Bearcats! is an American television series broadcast on the CBS television network during the Fall 1971 television season. It stars Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole as troubleshooters in the period before America entered World War I.

Bearcats! was produced by Filmways Inc. (which previously produced many series including The Addams Family, Mister Ed, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction). It was co-produced by Rodlor, Rod Taylor's production firm.

Synopsis[link]

Set in 1914, somewhat later historically than a traditional Western, the stories center around the heroes' use of a 1914 Stutz Bearcat automobile. Although autos were common in America in 1914, a $2,000 sports car would have been very rare in the more remote areas of the American west. How the heroes paid for this expensive ride was rather unusual, as well. They undertook work which could be considered "private security" for a prosperous clientele, and rather than charging a traditional fee, extracted from the client a blank check, with the amount charged to be determined by just how difficult or dangerous the job proved to be once it was completed. Typical adventures included learning who was setting fire to oil wells, unraveling a plot where German Army soldiers dressed as American troops raided Mexican border towns hoping to force Mexico into a war with the U.S., and stopping mercenaries from sabotaging medical supplies being sent overseas to the Allies in World War I.

Its time period also allowed the use of props not usually seen in typical westerns, including airplanes, a W.W.I tank, machine guns, and a number of period automobiles.

Production notes[link]

The series was created by veteran TV writer/producer Douglas Heyes who also served as executive producer. He wrote and directed the TV movie Powderkeg that served as the pilot film for the series. Episodes were shot on location in near Tucson, Arizona and also in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The series featured a number of well-known guest stars including Leslie Nielsen, Kevin McCarthy, Jane Merrow, Keenan Wynn, Henry Darrow, David Canary, Ed Flanders and Eric Braeden.

For filming, the series used two full-scale metal replicas of first generation (1912–16) Stutz Bearcats made by Hollywood car customizer and film car builder George Barris. While externally very close to the original cars, in fact they were built on custom chassis powered by Ford drivetrains and had modern four wheel brake systems for safety. The two replicas were very similar to one another, however the first built (and the one used for most filming) had a manual 4-speed transmission while the second had an automatic. Additionally, there was a slight variation in the location of the horn bulb and the pinstripes on the sides of the hood of the second car, so the cars can be differentiated while closely viewing the episodes. In addition to the two cars used in the series, Barris built and retained a third car for use at car shows which differed in many details and color from the TV cars. All three cars survive today, though Barris' display car has been extensively modified.^[1]

The episode "Groundloop at Spanish Wells" features a 1918 Standard J-1 airplane (though it's called a Curtiss Jenny in the script) that had recently been restored in Tucson (where the episode was filmed) by Charles Klessig of Fargo, North Dakota. A later episode featuring the same pilot character, "The Return of Esteban", featured a 1929 British de Havilland DH.60 Moth biplane. According to Klessig, the episode was filmed in New Mexico where the higher altitudes precluded the use of the older aircraft.^[2]

The W.W. I tank shown in the episode "The Devil Wears Armor" is an M1917 (aka Six Ton) tank, an American-built version of the Renault FT. Its gun is not authentic. The M1917 was first ordered in 1917, and the first example was produced in late 1918, four years later than the series' 1914 setting.

The MPC (Model Products Corporation) model company released a 1/25th scale model kit of a Stutz Bearcat as a tie-in with the series. Its box art featured Taylor and Cole in costume with the genuine 1914 Bearcat used in Powderkeg. A photo on the side of the box showed the first Barris replica in a scene from the episode "The Devil Wears Armor".

Cast[link]

• Rod Taylor as Hank Brackett
• Dennis Cole as Johnny Reach

Reception and cancellation[link]

Bearcats!, despite a large promotional campaign prior to its premiere, and having a loyal fan base, lost in the Nielsen ratings, losing to both The Flip Wilson Show on NBC and a more traditional Western, Alias Smith and Jones, on ABC, and was cancelled midseason. (This marked the last time, as of 2008, that two Westerns broadcast by major U.S. networks have competed in the same time slot for viewers, marking a milestone in the decline of the Western series era in U.S. network television programming).

Episodes[link]

International broadcasts[link]

The series was shown extensively overseas, including Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Its pilot film, "Powderkeg" was released as a theatrical feature overseas.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows
• "Still Hitting on All Four". Author not listed. TV Guide, September 18, 1971.

External links[link]

• Powderkeg at the Internet Movie Database (Pilot)
• Bearcats! at the Internet Movie Database
• Bearcats! at the Internet Movie Car Database
• Page on the series at the Rod Taylor site
• Bearcats! at TV.com
• Bearcats! at epguides.com

Bearcat is another name for the Binturong, a viverrine mammal from Southeast Asia. Bearcat or Bearkat, may also refer to:

Entertainment[link]

• Bearcats!, a short-lived western television program that aired on CBS in 1971
• The Bearcat, a 1922 film starring Hoot Gibson
• "Do the Bearcat," a popular Canadian Blues song written and performed by David Wilcox
• "The Bearcats," an Indie-pop trio from Brigham City, Utah
• Hydro-Flo Bearcats Hockey Club, Division 7 Champions in the Alberta Men's Hockey League.

