Wayne Maunder(1937-2018)
- Actor
Wayne Maunder was born in Four Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, on
December 19, 1937, and raised in Bangor, Maine. Major league baseball
attracted his early interest, and even though he had several tryouts,
he didn't succeed. He then switched to psychiatry while at
Compton Junior College in California, but decided on another change,
this time to drama. A part in an amateur play fired his desire to
further his acting, and he headed off to New York and hopefully
Broadway. Wayne studied at Stella Adler's
Drama Group during the day, and at night, Grand Central Station saw him
waiting on tables, which is an occupation most theater actors seem to
rely on in the lean times. For the next two years, he studied and
acted, when he could, in stock companies. Some of his work included roles in Hamlet, Othello and a
stint in Much Ado About Nothing with the American Shakespeare Company
on Long Island. He headed back to LA when
a theatrical agent signed him up after watching him perform in The
Knack. Wayne was 29 years old when he landed the lead role of
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in the 20th Century Fox
television production about Custer, which was later titled
The Legend of Custer (1968)
for USA theatrical release. He grew a mustache and his blonde hair
long for the character. The 1967-produced series was full of stunts,
action and believable stories, which captured the viewer, but
unfortunately not enough of them because its run lasted only 17
episodes. Scott Lancer, the Boston-educated oldest son of Murdoch
Lancer was a role the Lancer producers thought ideal for him, and Wayne
was signed up in 1968. This series was also made by 20th Century
Fox, and Wayne was required for action scenes as well as horse
riding. Gone were the long hair and mustache, but that didn't stop him
from receiving generous amounts of fan mail and appearing in television
and teen magazines at the time. In 1971, he appeared in
The Seven Minutes (1971) and on
television in Kung Fu (1972) and
Chase (1973). In 1981,
Porky's (1981) was his only reported
role. He now spends his time behind the camera, producing independent
films.
