Brave Eagle is a 26-episode half-hour western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 television series which aired on CBS from September 28, 1955, to March 14, 1956, with rebroadcasts continuing until June 6. Keith Larsen

Keith Larsen

Keith Larsen was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961.-Background:...

 (1924–2006), who was of Norwegian descent, starred as Brave Eagle, a peaceful young Cheyenne

Cheyenne

Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...

 chief. The program was unconventional in that it (1) reflected the Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 viewpoint in the settlement of the American West and (2) was the first series to feature an American Indian as a lead character.

Larsen's co-stars were Kim Winona

Kim Winona

Kim Winona was a Native American actress. A Sioux Native American, Winona appeared with Keith Larsen in the CBS western television series Brave Eagle during 1955-1956 season....

 (1930–1978), a Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 Indian, as Morning Star, Brave Eagle's romantic interest; Anthony Numkena (born 1942) of Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, a Hopi

Hopi

The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...

 Indian then using the stage name Keena Nomkeena, appeared as Keena, the foster son of Brave Eagle; Pat Hogan

Pat Hogan

Pat Hogan was an American actor.- Career :Born in Oklahoma, U.S. to Native American family. He has appeared in many western television series and a few movies. Onstage, he starred in Arrowhead , The Last Frontier , . Indian Paint starred his brothers-in-law, Johnny Crawford and Robert "Bobby"...

 (1920–1966) as Black Cloud, and Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) of the comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey

Wheeler & Woolsey

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were a famous American film comedy team of the 1930s....

, appeared as the halfbreed Smokey Joe, full of tribal tall tales but accompanying wisdom.

The episodes centered upon routine activities among the Cheyenne, clashes with other tribes, attempts to prevent war, encroachment from white settlers, and racial prejudice. Selected titles include "Blood Brother" (the series premiere), "Cry of the Heron", "Gold of Haunted Mountain", "Moonfire", "Code of a Chief", "Shield of Honor", "The Strange Animal" (an elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

), "White Medicine Man", "Trouble at Medicine Creek", and "Ambush at Arrow Pass".

Oddly, though Brave Eagle was produced by NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, it aired on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday preceding Arthur Godfrey and His Friends

Arthur Godfrey and His Friends

Arthur Godfrey and His Friends is an American television variety show hosted by Arthur Godfrey. The hour-long series aired on CBS from January 1949, to June 1957 , then again as a half-hour show from September 1958, to April 1959.Many of Godfrey's musical acts were culled from Arthur Godfrey's...

. Since the 1980s, several episodes have been released on videotape

Videotape

A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...

. Brave Eagle was filmed by Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...

 Productions on Rogers' 130 acre (0.5260918 km²) ranch

Ranch

A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...

 in Chatsworth in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, as well as the Corriganville Ranch in Simi Valley

Simi Valley, California

-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Simi Valley had a population of 124,237. The population density was 2,940.8 people per square mile...

.Brave Eagles principal competition was ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's Disneyland, the Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 anthology series.