Wagon Train - "The Blane Wessels Story" - 3:15 pm Thursday, November 27 on STARZ ENCORE Westerns (East)

Scott Miller (Actor) .. Duke

Born: April 25, 1934
Died: September 09, 2014
Birthplace: Bloomington, Indiana

Lory Patrick (Actor) .. Laura

Born: January 01, 1938

Juanita Moore (Actor) .. Essie

Born: January 01, 1914
Died: January 01, 2014

Trivia: African-American actress Juanita Moore entered films in the early '50s, a time in which few black actresses were given much to do in major-studio films. Fortunately, Juanita's roles began improving as Hollywood tentatively developed a social consciousness toward the end of the decade. In 1959, she received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Imitation of Life (1959), a glossy updating of a once-controversial Fannie Hurst novel about racial inequity. Within the next decade Hollywood underwent several sociological upheavals, and Juanita Moore was one of the beneficiaries; she became a fixture of such black-oriented films of the '70s as Uptight (1969), Thomasine and Bushrod (1974) and Abby (1974). She continued to work sporatically through the 1980s and '90s, appearing as a grandmother in Disney's The Kid (2000) and in an episode of Judging Amy in 2001. Moore died in 2014 at age 99.

Robert Colbert (Actor) .. Blane Wessels

Born: January 01, 1928

Trivia: American leading man Robert Colbert made his first screen appearances as a Columbia contract player in the late '50s. His most thankless role during this period was as the romantic lead in the Three Stooges feature Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959). Seven years later, Colbert had another crack at the sci-fi genre as adventuresome scientist Dr. Doug Phillips on TV's The Time Tunnel. Each week, Colbert and co-star James Darren were plunked down into a crucial moment in world history, courtesy of the 20th Century-Fox stock footage department. In between these two assignments, Colbert played Brent Maverick, one of the stop-gap characters created to cover the defection of James Garner on the western series Maverick (1957-62). Daytime drama devotees are most familiar with Robert Colbert's decade-long tenure as Stuart Brooks on The Young and the Restless.

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.

Frank McGrath (Actor)

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