Home | What's New | Top 100 | Find Your Show | Message Board |  Trivia | Our Want List | Mailing List | FAQ

BIG VALLEY Western (1965-1969)

Victoria Barkley -- Barbara Stanwyck Jarrod Barkley -- Richard Long Nick Barkley -- Peter Breck Heath Barkley -- Lee Majors Audra Barkley -- Linda Evans Silas -- Napoleon Whiting

This action-filled Western adventure was set on the Barkley ranch in California's San Joaquin Valley in the 1870's. The matriarch was Victoria Barkley, who ran the family empire with a strong hand and the help of her four adult children; lawyer Jarrod, bold, brawling young Nick, handsome Heath, occasionally seen Eugene, and beautiful daughter, Audra. Like other settlers, the Barkleys were continually fighting the lawless elements of the Old West, and Big Valley stories were people with schemers, murderers, bank robbers, and con men. The show was also the vehicle for Lee Majors' first TV series, and was in fact the first acting role he read for after completing a mere six months of drama instruction.

Episodes Known To Be In Existence
(listed in alphabetical order -- no further episode info is currently available):

ALIAS NELLIE HANDLEY
Air Date: 2-24-69
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Susan Oliver, Richard Anderson, Gavin MacLeod
Synopsis: Victoria impersonates a sneak thief, so she'll be sent to prison and can gather evidence on the terrible conditions there.

AMBUSH
Air Date: 9-18-67
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: James Gregory, L.Q Jones, Toian Matchinga, Rex Holman, Ruben Moreno, Robert Karnes
Synopsis: Victoria and a reluctant Simon Carter are the only protection three Yaqui Indian women have from bounty-seeking scalp hunters.

BARBARY RED
Air Date: 2-16-66
Writer: Judith Barrows
Director: Michael Ritchie
Guests: Jill St. John, George Kennedy, Donna Michelle, John Hoyt
Synopsis: Nick is shanghaied at a saloon run by a woman Jarrod once defended for that very crime.

THE BATTLE OF MINERAL SPRINGS
Air Date: 3-24-69
Writer: Douglas Moore
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Jack Albertson, Dennis Patrick, Conlan Carter
Synopsis: After learning how the town of Mineral Springs has been ruined by the "boss" of a neighboring town, the Barkleys open a freight business connecting Mineral Springs with Stockton and the rest of the valley.

BOOTS WITH MY FATHER'S NAME
Air Date: 9-29-65
Writers: Mel Goldberg, Les Pine, Tina Rome
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Guests: Jeanne Cooper, Beah Richards, John Anderson, Richard Devon, John Harmon
Synopsis: Victoria starts brooding about how Tom could have truly loved her if he was once unfaithful to her and fathered a bastard child. She journeys to Heath's hometown to try to find the truth about Tom's relationship with Heath's mother.

BROTHER LOVE
Air Date: 2-20-67
Writer: Jay Simms
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Robert Goulet, Strother Martin, Gavin MacLeod
Synopsis: Itinerant "preacher" Brother Love tries out his charm on Audra; Heath sets out to prove that the preacher is a con-man.

BUFFALO MAN
Air Date: 12-25-67
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Joseph A. Mazzuca
Guests: Albert Salmi, Lonny Chapman, Yaphet Kotto, Andreas Teuber
Synopsis: Victoria hires three convicts to help with the peach harvest. The violence of the convict overseer, especially with a black ex-soldier, horrifies her.

BY FIRE’S UNSEEN
Air Date: 1-5-66
Writers: Mel Goldberg, Ken Trevey
Director: Ralph Senensky
Guests: Diane Baker, Frank Scannell, King Johnson
Synopsis: Nick brings his bride-to-be back from San Francisco; the family doubts, however, that she's really ready to marry anyone.

CAGE OF EAGLES
Air Date: 4-24-67
Writer: Herb Meadow
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Pernell Roberts, Harold Gould, John Pickard, Bing Russell
Synopsis: Nick hires Patrick Madigan as a dynamiter, despite his likely Fenian background. Tensions rise when a British mining engineer threatens to have him deported.

CAESAR'S WIFE
Air Date: 10-3-66
Writer: Henry Kronman
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Dianne Foster, Tim O'Kelly, Bert Freed, Bern Hoffman
Synopsis: Therese Marvin has strong feelings for her stepson Will, and a terrible jealousy of Audra, whom she is believes is pursuing Will.

THE CHALLENGE
Air Date: 3-18-68
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: James Gregory, Harold Gould
Synopsis: Victoria and her long-time friend Senator Bannard are set up for a "compromising" photograph, by Bannard's political rival.

DAYS OF WRATH
Air Date: 1-8-68
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Michael Strong, Sandra Smith, Kevin Hagen, Peter Hobbs
Synopsis: Jarrod seeks to avenge the death of his new wife at the hands of a man he once sent to prison.

