Why Did WALT DISNEY Cancel ZORRO At The HEIGHT of its POPULARITY? 

Agreed.

Anthony Hopkins.

...THAT'S THE TRUTH-!!!

Well, I like Antonio Banderas’ version too. But I grew up on Guy’s tv show.

Tyrone Power. Handsome, great swordsman, great actor, and great dancer. Paired with the vivacious Linda Darnell. No contest!

Easy Angelised, though. D.

@@JRobbySh That’s “Anglicized”.

Nice plot twist lol

Today better to change it to James senor.

That is amazing! I watched the reruns in both B&W in the 70's and the colorized later as a kid! It was an hour long show on Saturdays and Sundays with The Lone Ranger and Zoro. I watched them with my Grandmother. Then later loved Guy all over again in Lost in Space, one of the few things my father and I had in common. I miss those days...

How cool!

Thanks for posting, interesting.

Wow! Fantastico y maravioso!

So awesome - would love to hear some of the stories he shared about Disney!

My same experience, although I was around 4 or 5. It was a rodeo appearance in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Of course, I came in costume, and Guy loved it. I have a photo with him...kinda my "Rosebud." lol My most vivid memory of the evening is being near him as he sat at the table signing. I was mesmerized. What a great guy is right! I can't wait to share the show with my 5 year old grandson. EDIT: Since posting this, I have learned that the rodeo appearance was September 1959 (CORRECTION: It was May 1959). I was six months shy of five years-old. I have since also watched numerous Zorro episodes/TV movies. Because of my young age back then, I have no specific story memory of these, so it is like watching anew. What a wonderful show! I find myself thoroughly enjoying these, often laughing out loud at the clever fun and Henry Calvin's wonderful performances. But Guy Williams is just fabulous! Do we have role models like this for young kids today? I grew up to work as a cinematographer in the movie business, and I am quite impressed with the production quality...and can see why this show was so expensive for its time. There is a lot of day-for-night shooting, but it is very well done. It would have been nice if the show could have advanced to shooting in color, but timing was not to allow that. Still, very solid work. I thought I recognized some of the exterior locations such as the Disney Ranch and Vasquez Rocks where I have also worked. Disney didn't buy the Ranch until 1959, so that's out. Vasquez Rocks at Agua Dulce was used, but I agree with another post here that Iverson Ranch was probably the most common exterior location off the lot. These are new to my wife and, surprisingly, she is also enjoying them. Next are my son and his boys. A toast to Disney, Guy Williams and all the cast, and the many behind the scenes who brought us this wonderful series. Salud!

@@canweshoot Thanks for your swell story, Joe. Loved it, too!!!! We got cable for the first time in about 1997 FOR THE EXPRESS REASON TO SEE AND TAPE THE EPISODES OF ZORRO, now gloriously colorized. My wife, son, and I all became huge fans. I may have seen the show as a 3--4 year old tot, but did not remember them. Yet, when I would see Guy guest star on Bonanza, and then later on Lost In Space, I felt I somehow knew who he was. I imagine my family watched the show, and though I was little simply joined the excitement. So thankful I got to see Zorro later, and then buy first the VHS tapes, and finally the colorized DVD sets. Expensive, but there was a lot of competition for them, and THEY WERE, AND ARE, WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!- Brian Powell

When I was 9, I fell in love with the Zorro TV show. The Mickey Mouse Club was already a very popular show. To hear the Zorro them song and watch the opening scene on his horse after more than 60 years shot me right back to my childhood in the 1950s. This had a real impact on me today.

@@ronlheureux7623 Nice. Same for many of us, brother. :-)

I wish I could’ve met him. I was somewhere between 9 and 12 the first time I saw the show. My grandma introduced me to it when it was still on the Disney channel in the late 90s. It came on after we went to bed so she’d let us stay up on the weekends to watch it. Now I’m introducing it to my much younger sister and she loves it!

so do I

Always loved the Zorro theme song till this day.

Sgt. Garcia may be the model for Sgt. Snorkel in “Beetle Bailey” and for Sgt. Schultz in “Hogan’s Heroes.”

