Clu Gulager Interview   When Things Were Rotten on DVD Looney Tunes Golden Ed Fridays TV Show on DVD DVD Ripcord on DVD
TV on DVD/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / Punk Book/ / / / / Holiday Specials on DVD / / / / / Commercials / / / / / / Classic TV Blog


Clu Gulager Interview
by Jim Longworth

Clu Gulager.photoActing can be dangerous. Just ask Clu Gulager.
 
"I played the Mouse King in third grade, and this girl named Marian Bebb threw a shoe at me and killed me".
 
It's no wonder young Clu put his acting career on hold for a while. Who wouldn't, after being killed by a flying shoe?  Still, the work he did during his formative years was no picnic either, but at least it prepared him for some of the roles he would  play later on.
 
"I was a cowboy in Oklahoma, where we raised white face cattle. I used to have to ride the fences, and in Winter it was really cold. When I saw a break in the fence, I had to get down off of my pony with some wire, and fix that break. The thing I'm most proud of in my whole life is that, on my watch, not one white face got away".
 
And while Clu spent most of his time doing cowboy chores, he was also influenced by his Father's many talents as a cowboy performer in Vaudeville and on Broadway. The elder Gulager was particularly known for his mastery of rope tricks, something he had in common with a famous relative.
 
"My Father grew up in Indian territory with his cousin Will Rogers. They were both very adept at trick roping. According to my Aunt, Will would spend hours and hours down by the barn practicing with the ropes. He always wanted to improve. But my Uncle once told me, 'Your Dad was better than Will at twirling ropes!' "
 
Inspired by his Father's showmanship, and armed with a fierce work ethic, Clu struck out on his own, and paid his dues as a thespian by appearing on stage, as well as in a number of live television dramas. He soon signed as a contract player with Universal studios where he appeared in everything from mystery series to crime shows. But the Oklahoma ranch hand also found himself working on TV Westerns, which led to his being offered the starring role of Billy the Kid on NBC's “The Tall Man”.  
 
"My agent and I sat in the car for about three hours deciding whether or not to wait for movies, or take ‘The Tall Man’ series. I had a wife and little boy to support, so I took the TV show, and I've never regretted it".
 
But Gulager, who studied the Stanislavski Method, was as serious about his acting as he had been about his ranching, and the shooting schedule of make-believe Westerns was frustrating to the young star.
 
"Artists pride ourselves on taking our time to find things in the words. But that didn't happen on TV. The networks wanted those shows yesterday, so we had to really speed along, and couldn't even rehearse. We shot each episode of ‘The Tall Man’ in two and a half days".
 
“The Tall Man” was canceled after two seasons, but not because of hectic schedules or low ratings. Instead, Clu told me it was politics and politicians who killed Billy the Kid.
 
"Congress debated the fact that Billy the Kid was a killer, and that I was playing him as a hero on television, which wasn't good for our children. So they pressured NBC to take ‘The Tall Man’ off the air. Of course Congress let ABC keep ‘The Untouchables’, and our show wasn't one eighth as violent as that show".  
 
Soon after cancellation of “The Tall Man”, Gulager signed up to play a recurring role on “The Virginian” until 1968, then spent the next three decades as a highly sought after guest star for scores of TV dramas such as “Murder She Wrote”, “Hawaii Five-O”, and “The Streets of San Francisco”. A career highlight was landing the role of the town lothario in Peter Bogdanovich's film, “The Last Picture Show”. The co-star he was supposed to seduce was a young model named Cybill Shepherd.
 
"One day, Peter wanted to stand in for me during Cybill's close-ups, and my heart sank. I thought I was just a bad actor, and that Peter didn't want me feeding Cybill her lines. I didn't realize Peter and Cybill had fallen in love. Much later, I was told that Peter had actually wanted to play my part, but the casting director wanted me, and Peter eventually agreed".
 
