Wanted Dead or Alive (TV series)
Wanted Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–1961. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–1959 Western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Vincent Fennelly for Four Star Television in association with CBS. The series made McQueen, known for the concept of "cool" in entertainment, a television star. He later became the first TV star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen. Synopsis

Josh Randall is a Confederate veteran and bounty hunter with a soft heart. He often donates his earnings to the needy, and helps his prisoners if they have been wrongly accused. Although Randall is a bounty hunter, he doesn't only chase and capture men on wanted posters. He also settles a family feud, frees unjustly jailed or sentenced men, helps an amnesia victim recover his memory, and finds missing husbands, sons, fathers, a fiancée, a suitor, a daughter who had been captured many years earlier by Indians, an Army deserter, a pet sheep, and even Santa Claus. This variety, as well as his pursuit of justice and not just money, contributed to the show's attraction and popularity. Except for a few episodes at the beginning of the series, Randall rode an energetic horse named Ringo. Beginning with the 1959 episode, "Amos Carter", actor Wright King would appear in a supporting role as Jason Nichols, an eager young deputy sheriff turned bounty hunter. By the start of the third season, Nichols had been dropped. The episode, "The Partners", in which Nichols killed three men who Randall felt could have been taken alive, is often considered the episode that broke up the partnership, although that was actually only the second episode with Wright King and long before the last episode he appeared in. Cast

Main 
Steve McQueen played Josh Randall, the primary character, appearing in all 94 episodes. Recurring

Guest stars

 Nick Adams
 Charles Aidman 
 Claude Akins 
 John Anderson 
 R. G. Armstrong 
 Noah Beery Jr. 
 James Best 
 Steve Brodie 
 Anthony Caruso 
 Lon Chaney Jr. 
 James Coburn 
 Royal Dano 
 John Dehner 
 Brad Dexter 
 Lawrence Dobkin 
 King Donovan 
 Betsy Drake 
 Don Dubbins 
 Robert Ellenstein 
 Beverly Garland 
 Don Gordon 
 Dabbs Greer
 Alan Hale Jr. Skip Homeier
 DeForest Kelley 
 Douglas Kennedy 
 Martin Landau 
 Michael Landon 
 Cloris Leachman 
 Nan Leslie 
 Ralph Meeker 
 Mary Tyler Moore 
 Lori Nelson 
 Jay North 
 Susan Oliver 
 Luana Patten 
 Stafford Repp 
 Walter Sande
 Everett Sloane 
 Jay Silverheels 
 Suzanne Storrs 
 Lee Van Cleef

Episodes

Production

Development 
Vincent Fennelly and Four Star Television were considering a spinoff of their current series, Trackdown, which itself was a spinoff of Zane Grey Theater. At the time, McQueen's manager, Hillard Elkins, was also representing Trackdown star Robert Culp. Elkins knew of the spinoff plan and suggested McQueen for the role. McQueen's style was exactly what Fennelly was looking for to fill the role. Initially not interested in doing Westerns, McQueen agreed to the role based on his ability to connect with Fennelly and his vision for the role of Randall. The pilot was filmed before McQueen did The Blob in 1958. Four Star founder, Dick Powell, was initially hesitant about McQueen in the lead role due to McQueen's short stature, as well as his inability to ride horses, but he changed his mind after seeing early clips of the first episode. It was Powell's idea to give the character of Josh Randall a gimmick weapon. Prior to initial filming, Steve McQueen did not know how to ride horses and was forced to learn for the show's production. McQueen had a reputation for being difficult to work with, and he fired three stunt men within the first day's filming, including Richard Farnsworth. Ultimately, that job went to Loren Janes, who also doubled for McQueen in a number of movies. Although the show and its episodes are fiction, bounty hunters were common in the American West, and there is some historical basis for the stories. McQueen's initial salary for the show was $750 per episode, but due to the show's popularity, that climbed to $100,000 per year, which was extremely high for the time. The time slot change for the third season that ultimately ruined the show's ratings may have been CBS's way of killing the show due to ever increasing production costs. Another factor was McQueen's strained relationship with Viceroy cigarettes, the show's sponsor. The show helped launch the careers of several directors. Writing
Writers included Samuel A. Peeples, Tom Gries and Charles Beaumont. Filming
The premiere episode was filmed on the 20th Century Fox backlot in West Los Angeles and on location in Arizona, while the rest of the series was filmed at the Selznick Studios. A number of additional shooting locations were used, with the bulk of the outdoor action sequences shot on the famed Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, widely regarded as the most heavily filmed outdoor shooting location in the history of TV and movies. A number of sets on the Republic Pictures backlot in Studio City, California, also appears in the series, notably the Western street and the Duchess Ranch set, which, at the time of production on the series, consisted mainly of a large barn, a main house and a bunkhouse. The series made two very visible changes in the third season. McQueen's cowboy hat was switched to one with an Arizona block, similar to the one he'd recently worn in the film, The Magnificent Seven, but very different from the hat he'd worn in the first two seasons. The other readily apparent change was the opening titles. Instead of McQueen walking down a wooden sidewalk and ripping a wanted poster from a wall, the titles open with a black screen punctuated by bright flashes as Randall fires directly at the viewer, then looms out of the darkness. Music
The first season's theme song was written and conducted by William Loose. It was replaced by a new theme, titled "Wanted". Written and supervised by Herschel Burke Gilbert, it was used until the end of the series. Colorized version
In December 1987, Four Star International colorized Wanted Dead or Alive, making it the first vintage television series to be completely colorized. The colorized version aired on at least 50 independent television stations. Firearms 

