I watched Wagon Train as a child, but am not old enough to remember when the episodes being shown now were on TV. I remember the Bill Hawks character, but I don't remember ever knowing he had a wife. Was his wife with him during the entire series? If not how did they handle her departure?
Bill Hawks did have a wife, Emily, in the first season and she was prominent in "The Major Adams Story," the two-parter which guest starred Virginia Grey and Douglas Kennedy. After the first season, though, Emily just disappeared and was never mentioned again. Bill was a bachelor after that first season. The show never explained why her character was gone.
shareThanks for the clarification. We've been DVRing these older episodes and everything was much as I remembered it, except seeing his wife.
shareOther TV characters that have disappeared without explanation include:
Eugene Barkley on "The Big Valley."
Richie's older brother (I can't remember his name)on "Happy Days."
I think Richie's older brother was Chuck.
shareThat's right! Chuck Cunningham was his name.
shareCharles Briles, the actor who played Eugene Barkley, was drafted. That was the end of Eugene.
shareWatching the Steele Family, an episode that comes near the end of season two, they mention that Bill is married.
shareEarly in the first season, Bill Hawks was another background character on the Wagon Train - often complaining about the guest star or some decision of the major's. At the start, Terry Wilson was signed on as Ward Bond's stunt double, and was given small speaking parts as one of the background characters. Then he got a name. Then the major gave him some tasks. Then he was made a regular part of the team (and given a back-story of his association with the major before and during the civil war). While he was still just one of the people on the train, he had a wife in a few episodes but at the beginning of season two, he went back East with the major and Charlie (and the wife was rarely mentioned).
Consistency was not too important to TV writers back then. Apparently they figured the audience couldn't remember much from one week to the next and characters appeared and disappeared without explanation.
Watching an episode from 1957 featuring Shelley Winters as the guest star I wasn't sure if Terry Wilson was playing Bill Hawks or some bad guy type character. He had a nasty attitude and was the first one to pick up the rope for a potential lynching of a suspected murderer before any trial was held. Earlier in the episode Adams had knocked Hawks down so it was obvious at this stage there was no Adams/Hawks old buddy/old pal type relationship.
Something happened later to make him a Mr. Nice Guy. Was this deliberate or did it "just happen"?
I remember reading an old TV Guide article years ago featuring an interview with Frank McGrath. He said that Ward Bond insisted to the producers that the role of Charlie Wooster be a speaking part, so Bond probably was doing the same thing for Terry Wilson. Bond must have won out somewhere during the first season and convinced the producers to enlarge the roles of Charlie and Bill.
McGrath also mentioned in this article that Bond was always going to bat for him and Terry with the producers by trying to get them pay raises.
Ward Bond sure must have been one helluva man!
It depended on your station in the film business to whether Ward Bond was thought to be a great guy.
If you were higher on the food chain like John Ford and John Wayne or someone like Terry Wilson, who started out as a goer for Bond, he was a great guy.
If you were an actor with no clout, Bond was known to be a vulgar, crude, and rude individual. Various actors have offered negative points of view about Bond over the years.
I saw and chatted with Charles recently at the Memphis Film Festival and he is alive and looking great and yes you are correct about his being drafted.
shareIn The Katy Piper Story from the final season, it is mentioned that Bill is engaged. Hawks sure got around!
Tell me about the squares, Buzzie.
In the first season (and perhaps only the first half of that first season), Bill Hawkes was "Mister Hawkes" and he was a paying passenger with a covered wagon of his own, and a wife, Emily, who spoke a few lines in a couple of early episodes. After that, he somehow became Seth Adams's principal assistant and no mention was made of his wife. In The Major Adams Story he was the sergeant in the Army under Major Adams and it was he who shaped up Private Charles Wooster as the company cook. In a couple of other episodes, he had been, before the Civil War, a partner with Adams in, variously, a sawmill in Illinois, and/or in running illegal prize fights in New York City. As far as I recall, he ALWAYS spoke to and of Adams as "the Major" and "Major Adams" - which I think is odd for someone who was best buddies with him in civilian life before they enlisted. We do know that he is reasonably well-read, can recognize familiar Shakespearean quotations and has read Ben Hur (notwithstanding that it was published in 1880 - too late for a series about wagon trains). Once he became identified as an employee of the wagon train, there are only a very few mentions that he has a wife in California, and I do not think he ever got romantically involved with any female characters. Terry Wilson was very handsome and acted well and it is a great pity that he seems not have become a regular in any subsequent TV series.
