Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Spotted: Ted Shackelford

He has the nice distinction of being about the only man on the 1970s show "Wonder Woman" to actually call poor Diana Prince pretty. He's the young taxi driver, Pete, who meets Diana when she arrives in Los Angeles on a mission to find Steve Trevor. He's also Ted Shackelford, known to us as the second, and permanent, Gary Ewing of "Dallas" and its spinoff, "Knots Landing."

Pete doesn't shy away from adventure in this second-season episode, "Knockout," which originally aired in October 1977, not long before Shackelford saddled up on "Dallas." When Diana warns him that their cab is being followed and he may be in danger, he not only hangs onto his fare -- he punches the bad guys for her! Wonder Woman then steps in to help, and he's appropriately stunned by the Amazon beauty.

Shackelford is friendly, noble and street-smart in the role, as well as California-blond handsome and an ex-Marine. Ironically, his young son in the episode is named Ted. Watch it yourself at the WB, and find BRBTV synopses of this and the other "Wonder Woman" episodes at the IMDb.

By the way, Shackelford worked in one more episode of the "WW" series before heading off to Texas.

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