DeForest Kelley Filmography:         Home/Main Index         Full Chronology        
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1950


03/16/50     The Lone Ranger: "Gold Train" - **Sheriff McCall
11/13/50     Studio One: "The Last Cruise" - *Philo
1950[?]     Little Theatre: "The Bitter End" - ***Peter Linbeck
1950     Movie: The Men - *Intern

Roles: ***Major       **Significant       *Minor
Death count: 1 of 4 roles

As Sheriff McCall, Lone Ranger: "Gold Train"

1950           THE LONE RANGER: “Gold Train”

Role: ** Sheriff Buck McCall
Episode: 1.27           Airdate: 3/16/50
Commercial Recording: None known

As Sheriff McCall, Lone Ranger: "Gold Train"
Series Notes: ABC; 30m; b/w; 1949-65; 221 episodes
Adventures of ex-Texas Ranger John Reid, who had been ambushed by the Hole in the Wall Gang and saved by childhood friend Tonto.
Regulars: Clayton Moore (the Lone Ranger); Jay Silverheels (Tonto)
Guest Cast:
Frank Fenton (Dude)
John Cason (Rawhide)
Bob Woodward (Bart)
Bob Kellard (Hank)
Billy Bletcher (Horseface Jackson)
Erville Alderson (Judkins)
Hank Patterson (Stationmaster)

Episode Summary:
Outlaw Dude and his gang attack a stagecoach, kill passenger Sam Martin (vice president of the Overland Stage company) and take his letter that says he is to collect $100,000 in gold at the Running Creek station to take East. The gang go off in the stage, leaving their horses (mistake #1) and neglecting to finish off the driver (mistake #2). The Lone Ranger and Tonto see the loose horses and investigate, learning of the robbery from the not-quite-dead driver. In town, Horseface Jackson scolds Dude for mistreating those fine horses. Stationmaster Judkins shushes him for talking to the boss that way. Dude collects the gold and tells Sheriff McCall (Kelley) that they just saw the infamous masked Dude on the road. The Lone Ranger rides in to report the murder and McCall arrests him while the bad guys go off with the gold. Tonto comes looking for his buddy; Horseface likes the way he treats Scout and they spring the Ranger from the witless McCall, locking the sheriff in the jail. The Lone Ranger races off, telling Horseface to make sure the sheriff comes after him with a posse in half an hour. Up the road a bit, Dude shoots the next stationmaster, who has tactlessly pointed out that Dude is not really Sam Martin. Dude and Rawhide decide a four-way split is too skimpy and Rawhide shoots Bart and Hank. The Dynamic Duo arrive, there are some fights, the posse arrives just in time for the wounded Bart to confirm the Lone Ranger's story, Dude is arrested, and all is well.

Notes:
Kelley gets the "who was that masked man" line -- or close enough, anyway; what he actually says is, "I wonder who he is?"
Sources: viewing; Lentz (1997)

1950           [WESTINGHOUSE] STUDIO ONE: "The Last Cruise"

Role: * Bob Philo
Episode: 3.12 (74)           Airdate: 11/13/50
Commercial Recording: Available from Scorched Earth Productions

As Bob Philo, Studio One: "The Last Cruise"
Series Notes: CBS; 60m; b/w; 1948-58; Dramatic anthology; 466 episodes
Cast:
Don Dickenson (Captain Benitez)
Richard Webb (Dick Wright)
Richard Carlyle (Doc Eason)
Robert Wark (Worthington)
Walter Matthau (Jacobs)
John Alberts, Harry Cooke, Walter Storkey, John Fletcher, Alan Dreeben, Roy Johnson; Leslie Nielsen

Episode Summary:
In the summer of 1949, submarines Cochino and Tusk are testing materiel and operations in Arctic waters, running just under the surface, when the Cochino suffers a series of disasters. It first loses communications, then rising hydrogen and a short circuit cause an explosion; the doctor loses most of his supplies; fire forces most of the men onto the deck where they suffer from exposure; they get the engines going only to have another explosion and fire from the forward batteries. Then they lose auxiliary power. The Tusk, coming to the rescue, loses 11 men overboard, and abandons the rescue of Cochino for 3 hours while it searches for her lost men. They finally give up on the last seven and come rescue the Cochino men, including Dick Wright, who has had all his skin burned off and, when not screaming in pain, leads the injured men in a sing-along.

Notes:
Kelley has just a few lines. His character seems to be a civilian scientist with expertise in electronics and is the only guy not in uniform (look for a checked shirt). In the opening scene he goes to help fix the sonar; he is later seen in the turret with the captain where he offers to go down to the about-to-blow forward batteries. The radio operator talks about him as if he’s dead at one point, but somebody sure sounds like him in the group that comes through the crew quarters later to evacuate to the deck. One of the sets is an interesting cut-away of the submarine showing men on both levels at the same time.
For Trekkers: Richard Webb played Ben Finney in "Court Martial."

Sources: viewing; Brooks & Marsh; Internet Movie Database

1950    LITTLE THEATRE: "The Bitter End"

Role: *** Peter Linbeck
Episode: ?           Airdate: ?
Commercial Recording: (Rhino Video?)
(Jeff Vilincia reports on the TV Party website that he put this on a Rhino Video tape; I've seen it on a bloopers & shorts tape sold at Star Trek conventions.)

As Peter Linbeck, Little Theater: "The Bitter End"
Series Notes: ABC; 30m; b/w; 1952-53; anthology
This is an odd little beastie. Little Theatre was one of about 20 different anthology series run by ABC in the 1952-1953 season. The shows broadcast were often re-runs, and might be shown in more than one series. Vilincia dates this one "circa 1949-50" which seems reasonable.
Cast: Ellen Corby (Mrs. Riggs)

Episode Summary:
Peter Linbeck is having a really bad day. His landlady tells him to come up with the rent immediately or leave. He gets a call from a potential employer to say he didn't get the job. Preparing to vacate, he reads a newspaper article about increasing rates of suicide, decides that's a good idea, and looks around for the means. He hasn't got a gun, and his only bottle of some kind of pills is empty. He blocks the drafty places in the room with towels and turns on the gas. Nothing happens. Mrs. Riggs brings up his mail, hoping there might be money in it, but it's just the gas company, saying his gas has been shut off for non-payment. He laughs as he realizes he "can't even afford to die."

Notes:
This entertaining little 6-minute sketch shows up in several filmographies (and on a "Bloopers & Shorts" Star Trek video) as "Suicide Theater."
For Trekkers:
Ellen Corby played Grandma on The Waltons, which Kelley said was one of his favorite shows.

Sources: viewing; Brooks & Marsh; TV Party "unseen scenes" website: www.tvparty.com/unseende.html

1950               THE MEN
aka Battle Stripe

Role: * Intern (uncredited)
Released: ?
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Producer: Stanley Kramer
Writer: Carl Foreman
Notes: United Artists; 85m; b/w
Commercial Recording: Republic Pictures Home Video

Cast:
Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb, Richard Erdman, Dorothy Tree, Howard St. John.

Plot Summary: (From Maltin)
"Brando excels in film debut as ex-GI adjusting to life in wheelchair after wartime injury; low-key acting is most effective."

Notes:
Blink and you'll miss Kelley's one line: "He's got a lot of pain."

 

Sources: viewing; Maltin