George Maharis - THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL - 1974

 THE BEST OF PLAYGIRL 

 1974 

Peter Lupas (cover & Lifesize Poster (paste-together)

Discoveries

Lloyd Beardsley, Ron Smith, Greg Wainwright, Roger Huckstep, Bill Cookson, Ernie Langeberg, Darris McCord, Marc Hampton.

Fantasies

In April-In Spring 

Men of the Month

Lyle Wagner, George Maharis, Gary Conway, Fabian Forte, Fred Williamson, Don Stroud, Jean-Paul Vignon, John Ericson, Barry Hosteler, Bill Douglas, Garrison Wayne

 George Maharis (born September 1, 1928 in Astoria, New York) is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66. Maharis also recorded numerous pop music albums at the height of his fame, and later starred in the short-lived TV series The Most Deadly Game.

 Maharis was one of seven children born to Greek immigrants in Astoria, Queens. The earlier spelling of the name was "Mahairas". Although his father was in the restaurant business, George had early ambitions to be a professional singer. After injuring his vocal cords through overuse, he switched to acting.

 He studied at the Actors Studio and appeared in Off-Broadway productions of Jean Genet's Deathwatch and Edward Albee's The Zoo Story. He appeared on Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, Goodyear Television Playhouse, Stirling Silliphant's Naked City and Otto Preminger's Exodus, and in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow as Bud Gardner, one of Joanne Gardner's relatives who married Janet Bergman Collins.

 He attended Flushing High School and served in the United States Marine Corps for 18 months.

 In 1960, Maharis appeared as Buz Murdock in the popular TV series Route 66, which co-starred Martin Milner. He received an Emmy nomination in 1962 for his continuing performance as Buz.

Maharis departed without completing his third season on the series, which saw him with health problems, including hepatitis. Maharis said he left Route 66 for health reasons, due to the long hours and grueling conditions he frequently experienced while shooting episodes on location. "I have to protect my future," Maharis said in a 1963 interview. "If I keep going at the present pace, I'm a fool. Even if you have $4,000,000 in the bank, you can't buy another liver." Series producers Stirling Silliphant and Herbert B. Leonard said that Maharis desired to break his contract and make movies. After Maharis' departure, the show's appeal declined. Glenn Corbett stepped in as Milner's new sidekick on the road, Linc Case, but a year later, Route 66 was canceled.

 For Maharis, a string of films followed, including Quick, Before It Melts (1964), The Satan Bug and Sylvia (both 1965), A Covenant With Death and The Happening (both 1967) and The Desperados (1969). Returning to series television in 1970, Maharis starred as criminologist Jonathan Croft in the ABC adventure series The Most Deadly Game, co-starring Ralph Bellamy as Mr. Arcane. The series lasted twelve episodes, ending in January 1971. He modeled for the July 1973 issue of Playgirl magazine as one of the first celebrities to do so.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Maharis guest-starred in many television series, including Mission: Impossible, Fantasy Island, Kojak, McMillan & Wife, Barnaby Jones, Police Story, Switch, Cannon, Night Gallery, and The Bionic Woman, as well as Murder, She Wrote in 1990. He appeared as Count Machelli, King Cromwell's War Chancellor in The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982). He also starred with the Kenley Players in productions of Barefoot in the Park (1967) and How the Other Half Lives (1973) and in national touring company productions of Company and I Ought to Be in Pictures. In the 1980s, he performed in Las Vegas. In 1993, he performed in Doppelganger.