11 Guest Stars You Forgot Appeared on ‘Lancer,’ Including Tom Selleck, Cloris Leachman & Ron Howard
Lancer rode onto CBS in 1968 and introduced viewers to California rancher Murdoch Lancer, played by Andrew Duggan, and his two estranged sons. Wayne Maunder played the Boston-raised Scott, while James Stacy starred as gunfighter Johnny Madrid Lancer. Elizabeth Baur rounded out the family as Murdoch’s ward, Teresa O’Brien, and Paul Brinegar joined them as Jelly Hoskins. Although Lancer lasted only two seasons and 51 episodes, the Western welcomed an impressive collection of guest stars.
Some were already familiar faces, while others were still years away from the roles that made them famous. Here are 11 stars you may have forgotten appeared on Lancer.
Stefanie Powers
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Stefanie Powers actually appeared twice on Lancer. Her first role was Moira McGloin in the Season 1 episode “The Black McGloins,” which aired on January 21, 1969. Moira was the daughter of an Irish con artist who used her to win Scott’s sympathy. Powers returned as a different character in “Zee” on September 30, 1969. This time, she played a young robber placed in Scott’s custody after he was temporarily made a deputy. Writer Andy Lewis won a Western Writers of America Spur Award for the episode’s script. Powers was already known for playing April Dancer on The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., but Hart to Hart was still a decade away.
Tom Selleck
Long before Magnum, P.I., Tom Selleck had a small role in the January 14, 1969, episode “Death Bait.” He played Dobie, making the appearance one of his earliest television acting credits. The episode centered on an ex-lawman who blamed Jelly for the loss of his hand. Selleck’s breakthrough role as Thomas Magnum was still more than a decade away.
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead was in the middle of her run as Endora on Bewitched when she guest-starred on Lancer. She played Mrs. Normile in “A Person Unknown,” which aired on November 25, 1969. After Johnny is falsely accused of murder, Mrs. Normile offers him protection but attaches a major condition. She wants Johnny to marry her daughter and threatens to turn him over to the law if he refuses.
Lynda Day George
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Before joining Mission: Impossible as Casey, Lynda Day George appeared in the 1968 episode “The Escape.” She played Sarah Cassidy in a story about a failed Civil War prison break that returns to haunt Scott. The episode aired on December 31, 1968. George joined Mission: Impossible in 1971 and remained with the series through its final two seasons.
Ron Howard
Ron Howard made two appearances on Lancer between The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days. He first played Willy, one of the orphaned boys being cared for by Jelly, in the November 19, 1968, episode “Jelly.” Howard returned as Turk Caudle in “The Measure of a Man” on April 8, 1969. The episode followed Johnny as he tried to help establish a school in a community where some residents were strongly opposed to it.
Eve Plumb and Barry Williams
Interestingly enough, two future Brady siblings appeared separately on Lancer before The Brady Bunch premiered. Barry Williams played a 10-year-old boy named Ben in “Blood Rock,” which aired on October 1, 1968. Eve Plumb appeared in “The Heart of Pony Alice” on December 17, 1968. She played Pony Alice, a young girl who unexpectedly became Johnny’s responsibility after he confronted a dishonest horse trader. Not long after, the two were cast as siblings in the iconic television show.
Bill Mumy
20th Century Fox Film Corp./courtesy Everett Collection
After Lost in Space, Bill Mumy appeared in the Season 2 episode “The Kid.” Credited as Billy Mumy, he played Andy Cutler, a boy searching for a gunfighter who could avenge his father’s death. Andy attempts to hire Johnny, who has a very different lesson in mind for him.
Mumy was not the only Lost in Space cast member to visit the Lancer ranch. Jonathan Harris, best remembered as Dr. Smith, played Padraic McGloin in “The Black McGloins.”
Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott appeared in the same “Death Bait” episode as Tom Selleck, playing Renslo. The two actors later reunited as brothers in the 1979 Western miniseries The Sacketts. Elliott appeared in two more episodes of Lancer. He played Canopus McKillen in “The Great Humbug” and had a small role as a cowboy in “Blue Skies for Willie Sharpe.” All three appearances came very early in a career that would eventually make Elliott one of Hollywood’s most recognizable Western stars.
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman played two very different women during the first and second seasons of Lancer. In “Angel Day and Her Sunshine Girls,” she appeared as Angel Day, the saloon-owning mother who had abandoned Teresa. Leachman returned later that year as Hester in “Little Darling of the Sierras.” Both appearances came shortly before she began playing Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and won an Academy Award for The Last Picture Show.
Victor French
Before his memorable roles on Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, Victor French appeared in “The Measure of a Man.” French played Travis Caudle in the April 8, 1969, episode, which also featured Ron Howard as Turk Caudle.
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Wild West- Heroes & Villains
November 2022
Celebrates the unique sense of justice, compassion and adventure in the Old West as seen on TV and in the movies
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