DEATH MERCHANT
Air Date: 2-23-66
Writer: Jay Simms
Director: Bernard McEveety
Guests: James Whitmore, Royal Dano
Synopsis: The Barkleys are plagued by neighbors who claim a boundary changed when a stream changed course. Into the picture comes Handy Random, a gunman who once did the Barkleys a great service. Will he escalate the bickering into a violent feud?

EARTHQUAKE
Air Date: 11-10-65
Writer: Oliver Crawford
Director: Paul Henreid
Guests: Charles Bronson, Alizia Gur, Wesley Lau, Audrey Dalton, Robert B. Williams, William Fawcett, John Craven
Synopsis: In an earthquake, a mission church collapses into a forgotten mine which lies under it. Victoria is trapped there with a pregnant Indian woman and a man with a grudge -- a ranch hand that Nick recently fired.

THE FALLEN HAWK
Air Date: 3-2-66
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Paul Henreid
Guests: Marlyn Mason, Peter Haskell, Paul Comi, Dennis Cross
Synopsis: Heath's guilt-feelings get the better of him when he blames himself for a friend's injury. He seems oblivious to the fact that his friend is manipulating him.

FLIGHT FROM SAN MIGUEL
Air Date: 4-28-69
Writer: Edward J. Lakso
Director: Lawrence Dobkin
Guests: Gerald Mohr, Pat Delany, H.M. Wynant, Nate Esformes
Synopsis: An old girlfriend of Heath's asks his help to rescue her husband, a Mexican revolutionary leader. The family agrees that he should, though if he is caught the Barkley mines will be confiscated..and Heath may lose his life.

FOUR DAYS TO FURNACE HILL
Air Date: 12-4-67
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Fritz Weaver, Bruce Dern, Rafael Campos, Don Chastain, Jull Reding
Synopsis: A woman prisoner is killed while he is being delivered to a desert prison. To keep from losing $100 bounty, the guards substitute Victoria, whose buggy has broken down on the route to a mine stockholders' meeting.

THE GREAT SAFE ROBBERY
Air Date: 11-21-68
Writer: William Norton
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Warren Oates, Christopher Cary, Kelton Garwood, Lee Krieger, Bill Quinn, Joe Higgins
Synopsis: Three comically inept brothers try hard to crack a railroad station safe.

GUILTY
Air Date: 10-30-67
Writer: Harry Kronman
Director: Paul Henreid
Guests: Norman Alden, Robert Nichols, Joyce Ebert, Harlan Warde, Frankie Kabott
Synopsis: Jarrod's client Jeff Bowden was convicted of the murder of a priest; he is convinced of the man's innocence, and sure he can win on appeal. When Bowden escapes during his transfer to prison, Jarrod tries to intervene before he or anyone else gets killed.

HERITAGE
Air Date: 10-20-65
Writer: Carey Wilber
Director: Paul Wendkos
Guests: Anne Helm, Sherwood Price, Ford Rainey, Richard Hale
Synopsis: Heath investigates violence during at a strike at a Barkley mine. He finds that the miners hate the Barkleys for promises unkept. The family sets out to right things before the Molly Maguires strike again.

HIDE THE CHILDREN
Air Date: 12-19-66
Writer: Jack Curtis
Director: Arthur H. Nadel
Guests: Stephen McNally, Louise Sorel, Royal Dano, Celia Lovsky
Synopsis: When he accuses some gypsy workers of stealing his brandy, and injures one of them in a fight, Nick is volunteered by his brothers to escort the other gypsies and their dowry-wagon to a wedding. On the way, he becomes smitten with the bride-to-be, and learns some lessons about intolerance.

IRON BOX
Air Date: 11-28-66
Writer: Steven W. Carabatsos
Director: Bernard McEveety
Guests: David Sheiner, Paul Picerni, Yaphet Kotto, Frank Marth, Walter Burke
Synopsis: Nick and Heath are arrested by a corrupt sheriff and sent to a road-gang prison. When the warden learns that the two prisoners are of the "California Barkleys", he plans to tempt Nick into leading a breakout so he can legitimately shoot the brothers outside the wire.

JOAQUIN
Air Date: 9-11-67
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Fabrizio Mioni, Robert Carricart, Margarita Cordova
Synopsis: A newly-hired ranch hand is suspected of being the famous outlaw Joaquin Murietta, supposedly dead in an ambush ten years before.

