Actor Chuck Connors was #BornOnThisDay,April 10, 1921.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Actor Chuck Connors was #BornOnThisDay,April 10, 1921. Remembered for the TV series The Rifleman (1958–'63). A chronic smoker, Connors smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, until he quit in the mid-1970s, passed in 1992 (age 71) from #lungcancer #RIP #QuitSMOKING #GoneTooSoon #hunk

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[dem4decades]

1. A lot of those actors from that era smoked and passed early, Paul Drake anyone?

[rsdsharp]

3. Many of the shows were sponsored by tobacco companies.

The Dick Van Dyke show was sponsored early on by Kent cigarettes. They even did commercials for them.

https://m.

Phillip Morris sponsored I Love Lucy. The network didn’t want to go along with Desi’s idea of showing Lucy’s pregnancy. It was their CEO who cleared the way for them to do that story line. He sent a telegram to CBS saying: “ Don’t fuck with the Cuban.”

The cast of both shows received cartons of cigarettes from their sponsors weekly.

[LessAspin]

4. A couple of hard core right-wingers

William Hopper (Paul Drake) was a Navy Seal and son of right-wing syndicated columnist Hedda Hopper.

He originally auditioned for the role of Perry Mason..

[IngridsLittleAngel]

2. One of (by my count) 13 people to play in both pro basketball and baseball

2 seasons for the Boston Celtics from 1946-48 (though, the Celtics were in the BAA back then - the NBA had yet to be formed from the BAA-NBL merger), played in 1949 for the Brooklyn Dodgers and in 1951 with the Chicago Cubs. One of his teammates with the AAA-class Montreal Royals in 1950 was Tommy Lasorda.