Allen Case Movies

Although Texas-raised Allen Case was one of the busier actors on television during the 1950s and early '60s, he never broke through to lasting leading-man status despite a major assist from Henry Fonda. After a start as a singer in Dallas, Case made his breakthrough in New York on Arthur Godfrey's television show. He broke into movies with a small role in the screen version of Damn Yankees!. Over the next two years, Case had guest roles on Bronco, Have Gun-Will Travel, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, and other small screen Westerns. He was appearing off-Broadway when he was offered the co-starring role -- really the leading role -- in a Universal/NBC series called The Deputy, created by Roland Kibbee and Norman Lear. Fonda was the official star (and raison d'être) of the show, playing the chief marshal of the territory; but his character's work often carried him far away from the focus of the series (the town of Silver City), and his character was absent from most of the program's action in all but a dozen of the 76 episodes, whereas Case's character, Deputy Marshal Clay McCord, a shopkeeper-turned-lawman based in Silver City, was at the center of every episode. The series ran for two seasons and proved to be the peak of Case's career. He spent most of the '60s mostly working in Westerns -- even The Time Tunnel episode he did had him playing 19th century New Mexico lawman Pat Garrett -- and it was only in the '70s that he moved into more diverse roles in such vehicles as The Magician, The Bob Newhart Show, and Nero Wolfe. He died in 1986 at the age of 51. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide