Created by producer/writer E. Jack Neuman (who also wrote for “Cimarron City”, “Jefferson Drum”, “Wagon Train”, “Laramie”, “Oregon Trail”, etc.) and set in the post Civil War west, the initial episode of “A Man Called Shenandoah”, “Onslaught”, related the trials of a man (Robert Horton) shot by an old nemesis (Richard Devon) and left for dead half naked on the trail. Discovered by two saddle bums, thinking he may be wanted, they drag the man to the nearest town hoping to make some money off of him. However, no one knows who he is nor does he appear on any wanted circulars. Even more unfortunate for the stranger, he cannot remember his name, anything of his past or who shot him. Visiting a doctor, he is diagnosed with amnesia. Taking the name Shenandoah (the Indian name for Land of Silence), Horton spends the rest of the series wandering the west in search of clues to his identity.
Horton continued, “We shot the opening up at Mammoth Lakes, north of L.A., in the High Sierra. The snow was up to the bellies of the horses. I had a huge buffalo robe over my shoulders for warmth. Other exteriors were shot at Lancaster, CA. At first I was unimpressed with the material. There has to be time to be a human being in-between being a caught-felon or whatever. (Laughs) Then the scripts began to lighten up and we began to attract a little higher caliber guest star and it was working quite well. I began to think the show had a real chance.” Unfortunately, stiff timeslot competition doomed “Shenandoah” after 34 half hour episodes. CBS had the established “Andy Griffith” and NBC aired the popular “Andy Williams”. Even though “Shenandoah” was preceded from 8:30-9 by another Western, “The Legend of Jesse James”, it too faced insurmountable competition from “Lucille Ball” on CBS and “Dr. Kildare” on NBC. It seems “Shenandoah’s” search for his identity was as futile as ABC’s search for ratings and the series was cancelled, offering no resolution to Shenandoah’s search for truth, after 34 episodes on May 16, 1966.
It’s too bad, as it was an intriguing premise with well written stories from western writers such as Paul Savage, Daniel Ullman, E. Jack Neuman, Ed Adamson, Samuel Peeples and Robert Hamner. Directors included Nathan Juran, Don McDougall, Tom Aries, Harry Harris and Joseph H. Lewis, all very familiar with westerns. The guest star list is also impressive—Beverly Garland, Warren Oates, John Anderson, Charles McGraw, Claude Akins, James Griffith, Bruce Dern, Don Megowan, Leif Erickson, Trevor Bardette, Karen Steele, George Kennedy, John Dehner, Myron Healey, Fay Spain, Gregory Walcott, Michael Ansara, L. Q. Jones, Robert Loggia, Andrew Duggan, De Forest Kelley, Anne Helm, John Cliff, John Ireland, Nina Foch, Doug Fowley, Strother Martin, Steve Brodie, John McIntire, Gary Merrill and many other excellent actors. With this multitude of writing/directing/acting talent behind it, and a star of Robert Horton’s magnitude and popularity, “A Man Called Shenandoah” deserved a better timeslot and a better fate. Robert Horton modified the lyrics to the traditional 1820s folk song, sang it for the opening of the episodes and recorded it for Columbia. ![]() ![]() On beyond this land so lonely Oh Shenandoah, you’re doomed to wander So roam in search of home ‘Cross this land so lonely.”
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