The Americans (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Americans was a television series broadcast in the United States by NBC-TV in 1961, about the American Civil War as seen through the eyes of brothers on opposite sides of the conflict.

Background

The series was inspired by James Warner Bellah
James Warner Bellah
James Warner Bellah was a popular American Western author from the 1930s to the 1950s...

's 1953 novel The Valiant Virginians which was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post as Tales of the Valorous Virginians from May 9, 1953 through June 10, 1954. The novel was an arc of separate stories on the impact of the American Civil War upon the young men fighting it. This TV series told the story of Ben and Jeff Canfield, brothers on opposite sides of the American Civil War: Ben joined the Union forces, younger brother Jeff, the Confederacy.

Production

The series was produced, distributed, and broadcast in 1961 by NBC-TV, as part of the United State's commemoration of the Centennial of the Civil War. It came on the air as a mid-season replacement for the cancelled show Riverboat
Riverboat (TV series)
Riverboat is a western television series starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds that was broadcast on the NBC television network from September 13, 1959 until January 2, 1961....

, broadcast in the 7:30–8:30 PM timeslot on Monday evenings.

Ben Canfield was played by Darryl Hickman
Darryl Hickman
Darryl Gerard Hickman is an American film and television actor, former television executive, and child star of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...

; Jeff Canfield was played by Richard Davalos
Richard Davalos
Richard Davalos is an American actor.Davalos was born in New York City, New York, of Finnish and Spanish descent. Davalos starred in East of Eden as James Dean's brother and portrayed the convict Blind Dick in Cool Hand Luke...

 — they were the only two actors who appeared in every episode of the series. Almost all the other actors in the series appeared in only one episode each; several actors, however, played the same role in more than one episode:
  • John McIntire
    John McIntire
    John McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...

     played Ben and Jeff's father, Pa Canfield.
  • John Doucette
    John Doucette
    John Doucette was a film character actor. He was a balding, husky man remembered for playing mob muscle and western bad guys in movies...

     played Capt. Cardiff.
  • Sandy Kenyon
    Sandy Kenyon
    Sandy Kenyon, born Sanford Klein was an American voice-over artist and character actor, best-known for voicing Jon Arbuckle in the first Garfield animated television special Here Comes Garfield, and other roles in film and television...

     played Ritter.
  • Slim Pickens
    Slim Pickens
    Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...

     played Johnson.
  • Wynn Pearce played Bailey.


Among the more well-known actors to appear in this series were Jack Lord
Jack Lord
John Joseph Patrick Ryan , best known by his stage name Jack Lord, was an American television, film, and Broadway actor. He was known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the American television program Hawaii Five-O from 1968 to 1980. Lord appeared in feature films earlier in his career,...

, Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie
Michael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...

, Nina Foch
Nina Foch
Nina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...

, Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

, Dan O'Herlihy
Dan O'Herlihy
Daniel O'Herlihy was an Oscar nominated Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age...

, Robert Culp
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...

, James Franciscus
James Franciscus
James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...

, Jack Elam
Jack Elam
William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...

, Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver was an American actress, television director and aviator.-Early life and family:Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child...

, Brian Keith
Brian Keith
Brian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...

, Ray Walston
Ray Walston
Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...

, Lloyd Bochner
Lloyd Bochner
Lloyd Wolfe Bochner was a Canadian actor, usually playing the role of suave, rich leading men.- Career :...

, Dick York
Dick York
Richard Allen "Dick" York was an American actor. He is best remembered for his role as the first Darrin Stephens on the ABC television fantasy sitcom Bewitched...

, Jackie Coogan
Jackie Coogan
John Leslie Coogan , known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family...

, L.Q. Jones, Carroll O'Connor
Carroll O'Connor
John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...

, and Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

.

Seventeen one-hour episodes were broadcast, although either twenty-one or twenty-six episodes were made. Episodes were written by, among others, John Gay
John Gay (screenwriter)
John Gay is an American screenwriter.Born in Whittier, California, Gay began his career writing episodes for television anthology series such as Lux Video Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, and Goodyear Television Playhouse. He made his film screenwriting debut in 1956 with Run Silent Run Deep...

