Wagon Train - "The John Turnbull Story" - 4:00 pm Wednesday, November 5 on WJLP MeTV

Frank McGrath (Actor) .. Charlie Wooster

Born: January 01, 1902
Died: January 01, 1967

Henry Silva (Actor) .. Turnbull

Born: January 01, 1928

Trivia: Born in Brooklyn of Puerto Rican parentage, Henry Silva supported himself with delivery jobs as he trained for an acting career with the Group Theater and the Actors Studio. Though definitely an "ethnic type," Silva's actual heritage was nebulous enough to permit him to play a wide variety of nationalities. He has successfully portrayed Mexicans, Native Americans, Italians, Japanese, and even extraterrestrials. Among Henry Silva's best-known film roles were the treacherous North Korean "houseboy" to Laurence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), the vengeful eponymous gangster in Johnny Cool (1963), and the shrewd Oriental title character in The Return of Mr. Moto (1965).

Warren Stevens (Actor) .. Thorne

Born: November 02, 1919
Died: March 27, 2012

Trivia: In films from 1951, handsome actor Warren Stevens' better-known roles include the Howard Hughes-ish Kirk Edwards in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and the authoritative Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow in Forbidden Planet (1956). A tireless TV performer, Stevens was starred as Lt. William Storm in the 1956 adventure series Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers; was among the eleven "repertory actors" appearing in the 1963 anthology The Richard Boone Show; and was heard but not seen as movie mogul John Bracken on the 1969 prime-timer Bracken's World (ironically, when Bracken did appear, he was played by Stevens' old Forbidden Planet co-star Leslie Nielsen). In 1972, Warren Stevens was cast as Elliot Carson in the daytime soap opera Return to Peyton Place; nine years later, he played Merritt Madison in Behind the Screen, a short-lived series which took place on the set of a fictional soap opera.

Steven Geray (Actor) .. Solomon

Born: November 10, 1899
Died: December 26, 1973

Trivia: Czech character actor Steven Geray was for many years a member in good standing of the Hungarian National Theater. He launched his English-speaking film career in Britain in 1935, then moved to the U.S. in 1941. His roles ranged from sinister to sympathetic, from "A" productions like Gilda (1946) to potboilers like El Paso (1949). He flourished during the war years, enjoying top billing in the moody little romantic melodrama So Dark the Night (1946), and also attracting critical praise for his portrayal of Dirk Stroeve in The Moon and Sixpence (1942). Many of Geray's film appearances in the 1950s were unbilled; when he was given screen credit, it was usually as "Steve Geray." Geray's busy career in film and television continued into the 1960s. Steven Geray worked until he had obviously depleted his physical strength; it was somewhat sad to watch the ailing Geray struggle through the western horror pic Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1965).

Dayton Lummis (Actor) .. Gingle

Born: January 01, 1903
Died: June 23, 1988

Trivia: American actor Dayton Lummis was born in New York, but studied theatre in Los Angeles at the Martha Oatman School. His first professional engagement, at age 24, was with the Russell Stock Company, of Redlands, California; Lummis remained a regional actor until his Broadway bow in 1943. One of those actors whose face everyone remembers but whose name everyone forgets (one of his few billed roles was in Hitchcock's The Wrong Man [1956]), Lummis worked steadily if not prominently in films, most often in authoritative roles as aristocrats or politicians. The actor was better served by television, where he appeared in over 400 programs. Dayton Lummis was fairly anonymous when in modern dress, but came to life whenever decked out in a powdered wig or 19th century waistcoat; his adeptness at period roles made him indispensible during TV's western boom of the late '50s, and in fact Lummis had a regular costarring role as Marshal Andy Morrison on the 1959 oater Law of the Plainsman.

John McIntire (Actor)

Born: June 27, 1907
Died: January 30, 1991

Trivia: A versatile, commanding, leathery character actor, he learned to raise and ride broncos on his family's ranch during his youth. He attended college for two years, became a seaman, then began his performing career as a radio announcer; he became nationally known as an announcer on the "March of Time" broadcasts. Onscreen from the late '40s, he often portrayed law officers; he was also convincing as a villain. He was well-known for his TV work; he starred in the series Naked City and Wagon Train. He was married to actress Jeanette Nolan, with whom he appeared in Saddle Tramp (1950) and Two Rode Together (1961); they also acted together on radio, and in the late '60s they joined the cast of the TV series The Virginian, portraying a married couple. Their son was actor Tim McIntire.

Robert Horton (Actor)

Born: July 29, 1924
Died: March 09, 2016

Trivia: Redheaded leading man Robert Horton attended UCLA, served in the Coast Guard during World War II, and acted in California-based stage productions before making his entree into films in 1951. Horton's television career started off on a high note in 1955, when he was cast in the weekly-TV version of King's Row as Drake McHugh (the role essayed by Ronald Reagan in the 1942 film version). The series barely lasted three months, but better things were on the horizon: in 1957, Horton was hired to play frontier scout Flint McCullough in Wagon Train, which became the highest-rated western on TV. Horton remained with Wagon Train until 1962. He then did some more stage work before embarking on his third series, 1965's The Man Called Shenandoah. When this one-season wonder ran its course, Horton toured the dinner-theatre circuit, then in 1982 accepted a major role on the popular daytime soap opera As the World Turns. Horton continued acting until the late 1980s. He died in 2016, at age 91.

Wagon Train: The John Turnbull Story

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Wednesday, November 5 on WJLP MeTV (33.1)

The John Turnbull Story

Season 5, Episode 35