Empire (1962 TV series)

Empire is an hour-long Western television series set on a 1960s 500,000-acre (2,000 km²) ranch in New Mexico, starring Richard Egan, Terry Moore, and Ryan O'Neal.[1] It ran on NBC from September 25, 1962, to May 14, 1963.[1]

Empire
Male cast members clockwise from back: Warren Vanders, Ryan O'Neal, Charles Bronson and Richard Egan, 1963.
Starring	Richard Egan Ryan O'Neal Terry Moore Anne Seymour Charles Bronson Warren Vanders
Composer(s)	Johnny Green (pilot episode and two more episodes, plus series theme) Leith Stevens (two episodes) Hugo Friedhofer Van Alexander Richard Markowitz William Loose
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	32
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Eaves Movie Ranch Wilrich Productions
Distributor	Screen Gems Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 25, 1962 – May 14, 1963
Chronology
Followed by	Redigo
Related shows	Bonanza; The Big Valley; Giant

In the second abbreviated season, from September 24 to December 31, 1963, it was renamed Redigo after Egan's title character, Jim Redigo, the general manager of the fictitious Garrett ranch in Empire, and reduced to a half-hour.[2] Empire was shown on ITV in the United Kingdom as Big G.

Cast

Egan starred in the series at the age of forty-one, having previously been in the hit film A Summer Place. Redigo was a rare ranch manager, having a Master of Business Administration degree. The ranch was located somewhere in the American Southwest, but the exact location was never pinpointed. The Garretts did have an empire. Besides ranching they were involved in oil, agriculture, and mining. The series has unusually- titled episodes.

Empire also featured 22-year-old Ryan O'Neal, some two years before he gained greater recognition as Rodney Harrington in ABC's Peyton Place. O'Neal, who began acting in 1959, played the son, Tal Garrett.[3] Terry Moore portrayed O'Neal's 33-year-old sister, Connie, who had a romantic interest in Redigo. Their mother and ranch matriarch, Lucia, was played by 53-year-old Anne Seymour (1909–1988).[4]

Another cast member, Warren Vanders, appeared in fifteen episodes as Chuck Davis. Anne Seymour and Terry Moore were dropped at mid-season; it was said that Seymour's character, Lucia, had died and Moore's character, Connie, had left the ranch in her grief. Charles Bronson, then forty-one, entered at mid-season in an all-male cast to portray the tough ranch hand, Paul Moreno, in thirteen remaining episodes.[4]

In the second 15-episode season, O'Neal and Bronson were gone, too. Roger Davis, later of ABC's Alias Smith and Jones, was added to the cast as Redigo's new ranch hand.[5] Elena Verdugo, later of Robert Young's Marcus Welby, M.D., starred as Gerry.[6][5]

The pilot episode of Empire entitled "This Rugged Land", with Denver Pyle and Charles Bronson, never aired. In the pilot, a ranch foreman persecutes a man whom he believes killed his daughter.[7]

Episodes

Nº	Title	Director	Writer	Original air date
0	"This Rugged Land"	Arthur Hiller	Frank S. Nugent	N/A
Unaired pilot.
1	"The Day the Empire Stood Still"	Arthur Hiller	Frank S. Nugent	September 25, 1962 (1962-09-25)
2	"Ballard Number One"	Walter Grauman	TBA	October 2, 1962 (1962-10-02)
3	"A Place to Put a Life"	Fred Jackman Jr.	TBA	October 9, 1962 (1962-10-09)
4	"Ride to a Fall"	Abner Biberman	Ken Trevey	October 16, 1962 (1962-10-16)
5	"Long Past, Long Remembered"	Ted Post	TBA	October 23, 1962 (1962-10-23)
6	"Walk Like a King"	Alex March	Alvin Sargent	October 30, 1962 (1962-10-30)
7	"The Fire Dancer"	Fred Jackman Jr.	Stephen Kandel and Alvin Sargent	November 13, 1962 (1962-11-13)
8	"The Tall Shadow"	John Farrow	Andy White	November 20, 1962 (1962-11-20)
9	"The Earth Mover"	Harry Keller	Teleplay by: Ken Trevey Story by: Anthony Wilson	November 27, 1962 (1962-11-27)
10	"Pressure Lock" "Deadline"	Abner Biberman	TBA	December 4, 1962 (1962-12-04)
11	"Echo of a Man"	John Farrow	TBA	December 12, 1962 (1962-12-12)
12	"When the Gods Laugh"	Robert Gist	TBA	December 18, 1962 (1962-12-18)
13	"Green, Green Hills"	TBA	TBA	December 25, 1962 (1962-12-25)
14	"Stopover on the Way to the Moon"	William D. Russell	TBA	January 1, 1963 (1963-01-01)
15	"The Four Thumbs Story"	Frank Pierson	Frank Pierson	January 8, 1963 (1963-01-08)
16	"End of an Image"	TBA	TBA	January 15, 1963 (1963-01-15)
17	"The Loner"	TBA	TBA	January 22, 1963 (1963-01-22)
18	"Where the Hawk Is Wheeling"	John Farrow	Donald S. Sanford	January 29, 1963 (1963-01-29)
19	"No Small Wars"	TBA	TBA	February 5, 1963 (1963-02-05)
20	"The Tiger Inside" "The Hunted"	Bernard McEveety	TBA	February 12, 1963 (1963-02-12)
21	"Season of Growth"	Bernard McEveety	TBA	February 19, 1963 (1963-02-19)
22	"Seven Days on Rough Street"	Bernard McEveety	Stephen Kandel	February 26, 1963 (1963-02-26)
23	"A House in Order" "Farewell"	Byron Paul	Teleplay by: Cyril Hume Story by: Cyril Hume and Preston Wood	March 5, 1963 (1963-03-05)
24	"Down There, the World"	Leon Benson	Teleplay by: John Falvo Story by: John Falvo and Peter Mamakos	March 12, 1963 (1963-03-12)
25	"Burnout"	Bernard McEveety	Ken Kolb	March 19, 1963 (1963-03-19)
26	"Hidden Asset"	Leonard J. Horn	TBA	March 26, 1963 (1963-03-26)
27	"Arrow in the Sky"	Frank Pierson	TBA	April 9, 1963 (1963-04-09)
28	"Nobody Dies on Saturday" "Breakout"	Hal Hudson	TBA	April 16, 1963 (1963-04-16)
29	"65 Miles Is a Long, Long Way"	Allen Reisner	TBA	April 23, 1963 (1963-04-23)
30	"Duet for Eight Wheels" "Ordeal"	Leon Benson	Ron Bishop	April 30, 1963 (1963-04-30)
31	"Between Friday and Monday"	TBA	TBA	May 7, 1963 (1963-05-07)
32	"The Convention"	Abner Biberman	TBA	May 14, 1963 (1963-05-14)

