Judge Roy Bean (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Judge Roy Bean is a syndicated
American
Western
series starring Edgar Buchanan
as the legendary Kentucky
-born Judge Roy Bean, a justice of the peace
known as "The law west of the Pecos
".
in Val Verde County
in southwest Texas
, where Bean held court in his combination general store
and saloon. The 2000 census
population of Langtry was fewer than 150 persons, but the unincorporated community is the site of one of the twelve Texas State Tourist Bureau welcoming centers. Jack Buetel
, appeared in the series as 41-year-old Jeff Taggert, Bean's right-hand man. Jackie Loughery
portrays Letty Bean, the judge's 26-year-old niece, and Russell Hayden
stars as Steve, a Texas Ranger
. Bean was later the focus of the 1972 Paul Newman
film
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
.
portrayed different characters in six episodes of Judge Roy Bean, including the series premiere, "The Judge of Pecos Valley", in which a train robber is loose in the area, and Bean sets out to capture him. Coffin appears in the third segment, "The Horse Thief", in which a rancher is jailed for stealing a horse, and Bean must keep a mob from getting out of control. Other episodes featuring Coffin are "The Refugee", "Border Raiders", "The Cross Draw Kid", and "The Wedding of Old Sam" in his role of Sam Haskins. Character actor X Brands
appeared in various roles fifteen times on Judge Roy Bean. Myron Healey
appeared four times: as Reno in "Checkmate", as Winters in "The Eyes of Texas", as Hurley in "The Katcina Doll", and as Gorman in "The Travelers".
, and he encounters an organ grinder with a monkey as he tries to halt the smuggling.
Sammee Tong
appeared in the title role of the episode "Ah Sid, Cowboy", with Glenn Strange
, later the bartender Sam on Gunsmoke
, as Fallon. Strange appeared a total of six times on Judge Roy Bean, including the roles of Sampson, a crooked rancher trying to located missing gold dust, in the episode "The Hidden Truth", Mason in "The Judge's Dilemma", Tom Holman in "Border Raiders", King Lonagan in "The Cross Draw Kid", and Nolan in "The Referee". Lash La Rue
, the cowboy with the bullwhip
, appeared seven times on Judge Roy Bean: as John Wesley Hardin
in "Gunman's Bargain", as Storts in "The Katcina Doll", as Matt Logan in "Outlaw's Son", as Duke Castle in "The Reformer", as Todd Malone in "Bad Medicine", as Harbon in "The Defense Rests", an episode about an attempt to frame deputy Jeff Taggert's brother for bank robbery in Del Rio
, and as Bass in "Lone Star Killer", the series finale. Other episodes are entitled: "Letty Leaves Home", "Four Ladies from Laredo" (Gloria Winters
of Sky King
), "Luck O' the Irish", "The Hypnotist", and "Terror Rides the Trail".
, Judge Roy Bean was filmed in color by the Barrett Company in Pioneertown, California
. The program was not extended for a second season. Six years later, Buchanan became particularly known for his role as the laid-back Uncle Joe Carson on the CBS sitcom, Petticoat Junction
with Bea Benaderet
.
Series producer Russell Hayden thereafter released his second syndicated western, 26 Men
.
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
series starring Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s...
as the legendary Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
-born Judge Roy Bean, a justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
known as "The law west of the Pecos
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...
".
Synopsis
The 39-episode program is set in LangtryLangtry, Texas
Langtry is an unincorporated community in Val Verde County, Texas, United States. The community is notable as the place where "Judge" Roy Bean, the "Law West of the Pecos", had his saloon and practiced a kind of law.-History:...
in Val Verde County
Val Verde County, Texas
Val Verde County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2008, estimated population was 55,000. Its county seat is Del Rio. In 1936, Val Verde County received Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 5625 to commemorate its founding.Val Verde, which means "green...
in southwest Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where Bean held court in his combination general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
and saloon. The 2000 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
population of Langtry was fewer than 150 persons, but the unincorporated community is the site of one of the twelve Texas State Tourist Bureau welcoming centers. Jack Buetel
Jack Buetel
Jack Buetel was an American film and television actor.Born in Dallas, Texas, Buetel moved to Los Angeles, California in the late 1930s with the intention of establishing a film career...
, appeared in the series as 41-year-old Jeff Taggert, Bean's right-hand man. Jackie Loughery
Jackie Loughery
Jacqueline "Jackie" Loughery is best known as the first Miss New York USA and winner of the first Miss USA beauty pageant, in Long Beach, California. In 1952, she won the title only after a second ballot broke a first-place tie...
portrays Letty Bean, the judge's 26-year-old niece, and Russell Hayden
Russell Hayden
Russell "Lucky" Hayden was an American film and television actor.He was born as Hayden Michael "Pate" Lucid, son of Francis J...
stars as Steve, a Texas Ranger
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
. Bean was later the focus of the 1972 Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is a 1972 western film written by John Milius, directed by John Huston, and starring Paul Newman...
.
