Before Rawhide, Clint Eastwood's Biggest TV Role Was On A Beloved Western Series

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"Maverick" remains one of the best classic Western TV shows, rivaling the likes of "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza" in terms of pure cultural recognition. It also boasted some top-notch guest stars, including a young Clint Eastwood who had only debuted on "Rawhide" a month prior and was a long way from mounting up as the Man with No Name.

"Maverick" launched James Garner's career. The actor starred as Bret Maverick in a show that saw the titular card shark work his way across the Old West one poker game at a time. Along the way, he and his brother Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) became embroiled in all manner of debacles and weren't necessarily prepared to deal with the consequences. The show was novel in featuring a lead character who, unlike many Western heroes of the age, wasn't looking for a gunfight — or any fight, for that matter. Nonetheless, Maverick and his brother frequently ran afoul of everyone from corrupt bankers to good old-fashioned gunslingers.

Eastwood portrayed one such sharpshooter in a Season 2 episode that saw him in the unusual position of playing a villain and rival to Maverick. The 1959 installment, entitled "Duel at Sundown," was also a notable TV appearance for Eastwood, who at that point had only just debuted as Rowdy Yates on the Western series that would launch his own career, "Rawhide."

"Duel at Sundown" was the 19th episode of "Maverick" Season 2, airing February 1, 1959. Less than a month prior, "Rawhide" had debuted on CBS, introducing the masses to Clint Eastwood's ramrod Rowdy Yates. With his "Maverick" appearance, however, Eastwood had what Patrick McGilligan, in his book "Clint: The Life and Legend," called "his most substantial guest appearance in a top series." 

Indeed, the then-29-year-old had only appeared in small parts both on TV and on the big screen. In 1958, Eastwood made what he later called his worst movie ever, "Ambush at Cimarron Pass," and his small-screen roles didn't exactly make up for it. He appeared in a substantial role on the ABC series "Highway Patrol" and in two episodes of "Death Valley Days," alongside a handful of other guest spots. But "Maverick" was a much bigger deal, with Eastwood claiming almost as much screen time as James Garner himself — perhaps because his de facto manager/agent Arthur Lubin was directing.

In "Duel at Sundown," Eastwood plays a gunslinger named Red Hardigan who's determined to marry Carrie (Abby Dalton) for her money. Carrie is the daughter of Bret Maverick's old friend Jed Christianson (Edgar Buchanan), and when Maverick shows up in town, Jed offers his old buddy $1,000 to break up the romance. Maverick obliges, upsetting Hardigan and leading to a saloon brawl between the pair. Soon after, Maverick witnesses Hardigan's considerable shooting skills and devises a plan that will run him out of town for good without the need for a duel between the two. This essentially involves Bart Maverick dressing up as famed gunfighter John Wesley Hardin and challenging his brother to a duel. After Maverick fans his pistol and takes down Hardin, Red runs scared.

In 1959, aside from co-starring in "Rawhide," Clint Eastwood also appeared in an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." His role in the installment went uncredited. After that, the young actor's career went from strength to strength, and once he and Sergio Leone rewrote the rules of filmmaking with the "Dollars" trilogy, he never looked back. As such, Eastwood's "Maverick" appearance remains his most notable TV role outside of "Rawhide."

"Duel at Sundown" is a charming time capsule of a time when Eastwood was still finding his way, yet displayed all the movie-star charisma that would carry him so far in successive decades. As villain Red Harrigan, he can't help but exude a certain charm, and his formidable presence was simply undeniable. It's also interesting to see him playing an antagonist so successfully, considering he would rise to fame as arguably the pre-eminent Western hero of the post-John Wayne era.

Interestingly enough, James Garner later starred in an offbeat 1970s Western alongside a "Superman" star that was even more parodic (though perhaps unintentionally) than "Maverick." "Nichols" debuted in 1971 and lasted just one season. By that point, Eastwood was starring as Harry Callahan in "Dirty Harry," which was about as far from "Nichols" as you could get. Still, he and Garner did eventually re-team for "Space Cowboys" in 2000, though this time they were very much on the same team as aging pilots sent into space to fix a satellite.