shareHi Suss,
I am writing a book on the "uncredited" actors and stuntmen and also character actors and their parts in the Making of our heroes. I began basing it on Ward Bond, Terry Wilson, and Frank McGrath as they had been around forever and were main parts of John "Pappy" Ford's stock troupe. Not nearly enough has been written about Terry. He was an excellent horseman, although not credited for it.
Need to watch it again, but am pretty certain, (as I have frame by framed it many times, that he did the "horse walk" down the backs of the six up to get the reins Seth had dropped when shot while driving in the Stagecoach Story. Also, many times in WT he rides a very fast horse as well as I have ever since Ben johnson ride.....think one of those might have been "Weight of Command" which also showed excellent acting by Ward, Terry AND Frank.
He also did a lot of stunt "fight" doubles for Duke.
When the Major was about to get out of the hospital for his war wounds, (and Wooster and Bill helped greatly with his therapy so he could walk again), he told them he wanted to take a Wagon Train west and asked that they go along with him.
They did. Bill and Emily were good friends of Seth's. Somehow, Emily became a "shrewish type woman" and Bill went along with her a bit. Finally, Emily was just gone and Bill was alone and without a wagon. The group of the three of them grew much closer then. But, as far as I remember, Bill was always a part of Seth's crew. Point me to an episode that proves this wrong if it is. Wouldn't want my book to be in error. Thanks, and anything else you may know of the three, please let me know. KP
watch the Ruth Owens story...episode 4 of Season 1. Hawks really didn't become part of Seth's crew till later in Season 1. If you watch the episode 2 of Season 1 you will see Hawks being just a member of the wagon train headed out west. I think its the Emily Rossiter Story which is episode 7, you find that Hawks has a land deed in California. Its not till late in Season 1 that Hawks becomes part of Seth's crew.
If you watch you see plenty of times where Terry is doubling for Bond in several episodes,including riding (this was because of a car accident Bond was in where he almost lost a leg). In the episode Beth Pearson Story season 4 which was the last episode Ward Bond filmed you can see its Terry and not Ward entering the wagon and Ward inside the wagon. I didn't know till later that filming wasn't finished on that episode and they filmed Terry finishing the episode as Seth (Bond).
Hi there Ohiorook, I am writing a book about Seth Adams, Bill Hawks, and Charlie Wooster. Actually telling a story through the eyes of Ward Bond, Terry Wilson, and Frank McGrath. I don't know how many episodes you have watched of the ones Ward was in, but in the Major Adams Story II, after Seth finds that his love has married, he gets together with Bill and Charlie and tells them he wants to take a Wagon Train out west. So, the three of them start out...yes, Bill has his wife with him. But, he was still part of his Major's crew as they both served under him in the war and found him in the hospital after the docs had tried to remove BOTH his legs. They did his physical therapy with him until he could walk again. At the beginning, Bill and his wife were super nice. As time went on, Bill took on some of the habits his wife picked up....she became a bit shrewish. She was eventually written out without a reason. Terry and Frank were both good friends of Ward's and were in Pappy Ford's Stock Troup regulars. You see them in many of Duke's movies. And, of course Ward and Duke were the very best of friends. Terry sure did a lot of Ward's stunts. One of the greatest was when he fought for Rainey, his first love after he found her again and was taking her to her sister's by WT. Frank was one of the best horsemen in the business, but because of his diminutitive size, he often stunted for Indians or women.
