The co-star Josh Brolin called “the greatest thing that ever happened to me”
Josh Brolin could have easily been just another nepo baby in an industry swarming with second-generation no-hopers.
After being catapulted to stardom with The Goonies, he fell off the map in a big way before being rescued from obscurity by the Coen brothers, and now, he’s one of Hollywood’s most reliably interesting performers in the sense that, regardless of what he’s doing, he’s always a must-watch.
One of the most prominent roles that came during his fallow years was the TV show The Young Riders, which was set during the era of the Pony Express, featuring Brolin as one of a group of adolescent riders navigating the Wild West in the buildup to the Civil War. His character was a version of ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, a famous folk hero. He was joined by Stephen Baldwin, playing a version of ‘Buffalo Bill’, Oscar-winning Melissa Leo, and an array of guest stars, including Cynthia Nixon, David Carradine, and your mum’s favourite, David Soul.
The role of elder statesmen on the show was played by Anthony Zerbe. His character, Aloysius ‘Teaspoon’ Hunter, is a survivor of the Battle of the Alamo and oversees his riders with a firm but loving hand. As well as playing a father figure on the show, Zerbe had quite the impact on his co-stars in real life. In an interview with the unfortunately titled Cowboys & Indians magazine, Brolin described the older actor as “the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
You might not recognise Zerbe’s name right off the bat, but you will have definitely seen him in something since he was a regular on American TV throughout the 1960s, appearing on shows like Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West, and Mission: Impossible, and in terms of movies, you can find him in everything from Cool Hand Luke to the James Bond flick Licence to Kill to the final two films of the original Matrix movies.
Even outside of The Young Riders, Zerbe and the young Brolin had a strong bond. Speaking to The Hollywood Interview, the latter recalled how the former guided him through the early stages of his acting career.
“I went to New York, started a theatre company with an actor named Anthony Zerbe, and really turned my life around,” he remembered. “We had four readers that read 700 plays a year, out of which they would pick 35. Anthony and I would read the 35, and then we’d pick three out of the 35, and we’d do three new American plays in rep. It was the best thing I’d ever done, for sure.”
Zerbe directed Brolin in a number of these plays, helping him hone his craft on stage, and while it would be a number of years before the younger man reached his full potential, these lessons he learned during this period undoubtedly contributed to his eventual rise.
With a father like James, a father figure like Zerbe, and many other inspirations besides, it’s no wonder that Josh grew up to become the star he is today. From riding horses to directing plays to everything in between, this is a beautiful relationship that, unlike so many others in Hollywood, didn’t end with a massive falling out.
