MovieChat Forums > Maverick (1957) Discussion > Favorite Multiple Guest Star?

Favorite Multiple Guest Star?

posted 15 years ago by nlh11190
16 replies | jump to latest

Watching "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" again made me think of who I liked best of the con men/women the Mavericks ran into over the years.

I think my favorite was "Dandy" Jim Buckley. He always seemed to get one over on the brothers, but as Bret once said he was "so darn nice about it". :) And Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is hilarious.

"Gentleman" Jack Darby is my least favorite because he almost got Bart killed twice! He seemed to be the "meanest" if that makes sense.

[–] ZevII 15 years ago

I loved Dandy Jm Buckley as well. He was delightful.

When I first saw Maverick reruns, I was surprised, because I had only seen Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., as the straight-laced inspector on the FBI, a Joe Friday-type roll.

Then I saw him as Dandy Jim, and I was stunned at how good he was in comedy and in playing a lovable rogue. Like you, I liked Dandy Jim better than Jack Darby, who was a Dandy Jim spinoff, but a bit longer-winded.

My choice for favorite guest star on 2X or more might be John Dehner, albeit for different roles. He was terrific as a slimy banker in "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres," a bewildered safe cracker in "Greenbacks Unlimited," and a wannabe celebrity in "Marshal Maverick." He was also in "The Devil's Necklace," but I never cared much for that two-parter.

[–] nlh11190 15 years ago

Yeah. John Dehner made a great "villain". He always made me dislike the character. Except in "Marshal Maverick".

I also liked Peter Breck as Doc Holliday in the later Bart episodes. I liked the banter between the two of them.

[–] joehrobertsjr 15 years ago

I never liked Dandy Jim because I couldn't stand that awful accent that Efrem Zimbalist used when playing the character. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard. Gentleman Jack was okay but we never got to see him play against Bret. All three of his appearances (and I exclude the cameo on "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres") were in Bart episodes. I guess my favorite was Cindy Lou Brown. I thought she and Bart sizzled together. Modesty Blaise (played by Mona Freeman) was also good. She had the face of an angel and the soul of a rattlesnake.

[–] cvalance 15 years ago

The first Modesty Blaise (Monda Freman) episode, the one with the cats, was aired on Encore Westerns today. Modesty wasn't just playfully larcenous but murderous as well. But Bret laughs it off, the big dummy.

[–] wrinkles2 14 years ago

I Have Watched The Zimbalist Episodes Multiple Times (And Zimbalist In Other Things), And I Know That Is His Voice.
I Don't Think He Was 'Overdoing' His Voice.
Personally I Like His Character And The Gentleman Jack Character.

[–] cvalance 15 years ago

Gerald Mohr was my favorite. Not only did he play Doc Holliday a couple of times, he had the gaunt look of a victim of TB. In one, he appears at the end of the episode in a clever cameo. He also played a "Rick Blaine"-type saloonkeeper in an episode set not in Casablanca but Tampico.

My fave actress was Diane Brewster who played Samantha Crawford, the original con lady on the show.

[–] ZevII 15 years ago

I think you mean Diane Brewster as Samantha Crawford, and I agree she was great.
I loved her bit in "The Savage Hills" when she put on the phony southern accent and sweet-talked the judge into letting Bart go.

It was always fun to see her and either Bret or Bart try to out-slick each other.

Cindy Lou Brown (Arlene Howell) was a former Miss USA. She raised my pulse rate in "Alias Bart Maverick," when she pranced around the whole episode in a skimpy showgirl outfit.

Howell was barefoot while she and Bart were running all over the countryside and I kept thinking how painful it must have been whenever she stepped on a rock.

[–] cvalance 15 years ago

Thanks. I recall Diane Brewster also played Beaver Cleaver's teacher.

That episode featuring Arlene Howell must have been written when Li'l Abner was on Broadway or on the screen.

[–] LtdTimeAuthor 15 years ago

Peter Breck was wonderful as Doc Holiday, the dentist/assassin. He's enjoying the part so much, milking every line for every drop.

[–] lindac-5 13 years ago

Yes, Gerald Mohr was definitely my favourite Maverick Guest Star, appearing in no less than 7 episodes, two as Doc Holliday. My favourite episodes with him have to be "Escape to Tampico" - so handsome, so friendly, and every inch the killer! Also "The Burning Sky", one of his many Mexican characters, Johnny Bolero and, of course, the Doc Holliday episode(s), followed by "The Deadly Image", a nice opportunity for Jack Kelly to play two very different characters at once and one in which Mr Mohr's character keeps getting shot! "You Can't Beat the Percentage" and "Mano Nero" are again two very different characters for Mr Mohr's talented portrayals.

[–] nodgnoc 14 years ago

Diane Brewster (Samantha Crawford) without a doubt. A stunningly beautiful woman.

[–] MartynGryphon 14 years ago

Samantha Crawford was both beautiful and devious in equal measures. She's probably my favourite and was also the inspiration for Jodie Foster's Character in the 1994 Maverick movie.

The character of Big Mike, never really grabbed me as it should of, maybe it was Leo Gordon's AWFUL Irish accent. However, he was the only one of the regualar recurring characters of the first two series that never tried to con the Maverick boys. A staunch ally.

Dandy Jim Buckley was brilliant too. Bit of a slimy so and so, but you felt he really cared for the Maverick brothers, as evidenced in the Bart episode 'High Card Hangs', (one of my faves), where he risks his own neck to save Bart from hanging.

Gentleman Jack Darby was just the same as Dandy Jim, but with less scruples, (If that's at all possible), and was no doubt created as a replacement for Dandy Jim when Dandy Jim wasn't available. In 'The Spanish Dancer', Darby appears to have left Bart to take the rap for his own murder, but it was an elaporate plot cooked up between the two of them in order to get their goldmine drained for nothing by the guy that conned them into buying it in the first place. Not a bad chap really, but the plotlines were written to 'sucker' you into beleiving he was.

Growing old is mandatory, Growing UP is optional

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 14 years ago

Mr. Zimbalist as Dandy Jim is my choice. Funny, roguishly charming, and crooked as a dog's hind leg.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's living!!!"
Augustus McCrae

[–] dalbrech 13 years ago

The cross over episode where Maverick ran into pretty much the regular cast of "Cheyenne" was a lot of fun.
I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson

[–] oversplayer 12 years ago

Surprised that no one mentioned the gorgeous (and often quite deadly, needless to say)Kathleen Crowley who appeared in more episodes than any other lady guest star(eight) although usually in different roles (six).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roger_Moore_Kathleen_Crowley_Maverick_1961.JPG
This from Wikipedia: "In his 2012 autobiography, The Garner Files, James Garner cited Crowley as the leading lady from the series that he most vividly remembers after more than a half century."
When I watched the show as a child, I remember hoping that either Kathleen Crowley or Diane Brewster would be the guest villainess every week.

[–] deana_lisi 10 years ago

My favorite multiple character was Peter Breck as Doc Holliday. He was hilarious...no other character had the kind of dialogue that he had, making me wonder if the same person wrote every episode that he was in...either that, or Peter Breck ad-libbed most of his lines, lol.

My favorite multiple actor was John Dehner. He always brought a certain flair to each role I've seen him play in many different shows, and in 'The Devil's Necklace' (my favorite episode), he outdid himself.