When '60s Late Heartthrob George Maharis Was Kicked Off 'Route 66' For Being Gay

In the early '60s, there wasn't a sexier network hunk than George Maharis, who co-starred with Martin Milner on the road trip series "Route 66." The hit series followed the pair as they traveled across America on the route than runs from St. Louis to Los Angeles, creating an anthology series of their exploits. Of the pair, Maharis's Buzz Murdock was more Beat Generation than the more square Tod Stiles (Milner), and made him the heartthrob of the duo.

But three seasons in, Buzz went missing. "Mr. Maharis attributed his departure to health reasons (he was suffering from hepatitis), but Karen Blocher, an author and blogger who interviewed him and other principal figures on the show, wrote in 2006 that the story was more complex," reports the New York Times on Sunday in its report on his death at the age of 94 in Los Angeles.

Buzz was absent for a number of episodes at the end of the second season. He returned for the start of the third, but went absent again said to be suffering from a "echovirus". Buzz and Tod communicated with email and phone, before Buzz was dropped from the series and replaced with Lincoln Case (Glenn Corbett) in March 1963. Case is a United States Army veteran of the Vietnam conflict, haunted by his past.

Herbert B. Leonard, the show's executive producer, "thought he'd hired a young hunk for the show (Maharis), a hip, sexy man and good actor that all the girls would go for," Ms. Blocher wrote. "This was all true of Maharis," she went on, "but not the whole story, as Leonard discovered to his anger and dismay. George was gay, it turned out."

Mr. Maharis was arrested in 1967 on charges of "lewd conduct" and in 1974 on charges of "sex perversion" for cruising in men's bathrooms

The Times adds that Ms. Blocher attributed Mr. Maharis's departure to a number of factors. "The producers felt betrayed and duped when they learned of Maharis's sexual orientation, and never trusted him again," she wrote, adding, "Maharis, for his part, started to feel that he was carrying the show and going unappreciated."

He did not discuss his sexuality in interviews, but he proudly described being the July 1973 nude centerfold in Playgirl magazine in an interview with Esquire in 2017.

"A lot of guys came up to me and asked me to sign it for their 'wives,'" he said.

The Times adds that after leaving "Route 66," Mr. Maharis appeared in feature films, including "Sylvia," with Carroll Baker, and "The Satan Bug," a science-fiction drama, both from 1965. He tried series television again in 1970 as the star of an ABC whodunit, "The Most Deadly Game," with Ralph Bellamy and Yvette Mimieux, but the show lasted only three months.

In the 1970s and early '80s, he made guest appearances on other television series, including "Police Story," "The Bionic Woman" and "Fantasy Island." He did occasional television films, including a poorly reviewed 1976 "Rosemary's Baby" sequel. He worked infrequently in the 1980s and made his final screen appearance in a supporting role in "Doppelganger," a 1993 horror film starring Drew Barrymore.

Due to filming conflicts, Maharis wasn't able to watch the episodes when they aired. When he caught up to them when they were re-released in 2007, he said: "I was really surprised how strong they were," he said. "For the first time, I could see what other people had seen."