The late Chuck Connors starred as 6' 6" homestead rancher
and father Lucas McCain in this ABC series, which ran from
September 1958 to 1963. McCain could fire a round with his
specially modified Winchester in 3/10ths of a second.
That and his resolve enabled him to help the sheriff maintain
order while raising his son Mark on a ranch near North Fork, New
Mexico.
The rifle of the title had a few modifications for showbiz
purposes - The gun boasted an enlarged lever so Chuck Connors
could cock it as he drew, and a special screw that allowed him to
fire simply by re-cocking.
With that kind of help, the actor could fire off his first shot
from a resting position in just 3/10ths of a second and get off
another in 4/10ths of a second with a full twirl.
The producers believed the viewers were fooled into thinking
that speed was all due to Connors's skill. Until, that is, Mad
magazine ran a spoof, entitled "The Idiot with the Rifle,
Man," that included several illustrations offensive to a
16-year-old fan in Connor's hometown of Brooklyn.
The incensed kid tore the pictures out and sent them to
Connors, accompanied by a letter registering his outrage. He
circled every illustration of the gun and drew a line from each to
a note in the margin: "Look, they even left the screw
out". The lesson there is that when you name your show The
Rifleman, expect people to keep their eye on the rifle!
Chuck Connors, who previously made his living on a baseball
diamond, got into television after playing a stint for the Chicago
Cubs' minor-league team in Los Angeles. In between innings, he
hosted a TV interview show, was spotted by a talent scout, and
landed a minor role in Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy's Pat
and Mike.
"They paid me $500 for my first day's work in that
movie," he recalled in 1959. "I figured they'd made some
mistake on the adding machine, but I stuck the check in my pocket
and shut up. Sure enough, the next day they gave me another $500.
'Baseball,' I told myself, 'just lost a first baseman.'"
Connors was reunited with Johnny Crawford, who played his son
Mark, in a 1990 episode of the western Paradise. Crawford sang a
series of pop hits in the 1960s (Cindy's Birthday and Patti
Ann among others).
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