The Big Valley Totally Explained

Everything about The Big Valley totally explained

The Big Valley was a television Western which ran on ABC from 1965 to 1969. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman. The producer was Levy-Gardner-Laven. Associate producer Lou Morheim performed the same function on the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven. The stirring theme was composed by George Duning. Paul Henreid, of Casablanca fame, directed a number of episodes. Four Star Television produced the series.
   It starred Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley, the widowed matriarch of the wealthy, influential Barkley family living in 19th century Stockton in California's central valley. Richard Long played Jarrod Thomas Barkley, her eldest son and a respected attorney. Hot-tempered younger son Nick Barkley, who managed the family ranch, was portrayed by Peter Breck. Linda Evans played Audra, Victoria's only daughter. In the first episode, Lee Majors was introduced as Heath, the third, and illegitimate son of Victoria's late husband; Heath gradually gained acceptance from the rest of the Barkley clan. The youngest Barkley son was Eugene, a medical student studying at Berkeley, played by Charles Briles who was drafted. He was seen sporadically in only five first season episodes and then written out. Only once was his name ever mentioned again. The regular cast was rounded out by Napoleon Whiting, as Silas, the Barkleys' majordomo.
   The TV series was loosely based on the Hill Ranch located at the western edge of Calaveras County, not far from Stockton (one episode places the Barkley Ranch a few hours ride from town, while another has Jarrod riding passed a Calaveras County sign on his way to the TV series' ranch). The Hill Ranch existed from 1855 until 1931, exceeded 1,000 acres and had the Mokelumne River running through it. Today, the location of the ranch is covered by the waters of Lake Camanche, a reservoir. A California State historical marker standing at Camanche South Shore Park mentions the historic ranch.
   In 1854, Hugh Lawson White Hill, aka Lawson, and his wife Euphemia arrived in Stockton. One year later they founded the Hill Ranch. In 1860, Lawson was murdered by Marion Tate (Tate was the last name of an episode's character who worked for the Barkleys and was played by Charles Bronson). After the death of her husband, Euphemia became the matriarch of the family. During their marriage, Lawson and Euphemia had one daughter and three sons. One of the sons, Irving, while not an attorney, had a legal mind (like Jarrod Barkley) and ran for the state legislature. Like Jarrod in an episode about a dam being built, Irving was in favor of a dam being constructed across the Mokelumne River, while many others were against it. Today, this dam is known as Pardee Dam. The Hill family, like the Barkleys, had ties to Spanish families in Santa Fe (Katherine Ross episode).
   Just like Barbara Stanwyck portrayed Victoria Barkley, Euphemia was often a task master in running the Hill Ranch which had live stock, a fruit orchard and was best known for growing buhach and having a wealth of gold. Euphemia was better known by the name "Auntie Hill" because of her compassionate outlook in life for helping others. For example, she brought the first teacher and doctor into the area, helped finance the construction of the local town hall and one-room school house. Additionally, she raised two children who had lost their parents. One of these children, J.A. Smith, later became the area's noted judge. Euphemia "Auntie" Hill died at the Hill Ranch in 1910. Dell Comics published a short-lived comic book for six issues in 1966-69. (the last issue reprinted the first, and came out two years after issue #5). All issues had photo covers.

Trivia

Both Long and Breck had been regulars for a short time on another classic Western series, Maverick, although in different seasons; Long played "Gentleman Jack Darby" to pick up the slack when Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. began 77 Sunset Strip and could no longer play "Dandy Jim Buckley," while Breck assumed the role of "Doc Holliday" when Gerald Mohr was unavailable.
Lee Majors later recounted on The Tonight Show how he was justly taken to task by Barbara Stanwyck after a star complex he'd developed adversely affected the series.
Guest stars included: Julie Adams, Jack Albertson, Claude Akins, Marty Allen, John Anderson, Richard Anderson, R. G. Armstrong, Lew Ayres, Diane Baker, Joe Don Baker, Anne Baxter, Milton Berle, Charles Bronson, John Carradine, Johnny Crawford, Royal Dano, Bruce Dern (several times), Colleen Dewhurst, Bradford Dillman, Richard Dreyfuss, Andrew Duggan, Maurice Evans, Paul Fix, Bert Freed, Harold Gould, Robert Goulet, Lee Grant, James Gregory (several times), Aliza Gur, Buddy Hackett, Dennis Hopper, Ron Howard, Jill St. John, L.Q. Jones (several times), George Kennedy, Yaphet Kotto, Martin Landau, Cloris Leachman, Robert Loggia, Julie London, Barbara Luna, Carol Lynley, Gavin MacLeod, Mako, Strother Martin, Tim McIntire, Leslie Nielsen, Simon Oakland, Warren Oates, Arthur O'Connell, Susan Oliver, Regis Philbin, Stephanie Powers, Australian Chips Rafferty, Lou Rawls, Beah Richards, Wayne Rogers, Katharine Ross, Pernell Roberts, Bing Russell, William Shatner, Harry Dean Stanton, Susan Strasberg, Harold J. Stone, Dub Taylor, Robert Walker, Jr., Fritz Weaver, Adam West, James Whitmore (several times), Henry Wilcoxon, Van Williams, and Gerald Mohr, who guest starred in an episode called "Flight from San Miguel" as Dr Raoul Mendez, a Mexican rebel leader trying to escape the country. This was to be Mohr's last-ever TV Western. He died of a heart attack in Stockholm, Sweden, three months after the episode was made and prior to its broadcast.
This show marks the debut of new actors Lee Majors and Linda Evans, who both went on to fame on other shows. Majors, went on to have a successful acting career:, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy. Evans went on to work on the popular 1980s prime-time soap opera, Dynasty.
The Big Valley is set primarily in and near the city of Stockton, which is located in California's central valley and was founded in the 1850s. The filming of the series, however, took place in Southern California.
Wilfred M. Cline, A.S.C., Technicolor Associate Cinematographer on Gone with the Wind (1939), was director of photography of several Big Valley episodes, together with Chas E. Burke, A.S.C.
The Big Valley, and Barbara Stanwyck is mentioned in the film Bug in a chat between the characters Peter and Agnes.(External Link)

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