7.2 /10 1 Votes
7/10 TV Theme music composer Leonard Rosenman First episode date 12 September 1966 Number of episodes 29 Number of seasons 1 | 7.3/10 IMDb Genre Western Composer(s) Leonard Rosenman Final episode date 28 August 1967 Network NBC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Written by Richard Fielder
Bernard C. Schoenfeld Directed by Vincent McEveety
Paul Stanley Starring Barry Sullivan
Kathryn Hays
Andrew Prine
Glenn Corbett
Brenda Scott
Kelly Corcoran
Charles Seel Cast Barry Sullivan, Andrew Prine, Glenn Corbett, Kathryn Hays, Kelly Corcoran Similar The Virginian, The Tall Man, Gunsmoke, The Wide Country, Dundee and the Culhane | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Road West is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1966 to May 1, 1967 for twenty-nine episodes with rebroadcasts continuing until August 28. The hour-long series, sponsored by Kraft Foods, aired in the 9 p.m. Eastern Monday time slot opposite The Andy Griffith Show and Family Affair on CBS and the crime drama Felony Squad and the prime time soap opera Peyton Place on ABC. Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall originally alternated with the series as monthly specials.
Contents
Cast and premise
The Road West stars Barry Sullivan as Benjamin "Ben" Pride, the patriarch of a pioneer family in Kansas. The series also stars Kathryn Hays as Elizabeth Pride, Ben's second wife; Andrew Prine as Ben's 30-year-old son, Timothy "Tim" Pride, and Brenda Scott as the daughter, Midge Pride. Prine and Scott, who played brother and sister in the series, had been briefly married in real life prior to the debut of the program. Other cast members were Kelly Corcoran as son Kip Pride; Glenn Corbett as Chance Reynolds, Elizabeth's brother; and Charles Seel as Tom Pride, Ben's father and the grandfather of the family.
The Prides left Springfield, Ohio where the family had lived for several generations and moved west shortly after the American Civil War. Ben, a widower, marries Elizabeth Reynolds, played by Hays, who is twenty-one years his junior and only three years older than stepson Tim, played by Prine.
Notable guest stars
The Road West featured some well-known guest stars. In the two-part premiere episode entitled "This Savage Land", George C. Scott appeared as Jud Barker; Roy Roberts as Dr. Reynolds; John Drew Barrymore as Stacey Daggart and Rex Holman as India. James Gammon and Barbara Anderson each appeared in two episodes, as Deputy Virgil Bramley and Barbara. Other notable guest stars include Michael Ansara, Wendell Corey, Michael Constantine, Katharine Ross, John Dehner, Jack Dodson, John Hoyt, Strother Martin, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Gena Rowlands, Kurt Russell, Albert Salmi, Tisha Sterling, Jay C. Flippen, Tom Tryon, Cloris Leachman, Gavin MacLeod, John M. Pickard, John Anderson, Victor Jory, Elisha Cook Jr., Michael Pate, and Don Stroud.