Long absent from the home media marketplace, The Deputy, which premiered on September 12, 1959, was set in Silver City, in the Arizona Territory of 1880. The great Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath), in his first recurring role on television, plays the part of Chief Marshal Simon Fry, a lawman who will do whatever it takes to keep the peace. Clay McCord (Allen Case), his sometimes reluctant deputy, is a sharp shooting storekeeper who slums violence whenever he can, but who is persuaded to step in to help the aging Silver City Marshal Herk Lamson (Wallace Ford) when Simon is out of town. Other recurring roles include Read Morgan, Phil Tully and Addison Richards. Some of the best actors of their day, including Lee Van Cleef (A Fistful of Dollars), Alan Hale, Jr. (Gilligan's Island), James Coburn (The Magnificent Seven), and Robert Redford's very first guest appearance on television, join them. The Deputy was produced by Norman Lear (All In The Family), and features a jazz guitar score by Jack Marshall. Henry Fonda narrates each episode, and appears in many of them, but his character is often 'out of town,' keeping the peace in the far-flung Arizona Territory while Deputy Clay McCord fills in for him in Silver City.
