In 1950,Randolph Scottstarred in the classic WesternColt .45, which followed gun salesman Steve Farrell as he gets into a heap of trouble after a gunfighter escapes from prison. While the film is notable largely due to Scott’s performance (and the fact that they use the wrong caliber despite the title),Colt .45found new life on televisiona few years later. Though the projects both share a name and familiar premise, they couldn’t be more different. In the series,Wayde Prestonstarred as undercover agent Christopher Colt, who poses as a gun salesmanto travel the Wild Westin search of new villains to capture. And boy, this one was a good time.
‘Colt .45’ Spent a Few Years on the Small Screen With Wayde Preston
While movies likeJames Stewart’sBroken ArrowandJohn Wayne’sHondolikewise found their way to the small screen, they did so by directly adapting the events of the film and then expanding on them. In contrast, the hour-longColt .45series doesn’t follow any of the familiar charactersfrom the Randolph Scott picture. Instead, by introducing Wayde Preston’s Christopher Colt, the television series takes the story in a brand-new direction, making him more than a simple firearm salesman who is forced into becoming a hero; he’s a genuine, bona fide gunfighter as well. There’s a reason thattheColt .45series is more popular than the original film,and Christopher Colt’s cool demeanor and dramatic style was partially why.
Unlike some of the other television Westerns that Warner Bros. produced for ABC at the time,Colt .45often tackled historical figures in addition to entirely fictional ones. Old West characters likeDoc Holliday(played by futureBatmanstarAdam West), Calamity Jane (Dodie Heath), Edwin Booth (Robert McQueeney), and “Buffalo Bill” Cody (Britt Lomond) showed up in random episodes throughout, offsetting Colt’s otherwise purely fictional adventures. Of course, all the stories are fictional, and even when characters from American history do show up,they’re rarely portrayed as they really were. Despite that,Colt .45was an adventure worth undertaking,and for 56 episodes total, Preston entertained audiences as Chris Colt. But it wouldn’t last.
No Western TV Show Features More Golden Era Stars Than This One
“Head ‘em up! Move ‘em out!”
‘Colt .45’ Added Donald May To the Cast in Its Final Season
Eventually, Wayde Preston became disillusioned withColt .45, and Warner Bros. in general. According toTim BrooksandEarle Marsh’sThe Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, “Preston joined the growing list of ‘Warner Bros. walkouts’…and a considerable amount of repeats had to be interspersed with original episodes to keep the series on air through the 1958-1959 season.” TV historianEverett Aakerfurther explains this in his book,Television Western Players, 1960-1975,in his chapter on Preston, noting that the actor was uncomfortable performing stuntman-type stunts as an actor. As a result, Warner Bros. decided to change things, and brought inDonald May to play Colt’s cousin and fellow agent, Sam Colt, Jr.Yes, just likethe gunmaker Samuel Colt.
The two characters only meet in the Season 3 episode “Phantom Trail,” where they work together to nab a band of cattle rustlers. But even then, the actors spend the entire episode apart, and they never actually meet on camera. The only other episode to credit both Preston and May as the leads is “The Gandy Dancers.” Though Preston did return as Chris Colt for a good bulk of the third and final season, the reins ofColt .45were effectively handed to May.May took over as the series’ new lead, appearing in 13 episodes as Sam Colt. This wasn’t exactly an uncommon practice on Warner Bros. part, as they had done the same thing successfullyon bothCheyenneandMaverick, but forColt .45(which became known asThe Colt Cousinsin the United Kingdom), it was a death sentence.
Ultimately,Colt .45ran for 67 episodes before ABC pulled the plug. But because many of Warner Bros.’ Western programs intersected at one point or another, theMaverickSeason 4 episode “Hadley’s Hunters” bid one final farewell to the Colt cousins. After providing cameos from characters likeClint Walker’s Bodie Cheyenne (Cheyenne),Will Hutchins' Tom “Sugarfoot” Brewster (Sugarfoot),Sugarfoot’s Bronco Layne (Bronco), andLawmenduo Dan Troop (John Russell) and Johnny McKay (Peter Brown),MaverickstarJack Kellywalks into Colt’s old office as Bart Maverick and finds it completely abandoned. It is a sly reference toColt .45’s cancelation; only Chris Colt’s sales satchel is left, and the series has since lived only in the memory of those who watched it.
Colt .45sadly isn’t available on streaming, though the original 1950 Western can be rented digitally on Prime Video.