JOSHUA WATSON
Air Date: 1-20-69
Writer: Robert L. Goodwin
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Lou Rawls, Royal Dano, Greg Mullavey, Robert Sampson, Michael Bell, Mark Tapscott, Marvin J. Downey
Synopsis: Nick is relieved when -- after betting $5000 on a rodeo against a rival ranch -- he hires a brilliant all-'round cowboy, ex-slave Joshua Watson. When the rival Mortons learn how good Joshua is with a gun, they claim he is an outlaw and say that if he doesn't turn himself in, they'll take him or kill him.

JOURNEY INTO VIOLENCE
Air Date: 12-18-67
Writer: Arthur Browne, Jr.
Director: Arnold Laven
Guests: Quentin Dean, Richard Peabody, Charles Tyner
Synopsis: Heath is taken captive by a band of "religious" who accuse him of killing one of the number, and condemn him to serve as slave to the dead man's widow.

JUDGMENT IN HEAVEN
Air Date: 12-22-65
Writer: Mel Goldberg
Director: Murray Golden
Guests: Lynn Loring, R.J. Porter, Nicolas Surovy
Synopsis: Jarrod risks inviting his client home for a Christmas visit: a young woman accused of aiding and abetting her boyfriend, an outlaw who has recently escaped from jail.

LADY FROM MESA
Air Date: 4-3-67
Writer: Harry Kronman
Director: Joseph A. Mazzuca
Guests: Lee Grant, Frank Marth, E.J. Andre, Regan Wilson, Robert Cornthwaite
Synopsis: Long-time Barkley cowhand Sam Williams is badly injured on guard-duty. Feeling guilty for allowing Williams on the job, Nick is determined to bring Sam's daughter to his side. She's a schoolteacher in Mesa, Nevada...or is she?

LADY KILLER
Air Date: 10-16-67
Writer: Jay Simms
Director: Norman S. Powell
Guests: Marlyn Mason, Royal Dano, Anthony James, Roy Jenson, James Boles, Chris Alcaide, Clyde Howdy, Jason Johnson
Synopsis: Nick may become the latest victim of a family who preys upon male customers at their hotel. His pursuit of the young woman of the family gives them pause: should they kill him now, or hope that, wonder of wonders, a Stockton Barkley would marry her?

LAST STAGE TO SALT FLATS
Air Date: 12-5-66
Writer: Arthur Browne, Jr.
Director: Bernard McEveety
Guests: Lamont Johnson, Norma Crane, Rex Holman, Dennis Cross, Kevin Hagen, Steven Mines
Synopsis: Stage passengers -- including Victoria, Jarrod, and Heath -- are abandoned in the middle of the desert by robbers.

LIGHTFOOT
Air Date: 2-17-69
Writers: Ken Pettus, John O'Dea, Jay Simms
Director: Lawrence Dobkin
Guests: Joe Don Baker, Amy Thomson, Harry Lauter, Walter Coy
Synopsis: Modoc Indian Tom Lightfoot returns from Harvard to find that not everyone is willing to treat him with respect. His bitterness leads him to turn against even his long-time friends the Barkleys.

THE MAN FROM NOWHERE
Air Date: 11-14-66
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Guests: Sheree North, Anne Seymour, Gregory Walcott, Duane Chase
Synopsis: Jarrod is sent by the state to help mediate in a land dispute. Injured and without memory of his identity, he is taken in by the family involved in the dispute.

MY SON, MY SON
Air Date: 11-3-65
Writer: Paul Schneider
Director: Paul Henreid
Guests: Robert Walker, Jr., R.G. Armstrong, Katherine Bard
Synopsis: Audra wants to flirt with Evan Miles, a childhood friend now back from the East. Little does she know that he suffers from a dangerous emotional instability.

THE OTHER FACE OF JUSTICE
Air Date: 3-31-69
Writer: Don Ingalls
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: John Crawford, James Gregory
Synopsis: Legendary Stockton sheriff Harry Bodine picks up his guns again when a brutal gang terrorizes the countryside. His motives, however, are not as they seem.

PALMS OF GLORY (PILOT EPISODE)
Air Date: 9-15-65
Writer: Christopher Knopf
Director: William A. Graham
Guests: Malachi Throne, Vincent Gardenia, Len Wayland, Dennis Cross, Dallas McKennon
Synopsis: The Barkleys lead the resistance when the Coastal and Western Railroad hire bully-boys to force farmers to give up their land for a pittance. Meanwhile, a young man appears claiming to be Tom Barkley's bastard son.

POINT AND COUNTERPOINT (FINAL EPISODE)
Air Date: 5-19-69
Writer: Arthur Browne, Jr.
Director: James F. Lichtman
Guests: Clifford David, Walter Burke, Russell Thorsen
Synopsis: Jarrod jeopardizes his possible candidacy for Attorney General by defending an accused murderer. Little does he know that he was approached to be counsel as part of a complex plot for revenge on Victoria.

