Series Description

The Bat Masterson TV show was a 30 minute, western action series on NBC about a fancy dressing lawman who also liked to gamble and chase the ladies. He always won the pot, always got the woman, and always caught the bad guy. His intellect was so superior that he never needed to use a gun either. He simply outwitted the criminals with, perhaps, a little help from his mighty cane. But mostly, he left the good people of the town he had visited a bit better off and more secure than they were before he came.

Bat Masterson Cast

Gene Barry .... William Barclay "Bat" Masterson

Theme Song

Title: "Bat Masterson"

By: "Havens Wray & Bart Corwin"

Back when the west was very young,
There lived a man named Masterson.
He wore a cane and derby hat,
They called him Bat, Bat Masterson.

A man of steel the stories say,
But women's eyes all glanced his way,
A gamblers' game he always won,
His name was Bat, Bat Masterson.

The trail that he blazed is still there.
No one has come since, to replace his name.
And those with too ready a trigger,
Forgot to figure on his lightning cane.

Now in the legend of the west,
One name stands out of all the rest.
The man who had the fastest gun,
His name was Bat, Bat Masterson.

Bat Masterson Trivia:

Bat Masterson's horse was named, "Stardust".

The Bat Masterson TV show was produced by Ziv Television Productions who also produced, "The Aquanauts", "Boston Blackie", "The Cisco Kid", "Man and the Challenge", "Men Into Space", "Science Fiction Theatre", and "Sea Hunt".

If you never saw Bat Masterson, you may remember Gene Barry as "Captain Amos Burke" on the series, "Burke's Law", as "Glenn Howard" on "The Name of the Game", or as "Gene Bradley" on "The Adventurer". Then, in 1994, Gene reprised his role as "Amos Burke" on a new and updated, "Burke's Law". The only real difference was that Amos Burke had been promoted from police Captain to police Chief!

Gene also appeared as Bat Masterson on a few occasions after the series ended! Once was on an episode of the series, "Guns of Paradise" titled "A Gather of Guns" and another time in 1991 TV movie titled, "The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw". In both cases, Hugh O'Brian also appeared, reprising his role as Wyatt Earp, Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, and Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie.

Gene Barry's role as Bat Masterson was based on a real-life person who lived from November 26, 1853 to October 25, 1921. Some of his more colorful jobs included buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, Deputy Sheriff under Wyatt Earp, U.S. Marshal, gambler, and sports editor/columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph.

Gene Barry was born with the name "Eugene Klass". For his stage name he shortened Eugene to Gene and his last name was a shortened form of his idol, "John Barrymore's", last name! Way before he starred as Bat Masterson, Gene Barry appeared on the 1948 talent competition TV series, "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts". Gene was politically active, especially during the 1968 Presidential campaigning season. He was present at the Ambassador Hotel on June 6, 1968 when Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated! While Gene was a mega-star on TV, he's probably most acclaimed for his role as "Dr. Clayton Forrester" in the 1953 classic sci-fi movie, "The War of the Worlds".