Facts About Claude Akins

He had two TV series.

Creative Commons: Jay Phagan from Taft, Texas

If you’ve watched TV for a long time, Claude Akins is one of those guys who just keeps on popping up. You’ve no doubt seen him in a lot of westerns. One of my favorite Claude Akins roles was his portrayal of Elwood Coates in the Chuck Connors vehicle, “Ride Beyond Vengeance.” The Coates character dealt with mental health issues. He had an invisible friend who he called, “Whiskey Man.”

Eventually Connors killed Coates and as Coates/Akins was dying he said, “He killed us both Whiskey Man.” Memorable cinema.

Of his two TV series, the one that I remember most was “The Misadventures of Sherrif Lobo.” Of course, my favorite character on that show was Deputy Perkins, aka “Perkins the Cat.” More on him at a later time. For now, here are some things you didn’t know about Claude Akins.

1: If it seems like Akins is always popping up on your TV screen, it’s because he appeared in almost 100 movies and 180+ TV shows.

He did a lot of TV westerns in the 50s, possibly because seemingly 98% of TV shows in the 50s were westerns. And we liked it!

2: Akins had an interesting take on his career saying, “I’ve been killed a good many times…