Why did George Maharis leave “Route 66″? — Part 2 September 5, 2006
Posted by Ron in History, Television.trackback
Karen Funk Blocher has written on her Outpost Mavarin blog the second and final installment about why George Maharis left the “Route 66″ show at the height of its popularity in 1963.
In short, she reports that Maharis asked for a scaled-back shooting schedule that season because he was recovering from two bouts of hepatitis. Executive producer Herbert B. Leonard said Maharis was exaggerating his illness so he could break his contract and go into movies. Leonard also cited Maharis’ homosexuality and alleged run-ins with the law as why he couldn’t be trusted.
Funk Blocher, who interviewed the “Route 66″ principals for a book project, concludes:
Personally, I think George Maharis was legitimately concerned that his health was suffering, due to the punishing working conditions he was expected to put up with when he returned to work. He was very angry about it, and did not handle the situation with tact or discretion. The producers were ticked off: he was badmouthing the show and costing them money, just another star behaving badly. I doubt that they ever seriously considered the possibility that George was telling the truth, and that 15 hours days and shooting for hours in winter-cold water really was too much to ask of a guy with hepatitis. Actors who gripe in public are typically assumed to be spoiled and greedy, and Leonard didn’t trust Maharis anyway after learning that the handsome young star was not the All-American heterosexual heartthrob the producer thought he’d hired. Aside from offering more money, which they assumed was the real issue behind the histrionics, the producers made no attempt to address Maharis’s concerns, so he left the show. It’s a tragedy in the classical sense, with hubris and a fatal flaw leading to the star’s downfall. Maharis never regained the popularity he had for the first year and a half of his Route 66 tenure. [...]
I hesitate to say outright that Herbert B. Leonard was homophobic, and that this was a contributing factor to the misunderstandings surrounding Maharis’s departure from Route 66. But based on what we were told in those 1986 interviews, it’s a little hard to draw any other conclusion. It really is rather sad. Here was a rising young actor in the role of his life, and it all came crashing down for reasons that had very little to do with the reported ones.
On a related note, I think it would be cool if the organizers of the annual Route 66 Festival invited Maharis to next year’s gala in Clinton, Okla.
The other “Route 66″ co-star, Martin Milner, is in poor health and unable to make personal appearances. I’m sure the show holds bitter memories for Maharis. But perhaps time and retirement have served as a balm to those wounds.
Personally, I think roadies would be thrilled to meet one of the stars of a classic television show that helped cement the popularity of Route 66. In turn, such an experience would be a healing experience for Maharis.
So what do you think?
I watched Route 66 religiously, back in the 60’s and thought both Martin Milner, and George Maharis were great in their roles.
I missed the show very much when it went off the air, and would love to see pictures, or hear more about both stars now!! We’ve all aged, so obviously I don’t expect them to look the same, but would love to hear (and see) more of them in the present time.
Fran, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Route 66 mi favorita serie de la television, la veiamos en Peru mis hermanos y yo no nos perdiamos ninguna serie.
Si queremos ver a George Maharis como luce actualmente, pienso que fue unos de los mas guapos actores de los anos sesenta, a Martin Milner lo vi hace como seis anos en la portada de PARADE y vemos como luce.
Carinosamente,
I WAS A DIE HARD MAHARIS FAN WHEN I WAS A TEEN .HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PERSONALLY MEET GEORGE AND MUST SAY HE WAS GRACIOUS AND VERY KIND TO HIS FANS. I REMEMBER DROPPING A LETTER IN THE TV SHOW CORVETTE WHEN HE AND MARTIN MILNER FILMED A SEGMENT IN PITTSBURGH PA. WOULD YOU BELIEVE, MYSELF AND A FRIEND HAD INVITED HIM TO DINNER AND HE MADE A PERSONAL PHONE CALL TO BOTH OF US EXPLAINING WHY HE COULD NOT ATTEND. MY FRIEND SHARED A SEPT BIRTHDAY WITH HIM. I STILL HAVE AN AUTOGRAPHED PIC IN WHICH HE WROTE TO BETTY, HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN”. TO THIS DAY I CAN ONLY HAVE WONDERFUL THOUGHTS OF MY ENCOUNTERS WITH HIM. I STILL REALLY APPRECIATE HIS KINDNESS………
Here’s something really strange.
I just finished reading the Wikipedia biography of Martin Milner, and it NEVER even MENTIONS Route 66! How bizarre.
