From the Archives: Remembering When ‘TV Guide Magazine’ Gave Guy Williams’ Zorro His Due

Zorro with Guy Williams collage — Everette Collection

What To Know

TV Guide Magazine highlighted the influence of Zorro on the creation of Batman, quoting Bob Kane on Zorro’s inspiration for Bruce Wayne’s alter ego.
Guy Williams landed the iconic role of Zorro in the 1957-59 Disney series largely due to his real-life fencing skills.

Is it true that we’d might have never had a Caped Crusader if another masked man, one who sported a sword, hadn’t first been on the scene?

That’s one of the fascinating bits of info picked up from the TV Guide Magazine archives. On several occasions, the magazine has taken a deeper dive into the worlds of dangers, damsels, and derring-do, putting a spotlight on swashbucklers coming to the small screen.

In 1990, The Family Channel premiered a series titled Zorro, starring Duncan Regehr, which lasted until 1993. TV Guide‘s story quoted Batman creator Bob Kane, who said the famed, masked justice seeker from the early days of California inspired the crime-fighting alter ego of Gotham City’s Bruce Wayne.

The article also made mention of TV’s most famous Zorro, played by Guy Williams (later the star of Lost in Space) from 1957-59. The magazine put Williams on the cover in April 1958; it was among TV Guide‘s more provocative cover images, as Williams drew his character’s famed “Z” in white with his sword.

Walt Disney Co./Courtesy: Everett Collection

The story also painted a fascinating picture of the ups and downs of Hollywood fortune, not unlike something you’d have found in an adventure tale:

Just one year ago, Guy Williams was a freelance actor — one of thousands in New York and Hollywood — whose next job was about as dependable as the weather at a picnic. Then he made a screen test for Walt Disney — and zippo! — he was Zorro!

He got the nod, apparently, not because of any great acting ability but because, of all the other men who tested for the role, he alone could actually fence.

“My father started teaching me how to fence when I was 7,” says Williams. “It’s in the Catalano blood.”

Born Armando Catalano in New York City, the future Zorro had little choice but to learn swordsmanship. His father, Attilio, had been a skilled fencer back in his native Italy. While other fathers in the neighborhood were teaching their sons how to pitch, field, and hit, he was teaching his scion how to parry, thrust, and lunge.

Where Williams would be today if he hadn’t absorbed the ancient art is anybody’s guess. He had embarked on an acting career when he was in his late teens, gone through the usual dramatic studies in New York and eventually wound up with a contract at Universal-International in 1952.

“I used to play anonymous men leaning in doorways with cigarettes dangling from their lips,” says Williams of his film days. “There were times when I seriously doubted if I were cut out for this business.”

The story goes on to talk about Williams’ tie to a prominent figure from earlier swashbuckling performances:

On the elaborate outdoor “Zorro” set at the Disney studios, Williams … works hard on his lines, practices riding and fencing.

Fred Cavens, a veteran Hollywood fencing master (he instructed Douglas Fairbanks Sr. when the original Zorro films were made in the 1920s), nods his head with respect for Williams’ ability. “He knows how to take care of himself, all right. He even keeps me on my toes.”

Walt Disney Co./Courtesy: Everett Collection

And in another instance of swordsmanship, the magazine covered — this time with a cutting sense of humor — Mel Brooks did his best to keep America laughing with his take on the legend of Robin Hood. While it may have lasted only one season, Brooks’ series When Things Were Rotten got a nice spotlight in the 1975 Fall Preview issue.

“Now that he has demolished spy yarns (Get Smart), Westerns (Blazing Saddles) and horror movies (Young Frankenstein), he’s running amok through Sherwood Forest,” our reporter wrote of Brooks’ Dick Gautier-fronted romp. As we added in the story, the humor was vintage Brooks: “When the sheriff’s tax collector orders disgruntled peasants to ‘Hold your tongues!’ they all reach into their mouths and do so — literally.”