Seeing the kind of success that Warner Brothers was having with Sugarfoot with a young lawyer as a protagonist, Dick Powell's Four Star Production came up with the idea of a gunfighter giving up his weapons and studying for the bar and passing same.
Peter Breck was the gunfighter/lawyer and he happens to settle in Marshal Russell Johnson's town. Johnson had a peculiar relationship with Breck. He certainly was handy to have around if he was on your side. But just his reputation brought in trouble to his town that Johnson didn't need. Every episode as I recall seem to bring out these complexities.
Of course both these guys did better with their respective next television series, Johnson with Gilligan's Island as the Professor and Breck as Nick Barkley in The Big Valley.
Back in 1959 when I was a mere lad of 12 years old, Peter Breck came home to visit his family who happened to live on Cutler Street in Rochester, New York. My brother, sister, and I along with my cousins happened to meet him when we went across the street and kind of crashed the Breck family gathering. My grandparents happened to live on that block as well I have to say Peter Breck was a gracious man putting up with those juvenile fans of his.
So here's to you Peter Breck, a real cowboy hero. And a pretty good actor, except for that film The Beatniks.
