Bat Masterson (TV series)

Bat Masterson was a Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour shows ran on NBC from 1959 to 1961.

The show took a tongue-in-cheek outlook, with Barry's Masterson dressed in expensive Eastern clothing and preferring to use his cane rather than a gun to get himself out of trouble (also the case with the real Masterson), hence the nickname "Bat". Masterson was also portrayed as a ladies' man who traveled the West looking for women and adventure. The black derby, fancy vest, black jacket, and elegant cane were his trademarks. The episodes each ran for half an hour.

Barry went on to star in Burke's Law, pretty much the same show except set in modern-day Los Angeles, as well as The Name of the Game, a series in which he alternated the lead with Tony Franciosa and Robert Stack, and appeared in each of his episodes with newcomer Susan Saint James.

Barry recreated the role of Bat Masterson in an episode of the television series The Guns of Paradise (1990), alongside Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp, and again in 1991 in The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw, also with O'Brian as Earp.