''Hec Ramsey'' is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1972 to 1974, starring

Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series ''Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early lif ...

. The series was created by

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Joe Friday, Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise) ...

's production company,

Mark VII Limited Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television networ ...

in association with

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

's television productions. The series was first broadcast in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

as part of the ''

NBC Mystery Movie ''The NBC Mystery Movie'' is an American television anthology series produced by Universal Pictures, that NBC broadcast from 1971 to 1977. Devoted to a rotating series of mystery episodes, it was sometimes split into two subsets broadcast on diff ...

'', a

wheel series A wheel series, wheel show, wheel format or umbrella series is a television series in which two or more regular programs are rotated in the same time slot. Sometimes the wheel series is given its own umbrella title and promoted as a single unit ins ...

format.

Cast

Main

as Hec Ramsey * Rick Lenz as Chief Oliver Stamp *

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both ''December Bride'' (1954–1959 ...

as Doc Amos Coogan

Recurring

Perry Lopez Perry Lopez (born Julio César Lopez; July 22, 1929 – February 14, 2008) was an American film and television actor. His acting career spanned 40 years. Biography Lopez was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent. Lopez began his acti ...

as Sergeant Juan Mendoza *Dennis Rucker as Constable Arne Tornquist *Bill Vint as Constable Davey Watson

Premise

Richard Boone portrayed Hector "Hec" Ramsey, a former gunfighter turned lawman, with a keen interest in the emerging field of

forensics Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimina ...

. Hec replaced his "gunfighter" rig with a cut-down Colt revolver - "Faster draw, good at short range. Use a rifle for long" that echoed modern detectives' guns - but his most important tools included

fingerprinting A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

equipment and magnifying lenses, which enabled him to determine the perpetrators of crimes with greater accuracy. Ramsey had served as a Deputy United States Marshal in the Oklahoma Indian Territory under the supervision of Judge Isaac Parker, Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, which had jurisdiction for the Indian Territory. The series follows Ramsey after he accepts the position of deputy

police chief The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

in the fictional town of New Prospect,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. In the series' pilot, "The Century Turns", set in 1901, Hec meets New Prospect's chief of police, Oliver B. Stamp ( Rick Lenz), a young, inexperienced lawman who needs help and after some initial friction, the two men develop a working relationship. They are frequently accompanied by a colorful local doctor, Amos Coogan, who is also the local Coroner/Medical Examiner (played by frequent Webb performer

, who was also a regular on ''

The Richard Boone Show ''The Richard Boone Show'' is an anthology television series. It aired on NBC during the 1963-64 season. Synopsis Richard Boone hosted the series and starred in about half of the episodes, garnering an Emmy nomination for himself and a Golden G ...

''). All of them went on to appear in "The Shootist" with John Wayne.

Production

The series was one of the first television Westerns set in the early 20th century, at a time when viewer interest in the

old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

was waning. Two contemporary series with a similar setting were ''

Nichols Nichols may refer to: People *Nichols (surname) *Nichol, a surname Places Canada * Nichols Islands, Nunavut United States * Nichols, California, an unincorporated community * Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, California * Nichols, Connecticut * Nich ...

'', starring

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including '' The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Ameri ...

and ''

Bearcats! ''Bearcats!'' is an American Western television series broadcast on the CBS television network during the fall 1971 television season. It starred Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole as troubleshooters in the period before the American entry into World War ...

'' starring

Rod Taylor Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including ''The Time Machine'' (1960), ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961), '' The Birds'' (1963), and ''In ...

and

Dennis Cole Dennis Cole (July 19, 1940 – November 15, 2009) was an American actor in film and television. A familiar face on the screen during the 1960s and 1970s, Cole made guest appearances in numerous television series. After the 1991 murder of Jo ...

; the latter was set in 1914. Producer

described Hec Ramsey as "'' Dragnet'' meets

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

" and critics picked up on that. The scripts balanced authentic "modern" investigative methods of the 1900s with action and adventure. NBC Mystery Movie stars 1975 cropped

Despite good ratings, the series was canceled after two seasons, following disagreements between Boone and Universal. Douglas Benton and creator

Harold Jack Bloom Harold Jack Bloom (April 26, 1924 – August 27, 1999) was an American television producer and screenwriter who scored a notable hit with his first major screenplay to the classic Anthony Mann Western '' The Naked Spur'' in 1953, earning ...

were the producers; Jack Webb was executive producer. Among the guest stars in the series' 10 episodes, were:

Claude Akins Claude Aubrey Akins (May 25, 1926 – January 27, 1994) was an American character actor with a long career on stage, screen, and television. He was best known as Sheriff Lobo on the 1979–1981 television series ''B.J. and the Bear'', and l ...

Rory Calhoun Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''How to Marry a Millio ...

Jackie Cooper John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...

(in "Dead Heat"),

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

, Steve Forrest,

Kim Hunter Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 11, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar N ...

Rita Moreno Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. Noted for her work across different areas of the entertainment industry, she has appeared in numerous film, television, and thea ...

Sheree North Sheree North (born Dawn Shirley Crang; January 17, 1932 – November 5, 2005) was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe. Early life North was born Dawn Shirley C ...

Ruth Roman Ruth Roman (born Norma Roman; December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. After playing stage roles on the east coast, Roman relocated to Hollywood to pursue a career in films. She appeare ...

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the Westerns on television, western series ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (TV series), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'' (19 ...

(in "Scar Tissue"),

Stuart Whitman Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...

(in "A Hard Road to Vengeance") and

Marie Windsor Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen; December 11, 1919 – December 10, 2000) was an American actress known for her femme fatale characters in the classic film noir features ''Force of Evil'', ''The Narrow Margin'' and '' The Killing''. Wi ...

(in "Mystery of the Green Feather").

Episodes

Season 1 (1972–73)

Season 2 (1973–74)

References

*Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

External links

* {{Jack Webb/Mark VII Limited NBC original programming 1972 American television series debuts 1974 American television series endings Television series set in the 1900s 1970s Western (genre) television series NBC Mystery Movie Television series by Mark VII Limited Television series by Universal Television Ramsey, Hec English-language television shows American detective television series Television shows set in Oklahoma