THE TV WESTERN AND MOVIE FAN PAGE
By Vicki L. Nelson
11/12/2018
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that the last of the Lancers, Wayne Maunder (Scott Lancer) passed away yesterday from a heart attack. He was also the star of "Custer."
Wayne Maunder was born in New Brunswick, Canada, but grew up in Bangor, Maine. After a year at Compton Jr. College near L. A., where he had ideas of being a psychiatrist, he instead entered a drama workshop. Moving to New York, he studied in Stella Adler’s group for two years and found work in stock companies and American Shakespeare companies. A theatrical agent saw him and signed him to a contract which eventually led to three American television series between 1967 and 1974. From September 6 to December 27, 1967, Maunder starred as 28-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839–1876), during the time that Custer was stationed in the American West. The program, Custer, aired on ABC at 7:30 Eastern on Wednesday, opposite NBC's established western, The Virginian starring James Drury and Doug McClure. The program ended after seventeen episodes. Maunder told TV GUIDE in 1970, “My character never developed. I had ideas going in, but nothing happened. You try to be a nice guy, and you see your work suffer.”
Maunder's next series was a second western, CBS's Lancer, with co-stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Paul Brinegar. Lancer ran from 1968 to 1970, with an additional rebroadcast cycle in the summer of 1971.
Maunder's last regular series, Chase, was a 21-episode drama about an undercover police unit which aired on NBC during the 1973-1974 television season, co-starring Mitchell Ryan as Chase Reddick and Reid Smith as officer Norm Hamilton. Maunder played the role of police Sergeant Sam MacCray, one of whose duties was to handle the police dog named "Fuzz". A Jack Webb production, Chase was created by Stephen J. Cannell.
Maunder resided in the Greater Los Angeles Area. In 1967, Maunder was married the former Lucia Maisto. The couple's son, Dylan T. Maunder, was born the next year in 1968. Dylan died on April 28, 2005 from a drug overdose at age 36.
MAUNDER, Wayne (Wayne Ernest Maunder)
Born: 12/19/1937, Four Falls, New Brunswick, Canada
Died: 11/11/2018, West Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
Wayne Maunder’s westerns – actor:
The Munroes (TV) – 1967 (Michael Duquesne)
Custer (TV) – 1968 (Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer)
Crazy Horse and Custer: The Untold Story (TV) – 1968
The Legend of Custer (TV) (Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer)
Lancer (TV) – 1968-1970 (Scott Lancer)
Kung Fu (TV) – 1972 (McKay)