Watch the Jonas Murdock Story with Noah Berry Jr. Bill is the star of this show. And once you see him fight Jonas,(Terry did all of his stunts....Noah did a lot of his, but has a stuntman for the really rough stuff), you will NEVER miss Terry in either a fight or knife scene. Leonard Maltin didn't catch him in the commentary he did of Hondo, but I did immediately....I have seen his fight episode about 50 times, LOL. Terry did almost all of Duke's knife fight with Silva in Hondo!
It was actually a taxi which hit Ward in the street, (he was stone cold sober), and it almost took his left leg off completely below the knee. He awakened long enough, as in WT to tell them NOT to amputate. He had surgeries, massive amounts of physical therapy, and wore a large brace and used crutches for over a year. He eventually just wore the bulky brace and that is why he wore such wide legged pants. His first work back was They Were the Expendables where he did no walking.....Pappy had the part of Boats written in for him because he needed the money. They had him shot in the leg, so that at the end, he could be the one to lead the men off with the use of a crutch.
As for the Pearson Story, Ward had not finished a good bit of dialogue either. That is when he goes back in time and Bill and Chuck are helping him out of the hospital bed....another voice begins to tell the story and goes on for a while.
I have volumes written on this, Pappy's movies, Duke, etc. I will be glad to tell you more if you would like. My email is [email protected]. Oh, and Terry Wilson was a much bigger man than he seemed and strong as an ox.
Have a good one, Keith
Hi Keith:
Seen all the 1st Season episodes which if you watch the whole season you see Hawks didn't start out as a part of Seth's crew even though the Major Adams story shows they served in the war together, in fact in the Colter Craven Story they show Hawks and Adams were partners in another business. I guess after you watch those episodes you are suppose to forget the first episodes of the season where Hawks was just another passenger on the wagon train being a thorn in Adams side. Go back and watch the first episode of Season 1 you will see what I mean.
Oh I know well what you mean. I have watched each episode more than 10 times and most a whole lot more than that. I can only assume that Ward didn't have anywhere near the type of control that he did a little later when he began to pretty much run the show....18 or so hours a day he would sometimes work at it.
Ward's contract stated that Terry and Frank would be regulars on WT. He wouldn't have it any other way.....have to find that...I sourced it somewhere long ago. When I do, I will send it to you. Glad you emailed me. Enough for here. When I get too much on, it slows down, stops, etc, LOL. Yesterday was a nightmare!
I don't think they wanted the episodes then to be connected so it would look like the episode you were watching was the only one happening. Wagon Train did a better job of background stories than a lot of the shows.
John Wayne was smart enough to see where TV was going. Ward Bond and James Arness were in his stock company. He did not want to get into a series himself but he helped Ward Bond and James Arness get hooked into good programs. I remember reading once that John Wayne and some of their friends were going to play a joke on Ward Bond. John Wayne did a cameo appearance on Wagon Train and Ward Bond was not on the set that day. They were going to watch it on TV when it was scheduled to show and catch Ward Bond's surprise of John Wayne being in it. Unfortunately, Ward Bond died of a heart attack before the show played so they did not get to share that laugh. Maybe they are sharing that laugh in heaven. Rest in peace.
It's a real pleasure to see that there are true TV and film historians on these boards along with so many appreciative fans. I wish you well with your book on this fascinating topic. I'd love to read it when it's published.
shareThanks Joe, don't know if I mentioned it, but it will be told through the "eyes" of Ward Bond, Terry Wilson, and Frank McGrath of Wagon Train fame. HAGO, Keith
shareHi Keith
I love the Jose Morales story that you mentioned. The stuntman for Noah Berry was Hal Needham. I think Hal was doing a lot of stunt work for Richard Boone in Have Gun Will Travel at the time. He moved around to many of the TV westerns to do stunt work and showed up on WT several times (The Race Town Story comes to mind). Another fight that was outstanding in the WT series was the one shot for the Duke Shannon Story. I believe Terry Wilson choreographed the fight performed with Denny "Scott" Miller. Superb!!
Elise