 (screenwriter for the film Run Silent Run Deep and of many television adaptions of literary classics), William D. Gordon (who also acted in at least one episode), Andy Lewis (writer of the movie Klute
Klute
Klute is a 1971 film which tells the story of a prostitute who assists a detective in solving a missing persons case. It stars Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi and Roy Scheider. The movie was written by Andy Lewis and Dave Lewis and directed by Alan J. Pakula.Klute was the first...

), Carey Wilber (writer of the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

episode Space Seed), and Pat Falken Smith
Pat Falken Smith
Patricia Falken Smith was a television writer, most famous for her stints as head writer of several soap operas, including General Hospital and Days of our Lives.-Biography:...

 (head writer in the 1970's and 1980's for the soap operas Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

and General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

). Music for the series was created by composers Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...

 and Hugo Friedhofer
Hugo Friedhofer
Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer was an American film music composer born in San Francisco. His father was a cellist trained in Dresden, Germany; his mother, Eva König, was born in Germany.Friedhofer began playing cello at the age of 13...

. Henry Steele Commager
Henry Steele Commager
Henry Steele Commager was an American historian who helped define Modern liberalism in the United States for two generations through his forty books and 700 essays and reviews...

 was the historical consultant.

A tie-in novel of the same name, written by Donald Honig
Donald Honig
Donald Martin Honig is a novelist, historian and editor who mostly writes about baseball.While a member of the Bobo Newsom Memorial Society, an informal group of writers, Honig attempted to get Lawrence Ritter to write a sequel to The Glory of their Times. Ritter declined but gave Honig his blessing...

, was released in paperback by Popular Library publishers in 1961.

Episodes/Cast

First-run episodes of the series aired January 23, 1961 through May 15, 1961; repeats aired from May 22, 1961 through September 11, 1961.
  • Episode 1: Harper's Ferry (broadcast January 23, 1961)
    The Canfield family finds itself split down the middle after the Civil War breaks out when Confederate forces attack the Union arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
  • Episode 2: Rebellion at Blazing Rock (broadcast January 30, 1961)
    Jeff finds two men, one Confederate and one Yankee, preparing to stage a mock battle.
    Michael Rennie
    Michael Rennie
    Michael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...

     played Capt. James Duquesne
    Ray Daley ... Bugler
    John Howard
    John Howard
    John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

     ... Capt. Chilcoath
    Karen Sharpe ... Louanne Higgins
    Adam Williams ... Wilcott
  • Episode 3: The Regular (broadcast February 6, 1961)
    A regular-army sergeant, delivering guns to a volunteer unit, is shocked at how badly trained they are.
    Kathleen Crowley
    Kathleen Crowley
    Betty Jane Kathleen Crowley is an American actress and was Miss New Jersey in 1949 and a contestant for Miss America in the same year . After the pageants, she became an actress who specialized in being phenomenally seductive in TV series and movies...

     played Lucy Vickery
    Ken Drake ... Bravo
    William D. Gordon ... Lt. Barnes
    Maurice Manson
    Maurice Manson
    Maurice Manson was a character actor who appeared in several film and Broadway productions.-Biography:...

     ... Mayor Cahill
    William Murray
    William Murray
    -Nobility:*William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield , British jurist*William Murray, 4th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield , British nobleman*William Murray, 8th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield -Nobility:*William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705–1793), British jurist*William Murray, 4th Earl of...

     ... Craigie
    Kent Smith
    Kent Smith
    Kent Smith was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater, and television.Born Frank Kent Smith in New York, New York, Smith made his acting debut on Broadway in 1932 in and, after spending a few years there, moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The...

     ... Capt. Vickery
  • Episode 4: The Rebellious Rose (broadcast February 13, 1961)
    The beautiful Rose Greenbow serves the Confederacy by charming susceptible Union officials into talking too much. When Jeff comes to Washington, Rose charms him into committing murder.
    Charles Aidman
    Charles Aidman
    Charles Aidman was an American film scenarist and television actor.-Career:Among his many television credits include appearances on NBC's western series The Road West in the 1966 episode "The Lean Years"...

     ... Capt. Wheeler
    Nina Foch
    Nina Foch
    Nina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...

