| Trackdown |
 |
| CBS Network |
| 1957 - 1959 |
| Drama |
| 30 Minutes |
The cases of Hoby Gilman (Robert Culp), a
civil war veteran-turned-
Texas Ranger with Frontier Company A who maintained law and order in the
Lone Star State during the 1870s.
Hoby was based in the town of Porter, Texas.
He served as the town's temporary law
enforcement officer, in between his trips out of
town when he had to hunt down bank robbers,
killers and other outlaws.
Hoby's friends in town included:
- Norman Leavitt as Ralph, Hoby's
deputy.
- Ellen Corby as Henrietta Porter,
the publisher of the Porter
Enterprise, the town's paper. Henrietta
and her late husband founded of the town. Most
of the town's businesses bear their name, such
as The Porter Hotel and the Porter Barber
Shop.
- James Griffith as Aaron Adams, the
town barber.
- Gail Kobe as Penny Adams, Aaron's
sister. She likes Hoby.
- Peter Leeds as Tenner Smith, a
former gambler and gunslinger who owned the
Buckhorn Saloon.
- Addison Richards as Doc Jay
Calhoun.
Here are some of Hoby Gilman's exploits:
- Tracks the Marple Brothers to
Stockton only find they have taken a woman and
child hostage.
- Protects a man accused of murder from
a lynch mob.
- Attacked while transporting a
wagonload of prisoners.
- Travels to the town of Easton to
solve a robbery
- Confronted by the teenage son of a
viscous criminal.
- Looks for the mother of a baby he
found at a robbery site.
- Investigates the death of a Texas
Ranger.
- Must stop a woman from murdering her
husband's killer.
- Heads off a bank robbery planed by
Sam Bass.
- Looks for an outlaw's sister who can
ID his accomplices.
- Captured by outlaws in a small
mining town.
- Tracks a bank robber who stole
$50,000.
- Protects a frightened blind man who
witnessed a murder.
- Bitten by a rattlesnake while
escorting a prisoner.
- Delivers a prisoner to a judge who is
the criminal's father.
- Meets a young man with a reputation
as a fast gun.
- Protects a witness from harm so he
testify at a trial.
- Helps a man acquitted of murder who
is really guilty.
- Helps a boy held ransom for the
bank's money.
- Intervenes when a prisoner overpowers
his jailer.
- Proves a man preaching an apocalypse
is a fraud.
- Must choose which twin is the real
killer.
- Thwarts an assassination plot on the
Governor of Texas.
- Investigates the murder of a
professional gambler.
- Helps a woman who has been told to
leave town.
- Tries to help a Chinese laundry man
who is bullied.
- Comes upon men who want him to
release his prisoner.
- Discovers a wounded outlaw during a
snowstorm.
- Refuses a demand by citizens to
release an outlaw.
- Keeps a gunman from chasing a
schoolteacher from town.
- Forced to help a gunslinger gain
custody of his child.
- Learns about six ex-bandits who plan
to strike again.
- Tracks a typhoid carrier who leaves a
trail of sickness.
- Helps a dying woman fulfill her final
wish to be buried.
- Confronts a band of men who have
taken over a town.
- Stops a man who threatens to blow up
a town.
- Saves a Civil War deserter from an
angry mob of citizens
- Prevents four brothers from
terrorizing a town.
- Stops a young gunman who is
threatening Tenner Smith.
- Investigates strange occurrences
linked to witchcraft.
- Intercedes in a feud between a
husband and brother.
- Goes home to help his sister who had
been threatened.
- Tracks a convict who is stalking a
blind boy.
- Gets involved with a senile outlaw
and her two sons.
Screen Captures
TRIVIA NOTE:
The
series episodes were based on actual files of
the Texas Rangers and had the official approval
of the State of Texas. Robert Culp wrote several
of the scripts.
The program pilot appeared on DICK POWELL'S ZANE
GREY THEATER.
TRACKDOWN spawned the CBS spin-off WANTED:
DEAD OR ALIVE, with Steve McQueen as Josh Randall
on the episode "The Bounty Hunter."
When Robert Culp co-starred on the espionage
series I SPY, his partner Alexander Scott (Bill
Cosby) referred to Culp's character Kelly
Robinson as "Hoby," an affectionate reference to
his TRACKDOWN days.
Obituaries: Norman Leavitt: 12/11/2005; Ellen Corby:
04/14/1999; Peter Leeds: 11/12/1996; James Griffith:
09/17/1993;
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