Series Description

The Maverick TV show was a 60 minute western action series with a touch of comedy that aired on ABC. It was about Brett, Bart and Beau Maverick, three "Fancy Pants" gamblers who roamed from town to town looking for poker games. As is typical of gamblers, they made enemies when they won and had to get out of a lot of tough situations.

Maverick Cast

James Garner .... Bret Maverick
Jack Kelly .... Bart Maverick
Roger Moore .... Beau Maverick

Maverick Trivia

James Garner was the son of an Oklahoma carpet layer. He dropped out of high school at 16 to join the merchant marine. He received the purple heart after being wounded during the Korean War. During his career he has won one Emmy and three Golden Globes. He was nominated for several other awards including an Oscar in 1986 for Best Actor in "Murphy's Romance". His real name is James Scott Bumgarner.

Jack Kelly had acted in four Broadway plays by the time he was 11 years old and posed for a soap company when he was only two weeks old. Jack Kelly posed for a soap company add when he was only two weeks old and he had roles in four plays on Broadway by age 11! He invested a lot of his salary from the show into real estate and made a fortune from those investments. He also served on the Huntington Beach city council from 1980-1988 and from 1990 until his death in 1992. His campaign slogan was "Let Maverick Solve Your Problems".

"War of the Silver Kings" was not actually Maverick's pilot episode. At the time Warner Bros. avoided paying royalties to the creators of their series by using a "studio-owned" book or script for the pilot. The actual pilot was the second episode aired, "Point Blank", written by Maverick's creator Roy Higgins. Higgins never received any on screen credits as creator of Maverick until the 1994 movie starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster!

In episode #17, "Rope of Cards", a game called "Maverick Solitare" was featured. Within a few days, nearly every store in the country was sold out of playing cards!

Jack Kelly appeared in 75 episodes, James Garner in 52, and Roger Moore in only 15.

The club that Maverick visits in episode #33, "Escape To Tampico", was originally the set of "Rick's Cafe" from the movie "Casablanca"!

There were 18 issues of Maverick comics published between 1958 and 1962.

Beau Maverick whistled the series theme song in two episodes - "Family Pride" and "Diamond Flush" - episodes #96 & #100.

In addition to Jack Kelly (and others), Rod Taylor and Stuart Whitman were also considered for the role of Bart Maverick.

Throughout the fifth season, since only Jack Kelly remained as a "Maverick", there was no mention whatsoever of there being any other brothers or cousins.

Maverick Theme Song

Title: "Maverick"

Music By: "David Buttolph"

Lyrics By: "Paul Francis Webster"

Who is the tall, dark stranger there?
Maverick is the name.
Ridin' the trail to who knows where,
Luck is his companion,
Gamblin' is his game.
Smooth as the handle on a gun.
Maverick is the name.
Wild as the wind in Oregon,
Blowin' up a canyon,
Easier to tame.

Riverboat, ring your bell,
Fare thee well, Annabel.
Luck is the lady that he loves the best.
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin on jacks and queens
Maverick is a legend of the west.

Riverboat, ring your bell,
Fare thee well, Annabel.
Luck is the lady that he loves the best.
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin on jacks and queens
Maverick is a legend of the west.
Maverick is a legend of the west.

Theatrical Movie

Maverick (Mel Gibson & Jodie Foster) (1994)