     ... Rose Greenbow
    Martin Gabel ... Tim Mayhew
  • Episode 5: On to Richmond (broadcast February 20, 1961)
    Ben sees that his volunteer soldiers are not the combat professionals he needs for the upcoming battle at Bull Run.
    Diana Millay
    Diana Millay
    Diana Millay is an American actress. She is best known for her work in television, having guest starred in close to 200 primetime TV shows and later played continuing roles on two daytime offerings, Dark Shadows and The Secret Storm.Diana started her career as a model, first as a child for the...

     ... Emma Templeton
  • Episode 6: Half Moon Road (broadcast February 27, 1961)
    Jeff goes deep into the backwoods to recruit sharpshooters for the Confederate army.
    James Barton ... Old Goodwin
    Enid Jaynes ... Melissa (as Enid Janes)
    Jack Lord
    Jack Lord
    John Joseph Patrick Ryan , best known by his stage name Jack Lord, was an American television, film, and Broadway actor. He was known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the American television program Hawaii Five-O from 1968 to 1980. Lord appeared in feature films earlier in his career,...

     ... Charlie Goodwin
    George Mitchell
    George Mitchell
    George Mitchell may refer to:*George J. Mitchell , former Senator from Maine, special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration, former Senate majority leader and former chairman of Disney...

     ... Preacher
  • Episode 7: Reconnaissance (broadcast March 6, 1961)
    Jeff is assigned to sneak through enemy lines to gather information, where he discovers his brother Ben is among the Union soldiers stationed there.
    Diane Jergens ... Sally
    Lee Marvin
    Lee Marvin
    Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...

     ... Capt. Judd
    Don Megowan
    Don Megowan
    -Career:Born in California USA, Megowan starred in the Sci-Fi movies: The Werewolf in the role of sheriff Jack Haines, and in The Creation of the Humanoids as a captain in the army who must stop the Humanoids....

     ... Lt. Fairfax
    Jan Stine ... Hollis
    Brad Weston ... Cpl. Blackburn
  • Episode 8: The Escape (broadcast March 13, 1961)
    Col. Fry and Ben are captured and sent to the Confederate POW camp at Libby Prison.
    Dayton Lummis
    Dayton Lummis
    Dayton Lummis. Sr. , was an American actor of film and television who specialized in the genre of anthology and western series, often playing authority figures. From 1959-1960, he appeared as Marshal Andy Morrison in nine episodes of NBC's Law of the Plainsman western, with Michael Ansara and...

     ... Maj. Turner
    Dan O'Herlihy
    Dan O'Herlihy
    Daniel O'Herlihy was an Oscar nominated Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age...

     ... Col. Fry
  • Episode 9: The Guerrillas (broadcast March 20, 1961)
    A band of guerrillas lays siege to a town torn apart by the war.
    Norman Alden
    Norman Alden
    Norman Alden is an American character actor who has performed in television programs and motion pictures since first appearing on The 20th Century Fox Hour in 1957. He provided the voice of Kay in The Sword in the Stone film in 1963 and received Oscar buzz for his role in I Never Promised You a...

     ... Paine
    Robert Culp
    Robert Culp
    Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...

     ... Finletter
    Cyril Delevanti
    Cyril Delevanti
    Cyril Delevanti , sometimes credited as Syril Delevanti, was an English-born character actor with a long career in American films....

     ... Canfield
    Berry Kroeger ... Keezer
    Paul Lambert ... Hudson
    Strother Martin
    Strother Martin
    Strother Martin was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."-Early life:Strother Martin Jr. was born in Kokomo,...

     ... Wadd
    Sonya Wilde ... Caroline
  • Episode 10: The Invaders (broadcast March 27, 1961)
    After a Union force takes over a Confederate town, its captain orders the Confederate flag taken down. Outraged, an elderly resident of the town fires at him.
    Steve Brodie
    Steve Brodie (actor)
    Steve Brodie was an American movie and television actor.Born John Stevenson in El Dorado, Kansas, he took his screen name from the Steve Brodie who claimed that he jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived...

     ... Sgt. Rafer
    Myrna Fahey
    Myrna Fahey
    Myrna Fahey was an American actress best known for her role as Maria Crespo in Walt Disney's Zorro, and as Madeline Usher in the film version of Edgar Allan Poe's, The Fall of the House of Usher...

     ... Ruth
    James Franciscus
    James Franciscus
    James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in the series The Naked City and The Investigators, and in feature films.-Life and career:...

