Set in the rough and tumble of Oklahoma Territory of the 1890’s, the classic Western Cimarron City stars George Montgomery as Mayor Matthew Rockford, a cattle rancher and the son of the city's founder, and John Smith as Sheriff Lane Temple. Cimarron City has high hopes to become capital of the future state of Oklahoma, and Rockford and Sheriff Temple struggle to keep law and order in the oil and gold boom town. Audrey Totter co-stars as Beth Purcell, owner of the boarding house, and Jason Robards Sr. and Dan Blocker (Bonanza's Hoss Cartwright) have recurring roles in the series.
A town like Cimarron City draws all manner of scalawags and hopefuls and the cast is filled with surprising guest stars, including Nick Adams (Twelve Guns), Fred MacMurray (I, the People), Dan Duryea (Terror Town), Gary Merrill (Medicine Man), Elizabeth Montgomery (Hired Hand), Pernell Roberts (Have Sword, Will Duel).
At 6'3", George Montgomery was a real-life westerner, growing up on a homestead just south of the Canadian border in Montana before moving to Hollywood in the early thirties. Montgomery was a boxer before turning his talents to stunts and then acting, like John Wayne. He acted in over fifty Hollywood westerns and took on many other roles as well, before he had his own main characters on western television shows. He was a member of Hollywood’s Westerner's Hall of Fame and was granted the Ronald Reagan Award. A self-taught artist and fine cabinet-maker, he created bronze busts of Clint Eastwood, Ronald Reagan, Gene Autry and Randolph Scott, as well of the bust of Dinah Shore on display at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