It must have worked.

I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!😂. Good on ya, mate.

I had the same. I really liked that show as a kid.

I had the exact same thing down to the sword with the chalk attached to the tip. Hadn’t thought about that until your comment. Thanks so much.

@@CrimsonRaven51 You betcha! (And my sister had more than one all-girl birthday party invaded by Zorro!)

Mine broke in the first week. Luckily, I had a Fanner50 and a Tommy Gun that ejected empties out the side (they didn't last long, either) for backup. A deringer in my hat ala Paladin. Named a kitten El Fego Baca, and she lived 19 years. Those were shining times.

Wow, that sword must have been so cool to play with. I never even knew there was such a thing.

Amen, a Mentzch.

He was also perfect as Will Robinson on Lost in space. From Ms. Harper Stacey.

@@harperstacey9604 John Robinson

@@josephvitielo1693 Yes. You were right. Will Robinson was the little boy. From Ms. Harper Stacey.

@@harperstacey9604 thanks for retort

Guy Williams couldn't wait to see the back of Hollywood. It was too sleazy.

Assembling and building sets plus a lot of outdoor shooting.

My guess is the big cost was casting. Besides Zorro, Sgt Garcia, Corporal Reyes (Krazy Cat from F Troop), Zorro's dad Don Alejandro and the main bad guy (Commandante/Eagle/Bad Governor), you had at least one senorita, the bad guy's toady, a young caballero Zorro has to save from a firing squad, a padre, Don Alejandro's cronies and stunt doubles. The production also didn't skimp on the number of soldiers or peons running around. The presidio and hacienda built on the Burbank lot were a one-time cost. Zorro's cave and riding sequences were up at the Iverson Ranch and the Monterey stone cabin was on the Bell Location Ranch but I imagine that cost was not prohibitive.

@@miked6335 dont forget the mute

@@josephvitielo1693 Geez, how the heck did I forget Bernardo!

@@miked6335 he was the silent one!!!

We used to watch Zorro back in the mid 60's.

I (still) have crushes with Suzanne Lloyd (Raquel, wife of Cptn. Toledano) and Srta. Verdugo. Also Patricia Medina (wife of the genial Joseph Cotten) was ravishing, when courted by César Romero - as Diego de la Vega's uncle.

I remember that I dressed up like Zorro for Halloween Trick-or-Treating when I was a wee tyke.

You might be interested to know that in the 1940s there was a movie theater series entitled "Zorro's Black Whip." While McCulley's Zorro was set in the southern California of the early 1820s, the Black Whip series was set in the Idaho territory of the 1880s. The Black Whip started out as a male vigilante fighting corrupt businessmen, but when he was killed, his sister took on the role, for most of the series. And remember George J. Lewis, who played Don Alejandro de la Vega in Walt Disney's "Zorro"? He had a role as a lawman and supporter of the Black Whip.

I was disappointed that they chose to go with the robot and silly Dr. Smith.kids thing. Williams was wasted. I guess more serious, Star Trek stubff would have been too expensive.

Thanks for the great info, aadamtx. Really interesting stuff.

And in his spare time he even pitched for the Red Sox, lol

So nice to know that piece of his life. Thank you.

Tordogor ACG: Do they also show I Love Lucy in Argentina?

@@roberttelarket4934 No. The great oldies favorires are 'Zorro' and 'The Three Stooges'. They have been shown in Argentinean TV since the 1960s. 'Get Smart' and the British 'The Avengers' are oftenly run. The new classic is 'The Nanny' both the Drescher version and the local version.

@@Tordogor: Is something wrong with you Argentinians?! How could you not love I Love Lucy and not show it in TV?! I think there should be rioting!!!

@@roberttelarket4934 because is stupid?

Possibly foreign investors bought everything up.

That was very clever having a piece of chalk at the top!!!

I had that same sword as a kid, Zorro was my hero as a child and on Halloween I was always Zorro.

Not to mention being dropped from ‘’Bonanza’’ as Ben Cartwright’s nephew because Pernell Roberts decided not to leave after all. (Though he did a couple years later).