Recurring cast members
Tris CoffinTris Coffin
Tristram Coffin , also known as Tris Coffin, was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other action-adventure productions.-Biography:...
portrayed different characters in six episodes of Judge Roy Bean, including the series premiere, "The Judge of Pecos Valley", in which a train robber is loose in the area, and Bean sets out to capture him. Coffin appears in the third segment, "The Horse Thief", in which a rancher is jailed for stealing a horse, and Bean must keep a mob from getting out of control. Other episodes featuring Coffin are "The Refugee", "Border Raiders", "The Cross Draw Kid", and "The Wedding of Old Sam" in his role of Sam Haskins. Character actor X Brands
X Brands
X Brands , sometimes credited as Jay X. Brands, was an American actor of German descent known for his roles in television series and some films. His best-known role was "Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah" , the shotgun-toting Indian sidekick on the 1958 CBS western series Yancy Derringer, with Jock Mahoney in the...
appeared in various roles fifteen times on Judge Roy Bean. Myron Healey
Myron Healey
Myron Daniel Healey was an American actor. He began his Hollywood, California, career during the early 1940s in bit parts and minor supporting roles at various studios.-Early years:...
appeared four times: as Reno in "Checkmate", as Winters in "The Eyes of Texas", as Hurley in "The Katcina Doll", and as Gorman in "The Travelers".
Selected episodes
In "Sunburnt Gold", Bean pursues a gang that steals gold coins, melts them down and turns them into nuggets so that they cannot be identified. In "The Runaway", a boy flees home because he thinks his father is cowardly for not resisting a recalcitrant boss. In "Slightly Prodigal", a woman arrives in Langtry in search of her son, who has turned into an outlaw. In "Black Jack", the judge seeks to return an escaped train robber to prison. In "Judge Declares a Holiday", Bean confronts a con man who arranges horse races but flees with the bet money before the event can be held. In "Citizen Romeo", Bean learns about a plan to smuggle guns and ammunition to the IndiansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, and he encounters an organ grinder with a monkey as he tries to halt the smuggling.
Sammee Tong
Sammee Tong
Sammee Tong was an American film and television character actor.He appeared in more than thirty films and some forty television programs between 1935 and 1965. He first appeared in an uncredited role as a waiter in Charlie Chan in Shanghai , and later as Cheela, the houseboy, in Think Fast, Mr....
appeared in the title role of the episode "Ah Sid, Cowboy", with Glenn Strange
Glenn Strange
Glenn Strange was an American actor who appeared mostly in Western films. He is best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series...
, later the bartender Sam on Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, as Fallon. Strange appeared a total of six times on Judge Roy Bean, including the roles of Sampson, a crooked rancher trying to located missing gold dust, in the episode "The Hidden Truth", Mason in "The Judge's Dilemma", Tom Holman in "Border Raiders", King Lonagan in "The Cross Draw Kid", and Nolan in "The Referee". Lash La Rue
Lash La Rue
Alfred "Lash" LaRue was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. He had exceptional skill with the bull whip, and taught Harrison Ford how to use a bullwhip in the Indiana Jones movies...
, the cowboy with the bullwhip
Bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country...
, appeared seven times on Judge Roy Bean: as John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin was an American outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk hero of the Old West. He was born in Bonham, Texas. Hardin found himself in trouble with the law at an early age, and spent the majority of his life being pursued by both local lawmen and federal troops of the...
in "Gunman's Bargain", as Storts in "The Katcina Doll", as Matt Logan in "Outlaw's Son", as Duke Castle in "The Reformer", as Todd Malone in "Bad Medicine", as Harbon in "The Defense Rests", an episode about an attempt to frame deputy Jeff Taggert's brother for bank robbery in Del Rio
Del Rio, Texas
Del Rio is a border city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, United States.. Del Rio is connected with Ciudad Acuña via the Lake Amistad Dam International Crossing and Del Río-Ciudad Acuña International Bridge...
, and as Bass in "Lone Star Killer", the series finale. Other episodes are entitled: "Letty Leaves Home", "Four Ladies from Laredo" (Gloria Winters
Gloria Winters
Gloria Winters was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered niece, Penny King, in the 1950s-1960s American television series Sky King.-Early life and career:Gloria Winters grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, but later moved to Hollywood...
of Sky King
Sky King
Sky King is a 1940s and 1950s American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King...
), "Luck O' the Irish", "The Hypnotist", and "Terror Rides the Trail".
Production notes
Unlike most syndicated westerns of the 1950s, which were black-and-whiteBlack-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
, Judge Roy Bean was filmed in color by the Barrett Company in Pioneertown, California
Pioneertown, California
Pioneertown, California is an unincorporated village in the Morongo Basin region of Southern California's Inland Empire Metropolitan Area. It is located approximately 56 miles east of San Bernardino.-History:...
. The program was not extended for a second season. Six years later, Buchanan became particularly known for his role as the laid-back Uncle Joe Carson on the CBS sitcom, Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
with Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
.
Series producer Russell Hayden thereafter released his second syndicated western, 26 Men
26 Men
26 Men is a syndicated American western television series about the Arizona Rangers, an elite group commissioned in 1901 by the legislature of the Arizona Territory and limited, for financial reasons, to twenty-six active members. Russell Hayden was the producer of the series and the co-composer of...
.