I first met Clu Gulager in 2013 at the Western Film Festival, and we stayed in touch periodically after that.  Sadly, Clu passed away on August 5 at the age of 93. Gulager’s acting career lasted nearly 70 years, yet he managed to re-invent himself for each new generation of fans. Us old folks remember Clu for his work in Westerns while younger audiences know him for his appearances in horror films like “Return of the Living Dead” and “Piranha 3DD”, proving two things: a real artist can master any genre; and, anyone who can survive a shoe attack can survive a Piranha attack. RIP Cowboy.
 
(you can view Jim's 2013 interview with Clu by visiting www.jimlongworth.com click-on “Celebrity Interviews”)

 

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!

Clu Gulager Interview

 

 

Lost Kid Shows / Movie Stars on TV / Saturday Morning Shows / Video Vault / Classic Christmas Specials / Fabulous Fifties / Unseen Scenes / Game Shows / Requested Forgotten TV Shows / The Super Sixties / More Modern TV Shows / The New * * Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
Classic TV on the Internet!

TV's Embarrassing Moments / Action Shows of the Sixties / TVparty Mysteries and Scandals / Variety Shows of the 1970s / The Eighties / The Laugh Track / 1970's Hit Shows / Response to TVparty / Search the Site / Add Your Comments
1960's TV Seasons: 1961 / 1964 / ABC 1966 / 1967 / 1968 / 1969 / Fall Previews / Sharon Tate on The Beverly Hillbillies / Dark, Unseen Monkees Pilot / Pistols 'N' Petticoats / Best Episodes of Every 'Lucy Show' Season / How Lee Meriwether Became Catwoman / The Star Trek Spinoff That Didn't Happen / Why Ginger Was Almost Fired From Gilligan's Island / Every Batman (1966) Fight Scene / Whatever Happened to the Beverly Hillbillies' Mansion? / Remembering "Mary Ann" - Dawn Wells Interview / Catching Up With Lucy & Desi's 'Son' / The Ronny Howard Show?!? / Death of Bonanza's Dan Blocker / Broadside / David McCallum on the Legacy of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. / In Defense of Bewitched (and Jeannie) / Sad Ironic Death of Crazy Guggenheim / Larry Mathers (Beaver Cleaver) on the Rumor That He Was Killed in Vietnam / The Monkees / Jimi Hendrix 1967 Tour - The Only Night It Clicked Was In Greensboro! / William Shatner on the Origin of Star Trek / Brother Dave Garner / Remembering Newton Minow / The Nurses / / Glynis / The Debbie Reynolds Show / The Riddler Was Batman's First TV Super-Villain / Betty Lynn aka Thelma Lou / Remembering The Rifleman's Johnny Crawford / Clu Gulager Obituary / Leonard Nimoy on NBC Hating Spock / Sinatra Wanted To Play Joker on Batman? Yes! / Directing the Batman Pilot / Elinor Donahue on The Andy Griffith Show / Lucy After Ricky / Robert Clary on His Hogan's Heroes Co-stars / Jeopardy! in the 60s & 70s / Stunts Gone Wrong on The Wild Wild West / Whatever Happened To Lost In Space's Guy Williams? / Best of Julie Newmar Catwoman Season 2 / The New People / Dark Shadows Director Lela Swift / Pioneer Newswoman Lisa Howard / The Jim Nabors Hour / The UN Goes to the Movies / Stories About Filming Batman from Burt Ward / Life With Linkletter / The Green Hornet / Best of The Joker / Matt Weiner Interview / Lost in Space: Mark Goddard Interview / 1961 CBS Fall Season / Bette Davis TV show: The Decorator / The Hathaways / He & She / Eartha Kitt as Catwoman / The Good Guys / James Drury of The Virginian / The Ron Hicklin Singers / Man From U.N.C.L.E. on DVD / Behind the Scenes at The Andy Griffith Show / Pat Buttram & Green Acres / TV's Tarzan / 1960's Nightclub Comic Rusty Warren / Johnny Carson Tonight Show 1964 / That Girl / The Amazing Randi / TV's Greatest Car Stars / Best of Batgirl 1967-68 / TV Shows to Movies / Batman Season 2 / Supermarionation / The Virginian's Clu Gulager / William Windom / New Bewitched Book / Court Martial / Cast Changes on Bewitched and Green Acres / Sammy Davis Jr. Show / Sunday Morning Cartoons / Naked City / Joe E. Ross / Alan Young Interview / Sherwood Schwartz Interview / Walter Cronkite Moon Landing / The Farmer's Daughter / Petula-Clark /
