There was a time during the 1960s when practically everyone could spot these famous faces, but unfortunately, most people today would have no clue who they were.
The Corvette drifter
George Maharis had one of the coolest acting gigs during the early 1960s. He got to travel America on Route 66, playing Buz Murdock opposite Martin Milner’s Tod Stiles. The setup was simple enough. It was just two young men, one Corvette, and a new town almost every week.
But that was what made the show interesting. That, and the fact that Maharis made Buz tougher than Stiles. That wasn’t the only thing he did during the decade, though, as Maharis left the show during its third season and starred in movies like The Satan Bug and Sylvia.
Warner Bros.’ blond idol
You can’t get more 1960s than Troy Donahue. He appeared on many movie posters, with his perfect hair and an extremely serious expression, starting with A Summer Place. He appeared in romantic dramas like Parrish and Susan Slade, along with Rome Adventure.
Donahue made it onto TV, too, appearing in Surfside 6 and Hawaiian Eye. He pretty much defined the decade with his acting skills, although moviegoers’ tastes changed later on. Then it was bye-bye Donahue.
The man with the comb
Edd Byrnes played Kookie, the slang-dropping parking attendant on 77 Sunset Strip, and it became almost an instant hit. It was so successful, in fact, that the side character became one of the show’s biggest attractions.Â
Byrnes recorded the song ‘Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)’ with Connie Stevens. His hairstyle was just that popular. The show ended in 1964. But by that time, Byrnes was pretty much a household name.
From Jet to Shark
Years of dancing meant that George Chakiris was pretty well prepared to be at the center of the Hollywood industry. He played Bernardo in the 1961 film version of West Side Story and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for it.
The role itself was kind of ironic, as Chakiris had previously played Riff in the London stage production. Riff was the leader of Bernardo’s enemy gang, so Chakiris switched gangs for the movie. That wasn’t his only success. He was also in 633 Squadron and Two and Two Make Six.
Broadway’s original Riff
Speaking of West Side Story, Michael Callan was another famous star, although not in the film adaptation. He was the original Riff on Broadway. His stage role got him attention in Hollywood, and he spent the decade doing all sorts of gigs.
He appeared in Gidget Goes Hawaiian and The Interns. He also played Clay Boone opposite Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou, and was the lead for the sitcom Occasional Wife in 1966 and 1967. This was a guy you just couldn’t pin down, and that’s what made him so beloved.
MGM’s young leading lady
Starring in three major movies is sure to get people talking about you. Doing all three in a single year is even more impressive. But that’s exactly what Yvette Mimieux managed to do in 1960, she was in The Time Machine, Where the Boys Are, and Platinum High School.
The first movie gave her her most recognizable role, where she played Weena. She was also in Light in the Piazza, Diamond Head, and Toys in the Attic. Mimieux was someone that MGM could count on as a star in the decade. Dramas and romances, she could do it all.
The face from magazine covers
Carol Lynley’s rise to fame came pretty early. She started modeling as a teenager and was on several magazine covers before eventually acting on Broadway. She started taking film roles soon after.Â
Then came the 1960s, when she appeared in Return to Peyton Place and Under the Yum Yum Tree. She was also in The Pleasure Seekers. Bunny Lake Is Missing came in 1965, and it was one of the darkest films of her career, as she played a mother desperately searching for her daughter. Lynley was absolutely captivating in the role.
Cricket had several careers at once
It was hard to describe what kind of star Connie Stevens was. Not because she was bad, far from it, but because her roles were so varied. She was the singer and photographer Cricket Blake on Hawaiian Eye, and became a familiar face on TV screens.
At the same time, Stevens made records like the hit ‘Sixteen Reasons.’ She also appeared in movies like Parrish, Susan Slade, and Palm Springs Weekend. This was a woman who wasn’t keen to stick with a single kind of entertainment career.
Dobie kept chasing romance
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis featured Dwayne Hickman playing the lead role for four seasons. Dobie was a teenager who was forever trying to impress girls while his beatnik friend, Bob Denver’s Maynard G. Krebs, made things harder.
It became Hickman’s defining role and lasted until 1963. It wasn’t his first appearance on TV, though, since he’d already appeared often in The Bob Cummings Show. Hickman eventually made the transition to movies after Dobie and appeared in light comedies like Cat Ballou.
A TV daughter topped the charts
Millions of Americans knew Shelley Fabares as Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show. That is, until she became a pop star, too, and people started recognizing her for her singing. Her 1962 single ‘Johnny Angel’ reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Fabares eventually left the sitcom because Mary grew older, and Fabares started to take on more movie roles. They weren’t simple movies, either. No, she appeared opposite Elvis Presley in three of them. They were Girl Happy, Spinout, and Clambake. She went from sitcom daughter to chart-topper to Elvis co-star, so not a bad run by any stretch.
Eight years at Shiloh Ranch
Anyone who watched Westerns every week during the 1960s would definitely recognize Doug McClure. He started in The Virginian in 1962 by playing the ranch hand Trampas, and stayed in the role for eight years.
It was thanks to McClure’s easygoing performance that Trampas became such a popular character. That, and the fact that each episode was 90 minutes long, so you really got to know Trampas. McClure did appear in films, too, but it was Trampas that made him so popular.
McGarrett’s right-hand man
One of television’s most famous catchphrases is ‘Book ’em, Danno,’ and it’s because of James MacArthur. He played Detective Danny ‘Danno’ Williams in Hawaii Five-O. MacArthur began appearing in the role in 1968, although he was far from a newcomer by that point.
He’d already appeared in Disney films like Swiss Family Robinson, and in Spencer’s Mountain with Henry Fonda. But really, it was his role in Hawaii Five-O that followed him for decades. It’s not hard to see why.
Television kept him in the saddle
It seemed like Robert Fuller played one cowboy after another during the 1960s. He played Jess Harper on Laramie from 1959 to 1963 and became one of the show’s most popular characters. Then, when the show ended, he joined Wagon Train as the scout Cooper Smith.
He played Smith until 1965. Fuller also appeared in Western movies during this period, like Return of the Seven and Incident at Phantom Hill. Fuller later became well-known for Emergency!, but he spent most of the decade on prime-time television before that.
Bronco rode into prime time
In 1958, Warner Bros. was going through a slight crisis with the TV show Cheyenne. Actor Clint Walker was in the middle of a contract dispute, and the studio wasn’t sure what to do. They decided to bring in Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne. It was the right choice.
Audiences fell in love with the broad-shouldered Westerner, and Bronco actually got his own show. The show ran into the early 1960s. Beyond the small screen, Hardin appeared on the silver screen in PT 109 and Battle of the Bulge. He also made films in Europe.
The skipper who walked away
There was so much going on in Adventures in Paradise that it’s hard to know where to begin. Gardner McKay played Captain Adam Troy aboard the good ship Tiki, and he appeared across the show’s three seasons. It seemed like McKay was destined for greatness.
But then, he did something that most actors at the height of their fame would never consider. He stepped away. Yes, he moved away from the Hollywood circuit and started writing instead. McKay produced plays and novels. He was perfectly content with that.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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