By the way, great job on your blog - I dig it!
I don’t understand comment #4, because I did a lot of work on the Wikipedia articles on Milner and Maharis and Route 66. Milner’s bio article has a whole (albeit brief) section on Route 66, just as it has a brief section on Adam-12. There’s a link from the Route 66 paragraph to the Route 66 article, and also one to an article (which I did not write) on the Tod Stiles character.
As for George Maharis and fans, and George Maharis making personal appearances, he was wonderful to John and myself when we set up that interview 20 years ago. I liked him very much. He has done at least one post-series appearance years ago in connection with the road, probably a number of them. I think it would be very nice to see him do something like that again.
Is there any good source of info on Martin Milner in recent years? I know that he dropped out of that fishing radio show for health reasons, but details seem to be scarce on the ground.
My wife and I were both fans of Route 66 in our teens and now, years later, we enjoy watching the series’ DVDs. It holds up. A great show. For my money Maharis’ acting was the best I’ve ever seen in a television drama.
The series’ premise plus, I think, Maharis’ extroverted character fired my imagination to a greater degree than Kerouac’s On the Road. It inspired me to go on the road and explore America by working jobs of all descriptions across the country. I am a writer and much of my work consists in getting people from all walks of life into writing workshops to document their lives, an idea that probably owes much to Route 66. I am indebted to the show’s creators and to Milner and Maharis, but mostly Maharis.
I want to second Betty Marion’s comment (#3) about Maharis’s kindliness. When I was a college student in Santa Fe and Maharis was filming “Covenant with Death,” I left him a note at his hotel, inviting him to dinner at the college. He actually called to say that he could not make it due to the filming schedule.
I hope some day to be able to meet him.
Dear Karen
I’m a writer living in the Philadelphia area, and virtually a life long fan of Route 66. After forty seven years, the program remains my all time favorite television series. I read your articles on George Maharis with a good deal of sadness. He was a bolt of electricity exploding out of our television screens. There wasn’t a more exciting or gifted actor on television in the few brief years that Route 66 aired on CBS. What a terrible, terrible tragedy that his career was cut so tragically short. The indignities you wrote of, particularly the lady at the theatre who saw fit to heckle him, fills me with pain. George Maharis and Marty Milner influenced the young lives of my brother and I more than I can ever adequately recount. His was a rich, wondrous, and fertile talent that should have been mined for many years to come. That he retired in emotional suffering and bitterness is not only unfair, but tragic. I wish that I could tell him personally just how much his work meant to me, and filled us with happiness…a joy that has filled my heart for all these years. Exploring the country with Tod and Buzz awakened our senses as young boys, and meant the world to us. I wish that he might have shared at least a part of that meaning and joy.
I’ve written a brief remembrance of our meeting George and Marty while they were in Philadelphia filming “The Thin White Line” in October, 1961. If you’d care to read them, my recollections can be found at http://www.classichorrorfilmboard.com/ in the tv section of their forum selections. Just enter the site, and scroll down to “tv terrors.” Click on “Route 66,” and look for my memories of the show.
Steve Vertlieb
Steve
Route 66 was thought to be an inspiration from the popular book On The Road by Jack Kerouac.. I feel that without the popularity of that book …Route 66 wouldn’t be what it is today ..a classic…
Rebecca, I think bigger reason “Route 66″ became popular was because it was a well-written show. And the real-life Route 66 was already well into the public consciousness because of Bobby Troup’s popular song and “The Grapes of Wrath.” “On the Road” didn’t take place on Route 66 much at all.
10.Bob-August 29,2007
As a young boy watching Rt.66 it beckoned me for adventure ! As soon as I become old enough to drive I set off searching for that endless highway .I traveled the west and in a strange sort of a way,I was living the next episode.Just like the show, each town held different faces and almost the same show like drama .
Now that im older I dont have the wonder lust that I had when I was a young man. But everytime I watch an old episode with George Maharis,time seems to stand still.I feel like I’m suspended somewhere between reality and somewhere I would rather be … On Route 66 .
any info as to Maharis whereabt Id appreciate
George Maharis was a dead ringer for JACK KEROUAC
this is the 50 th anniv ersary of ON THE ROAD
where is George?
he was also a great great singer
I will attend Route 66 fest.more info??
