The Big Valley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

[edit] References

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

[edit] External links