TV Radio Mirror (Jul - Dec 1961)

The Daring Young Men on the Flying TV 84 (Continued from page 13) summer stock, radio, and study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, to movies and television. With more than a hundred TV appearances to give him confidence, the idea of doing an hour-long weekly series didn't even raise his blood pressure. Thirtyish and single, he lives alone in a Hollywood apartment where he can study his lines without interruption — but without help, either — and keep up his strength by a diet of health foods. A champion swimmer in college — Ohio State and the University of Hawaii — he limits his exercise to a spot of weight lifting, these busy days. Having gone through a season in one series (the original version of Naked City), twenty-seven-year-old James Franciscus knew what he was getting into when he signed up for The Investigators. He knew all the work involved — and the rewards, if the series should become a big hit. A graduate of Yale, and some snappy prep schools before that, Jim has now made four movies and a good many TV appearances. He has the training and experience to be a successful actor now, and plans for producing, directing, and serious writing in the future. And at home, in a picturesque cottage in Laurel Canyon, he has the encouragement of Kitty Wellman, daughter of a well-known director, who became Mrs. Franciscus on May 28, 1960. They'll be three this winter. Teenagers of ten years ago will remember John Derek, the romantically handsome young man who was a sensation in his very first movie, "Knock On Any Door," and went on from there to become an idol of the pony-tail set. John's been missing for some four or five years — producing and acting in movies abroad — but he's back now, and making his bid for a new group of fans in the only new Western series of the season, Frontier Circus. At thirty-five, the Hollywood-born actor (real name, Derek Harris) is as handsome as ever and confident enough of the future to have settled down once more in Hollywood with his wife, actress Ursule Andress. (As those earlier teenagers remember, he was previously married to Patti Behrs, mother of his two children—Russell, 11; daughter Sean, 8.) One of the most rugged assignments of the new season is that of Mark Richman, sole star of the new hour-long s, Cain's Hundred. Mark is a i-ugged character himself — played professional football for two years and did a tour of duty with the Navy before he ever dreamed of becoming an actor. Graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, too, and figures he can always go back to doling out vitamins if the goin^ gets rough. But the Philadelphia-born actor has a solid background which includes four Broadway plays, several movies, and a batch of TV shows. Once his series had a sponsor, he moved with his wife, actress Teddi Landess, and their two children, Gard and Stacy, to the West Coast, and has settled down in a pleasant home in Pacific Palisades for what he hopes will be a long stay. The name of Robert Lansing may not be familiar to TV audiences, though he's been acting professionally for ten years, but he hopes to change all that via 87th Precinct, the new mystery series in which he stars. Bob is thirtythree, was born Robert Howell Brown in San Diego, California, and made his professional debut on Broadway in "Stalag 17." Next came a series of onenight stands — "I drove a pink school bus 36,000 miles," he says — and a period of odd jobs before he got back on a real-for-sure stage. For the last few years, he has lived in the film capital with actress -wife Emily McLaughlin (she was once the feminine star of Young Doctor Malone) and their son Robert, 3. And if he has to sacrifice his hobbies — painting, scuba diving, and wood -working — for the big success a TV series can bring, it's okay with him. Obviously, it takes more cops to keep law and order for an hour than it does for thirty minutes, so when Robert Taylor's Detectives was doubled in length for this season, someone new had to be added. Tapped for the role MINUTE MARCH of Sgt. Steve Nelson was Adam West, as colorful an actor as ever chased a bad guy across a TV screen. Born in Walla Walla, Washington, Adam went to prep school in Seattle and to assorted colleges in the West, getting his degree from Whitman and doing graduate work at Stanford in journalism, radio and TV. Duty with the Army and a walking tour of Europe later, he turned up in Hawaii. Working as a producer and director on a TV station, Steve also starred in a local production of "Picnic," was seen by a Hollywood agent, and hustled back to the Mainland. Three days later, he was signed to a studio contract. He'd made one movie, "The Young Philadelphians," and appeared in assorted TV dramas before Sgt. Nelson began occupying him full-time. Adam's wife is Ngarua Frisbie, daughter of novelist Robert Dean Frisbie and Polynesian princess Ngatokorua-A-Mataa, and they now live in the San Fernando Valley. Both young, handsome and single, Brian Kelly and John Ashley seem made to order for the two starring roles in Straightaway, the new series which deals with sports-car racing and its related thrills and adventures. Both are sports-car aficionados, too. But, by birth and upbringing, they couldn't be further removed from show business. Brian, the Scott Ross of the series, is the son of a former Governor of Michigan who is now a justice of the Supreme Court of that state. He played football at Notre Dame, was a Marine officer in Korea, and has only a year to go for his law degree from the University of Michigan. He was doing local TV commercials for a little walking around money when he was spotted by a talent scout and lured off to Hollywood. He co-starred in one TV pilot that didn't sell, and in another (21 Beacon Street) that did, but Straightaway gives him his biggest chance to date, may make him a hero even in his hometown, auto-happy Detroit. While his partner-to-be was playing hide-and-seek in the Governor's mansion in Lansing — down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, young John Atchley (later changed to Ashley) wasn't being brought up to be an actor by Dr. and Mrs. R. Q. Atchley, who had adopted him as an infant. Dr. Atchley is a prominent gynecologist and, though he encouraged John's interest in sports, school dramatics, and music, he didn't have any of them in mind for his son's career. But between John's junior and senior years at Oklahoma State University, he visited Hollywood, saw a film being shot — and was hooked. He's worked his way up through bit parts in five movies and in some TV shows; at twenty-five, figures he's ready for the blast-off. He even has an extra gimmick going for him: A good enough singer to be signed to a recording contract, he gets a chance to do some vocalizing on the show. Three daring young newcomers are making their pitch for fame and fortune in Follow The Sun, an hour-long adventure series master-minded by Marion Hargrove, who wrote many of the Maverick stories. Barry Coe, twenty-seven this fall, has made a dozen movies since what he thought was a fraternity brother's gag turned out to be for real. (The stranger who approached him with the words, "You ought to be in pictures," was actually agent Dick Clayton.) Barry was majoring in business administration at U.S.C. at the time, and his only acting experience had been in a Los Alamos