Alan Hale Jr. Played Villains On This Western Series Until A Tragedy Turned Him Into A Hero

The 1950s were a golden age for small-screen Oaters, providing some of the best Western TV shows ever made — from "Gunsmoke" to "Rawhide." There was also "Cheyenne," the now-forgotten Western gem that completely changed television. At one point, that very show hosted future "Gilligan's Island" star Alan Hale Jr., who became a household name in 1964 thanks to his portrayal of the lovable Captain Jonas Grumby. In the early '50s, however, he was a character actor who nonetheless was working very steadily in both film and TV. That decade saw him appear in multiple Western shows beyond "Cheyenne," including "Bonanza" and "The Texan." But it all started with "The Gene Autry Show" in 1950, on which Hale Jr. appeared in several villain roles until a tragedy upgraded him to the titular cowboy's sidekick.

"The Gene Autry Show" was a wholesome series designed primarily to appeal to kids. It's genial lead was already a star when the show debuted on CBS, having built a career as the singing cowboy on both radio and film. His series saw him playing multiple different Western archetypes, from sheriffs to ranchers, always with his sidekick, Pat.

In the mid '40s, Autry, who'd previously worked with Lester Alvin Burnett, aka Smiley Burnette, was looking for a new sidekick for his various projects. He found him in Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram, who co-starred with Autry in multiple films and joined him on his radio show "Melody Ranch." When "The Gene Autry Show" debuted in 1950, Buttram was right there alongside the singing cowboy. But during filming of the first season, the actor was seriously injured when a prop cannon exploded. Luckily, he survived, but for a while, Autry was without a sidekick, allowing Hale Jr. to step in and fill the void.

1950 was the year Alan Hale Jr. appeared alongside Gregory Peck in one of his best Westerns, "The Gunfighter." It was also the year he debuted in "The Gene Autry Show," which had just started to deliver good old white hat vs. black hat horse opera action on CBS. When Hale Jr. first appeared on the series, it was as a villain named Goss. Not that he was all that nefarious. The episode, "Gold Dust Charlie," followed a typically straightforward formula, with everybody joining the show's star for a sing-along by the end. Hale Jr. returned as a bad guy four more times that same season. Then, an on-set calamity changed everything.

During filming of the episode "The Peacemaker," a prop cannon's powder charge prematurely exploded inside a cabin, launching Autry out of the structure and causing minor injuries to sound engineer James Loomis and Autry's driver Johnny Brousseau. Buttram, however, took the full force of the blast to his chest and, per a contemporaneous report from The Berkeley Daily Gazette, was immediately transported to nearby 29 Palms Hospital for multiple blood transfusions. The actor later recounted the experience in a letter to Alabama Congressman Luther Patrick (via the Pioneertown Sun). "I was standing beside a brass cannon which I was supposed to shoot into the air for the purpose of rainmaking," he explained. 

"The cannon, which was supposedly loaded with non-explosive flash powder, exploded, filling me with pieces of shrapnel and cutting a gash across my chest, a foot long and about four inches wide. My lung was punctured, my chin cut open, and an artery in my left leg severed." Thankfully, Buttram survived, but during his convalescence, Autry needed a new sidekick.

After the accident on the set of "The Gene Autry Show," producers needed someone to fill Pat Buttram's role. Suddenly, Alan Hale Jr. found himself being upgraded from villain-of-the-week to Gene Autry's partner, playing Tiny Jensen, in the Season 1 episode "Hot Lead." In a delightful reversal of the dynamic between The Skipper and Bob Denver's inept Gilligan, Hale Jr. provides the clumsy comic foil to Autry's cowboy. The episode was the first without Buttram, and sees Autry and his new friend track down a group of bank robbers who have stolen the cowboy's steed.

Tiny returned two episodes later in "The Killer Horse," which once again had him helping Autry in a horse-related debacle. That was the end of Tiny's tenure, however. Producers brought in two other actors to replace Buttram while he recovered: Chill Wills and Fuzzy Knight. After 10 weeks in hospital, Buttram had fully recovered and was discharged in December 1950. He then rejoined "The Gene Autry Show."

But Hale Jr. wasn't finished with the series. He returned for two episodes of Season 2 but was back to playing bad guys, appearing as Henchman Bart in the 1951 episode "Heir to the Lazy L" and Trader Adams in the 1952 installment "Horse Sense." For a moment, however, he'd been the sidekick of one of the most famous cowboys of the era. That was a heck of a way to start his Western TV career, which went on long after "The Gene Autry Show" ended in 1956. A year after the series wrapped up, Hale Jr. headlined his own Western show with a unique premise in "Casey Jones." Then, Hale Jr. joined Clint Eastwood in his legendary series "Rawhide" before debuting as the beloved Skipper in "Gilligan's Island."