On this day in 1959, the television Western series, Rawhide, premiered on CBS. Airing for eight seasons, it made Clint Eastwood (right) into a box office sensation as drover Rowdy Yates and appeared to change the run of bad luck for Eastwood’s co-star Eric Fleming.
The show was the fifth longest running Western, behind the record holder, Gunsmoke, followed by Bonanza, The Virginian and Wagon Train. Fleming as trail boss Gil Favor and Eastwood’s in his breakout role as Rowdy Yates, chronicled the daily challenges faced by drovers in the 1860s. Producer Charles Warren, who also produced Gunsmoke, based the Gil Favor character on the diary of actual trail boss, George Duffield.
Cowboys, 1880’s trail drive
The series was a study in contrast. Favor was the straight shooter who always played fair while the Yates character was often irreverent, frequently in trouble and, well, rowdy. In real life, however, the Fleming-Eastwood roles were more or less reversed.
Fleming (left), born Edward Heddy Jr., was severely abused as a child. He ran away from home at the tender age of eight after attempting to kill his father, eventually finding his way from California to Chicago.
Living by his wits, he survived doing odd jobs for local gangsters. At age 11 he was accidentally shot in a gun fight between two mobsters, landing him in the hospital and into the hands of the youth authorities. He was returned to his mother who by then had divorced Fleming’s abuser.
A high school dropout, he first joined the Merchant Marines and then the U.S. Navy at the start of WWII, serving in a naval construction battalion. Always the tough guy, he received another severe injury when he attempted to lift a 200 lb. weight on a bet. He endured extensive reconstructive surgery to his face and skull.
Following military service he wound up at Paramount Studios as a construction worker and once again, made a wager that changed his life. Betting an actor $100 he could do a better audition, he lost his money but decided he would make acting pay him back. Enrolling in acting classes, it wasn’t long before he’d left odd jobs behind, successfully being cast in a number of television roles.
By contrast Eastwood grew up in reasonably privileged surroundings but drifted aimlessly into odd jobs as a young man. Luckily, he got drafted during the Korean War and lucky again, spent his entire time in service as a life guard at Ft. Ord. The fit and rangy Eastwood was spotted by an eager 
Universal-International production assistant while the film company was shooting on the Army post. The rest, as they say, is pretty much history.
One would think Fleming’s run of bad luck was over when he left Rawhide in 1964 to appear with A-lister Doris Day (left) in the “The Glass Bottom Boat.” More good luck it would seem, Fleming was signed to star in the MGM television adventure,“High Jungle.” Fleming planned to marry his longtime companion, actress Lynne Garber (left) and 
pursue a career in teaching when the film finished shooting.
In a remote part of Peru, however, Fleming and his co-star, Nico Minardos, overturned in a canoe while filming on the turbulent Haullaga River. Minardos survived but Fleming drowned, the tragedy made worse by a false tabloid rumor that he had been devoured by piranhas.
Rawhide lasted just 13 episodes past Fleming’s departure, but Rowdy Yates lives on. Clint Eastwood is a veteran of more than 50 films; acting, writing, directing and producing. According to unofficial trackers of box office receipts, Eastwood projects have grossed more than a billion (with a B) dollars.
In his will, Fleming, perhaps one of the unluckiest men on the planet, donated his body to science and his worldly goods to his mother and sister. It is apparently unrecorded whether Fleming’s remains were ever actually returned to the UCLA Medical Center in LA or buried on the grounds of the University of Peru in Lima.
The Katy Depot, 600 East Third Street, Sedalia, Missouri, opened its latest exhibit, “Rowdy Days, Rowdy Nites,” letting visitors experience life on the trail when Sedalia was the 1880’s railhead of choice. Much of cattle drive lore is based on trail boss George Duffield’s memoir. The exhibit includes authentic cowboy gear, clothing, saddles, branding irons and the all-important chuck wagon.
The 117 year-old Katy Depot said good-by to its last passenger train in 1958 and went up for sale in 1983. The Missouri Division of State Parks made it part of the Katy Trail State Park in 1987.
Following the route of the Missour-Kansas-Texas Railroad, it has been converted to a biking and hiking trail. Heritage Exhibits opened in 2003 following extensive renovations and chronicles the railroad’s influence on the community. It’s open Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 and admission is just $1 per person. For more information go to katydepotsedalia.com, e-mail katydepotsedalia@gmail.com or call (660) 826-2932.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.