Chuck Connors: The Man Behind the Rifle by David Fury.
Information for
the series history above came largely from David Fury's 1997 authorized biography Chuck Connors: The Man Behind the Rifle. Fury had
the opportunity to interview Connors near his death and had access to Connors family archive of personal papers and photos.
Chuck Connors was more of a phenomenon than his role as Lucas McCain might suggest. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. April 10, 1921,
and spent his youth developing his athletic prowess playing baseball and basketball. He went on to play professionally with the Brooklyn
Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. In basketball, his career was spent with the Rochester Royals and the Boston Celtics. He was a better actor
than athlete, although he said on several occasions that he would rather have been another Stan Musial than a Clark Gable. But he
performed both careers with ease. He told Coronet magazine in 1959, "Handling a rifle or a baseball bat takes coordination and practice,
that's all."
His first role in a motion picture was as a police captain in the 1952 comedy PAT AND MIKE with Spencer
Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. He played another policeman in CODE TWO (1953) with Keenan Wynn, and in TROUBLE ALONG THE WAY (1953)
he worked with John Wayne and developed a friendship. But his greatest experience as a beginner was with Burt Lancaster, who taught
him much about his craft and the business of being a movie actor, during the filming of SOUTH SEA WOMAN (1953). Other work followed
quickly as Connors developed skill and ease in front of the camera. Valuable experience in television in 1953 came by way of his supporting
roles on THE DENNIS DAY SHOW, PRIVATE SECRETARY (Ann Sothern's sitcom), and TOPPER.
His most memorable television
role from this period was on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN as Sylvester J. Superman, an extraordinarily strong country bumpkin who comes
to Metropolis with his mule in response to a newspaper ad asking for Superman's help. Connors was working steadily in movie and television
roles when he was hired to star in THE RIFLEMAN. Following the cancellation of that series, he went on to star in several others,
including ARREST AND TRIAL (1963-1964), BRANDED (1965-1966) COWBOY IN AFRICA (1967-1968), THE THRILLSEEKERS (1973-1975), THE YELLOW
ROSE (1983-1984) and WEREWOLF (1987-1988). He was working on taping THE AMERICAN SHOOTER episodes as host when he died of lung cancer
on Nov. 10, 1992. Through the years he was able to contribute many memorable performances in TV movies and motion pictures, such as
slave master Tom Moore on ROOTS (1977) and as the maniacal Slauser in TOURIST TRAP (1979).
Fury delves into every
area of Connors' careers and private side with deep respect and sensitivity. His appendices cover Connors' sports statistics, filmography
of more than seventy films, TV series and stage work.
