The Roy Huggins Affair

Screenwriter, novelist, and producer Roy Huggins had a significant influence in Hollywood, most notably in television. Below are three who were indirectly and directly impacted by Huggins.

IRVING BACON (1893-1965) was an American character actor who always had a role to play, no matter how small, in nearly five hundred films. He often played comical everyday men and was singled out by his trademarked surprised expression. He is perhaps best remembered as the soda jerk in the comedy, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), or the musical, Holiday Inn (1942), as the cagey wagon driver. In later years, Bacon would also be cast in serious roles, whether in Westerns or modern-day dramas. Bacon had roles on television's Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. Both lead characters from those shows, Bret Maverick and Stu Bailey, were created by Roy Huggins.

VICTOR JORY (1902-1982) was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He was initially cast in romantic leads. In Shakespeare's fantasy play, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), he portrayed Oberon and eighteenth-century costume dramas. His career would turn one-hundred-eighty degrees, becoming most identified as a sinister villain in Westerns. A case in point is Dodge City (1939), a ruthless outlaw gang member. His mid-career creased face brought him a wide variety of roles as a Native American Indian or a detective in modern crime dramas in film and television. Nearing the end of his career, Jory had a definitive role to use his trademarked tight-lipped delivery as an old-school FBI agent from the 1930s in "The Attractive Nuisance" (1977), an episode of Huggins's The Rockford Files.

ADELE MARA (1923-2010) was an American actress, singer, and dancer who appeared in mostly forgettable films. She was most prolific in the 1940s with such average films as The Tiger Woman (1945) and Exposed (1947) before turning to the new medium of television in the 1950s through the 1960s. The beauty was married to Roy Huggins from 1952 until his death in 2002. Born Adelaide Delgado, her brother, Luis Delgado, was frequently cast in The Rockford Files series. He was James Garner's long-time personal assistant, as well. By the way, that's Rod Cameron above. He guest-starred as Jack Chilson on a 1976 episode of The Rockford Files. 

Television Talkers

 

Dave Garroway (1913-1982) was an American television personality best known as the founding host and anchor of NBC's Today show from 1952 to 1961. Garroway began his broadcasting career at NBC as a page in 1938 before landing a job at Pittsburgh radio station KDKA in 1939.  He became known as the "Roving Announcer" with a reputation for finding a good story, even in unusual places. After WW2, His fellow disc jockeys voted him the nation's best in the 1948 and 1949 Billboard polls. He won the award again in 1951.

Garroway's relaxed, informal style, as well as his humor, became part of his television trademark, to say nothing of his eyeglasses and bow tie. He possessed no false jollity or witticisms. On the contrary, he was pleasant, serious, and scholarly-looking. Trustworthy. His popular "cohost" on Today was a lovable chimpanzee by the name of J. Fred Muggs who helped take the edge off some more serious news moments. Garroway was one of the broadcasters who introduced conversational style and tone to television, beginning some broadcasts as though viewers were sitting in the studio with him. As an example, "And how are you about the world today? Let's see what kind of shape it's in; there is a glimmer of hope." His ability to clearly explain abstract concepts earned him the nickname "The Communicator" and eventually won praise from critics and viewers alike. Garroway was known for his signoff, saying "Peace" with an upraised palm. Many late sixties hippies owed him a debt for that.

More at Garroway at Large.

Note: Unknown to viewers, Garroway's easygoing and relaxed style -- the epitome of poise -- hid his lifelong battle with depression, which is better diagnosed today.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Cashing in on the popularity of Magnum P.I, handsome Lee Horsley played Matlock "Matt" Houston, squeezing out three seasons in the early Eighties before running out of cases to solve or cast members to add. Houston was a likable and wealthy mustachioed Texas oilman working as a private investigator as a hobby more or less. The show possessed enough humor and action to be popular but it was nearing life-support by the time producers brought in Buddy Ebsen as Uncle Roy Houston in the final season. He owned a unique automobile, though Magnum owned none. Pamela Hensley played his data specialist. A number of Houston's friends or business associates were murdered during the show's run as this might often make up an episode's premise. Dominic Frontiere wrote the original Magnum pilot theme and wrote this great action-packed theme as well.