”A few months ago, I was handed what I thought was a dream assignment. At least it started out on a dreamlike note but almost snowballed into becoming a nightmare,” the actor shared.

After carefully considering over 60 women, the choice ultimately fell to the stunning red-haired beauty Patricia Blair, who hailed from Texas.

Recognize this baseball hall-of-famer?

As previously mentioned, Lucas McCain was an incredibly skilled baseball player. However, he could never match the prowess of former Dodgers star Duke Snider, who made a guest appearance on the show. (Chuck Connors hit only two home runs during his Major League Baseball career).

The celebrated baseball player, nicknamed “the Duke of Flatbush,” portrayed the character Wallace in the episode titled The Retired Gun. Another former baseball star who made an appearance on the show was Don Drysdale.

Johnny Crawford’s brother popped up

The Rifleman was heavily centered around family themes, and it was the first network television series to portray a single parent raising a child.

In addition to Jeff Connors, another relative of the show’s stars made an appearance: none other than Bobby Crawford, brother of Johnny.

He played the character Freddy in the episode Second Witness, and both he and Johnny delivered performances so impressive that they earned Emmy nominations in 1959. Bobby, whose full name is Robert Lawrence Crawford Jr., continued his acting career and portrayed Andy Sherman on the NBC television series Laramie from 1959 to 1960. He is still alive today and is 80 years old.