Classic TV Commercials / 1950's TV / 1960's TV / Punk Book / / 1970's TV / Groucho vs William F Buckley / / TV Games / Honey Boo Boo / Lucy Shows / Classic Cars / John Wayne / Gene Roddenberry / Rockford Files / Sea Hunt / 1970s Commercial Jingles / Superman on DVD / Toy Gun Ads / Flip Wilson Show / Big Blue Marble / Monty Hall / Carrascolendas / Mr. Dressup / Major Mudd / Chief Halftown / What's In Oprah's Purse? / Baby Daphne / Sheriff John / Winchell & Mahoney / Fireball X-L5 / Mr. Wizard / Captain Noah / Thanksgiving Day Specials / Disney's First Christmas Special / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Amahl & the Night Visitors / Holiday Toy Commercials / Lucy & Desi's Last Christmas Show / Joey Heatherton / Fat Albert / The Virginian / Bewitched / Death of John Wayne / 1974 Saturday Mornings / Chuck McCann / Rudolph Collectables / Shrimpenstein / Local Popeye Shows / New Treasure Hunt / 1966 ABC TV Shows / 1967 TV Shows / 1968 TV Shows / Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes & Baby Doll / Fridays / TV Moms / Red Skelton / Star Wars / KISS / Lancelot Link / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Wonder Woman / Classic Comic Books / Andy Griffith / Cher / TV Shows on DVD / Outtakes & Bloopers / 1967 TV Shows / Romper Room / ABC Movie of the Week / The Goldbergs / Daws Butler Commercials / Saturday Morning Commercials / Captain Kangaroo / Chicago Local Kiddie Shows / Boston Local TV / Philly Local TV / NYC Local Kid Shows / Amos 'n' Andy / Electric Company / Bette Davis / Judy Garland / Christmas Specials / Redd Foxx / Good Times / Sitcom Houses / What's Happening! / Winky Dink & You / Sonny & Cher / Smothers Brothers / Commercial Icons of the 1960s / Soupy Sales / The Carpenters / Route 66 / Bozo / The Carpenters Christmas Specials / Local Kid Shows / Death of TV's Superman / Wonderama / Sesame Street / Bob Hope Specials / Little Rascals / 1980's Retro Gay T-Shirts / 1980's TV Wrestling / Fess Parker / Howdy Doody / TV Blog / Lost In Space / Pinky Lee / 1980's LA Punk Rock / Alex Toth Book / TV Terrorists / Irwin Allen / The Untouchables / Carol Burnett Show / Batman TV Show / Green Hornet / Today Show History / Our Gang / Doris Day Show / 1970's Commercials For Women / Bill Cosby in the 1970s / The Golddiggers / Lola Falana / 1970s TV Shows / David Bowie on TV / Hudson Brothers / Jackie Gleason / Hollywood Squares / Match Game / Bob Keeshan / Gumby / The Flip Wilson Show / Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour / The Bobby Darin Show / The Richard Pryor Show / George Burns / Lucy's Lost Christmas Special / Classic Christmas Toy Commercials / Cricket On The Hearth / 1950's Holiday Shows / Amahl and the Night Visitors / A Christmas Carol on TV / The Yule Log / Celebrity Commercials / Rudolph / Movie Posters & More! 
TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
TV on DVD/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / Punk Book/ / / / TV Shows on Blu-Ray/ / / / / Holiday Specials on DVD / / / / / / Classic Commercials / / / / / / Classic TV Blog
Looking for classic TV DVDs?/See below:
TV Commercials on DVD Wrestling DVDs Classic TV Books