50 Westerns from the 50s
Toby
September 23, 2019
Heard over the weekend (thanks, Bert) that the character actor Jan Merlin has passed away at 94.
After serving in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, he started acting in summer stock. His Broadway debut came with Mister Roberts.
Merlin had a long, busy career in movies and TV. He was a regular on Tom Corbett, Space Cadett, for one, and he appeared on everything from Perry Mason to Laramie to Mannix to The A-Team. In features, he did stuff like A Day Of Fury (1956, above with Dale Robertson), Hell Bent For Leather (1960) and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967). He was usually a bad guy — and he was really good at it.
Merlin started to write, knocking out several novels and winning a Daytime Emmy as a writer for Another World. Luckily, he was interviewed a number of times over the years, preserving his decades of experience around Hollywood.
MERLIN, Jan (Jan Wasylewski)
Born: 4/3/1925, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 9/20/2019, Burbank, California, U.S.A.
Jan Merlin’s westerns – actor:
A Day of Fury – 1956 (Billy Brand)
Frontier (TV) – 1956 (Clay Chandler)
The Peacemaker – 1956 (Viggo Tomlin)
Broken Arrow (TV) – 1957 (Pete Hartley)
Casey Jones (TV) – 1957 (Kenny)
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (TV) 1957 (Fred Colby)
Trackdown (TV) 1957 (Cece Marple)
Zane Grey Theater (TV) – 1957 (Jeff Baatterson, Davey Harper)
Cole Younger, Gunfighter – 1958 (Frank Wittrock)
The Rough Riders (TV) – 1958-1959 (Lieutenant Colin Kirby)
Tombstone Territory (TV) 1958 (Billy Clyde)
Branded (TV) – 1959 (Jim Darcy)
Texas John Slaughter (TV) – 1959 (Robbie)
Hell Bent for Leather – 1960 (Travers)
Bat Materson (TV) – 1960 (Kid Jimmy Fresh)
The Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1960, 1962 (Johnny Hogan)
Laramie (TV) – 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963 (Chris, Clint Wade, Jo Jo, Garth, Milo Gordon, Joel Greevy)
Outlaws (TV) – 1961 (Jed Evans)
The Tall Man (TV) – 1961 (Hendry Grant)
Whispering Smith (TV) – 1961 (Thad Janeck)
Bonanza (TV) – 1962 (Rance Macklin)
Gunfight at Comanche Creek – 1963 (Nielsen)
Rawhide (TV) – 1963 (Little Sam Talbot)
Guns of Diablo – 1964 (Jed Evans)
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1964 (Ed Sykes)
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters (TV) – 1964 (Rance Macklin)
The Virginian (TV) – 1964 (Sam Lake, Reese)
The Legend of Jesse James (TV) – 1965 (Jesse imposter)
Cade’s County (TV) – 1972 (Rennie Lassiter)
Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1974 (Jan Nordstrom)
Paradise (TV) – 1991 (Joe Miller)