Rawhide
1959 - United StatesBased on George Dutfield's 1866 diary, Rawhide told the tale of a team of cowboys on a cattle drive from San Antonio, Texas, to Sedalia, Kansas, during the same period.
The drovers were led by Gil Favor (Eric Fleming) but the series is probably best remembered these days for the character Rowdy Yates, a part played by up and coming mega-star Clint Eastwood. (It was this role that brought Eastwood to the attention of spaghetti western director Sergio Leone). Other characters included Wishbone (Paul Brinegar), Mushy (James Murdock), and Pete Nolan (country singer Sheb Wooley, who had a 1958 hit with 'Purple People Eater').
In the fall of 1965 Yates took over as trail boss and organised his own team of drovers - but it was a short lived drive for the new boss as the series was cancelled in January 1966.
The stirring Rawhide theme tune was written by eleven-time Academy Award nominee Ned Washington and twenty-two time Academy Award nominee (4 wins) Dmitri Tiomkin and sung over the opening credits by Frankie Laine.
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Published on January 24th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.