Military and Law Enforcement[link]

• Grumman F8F Bearcat, a Grumman-built fighter aircraft used by the U.S. Navy
• The 2nd "Bearcats" Battalion of the 136th Infantry Regiment, a unit in the 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota Army National Guard
• BearCat, a military base in Long Thanh Town used by American and Australian forces during the Vietnam War
• Lenco BearCat, an armored rescue vehicle.

Technology[link]

• Stutz Bearcat, an automobile produced by the Stutz Motor Company
• BearCat is a registered trademark of Uniden for their line of radio scanners

Sports teams[link]

Colleges[link]

• Baruch College
• Binghamton University
• Brescia University
• Columbia Bible College (Abbotsford, British Columbia)
• Lander University
• McKendree University
• Northwest Missouri State University
• Rust College
• Saint Vincent College
• Sam Houston State University
• Southwest Baptist University
• University of Cincinnati
• Willamette University

High schools[link]

• Aledo High School (Texas)
• Bainbridge High School (Georgia)
• Bentworth School District (Bentleyville, PA)
• Bedford High School (Ohio)
• Bonita High School, California
• Brookhaven High School (Columbus, Ohio)
• Brookland-Cayce High School, South Carolina
• Cullman High School, Alabama
• Hotchkiss School, Connecticut
• International School Manila, the Philippines
• Kearney High School, Nebraska
• Kentucky Country Day School, Kentucky
• Klein High School, Texas
• Monroe High School (Washington)
• Muncie Central High School, Indiana
• Paso Robles High School, California
• Rock Hill High School, South Carolina
• Ruston High School, Louisiana
• San Mateo High School, California
• Virginia High School (Virginia)
• Wheeler High School (Indiana)
• W. F. West High School, Washington

See also[link]

• "Cat-bear", an alternate term for the red panda.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Rod Taylor
Taylor as Glenn Evans with Lloyd Bochner as Inspector Neil Campbell in Hong Kong, 1961.
Born	Rodney Sturt Taylor (1930-01-11) 11 January 1930 (age 82) Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–present
Spouse	Peggy Williams (1951–54) Mary Hilem (1963–69) Carol Kikumura (1980–present)

Rodney Sturt "Rod" Taylor (born 11 January 1930)^[1] is an Australian actor of film and television. He has appeared in over 50 films, and is well known for his roles in the science fiction film The Time Machine (1960), and in the Alfred Hitchcock horror movie The Birds (1963).

Early life[link]

Taylor was Born on 11 January 1930 in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor and commercial artist, and the former Mona Thompson, a writer of more than a hundred short stories and children's books. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a British explorer of the Australian Outback in the 19th century.

Taylor attended Parramatta High School and later studied at the East Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College. For a time he worked as a commercial artist, but decided to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production in Australia.^[2]

Career[link]

Australia[link]

Taylor acquired extensive radio and stage experience in Australia where his radio work included a period on Blue Hills and a role as Tarzan. Earlier in his career he had to support himself by working at Sydney's Mark Foys department store designing and painting window and other displays during the day.^[3] In 1951 he took part in a re-enactment of Charles Sturt's voyage down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers, playing Sturt's offsider, George Macleay. A short documentary, Inland with Sturt (1951), was based on it. Taylor also appeared in a number of theatre productions for Australia's Mercury Theatre.

Taylor made his feature film debut in the Australian Lee Robinson film King of the Coral Sea (1954), playing an American. He later played Israel Hands in a Hollywood-financed movie shot in Sydney, Long John Silver (1954), an unofficial sequel to Treasure Island. Following these two films, Taylor was awarded the 1954 Rola Show Australian Radio Actor of the Year Award,^[4] which included a ticket to London via Los Angeles; but Taylor never made it to London.

Hollywood[link]

Taylor soon landed roles in television shows such as Studio 57 and the films Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) and Giant (1956). In 1955, he guest-starred in the third episode ("The Argonauts") of the first hour-long western television series, Cheyenne, an ABC program starring Clint Walker. Taylor and Edward Andrews played gold seekers Clancy and Duncan, respectively, who are best friends until they strike it rich, only to see Native Americans release their gold dust to the wind. The episode was a remake of the film Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Taylor was considered for one of the leads in Warner Bros. Television's Maverick.