     ... Lt. Hannon
    Frank Gerstle ... Capt. Bice
    Ian Wolfe
    Ian Wolfe
    Ian Wolfe was an American actor whose films date from 1934 to 1990. Until 1934, he worked as a theatre actor. Wolfe mostly found work as a character actor, appearing in over 270 films...

     ... Sever
  • Episode 11: The Gun (broadcast April 3, 1961)
    Jeff is ordered to capture Union cannons.
    Robert Carlyle
    Robert Carlyle
    Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...

     ... Sergeant
    Lonny Chapman
    Lonny Chapman
    Lonny Chapman was an American television actor best known for his numerous guest star appearances on detective dramas, including Quincy, M.E., The A-Team, Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and NYPD Blue...

     ... Chester Longbaugh
    Jack Elam
    Jack Elam
    William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...

     ... Loper Johnson
    Susan Oliver
    Susan Oliver
    Susan Oliver was an American actress, television director and aviator.-Early life and family:Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child...

     ... Rachel
  • Episode 12: The Sentry (broadcast April 10, 1961)
    Three Confederates are assigned to sabotage an important railroad trestle.
    Ben Cooper
    Ben Cooper
    Ben Cooper is a retired American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot award in 2005 for his work in westerns.-Early films:...

     ... Ward Roberts
    Robert Hastings ... Lieutenant
    Brian Keith
    Brian Keith
    Brian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...

     ... Owen
    Judson Pratt
    Judson Pratt
    Judson Pratt was an American actor whose longest continuing work was in thirteen episodes of ABC's Walt Disney Presents and NBC's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. A native of Hingham in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Pratt appeared in numerous television westerns and drama series from...

     ... Sgt. Willers
  • Episode 13: The Bounty Jumpers (broadcast April 17, 1961)
    Ben goes undercover to gather evidence on a criminal ring that specializes in phony recruits.
    Larry Gates ... Maj. Eustice Cary
    Anne Helm ... Dulcie Morrow
    Gene Lyons ... Col. Elgin
    Murvyn Vye ... Police Lieutenant
    Ray Walston
    Ray Walston
    Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...

     ... Whit Bristow
  • Episode 14: Long Way Back (broadcast April 24, 1961)
    A group of Missouri farmers capture Jeff.
    Patricia Barry ... Jessica
    Charles Bickford
    Charles Bickford
    Charles Bickford was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette , The Farmer's Daughter , and Johnny Belinda...

     ... Peterson
    Ron Nicholas ... Scout
    Walter Sande ... Jayhawker
  • Episode 15: The War Between the States (broadcast May 1, 1961)
    Ben is worried when his best friend falls for a Confederate girl.
    Lloyd Bochner
    Lloyd Bochner
    Lloyd Wolfe Bochner was a Canadian actor, usually playing the role of suave, rich leading men.- Career :...

     ... Lt. Brady
    Lisabeth Hush ... Rebel girl
    John McGiver
    John McGiver
    John Irwin McGiver was a character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975....

     ... Col. Allen
    Lurene Tuttle
    Lurene Tuttle
    Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...

     ... Mrs. Allen
    Dick York
    Dick York
    Richard Allen "Dick" York was an American actor. He is best remembered for his role as the first Darrin Stephens on the ABC television fantasy sitcom Bewitched...

     ... Bolick
  • Episode 16: The Coward (broadcast May 8, 1961)
    A soldier convicted of cowardice under fire and sentenced to death has his execution delayed. However, two of the soldiers in his company are determined to see the sentence carried out, even if they have to do it themselves.
    Jackie Coogan
    Jackie Coogan
    John Leslie Coogan , known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family...

     ... Rowe
    L.Q. Jones ... Yonts
    Carroll O'Connor
    Carroll O'Connor
    John Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...

     ... Capt. Garbor
    Robert Redford
    Robert Redford
    Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

    ... George Harrod
  • Episode 17: The Inquisitors (broadcast May 15, 1961)
    The U.S. Congress wants answers about some disastrous battle results for the Union Army.
    Robert Gist ... Gen. Charles P. Stone
    Marsha Hunt ... Jeanie Stone
    Robert Middleton ... Sen. Benjamin Wade
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