Guest stars

Robert Vaughn guest starred as Captain Paul Terman, a paraplegic friend of Redigo's in need of life-saving spinal surgery, in the 1963 episode "No Small Wars."[8] Inger Stevens also appeared as a paraplegic, Ellen Thompson, in another episode, "Duet for Eight Wheels".[8] Jeremy Slate portrayed Mike Novak, a ranch hand whose competition with Tal Garrett ends in a deadly boxing match, in the 1963 episode "The Loner".[9] Harry Dean Stanton was cast as Nick Crider in the 1963 episode "Nobody Dies on Saturday", along with William Schallert as Sully Mason and Don Gordon as Quinn Serrato.[10]

Claude Akins was cast as Joe Horvath in two episodes, "Ride to a Fall" in 1962 and the unusually-titled "65 Miles Is a Long, Long Way" in 1963.[8]Robert Culp, previously of CBS's Trackdown and later of NBC's I Spy, played an ambitious man who schemes to marry Terry Moore and fire Redigo in the 1963 episode "Where the Hawk Is Wheeling".[8] John M. Pickard, formerly of Boots and Saddles and Gunslinger, was cast as a sheriff in the 1962 episode, "A Place to Put a Life".[11]

Dayton Lummis appeared as Jason Simms, with Joanna Moore as Althea Dodd and Arthur O'Connell as Clayton Dodd in "Green, Green Hills" (Christmas Day, 1962).[12] Joanna Moore thereafter married Ryan O'Neal and became the mother of actress Tatum O'Neal.[4] Lummis was cast again on the series as Thomas Fenton Giler in the 1963 episode "Down There, the World."[8]

In addition to the aforementioned, many other guest stars appeared on Empire, including:

Richard Egan as Jim Redigo

Philip Abbott Barry Atwater Barbara Bain Roy Barcroft Joanna Barnes Ed Begley Diane Brewster Joyce Bulifant Walter Burke James T. Callahan Lon Chaney, Jr. Pat Conway Ray Danton John Dehner Lawrence Dobkin Keir Dullea Sharon Farrell Joan Freeman Leo Gordon

Frank Gorshin Harold Gould Dabbs Greer Virginia Gregg James Gregory James Griffith Joan Hackett Don C. Harvey Anne Helm Clegg Hoyt Arch Johnson L. Q. Jones Richard Jordan Victor Jory Gail Kobe Harvey Korman Bethel Leslie Joanne Linville Ralph Meeker

Roger Mobley Bill Mumy Dan O'Herlihy Dennis Patrick Ford Rainey Gilman Rankin Chris Robinson Telly Savalas Karen Steele Robert J. Stevenson Harold J. Stone Frank Sutton Ray Teal Russell Thorson Tom Tully John Vivyan Eddy Waller William Windom

Production

Empire was created by Kathleen Hite, a writer for CBS's Gunsmoke. William Sackheim and Hal Hudson, formerly with CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, produced the series, a Screen Gems offering.[4] The program was filmed at the Eaves Movie Ranch near Santa Fe and near Storrie Lake in Las Vegas, New Mexico.[13]

Empire had mediocre ratings opposite CBS's The Red Skelton Show and the last season of ABC's detective series, Hawaiian Eye with Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens.[14] The series was reduced to a half-hour the second year, as Redigo.[5] Redigo had by that time secured his own smaller ranch.[5]

The shorter format made it difficult to develop complex characters, and the show was soon canceled. Still on Tuesday evenings, Redigo fared poorly against Red Skelton and ABC's military situation comedy McHale's Navy starring Ernest Borgnine.[14]

References

1. Terrance, Vincent (1979). Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs (1947–1979). Volume 1. Cranbury, New Jersey: A. S. Barnes and Co. pp. 138. ISBN 0-498-02488-1.
2. Terrance; page 384
3. Ryan O'Neal on IMDb
4. Empire on IMDb
5. Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (December 1999). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows (1946 to present) (7th ed.). New York: Ballantine Publishing Group. p. 848.
6. Redigo at epguides.com
7. "Unaired Pilot: This Rugged Land" on IMDb
8. "Empire". Classic Television Archive. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
9. ""The Loner", January 22, 1963". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
10. ""Nobody Dies on Saturday", April 16, 1963". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
11. ""A Place to Put a Life", October 9, 1962". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
12. ""Green, Green Hills", December 25, 1962". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
13. IMDb Film locations: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055663/locations
14. 1962–1963 American network television schedule

External links

• Empire on IMDb
• Empire at epguides.com