The Gray Ghost (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Gray Ghost is an American historical series which aired in syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 from October 10, 1957, to July 3, 1958. It depicts the true story of Major John Singleton Mosby, a Virginia officer in the Confederate Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

, whose cunning and stealth earned him the nickname "Gray Ghost".

Synopsis

The Gray Ghost stars Tod Andrews
Tod Andrews
Tod Andrews was an American actor on the stage, screen, and television. Born in New York, he was raised in California. He studied acting and journalism at Washington State College.-Career:...

 as Major Mosby, Phil Chambers as Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

 Myles Magruder, and Sherwood Price in five episodes as General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 J.E.B. Stuart
J.E.B. Stuart
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a U.S. Army officer from Virginia and a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb", from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use...

, also known for his cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 skills. Recurring characters on the program were Donald Foster as Braddock, Jean Willes as Ansonia, Ralph Clanton as a general, Dick Jones as Ned Underwood, Otto Aldis as Mueller and John Banner as Major Heros von Borcke.

Gray Ghost was cancelled after one season of thirty-nine half-hour episodes. High production costs may have made the program too expensive to continue.

Production notes

The series was created by Lindsley Parsons Productions. The producer was Russell Hayden
Russell Hayden
Russell "Lucky" Hayden was an American film and television actor.He was born as Hayden Michael "Pate" Lucid, son of Francis J...

. William Paul Dunlap wrote the theme song. Virgil Carrington Jones, an expert on Mosby, was historical consultant for some episodes.

There are also two popular misconceptions about the series. The first is that it aired on the CBS network; it never did. The second is that the network and the sponsor did not wish to be affiliated with a show about Confederate soldiers. Syndicated shows, by definition, have no network sponsors. In New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, The Gray Ghost ran not on WCBS (Channel 2) but on WPIX (Channel 11), an independent station. It ran Thursdays from 8:30-9:00 p.m. The series was distributed "in association with CBS Television film series." Such closing credits gave some the wrong impression that the program had aired on CBS.

Notable guest stars

  • Peter Breck
    Peter Breck
    Joseph Peter Breck is an American prolific character actor of stage, who has played roles on television and in film...

     ("The Deserter")
  • Richard Beymer
    Richard Beymer
    George Richard Beymer, Jr. is an American actor known for playing Tony in the 1961 film version of West Side Story and Ben Horne on the 1990 television series Twin Peaks.-Life and career:...

     ("An Eye for an Eye")
  • Harry Carey, Jr.
    Harry Carey, Jr.
    Harry Carey, Jr. is an American film actor. He appeared in over 90 films. He is mostly remembered for appearing in Western films — notably those by his friend John Ford — and in television programs.-Early life:...

     ("The Picnic")
  • Russ Conway
    Russ Conway (actor)
    Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor who appeared on film and television between 1947 and 1975.-Early years:...

     ("Judith")
  • Dennis Cross
    Dennis Cross
    Dennis Cross was an American actor who was the lead star of the syndicated television series The Blue Angels, fictional stories of daredevil United States Navy pilots which aired from 1960-1961...

     ("Sealed Orders")
  • Francis De Sales
    Francis De Sales (actor)
    Francis A. De Sales was an American actor. He was known for his roles on two early television series: as police Lieutenant Bill Weigand on the CBS and then NBC drama Mr. and Mrs. North and as Sheriff Maddox in the syndicated western Two Faces West...

     ("Charity")
  • Angie Dickinson
    Angie Dickinson
    Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...

     ("Point of Honor")
  • Ann Doran
    Ann Doran
    Ann Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...

     ("Charity")
  • Anthony Eisley
    Anthony Eisley
    Anthony Eisley was born Frederick Glendinning Eisley in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whose father was a general sales manager for a large corporation. Father of Amanda Eisley, Jonathan Eisley, Nan R...

     ("The Trial")
  • Ross Elliott
    Ross Elliott
    Ross Elliott was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career with Orson Welles in Mercury Theatre, where he performed in Welles' famed radio program The War of the Worlds....

     ("The Rivals")
  • Dabbs Greer
    Dabbs Greer
    Robert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American actor who performed many diverse supporting roles in film and television for some fifty years. His distinctive, southern-accented voice fitted well in shows featuring rustic characters, such as westerns...

     ("Rebel Christmas")
  • Kevin Hagen ("The Missing Colonel")
  • Ron Hagerthy
    Ron Hagerthy
    Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...

     ("A Problem of Command")
  • Richard Jaeckel
    Richard Jaeckel
    Richard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...

     ("The Manhunt")
  • Sammy Jackson
    Sammy Jackson
    Sammy Jackson was an American actor known particularly for his roles reflecting rural life and a country music disc jockey, although he also played pop-standards during 1983 at Los Angeles's KMPC.-Biography and persona:...

     ("Resurrection")
  • Charles Lane
    Charles Lane (actor)
    Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...

     ("Secret and Urgent")
  • Ruta Lee
    Ruta Lee
    Ruta Lee is a Canadian actress and dancer who appeared as one of the brides in the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers...

     ("Contraband")
  • Tyler MacDuff
    Tyler MacDuff
    Tyler MacDuff, born Tyler Glenn Duff, Jr. , was an American actor, primarily on television westerns and dramas who was cast as Billy the Kid in The Boy from Oklahoma.-Biography:...

     ("The Gallant Foe")
  • Strother Martin
    Strother Martin
    Strother Martin was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."-Early life:Strother Martin Jr. was born in Kokomo,...

     ("Reconnaissance Mission")
  • Denver Pyle
    Denver Pyle
    Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard .-Early life:...

     ("Resurrection")
  • William Schallert
    William Schallert
    William Joseph Schallert is an American actor who has appeared in many films and in such television series as The Smurfs, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, The Patty Duke Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Waltons, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Love, American Style, Get...

     ("Russell of 'The Times'")
  • Liam Sullivan ("Point of Honor")
  • Gloria Talbott
    Gloria Talbott
    Gloria Talbott was an American film and television actress.-Early life and career:She grew up in Glendale, California...

    ("Sealed Orders")
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