Why did George Maharis leave “Route 66″? July 10, 2006
Posted by Ron in Television.trackback
Karen Funk Blocher, a published author, had done years of research during the 1980s about the “Route 66″ television show. She was going to write a book about the ’60s show and its involvement with the true Mother Road, but the project was eventually abandoned.
One of the reasons the book was never finished was because Blocher said she was in a “moral quandary” about it over explaining co-star George Maharis‘ departure from the show. Blocher is coming clean about this on her Outpost Mavarin blog.
In essence, Maharis told her he had contracted hepatitis, and that the shoots were so grueling that to continue would risk his health. He wanted the producers to give him a less arduous schedule, but refused. So he left the show.
Producer Herbert B. Leonard provided a different story. According to Blocher, Leonard found out that Maharis was gay, and was having a hard time keeping his co-star’s sexual activities away from the press. Maharis also used the illness, Leonard said, as an excuse to break his contract so that he could get into movies. Co-star Martin Milner and a “Route 66″ writer-producer also agreed with Leonard’s version.
Blocher suspects the truth is somewhere in the middle, and I concur. I admit this is the first time I’ve heard the homosexual angle regarding Maharis’ departure. I’ve seen Milner at least a couple times at Route 66 events, and he’s never mentioned this. But a Google search of “George Maharis” and “gay” will leave little doubt what his sexual orientation is, including documentation of sex-related arrests in 1967 and 1974.
I find it a little ironic that a socially progressive show like “Route 66,” which dealt with race and labor issues, didn’t take the high road with one of its co-stars. Then again, this was before the Stonewall uprising that sparked the gay-rights movement
Blocher promises to write more about this subject, as she closes her post with “To be continued.” So stay tuned.
Oops! I forgot to write the second half of this piece until I happened upon your entry tonight. Here it is:
Fairness to George, Part Two
I agree that it is odd that such a hip, progressive show would treat one of its stars so badly on the basis of his sexual orientation. But as you point out, 1962-1963 was a very different time. And of course that was only a contributing factor. The main problem was that Maharis was a bit too loud in his complaints, and the producers did not consider the possibility that at least some of Maharis’s complaints and demands were truthful and justified. If both sides had handled tthings better, George Maharis’s career might never have crashed and burned as it arguably did, and the show might have lasted another couple of years..
Nice site actually. Gone to my favourites. Thanks for creation.
I met George Maharis for coffee in the summer of 1983 in Edmonton Alberta. He was performing in a production of Neil Simon’s I Ought To Be In Pictures.
I was 27-years-old at the time, high school graduate and two years of university to my credit. I was also unemployed and basically still searching in my life.
I yearned to be an actor and George encouraged me to follow my heart through the community theater.
Since 1983, I have done 27 plays in the community and local dinner theater, gone back to school and earned a college diploma in Radio, Television, Journalism Arts and now work for a sports publication in Buffalo, New York.
I also studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in the summer of 2001.
I am presently doing a play this summer in Southern Ontario to raise awareness for Post Partum Depression.
It’s amazing what my chance encounter with George Maharis did for me. He encouraged me like no high school coach ever did and gave me a wonderful sense of direction to my life.
Thanks George
Your friend for life,
John Williams
Fort Erie, Ontario
Canada
johnnealwilliams@hotmail.com
Hi George!!
Happy birthday to you today (September 1st) and many happy returns.
I’m John Williams from Canada. We met some 24 years ago in Edmonton as stated in the above message from July 8th!!
I hope you’re doing well and have a wonderful birthday today!!
My play on Post Partum Depression went very well and I’ve just been cast in a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater play which will run in the fall!!
Again, so many thanks to you for our conversation in the summer of 1983.
I would love to hear from you George if you get a chance!! My e-mail is listed below!!
Have a great birthday,
John
johnnealwilliams@hotmail.com
George have been a fan of yours since the very 1st episode of RT66.
Now I,m enjoying them again on dvd.I hope your health is good and would love to talk to you please e-mail me.
George, since they reissued the Route 66 Season 1 shows on DVD, I have been able to relive you great performances on that show! I am glad to see that you are still around and I want you to know that you had a very positive effect on the babyboomers growing up at that time. I was 13 years old when Route 66 first came out and it was definitely the best show of it’s era and in some ways maybe the best of all time. You and Marty Milner were great.
Aloha Mr. Maharis! I am in hopes this short note finds you in good health. I know that you have heard this time and time again but I grew up with watching you each week drive across our nation and bringing enjoyment to all. I have the complete set of all seasons of Route 66 and you not only showed your acting talent but did it in a style that can never be duplicated. I have a 61 corvette and everytime I take it out for a spin your sitting in the passenger seat and I relive all those wonderful trips you and Todd made. I would like to send you one of my 61 corvettes sun visor, right side of course and have you sign it if you would. Aloha and mahalo and may you be happy as much as watching you all those years has made me happy. Aloha
Hello Mr. Maharis–
I was just a kid when Route 66 aired, but I do have memories of the car and the music from when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It wasn’t until Nick at Nite had the program on its schedule in the mid-’80s that I rediscovered the program and was able to appreciate it as an adult. That show was, and is, one of the best programs EVER aired on television. I don’t know if your Buz Murdock character was deliberately patterned to be a ‘rebel without a cause’ but it sure seems that way. I can only imagine what plot twists the show might have taken had things turned out differently: Buz and Tod seemed to be trying to find their way, and had the show continued with you until, say, 1967, I could envision Buz being a hippie of sorts to counterpoint Tod’s personification of the Establishment.
Route 66 was well ahead of its time, and I’m glad that I was finally able to catch up with it when I could understand and appreciate its unrelenting quality.
I hope that all is well with you