"I was born in Michigan, but I was raised out West. I've lived in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, so I'm actually a westerner at heart. I think that came across in the television show I starred in called Route 66, which aired from 1960 until 1964, and, I suppose, will always be playing on some channels. My character in Route 66 was named Tod Stiles. George Maharis played a fellow named Buz Murdock. Later, Glenn Corbett took over the other role for awhile when Maharis dropped out because of a bout with hepatitis.
"The program was created by Sterling Silliphant and Herbert Leonard, who had cast Maharis in an episode of their hit show Naked City. From what I know, Silliphant said, 'Why don't we put together a show about two guys riding around the country in a car?' The idea was for everybody to rediscover the United States through our characters' eyes. Route 66 was very symbolic. It represented the spirit of movement and adventure in the country. It was a natural. From the very beginning the show had a great following and became very popular. I tried to talk them out of using a Corvette in the show. I did my best to convince them to use something really exotic. I said, 'Let's get a Ferrari. A Corvette is too ordinary.' Remember, I'm a Californian and I was used to seeing 'vettes. To me a Ferrari was really something special. But we went with Chevrolet and used Corvettes. It was the perfect vehicle.
"The car we used on the show changed every year. Chevrolet was always very anxious to show their new products. The first year of the show came to an end and we were getting set for the second year, and they didn't want us to use the same 'fifty-nine Corvette. They really wanted us to have a new 1960 model. So Sterling wrote a show where we crashed the car, saving some rich man's life, and the man turned around and replaced our Corvette with a new model, and everybody was happy. Every year after that, we got a brand new model for the show but there were no more crashes in the scripts. We just changed cars each season and that was it. Nothing was ever said.
"Of the two characters, the one I played, Tod Stiles, was the more intellectual. He came from a well-to-do family and was college educated, optimistic, and a liberal who always believed in doing things the right way. Beneath everything, Tod felt that people could be trusted, and that everything was going to be just fine. He had a great deal of compassion and integrity. Stiles was more carefree. He had inherited some money from his father in order to buy that first Corvette.
"Now Buz, on the other hand, was a real street kid. He was a bad boy from the ghetto--from Hell's Kitchen--and had been involved in crime. His adopted father had died in his arms from an overdose, and Buz had truly seen the worst part of life. He was suspicious and didn't trust anyone. The characters were very different and that made for a great show. There was balance. Also, there was some awfully good writing. The top-notch writing, direction, and the casting were very critical in that show's success.
"The funny thing is we hardly did any real location work out on Route 66. The show was named after the highway, but we did most of the filming elsewhere. It was nothing against the highway, but we just wanted to keep it neat and clean and convenient, so when the weather was good, we'd be near the East Coast and when the weather was lousy we'd be in Florida or Texas or Arizona. We did some work up in the Pacific Northwest and we filmed around Chicago and Pittsburgh, too. We cruised the highway in our shiny Corvette and came into everybody's living room every Friday night. Along the way we met Robert Redford, Alan Alda, Robert Duvall, Rod Steiger, Gene Hackman, Lee Marvin, Cloris Leachman, Jean Stapleton, and a lot of other talented folks. For a hundred and sixteen episodes Tod and Buz tooled along Route 66. It was great adventure."