Tom Hadley. He appeared twice on NBC's Daniel Boone, including the role of Tom Mayberry in the 1966 episode entitled "Seminole Territory". -In 1963, he appeared in an episode of the short-lived ABC/WB western series, The Dakotas. In 1967, he was cast as the family patriarch, Albert Monroe, but only for the series premiere of ABC's The Monroes.