Towards the end of 1955, Taylor unsuccessfully screen tested to play boxer Rocky Graziano in MGM's Somebody Up There Likes Me but his use of a Brooklyn accent and physical prowess in the test impressed the studio enough to gain him a long-term contract. At MGM he played a series of support roles in The Catered Affair,^[5] Raintree County (1957) and Ask Any Girl (1959). He had a significant role in Separate Tables (1958), which won Oscars for two of its stars, David Niven and Wendy Hiller. He also made a strong impression guest starring in "And When the Sky Was Opened" (1959), an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Stardom[link]

Taylor's first leading role in a feature film was George Pal's adaptation of H. G. Wells science-fiction classic The Time Machine (1960)

In the 1960–61 television season, Taylor starred as foreign correspondent Glenn Evans in the ABC dramatic series Hong Kong. His principal co-star was Lloyd Bochner. The program faced stiff competition on Wednesday evenings from NBC's Wagon Train and only lasted one season. He voiced Pongo the Dalmatian in Disney's animated One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and also guest-starred on Marilyn Maxwell's short-lived ABC series Bus Stop (also 1961). In 1962, he starred in an episode of The DuPont Show of the Week (NBC) ("The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon"), an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, Shannon's Way. Taylor starred in Alfred Hitchcock's horror/thriller The Birds (1963) with Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette.

During the mid-60s, Taylor worked mostly for MGM, where his credits included Sunday in New York (1963), Fate Is the Hunter (1964), 36 Hours (1965), Young Cassidy (1965), The Liquidator (1965) and The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). He began to change his image towards the end of the decade to more tough guy roles such as Chuka (which he also produced, 1967), Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries, 1968), Nobody Runs Forever (1968) and Darker than Amber (1970).

He was also reportedly up for the role of Caucasian martial artist Roper in the Bruce Lee vehicle Enter the Dragon (1973). The film was directed by Robert Clouse, who had also directed Taylor in the 1970 film, Darker than Amber. However, Taylor was supposedly deemed too tall for the part, and the role instead went to John Saxon.^[6]

Later career[link]

In the 1970s, Taylor turned again to television. He starred in Bearcats! (1971) on CBS and in The Oregon Trail (1976) on NBC. He had a regular role in the short-lived spy drama series Masquerade (1983), and played one of the leads in the equally short-lived series Outlaws (1986). From 1988 to 1990, Taylor appeared in the CBS drama series Falcon Crest as Frank Agretti, playing opposite Jane Wyman. In the mid 1990s, he appeared in several episodes of Murder, She Wrote and Walker, Texas Ranger.

In 1993, he hosted the documentary Time Machine: The Journey Back. At the end of the special came a mini-sequel, written by David Duncan, the original writer of the George Pal film. Taylor recreated his role as George, reuniting him with Filby (Alan Young).

Taylor returned to Australia several times over the years to make films, playing a 1920s travelling showman in The Picture Show Man (1977), and a paid killer in On the Run (1983). In 1997, he played the foul-mouthed redneck "Daddy-O" in the black comedy Welcome to Woop Woop.

Taylor came out of retirement for the small but important role of Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009).^[7] In preparation for the role, Taylor watched dozens of DVDs with footage of Churchill in order to get the Prime Minister's posture, body language, and voice, including a lisp, correct.

Personal life[link]

Married to third wife Carol Kikumura since 1980, Taylor is the father of CNN financial reporter Felicia Taylor (born 1964), from his acrimonious second marriage to model Mary Hilem (1963–69). His first wife was model Peggy Williams (1951–54).

He now lives in New York City.

Filmography[link]

TV series[link]

as regular[link]

Taylor has had several lead roles in television, from the early 1960s to the early first decade of the 21st century. Among his TV shows as a regular are:

• Hong Kong with co-star Lloyd Bochner (1960, ABC)
• Bearcats! (1971, CBS)
• The Oregon Trail as Evan Thorpe, a widower taking his three children from their Illinois farm to the Pacific Northwest by way of the Oregon Trail (1977, NBC)
• Masquerade (1983)
• Outlaws (1986)

Guest appearances[link]

• Studio 57 (1955) – "The Last Day on Earth", "The Black Sheep's Daughter"
• Lux Video Theatre (1955) – "Dark Tribute", "The Browning Version"
• Cheyenne (1955) – "The Argonauts"
• Suspicion (1957) – "The Story of Marjorie Reardon"
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (1958) – "A Thing to Fight For"
• Studio One (1958) – "Image of Fear"
• Lux Playhouse (1958) – "The Best House in the Valley"
• Playhouse 90 (1958–59) – "Verdict of Three", "The Great Gatsby", "The Long March", "The Raider", "Misalliance"
• The Twilight Zone (1959) – "And When the Sky Was Opened"
• Zane Grey Theater (1960) – "Picture of Sal"
• Goodyear Theatre (1960) – "Capital Gains"
• General Electric Theater (1960) – "Early to Die", "The Young Years"
• Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1960) – "Thunder in the Night"
• Bus Stop (1961) – "Portrait of a Hero"
• The DuPont Show of the Week (1962) – "The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon"
• Walker, Texas Ranger
• Murder, She Wrote
• Falcon Crest

Documentaries[link]

• Inland with Sturt (1951)
• The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985)
• Time Machine: The Journey Back (1993)
• All About the Birds (2000)
• Not Quite Hollywood (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rod Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• http://paracinema.net/back-issues-subscriptions/issue-6/May/June/July/August,2009. Feature article: Rod Taylor – Hollywood Time Traveler
• Rod Taylor Australian theatre credits at Ausstage
• Rod Taylor at National Film and Sound Archive