In the spring of 1962 George Maharis contracted infectious hepatitis and the character of Buz Murdock disappeared from several episodes of "Route 66", leaving Tod Stiles on his own without fanfare. When Maharis returned, according to some sources, he shot some scenes in a cold river and suffered a relapse, necessitating his permanent exit from the series. About that time, amid the usual Hollywood gossip about problematic stars, a TV Guide article (1-26-623) portrayed Maharis as a "growler and a grumbler," arguing with everyone from the prop boy to executive producer Herbert B. Leonard. Maharis lashed out at the producers, declaring that they overworked him after promising an easy schedule, and that they didn't care about him or his health. The producers felt he was just trying to get out of his contract to go on to bigger and better jobs. Maharis also lashed out at Milner, calling him a snob who pulled a lot of 'star' stuff. Milner told us recently, "We got along pretty well during the time the show was on the air and when we were working together; it kinda came and went. There were some problems after that." As he told TV Guide (7-6-63), "Maharis and I got along fine--until I found out he didn't like me."
With Buz Murdock gone, Tod Stiles needed a new cohort, and he found one in Linc Case, a returning Viet Nam veteran whom he encountered in the episode "Fifty Miles From Home." After Glenn Corbett joined the show as Case, Milner's character seemed to take responsibility a bit less seriously than before, and there was a slightly detectable humorous slant in the shows. On the sets, everyone was smiling again. Martin Milner recalls one frolicsome incident which illustrates his camaraderie with his new co-star: "Most of the time we worked thirteen out of fourteen days on the road; we took every other Sunday off. So it was always a big deal to get a day off. Occasionally, if we didn't have a cover set and it rained, we'd take a day off or finish early. In Poland Springs, Maine, we had someplace we wanted to go; I was really hoping to get off early. It's 4 or 5 o'clock and it was a real cloudy day, and Glenn always joked that he could do a rain dance and make it rain. He'd done it several times before, so the associate producer, Lenny Katzman, who now produces 'Dallas', and I set this joke up. We drew all the hieroglyphics on the ground that Glenn used to draw when he was gonna do this Indian rain dance, we drew a big circle and put the Indiana symbols in there, and we drew it right close to a barn where we were working. And Glenn got in the circle and started to do his rain dance. He was bobbing up and down and bending over and throwing his head up to the sky and Lenny and I climbed up on the roof with two buckets of water, and then when he threw his head up to the sky we just doused him in water!"
"Route 66" employed a wealth of then-relatively unknown New York actors in guest parts. Martin Milner cites as stand-out favorites Ed Asner, who was cast in several episodes, and Alex Cord, know as Alex Viespi in those days, who worked in more episodes than any other guest actor, and about whom Milner recalls was "one of the most wonderful guys to work with." Perhaps Cord's best performance came in the comic-adventure that was the final episode, in which Tod meets the girl of his dreams, and in the nightmare that follows, he marries her and gets rich in the process.
About that episode Milner recalls, "It was really fun! I thought it was so classy to do a final episode and to resolve the whole thing. Burt Leonard, the producer, was such a classy guy that he spent more money on the final two episodes after we knew that we weren't coming back on, than he'd spent in any of the other shows. He said, "We've had a good run here; we've been on four years and we should go out with a little class," And there aren't many of those guys around." Earlier, Leonard, whose budget per episode ran as high as $160,000 and averaged $100,000, said that the show "costs 5% more to shoot on the road and comes off 100% better." In four years of production, maybe they spent maybe three days in the studio. In the first year Leonard averaged 5000 miles a week in the air scouting locations, worked as late as 4:40 am in the film cutting room, and was credited with getting every episode on the air three and a half weeks after it went into production, when the normal lag time was six weeks. Curiously, production took place on the real U.S. 66 only about four times, because the cities they favored happened not to be on that road.
Born in Detroit 12, 28-31, to a dancer & a film distributor. Moved to Seattle & Hollywood, began acting at age 12. Stricken with polio in mid-teens. Drafted into Army in '52 after making 17 movies, including '47's "Life With Father", in which he became the 10th redhead to play the 2nd son. One year at USC as theatre arts major. Has been a regular in TV's "Trouble With Father", "Life of Riley", "Adam-12", & "Swiss Family Robinson." Has been wed over 30 years to former singer-actress Judy Jones, with 4 children. Recently hosted informational CA morning radio show 'til the station went all news. Busy with theatre work, industrial films & TV guesting, he lives at the beach & likes to work only 3 months a year. Hobbies: golf and fishing.
Born Astoria, Long Island 9-1-33, 3rd of 6 children of Greek immigrants. Family became poverty-stricken when they lost their 3 restaurants. Left high school & spent 18 months in the Marines where he fought and won 10 boxing bouts, then finished high school. Discovered he could sing & toured the Midwest with a band, "The Singing Marines". Studied in NY with Sandy Meisner & Lee Strasberg. First TV break was doing a parody of Brando on a Mr. Peepers show. Played a gambler who mistreated his wife on Search for Tomorrow. Guest part in 1 1/2 hour Naked City got him noticed for Rte. 66. Co-starred in the '70 series Most Deadly Game. Has long had a reputation for being an anti-establishment non-conformist.
Born Glenn Rothenburg in El Monte, CA, son of auto mechanic. Mother left when he was 2 and Glenn was raised by grandparents. After a wild, impetuous youth he joined the Seabees at 17 where he met his future wife and decided to go to college. An agent signed him after seeing him play a defense attorney in "Caine Mutiny Court-martial" at Occidental College. Renamed "Corbett" by head of Columbia Pix talent Max Arno, he began in films in '50 . Had reputation for engaging in heated political arguments, he spoke out against racism & capitol punishment in early '60s. Co-starred in '62's "It's a Man's World", '66s The Road West and was a regular on soaps "The Young & the Restless" and "The Doctors."