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The
Marshal Gets the Girl
The Wild West will be civilized in next season's series.
"We're even bringing in a girl for love interest," Collier said. "A girl?" I asked. "Who gets her?" "I do, I think," said Collier, a little vaguely. "Well, I think I get her every third or fourth show. I'm not quire sure. We'll know all that at the end of this week." The girl who's been signed to supply the love interest in Judy Lewis, Loretta Young's daughter. "We're cutting down on the violence," Collier added, rather regretfully I thought. What had prompted this, I wanted to know. "It was almost inevitable," Collier said. "There was so much unfavorable comment about the series in England that the show was stopped after only two episodes." I asked Don if he would miss Barton MacLane, who isn't going to be in the series next season. "I sure am," he said. "He is a personal friend. But Outlaws hasn't seen the last of him. He'll appear now and again as the Governor. To replace him, they plan to bring in one more young marshal as a regular." Thinking of the small fortunes people like Chuck Connors, Hugh O'Brian and Rod Taylor have made out of their successful series, I asked Collier if he owned a part of the show. "No, I'm afraid not," he said. He confided he was taking singing lessons to prepare an act for personal appearance tours. These tours bring in a lot of extra income to performers. AUSTRALIAN TOUR
The enthusiasm in his voice when he said: "I'd love to do that," sounded genuine. No one had approached him to visit Australia yet, he said, but he was more than interested. Collier and his bride of eighteen months, Joanne, have a house full of children. There are Don's three children from his first marriage (Pamela, eight, Diane, seven, and Don Junior, five). Then, there is five-year-old David, Joanne's son by her first marriage. I asked Don about his life before television. He told me he'd gone to school in California and joined the Navy at eighteen. After he was discharged, he went to work in a ranch. But like many returning servicemen, he was restless. "A year later, I left the Navy I was broke, so I joined up agian -- the Merchant Marine," he said. He had to go home because of an illness in the family. The illness, which led to the tragic death of his sister, was the turning point in Don's life -- that's when he met veteran actor Francis Lederer. "My parents were working for him on his huge San Fernando ranch and that was when I got the idea of being an actor," he said. "I asked him to help me and he coached me day and night for six months. I managed to get small parts in three films, then nothing. In 1951, Dom married. He was soon faced with the problem of supporting a family. "I forgot about acting and went into the poultry and fish business," he said. "Then the business slumped. I used it as an excuse to go back into acting." It took Collier three years of hard work before he was "discovered" by an agent. "I had a part in a stage version of 'The Tender Trap,'" he said, "and this agent spotted me. Last year, I was tested for starring roles in two other television series before being signed up for Outlaws. One test was for Michael Shayne and it was this one that got me the part of Deputy Marshal Will Foreman in Outlaws."
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The
OUTLAWS is getting a new look next season, its star Don Collier, told me this
week. The series is being given more "family"
interest.
"Would you consider
extending your tours as far off as Australia?" I asked.