Route 66 was a classic slice of television americana. While some episodes are nothing more than a glorified travelogue, the better written offerings are some of TV’s finest moments. And make no mistake about it, the best Route 66 episodes featured a young, expertly casted George Maharis. I don’t know if many people realize how much of a positive spiritual overtone the show possessed, but how else are you going to have two prime of life men wanderlust while their peers are in the war or sweating exams? Yet each week, Tod & Buz went from town to town interfering with and bettering other people’s lives. The show had cutting edge topics for it’s time, such as identity theft, bigotry, and schizophrenia (episode 80). You got the feeling that the Lois Nettleton character was delusional based on some form of childhood molestation - but that’s neither here nor there. I also believe that Silliphant was toying with the idea of casting a black traveling buddy for Tod. Buz was as close to a Black as you can get. Tall, dark, handsome, had the broad nose, grew up in the ghetto, never knew his parents. Knew the Black jazz musicians, interacted well with the Blacks (show 33), had to adapt to every enviroment he was in. Just wanted fairness, but was ready to fight if threatened. With Maharis, Silliphant had the perfect exotic looking guy who could blur cultural lines. I know in my heart that the producers gave Maharis that workload as punishment for being gay. And Maharis had an ego because he KNEW he was the show. And that’s why the show died when he left. Martin Milner’s solo episodes were blase and the guest stars spoke dialogue intended for Maharis.
If you watch the second and early third season shows, you’ll see where Maharis was just hitting his stride with the Buz character. He and Milner were only going to get better. George did a lot of his own stuntwork, as did Martin. So his ego didn’t seem to affect his performances. Buy the DVD product and you’ll see what I mean. I believe that George really loved that part…but the latter years caused him to appeciate it more. Glen Corbett was miscast and belonged on Adam 12 instead.
Maharis departure from the series served as a terrible, terrible sunset to a career filled with great possibilities. I only hope that someday, somehow, I would either meet Mr. Maharis, or he gets this e-mail - so he would know how much I appreciated his work on Route 66.
I have just stumbled upon this site, and I am truly in awe!
It was 1960, and as a boy of 9 years old, I remember that series.
An incredible series, I still remember it as the freedom those two had with a red hot ‘vette. At the time, Chevrolet was in it’s “See the USA in your Chevrolet” ad campaign, and the Corvette was it! My mother, in the latter part of 1960, purchased a Corvair.
As for Maharis and Milner, they had the chemistry to make it work on screen, Glenn Corbett was a good actor, but could not pick up where Maharis left off. None of the retro TV channels carry this series, I suppose I will have to purchase the series on DVD.
I have purchased the entire DVD set of Route 66 and have all episodes. If you want them back to back in sets of 6 or more you can see the standard formula of the scripts and the show. Just different subjects, locations, actors and conflicts. I was a great fan of the show in the 60’s as a young guy but when you see the cookie cutter formula you know if would not work today. I do enjoy seeing the unknown actors that beacuse noteable in latter years.
I, too, was a regular viewer of the series. 4 years ago, I bought a 1960 Corvette that was, supposedly used in the show (they always trailored 4 of them to each episode site - new each year, unexplained in each season’s premier - but Chevrolet, being the sponsor, wanted to show off the new models. I don’t know how to prove it … it came with authentic, autographed pictures of George and Martin though. But I can certainly understand now why they needed 4 - so at least one was running during filming.
I learned alot after talking with John Janis who produced “Return to the Road” with Martin Milner - A trip down the real Route 66 (or what’s left of it) with the aged “Todd” in a 1960 Corvette. Really not a bad video - google it. Milner, who lives in San Diego, has a fishing radio program on weekends (or did at the time). I wrote to him - with pictures of my Corvette - but never heard back. I’m just now seeing someone else saying he’s now in poor health. Didn’t know that. Besides being an old, portly guy (like me), he appeared pretty healthy.
Can’t seem to find much on Maharis either. The scoop I got was that Milner and Maharis didn’t get along at all. They certainly hid it well. I had heard that Maharis was gay. I don’t know why anyone would care, but they probably did back then. I would like to know if he’s still alive - probably would’ve heard something if he weren’t. I thought both of them were equally as good on the show. Lots of overacting, but that was the norm then. What incredible guest stars too! They’ve just released the first 3 seasons on DVD (google that too). They’re great - better than I’d remembered. Original commercials too - what a hoot!
