Series Description

The Wild Wild West was a 60 minute western action series on CBS that was like no other. Special Agents James West and Artemus Gordon were spys for President Ulysses S. Grant shortly after the civil war. In every other way, they could be easily confused with James Bond of the 20th century. They had a "high-tech" (for its day) railroad car stocked with a compliment of advanced weapons. James West especially seemed to woo every beautiful woman he encountered. The agents' typical mission involved saving the United States from some disaster or from being taken over by some evil genius.

The Wild Wild West Cast

Robert Conrad .... James T. West
Ross Martin .... Artemus Gordon
James Gregory .... Ulysses S. Grant (1st Episode Only)
Roy Engel .... Ulysses S. Grant
Michael Dunn .... Dr. Miguelito Loveless
Phoebe Dorin .... Antoinette (Seasons 1-2)
Douglas Henderson .... Colonel James Richmond (Seasons 2-4)
Charle Aidman .... Jeremy Pike (4th Season)

The Wild Wild West Trivia

Ross Martin suffered a heart attack during the fourth and final season of the Wild Wild West. Charles Aidman was brought in (in the role of Jeremy Pike) to assist James T. West in his adventures.

Robert Conrad designed the choreography for all of his fights and stunts and was very aggressive about making things appear real and exciting. Of course, that also made them dangerous. In episode #87, "The Night of the Fugitives", his choreography called for him to jump from a balcony, swing from a chandelier, and then land on a bad guy. It ended out with him landeding on his head and suffering a very serious whiplash to his neck!

The Wild Wild West won an Emmy in 1967 for Agnes Moorehead's (Bewitched) performance in episode #48, "The Night of the Vicious Valentine". While Agnes was nominated for 7 Emmys during her career, this is the only one she won. She did, however, also win 2 Golden Globes! The Wild Wild West was also nominated for 2 other Emmys that it didn't win, one in 1966 for Cinematography and another in 1969 for "Outstanding Performance ..." by Ross Martin!

After reading his first script, Ross Martin drew a pen and ink sketch of what he felt the character he was going to play should look like. Then he had his make-up man mold his face ... the costume designers make his outfit ... and even a shoemaker design his shoes until he looked exactly like the drawing!

The Wild Wild West TV show drew quite a few well-known guest stars including Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show), Martin Landau (Mission Impossible), Burgess Meredith (Mr. Novak), Norman Fell (Three's Company), Nick Adams (Saints and Sinners), Don Rickles (C.P.O. Sharkey), Boris Karloff (Thriller), Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family), Ricardo Montalban (Fantasy Island), John Astin (The Addams Family), Martin E. Brooks (The Six Million Dollar Man), Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian), Robert Duvall, Richard Anderson (The Bionic Woman), and Edward Asner (Mary Tyler Moore Show) ... to name a few!

In episode #97, "The Night of the Sabatini Death", there was a tribute to the TV series, "Gilligan's Island" due to the fact that both Alan Hale Jr. (The Skipper) and Jim Backus (The Millionaire) were guest-starring on the episode. At the very end of the episode, Alan Hale's character said that he's going off to a deserted island for a vacation while a few notes of the Gilligan's Island theme song played in the background!

Rober Conrad was not the first choice to portray James T. West. Rory Calhoun was originally cast in the role. It is rumored that Calhoun had a friend who was trying out for the role of Artemus Gordon and Rory felt that he could possibly help his friend secure the part by offering himself as a popular star to boost the series and then use his influence to help his friend. The rumor went on about how casting hired Calhoun but then CBS didn't feel he was right for the part and fired him.

The evolving of the production of the Wild Wild West theatrical movie is interesting. Warner Bros. announced in early 1992 that there would be a movie made, starring Mel Gibson as James West. Then, two months later, Mel took a different role as Bret Maverick in another TV series movie, "Maverick". In late 1995, there were rumors of the Wild Wild West movie being produced with Tom Cruise playing James West. Then, finally, in June of 1999, the Wild Wild West movie starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline actually made it into theaters!

The Wild Wild West was not canceled due to bad ratings. CBS executives decided that it was too violent. But that didn't keep them from airing re-runs during the summer of 1970!

Tv Movies

The Wild Wild West Revisited (5/9/1979)
More Wild Wild West (Aired as two one-hour parts on 10/7/1980 and 10/8/1980)

Theatrical Movies

The Wild, Wild West (6/30/1999) - Starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline!