Wagon Train

The ensemble initially featured veteran supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, a role he held until his death, when John McIntire succeeded him. Robert Horton portrayed the scout and was later replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller about a year after Horton chose to depart the series. The program drew inspiration from John Ford's 1950 film Wagon Master, which starred Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and it evokes the early widescreen wagon-train epic The Big Trail, notable for John Wayne and Bond in his first major screen appearance in a supporting role. In the first season, Horton's buckskin outfit for the scout bore a resemblance to Wayne's, who also portrayed the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.