PRICE OF VICTORY
Air Date: 2-13-67
Writer: William Norton
Director: Bernard McEveety
Guests: Larry Pennell, Sandra Smith, Hal Baylor, Lee Krieger
Synopsis: Heath tricks Nick into becoming a sparring partner to a professional boxer. When Nick knocks him down by a fluke, it is discovered that the boxer has a dangerous weakness: a blind side caused by a blood clot. Nick offers him a job on the ranch, and when the boxer insists on re-entering the ring, he becomes his manager for one last fight.

THE PROFIT AND THE LOST
Air Date: 12-2-68
Writer: Richard Wendley
Director: Bernard McEveety
Guests: Robert Loggia, Bert Freed
Synopsis: Heath saves the life of a hired killer, who is on the way to Stockton to kill ...Heath.

RIMFIRE [unsold pilot episode for projected fall series]
Air Date: 2-19-68
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Charles S. Dubin
Guests: Van Williams, Mako, Lisa Lu, John Daniels, Robert Middleton
Synopsis: Jarrod is in Rimfire to negotiate the merger of the Barkley and Glover silver mines. Unfortunately, land between the two mines is occupied by Chinese "squatters" who have taken over abandoned real estate. They insist they will not be bought out, and tensions rise.

THE SECRET
Air Date: 1-27-69
Writers: Sasha Gilien and Mel Goldberg
Director: Joseph A. Mazzuca
Guests: Simon Oakland, Nancy Malone, Kelly Corcoran
Synopsis: Adam Howard believes that his wife has been having an affair with Jarrod. He buys a neighboring ranch and sets out to harm the Barkleys in every possible way.

A STRANGER EVERYWHERE
Air Date: 12-9-68
Writer: Lee Erwin
Director: Paul Henreid
Guests: Julie Harris, Richard Devon, Dennis Patrick
Synopsis: Nick inadvertently causes problems for the town dressmaker when, as a joke, he tells a gullible ranch hand that the woman is a missing member of an outlaw gang. When Nick realizes what he has done, he tries undo the damage.

TEACHER OF OUTLAWS
Air Date: 1-26-66
Writers: Gilbert Ralston, Lou Morheim
Guests: Harold J. Stone, Steve Ihnat, Tim Carey
Synopsis: Victoria is kidnapped by outlaws who think she's the local schoolteacher. The reason is unusual: the gang leader wants her to teach him how to read.

A TIME TO KILL
Air Date: 1-19-66
Writer: Peter Packer
Director: Bernard McEveety
Guests: William Shatner, Frank Marth, George Kennedy, Robert Cornthwaite
Synopsis: Jarrod welcomes an old law school friend to the valley, only to find that a secret service agent is on his trail. It seems that every place the friend travels, counterfeit money comes into circulation.

TOP OF THE STAIRS
Air Date: 1-6-69
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Virgil W. Vogel
Guests: Ron Harper, Jean Inness, Paul Fix, Robert Ellenstein, Walter Sande, Byron Morrow
Synopsis: Victoria wonders if she is being lied to: she is told her brother-in-law has gone insane, but is refused admittance to his sickroom, even when he is sedated.

TOWN OF NO EXIT
Air Date: 4-7-69
Writer: William Norton
Director: Norman S. Powell
Guests: Leslie Nielsen, John Carradine, Lorri Scott, Diana Ewing
Synopsis: Heath stumbles upon a ghost town apparently ruled by the mad.

THE TWENTY-FIVE GRAVES OF MIDAS
Air Date: 2-3-69
Writer: Ken Pettus
Director: Richard Long
Guests: Anne Baxter, Linda Marsh, Arch Johnson, Kevin Hagen, Gary Beban
Synopsis: Nick and Heath travel separately to a mining town to investigate a collapsed mine. When Nick arrives, he finds a hostile populace, and no Heath.

WINNER LOSE ALL
Air Date: 10-27-65
Writer: Harry Kronman
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Guests: Katherine Ross, Henry Wilcoxon, Karl Swenson, Naomi Stevens
Synopsis: A Hispanic family is in a land dispute with the Barkleys. Maria, the young daughter of the family, falls in love with Heath. Her father disapproves because of Heath's illegitimate birth, and will use the land crisis as leverage to force Heath and Maria apart.

YOUNG MARAUDERS
Air Date: 10-6-65
Writer: Peter Packer
Director: Paul Wendkos
Guests: Sean Garrison, Buck Taylor, Virginia Christine, Kevin Hagen, James Patterson
Synopsis: Audra is saved from serious injury by a young man who says he is a mustang hunter. She falls in love with him; her brothers find him a suspicious character.

Found your episode?  Then where can we take you?

77 Sunset Strip    Hawaiian Eye    Surfside Six

click below

www.lakefield.net/~rocks/