Bat Masterson (TV series)

Bat Masterson
Gene Barry as Bat Masterson, 1958
GenreWestern
StarringGene Barry
Narrated byBill Baldwin, Bob LeMond
Theme music composerHavens Wray (David D. Rose)
Ending themeBill Lee (Singer)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes108 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers
  • Frank Pittman
  • Andy White
  • Frederick W. Ziv
Running time30 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseOctober 8, 1958 (1958-10-08) 
June 1, 1961 (1961-06-01)

Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which was a fictionalized account of real-life marshal, gambler, and journalist Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry, and the half-hour black-and-white series ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The show was produced by Ziv Television Productions. "Bat" is a nickname for Masterson's first name Bartholemew, although the fictional Masterson says that his name is William Barkley Masterson.

The series was based on the biography Bat Masterson by Richard O'Connor, as noted in the closing credits.:143