I have another authentic, autographed picture that I got on ebay of Milner and Maharis in a Corvette. Circa? George is bearded, greying, but has his hands up in the air with a “free as a bird” adventerous look. Looks like it was probably taken around the Adam-12 eara. Milner looks like Maloy.
Yeah, I would like to know more about George at present as well.
John, George Maharis is still very much alive. In fact, I interviewed him by phone a few months ago. You can read it here:
http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/a-chat-with-george-maharis/
Hey–love these posts on R’66 as a devoted fan. In retrospect though, I recently purchased a DVD set and must admit that half the shows, plots, blocking, and acting were a bit over the top or under the table! Still enjoyed the viewing.
Also, does anyone remember the name of the show, running about the same time, of the 2-3? brother living on a houseboat and just trying to get on with their lives. (I seem to remember the title as “It’s a Man’s World” but can’t find info. I always thought it was the book end to R’66 for those of us in our teens.
Vince, it was a 1962 series called “It’s a Man’s World.”
If you Google the title and add the words “TV show,” you’ll get all kinds of hits. But here’s a good New York Times story I dug up.
http://tinyurl.com/3xk3fe
i found this site after flicking channels and came upon the satan bug with george playing on tcm. i started researching…i don’t remember but when i was an infant my parents told me i loved watching route 66. does anyone know where george maharis lives now?
He lives in both New York City and Beverly Hills, Tom.
Ron: So glad you started this blog. I ran across the DVD’s of the first season of R66 and snapped them up. Looking at them through the eyes of a middle-aged adult, I see so much more than I did as the 12-year-old I was when I first watched the series. I still clearly remember the drek that was thrown at George by the powers that be when he left. Didn’t buy it then and don’t buy it now. I have no doubt that the main reason George left the show was because of his health–hepatitis is nothing to mess around with. If only Bert Leonard had compromised by lightening up on George while he convalesced until his health recovered this story might have had a better ending. It would have put more pressure temporarily on Marty Milner, but there are any number of ways they could have dealt with it. They caught lightening in a bottle with this show and Leonard should have done everything possible to hang onto it.
I also don’t buy the line that Marty and George didn’t get along. I think they got along fine for most of the run of the show with trouble only coming at the end when George was not in top form and he seemed to indicate that to you, Ron, in your interview with him.
George’s comment that he’s somehow too old to attend a Route 66 rendevous makes me laugh, since I have seen current photos of him and he looks doggone good to me for an “old guy.” Everyone who remembers watching that show is over 50 and none of us are as cute as we were 47 years ago either!
Although I’m saddened about the way Route 66 ended after he left, George has worked steadily over the years (acting, singing and painting) and there is no guarantee that his career would have been vastly different if the show had run a few more years. I suppose I reject the idea that this is a great tragedy that ruined his life, since it might very well have killed him if he had continued on. That’s one of the unknowns in the equation.
My one big wish for many years has been to see Marty and George together again in a tribute to the series. At this stage, with Marty’s health, it will probably never happen, but I think it would have been a good thing for George, especially, to do. He would see how fondly he is remembered across this country for a unique show and the special talent he had (and has) that helped make it so unique. I think it would have been a vindication, of sorts, for a man who has dealt with the backwash from this most of his adult life.
Betty,
I am not sure why I did a search for George Maharis this evening, but I did and came across this website and your post. You have to be the Betty I think you are!
I am Joanne’s oldest daugher and I have many memories of George. She enjoyed telling the story of inviting George to dinner and how he and my father talked on the phone about his corvette! My mother cherished his friendship up to the day she died. George is my youngest sister’s godfather. He treated my parents and sister very well. I was lucky enough to visit his home in California in 1980 and saw several theater performances.
My mother is the “Joanne” he dedicated a song to on his live album.
He was nothing but gracious and was a true friend to my mother. Who would have thought? A dinner invite and pnut butter cookies!
Mr. Maharis, I’d like you to e-mail me at jomarsi007@yahoo.com
I am a longtime proponent of your Route 66 work. Surprised by your singing talents after hearing your recordings. I couldn’t stomach watching Route 66 after you left the show.
I don’t know if George reads this blog. I just visited Poland Springs, PA., where the “route 66″ episode titled “Burning for Burning” was filmed. The old mansion is still there, as are the apartments where they stayed. I have pictures, and would love to send them to George. It was episode #43 in the second season. Thought he would get a kick out of them.