Randall carries a gimmick rifle called the "Mare's Leg" in a unique quick-draw holster. The Mare's Leg was a shortened Winchester Model 1892 .44-40, with a gun belt that held .45-70 cartridges that, although they couldn't be fired from the weapon, looked more intimidating. The gun itself was a real, working firearm rather than a prop, and had to be registered with the LAPD. To learn the art of the quick draw, McQueen turned to Sammy Davis Jr., who he knew from working in New York. Davis was known for being proficient with Western-style pistol work. Three Mare's Legs were used in the series, differing in the shape of the lever and the barrel. Themes 
Early television Westerns were aimed at a youth audience, but by the mid-1950s, Western films and television began being made to attract an adult audience. Wanted Dead or Alive was one of the several shows that came to define the "adult Western" of the era, with an attractive leading character in the primary role. Unlike many television Westerns of the era, Wanted Dead or Alive focused on the action rather than character development, and McQueen's method style was unique to the Westerns of the period. McQueen's character was a man of few words and showed little emotion, often appearing to be interested more in the bounty hunter's reward than in justice. Although most television Westerns of the time were of the classic genre, Wanted Dead or Alive's Josh Randall was more of an antihero of the Revisionist Western genre. McQueen initially had been reluctant to do a Western, but when the opportunity arose for the character to be less of the traditional hero, he felt he was able to bring more of himself into a realistic portrayal of the bounty hunter. Release

Broadcast 
Wanted Dead or Alive first aired on CBS on September 6, 1958. It aired Saturday nights from 8:309 p.m. until September 1960. From September 1960 until March 1961, it aired on Wednesday nights, 8:309 p.m.

Home media 
On June 7, 2005, New Line Home Video released season 1 of Wanted Dead or Alive on DVD in Region 1. In 2007, BCI Eclipse acquired the distribution rights to the series, and released the final two seasons on DVD. Season 2 was released on July 17, 2007, and Season 3 on October 16, 2007. In June 2009, Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the rights to the series under license from copyright holder StudioCanal, and has subsequently re-released the first two seasons. On August 25, 2009, they released an 11-disc DVD box set featuring all 94 episodes of the series. Reception
Initially, the show was popular with audiences, but not popular with critics. A review in Variety, September 10, 1958, noted that McQueen's characterization of the bounty hunter was "almost stuffy in its allegiance to the breed. ... Acting is ok. It's obvious what the half-hour needs is scripting and perhaps some cleaner direction." However, by the third season, the ratings had crashed, some of which can be attributed to the change from its original Saturday night time slot to Wednesday nights directly opposite the popular series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ratings

1986 film 
In 1986, New World Pictures adapted the series into a low-budget film of the same title; Rutger Hauer played modern-day bounty hunter Nick Randall, Josh's grandson. References

External links
 
 Steve McQueen shooting an episode of Wanted: Dead or Alive on the Iverson Movie Ranch
 Iverson Movie Ranch: History, vintage photos. 1958 American television series debuts
1961 American television series endings
1950s American drama television series
American television spin-offs
Black-and-white American television shows
CBS original programming
English-language television shows
Television series by Four Star Television
Television series by CBS Studios
Television series by StudioCanal
1950s Western (genre) television series
Western (genre) television series featuring gimmick weapons
1960s American drama television series
1960s Western (genre) television series
Works about bounty hunters