@@robertdoherty2001 Ya, he got robbed there. I like the episodes he was in in Bonanza, and think it would have worked well.

Williams was the "star," but Jonathan Harris commandeered the show. Williams resented him for that.

@@davidlafleche1142 He also lost out to the Robot.

@@robertdoherty2001 It seemed to me that while Williams would have been a fine addition to BZ, his character's personality was way too similar to Little Joe, and having two of the same character is too much..too bad after Roberts left, Williams character would have taken on as an older brother really well by then, he was in LIS..no way to break his contract. If only, right???

Real name was Armando Catalano.

@@davegreene8588 that’s not so hard to pronounce. 😉

@@KatyWatson173Armando Catalano sound more Spaniard than Italian actually!!!

​Sicily was a Spanish possession for a while

Wasn't scarecrow Patrick Mcgoohan?

@@rynehall9990 I'm not sure, but you may be right. I'll try to check, or maybe someone else knows for sure. Incidentally, Robin Hood was played by Richard Greene. Another one of my heroes was Sergeant Preston.

@@rynehall9990 Yes indeed. Patrick McGoohan played Dr. Christopher Syn, alias "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh".

Dub Taylor, who showed up in many films over a 50+ year career, got his first film role because he could play the xylophone.

I did as well. Forgot this until I read your comment.

I liked that practical Zorro version I bought the entire series on DVD

In Isabel Allende's novel of Zorro (excellent to read, by the way) she has Zorro's mother as a Shoshone princess.

Actually the Cisco Kid And Poncho was a favorite of mine Although I wouldn’t call either anti hero’s

All we ever wanted was an admirable hero. Race was not and is not the issue.

And I had the comic book with the incredibly gorgeous cover photo of Guy and Annette! Perhaps still have it.

@@canweshoot I really enjoyed watching the reruns of zorro when it used to be on the Disney channel years ago. From Ms. Harper Stacey.

I had a black tom cat, I named zorro. Sure a lot of them got that name.

best version... even taking into account Catherine Zeta Jones. Woof!

@@tmage7042 Catherine woof. Linda Darnell. Woof,woof,woof,woof!!!

I remember he revealed himself to his father. But not in general.

@@lindaterrell5535 This is true , but in the final scenes where he is fighting along side Sergeant Garcia Zorro's mask comes off and his true identity is revealed . The sergeants smile at Don Deago also confirms Garcia's suspicions that the sergeant knew who Zorro was all along and they both fought harder against the forces of the evil governor until they won. The final scene shows the celebration of the freedom of California and the question of what's next for Zorro. They left that question open .

There were legal problems, too; when Parker tried to "resurrect" Davy Crockett. "Daniel Boone" was the result. Williams, and the rest of the cast, played "Lost in Space", straight, but couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous the scripts were, at the readings. Irwin Allen was awarded the "Golden Raspberry", for his "contributions" to Science Fiction.

Irwin wrote The Time Tunnel . A real stinker. But some loved it so ?

@@colinhalliley111 I liked Time Tunnel (by the way, James Darren showed up later, on Deep Space 9, and Whit Bissell (The Trouble with Tribbles), and Lee Meriwether (That Which Survives) later showed up on TOS. I liked Time Tunnel (at least, in concept), but like everything else Irwin Allen got his hands on, he was such a skinflint, he ruined them. There was so much he could have done with his series (plural).

@@rodrudinger9902 Hope the final season 3 of the new Lost in Space will be good.

Douglas Turner Davy died at the Alamo- that’s history! Factual would have had to be brought back in a sequel!

My wife named her cat Zorro, which was confusing because it was a female cat.

I remember that Show. It was on the Family Channel.

the family channel which was later abc family now freeform affiliated with cbn which aired that other zorro.

The Cisco Kid

And it’s Duncan Renaldo

The producers of Bonanza used Guy Williams as a bargaining chip against Pernell Roberts. From Ms. Harper Stacey.

You are not alone! I, too, thought the lyrics referred to "a horse that's known as Zorro!"

“Out of the night….”, not “knight”.

Depends on what one you have. Red zorro on face with original band around $75. The fossil version $500