Published on Thursday, June 14, 2007 E-mail to a Friend ROB PHILLIPS/For the Yakima Herald-Republic Outdoor Channel fishing personality and film actor Lee Horsley holds a 6-foot sturgeon he caught on the Columbia River below The Dalles Dam. If you watched much television back in the early 1980s, there's a pretty good chance one or more of your favorite shows involved characters who were private investigators. At that time the networks were filling the boob tube with private eye shows like "Simon Simon," "Magnum, P.
I." and "Spenser: For Hire." The shows featured hunky young guys like Tom Selleck and Robert Urich, who drove fast sports cars and solved all the crimes that the cops just couldn't quite figure out.
Another one of those popular shows was "Matt Houston," which starred a good looking young guy by the name of Lee Horsley. The show featured Horsley as a millionaire private detective who flew his personal jet around the country, solving crimes and making women swoon. "That was a long time ago," Horsley said with a chuckle.
"But it was a lot of fun." Now older (still only 52), grayer and wiser, Horsley's list of television and movie work is as long as your arm. And, even with all of that work, and with all of the big-name stars he has appeared with through the years, the thing he may be most proud of is that never once did one of the characters he played die on screen.
"I made a promise to my grammy that I would never accept a role where I died," he explained. "She couldn't stand the thought of watching me die on TV. I passed up some pretty good roles because of that, but I never broke my promise to her.
" Even though Horsley hasn't been offered many television or movie roles as of late, he is now doing something that has got to be much more relaxing and enjoyable. Today, he is the host of a new fishing show called "Western Sportfishing with Lee Horsley." Northwest Sportsman columnist Rob Phillips and TV personality Lee Horsley display a 6-pound spring chinook Horsley caught at Drano Lake.
It was while filming two episodes for the series, which debuts in July on the Outdoor Channel, that I got to spend a few days in mid-May with the actor on the Columbia River near Hood River. The plan was to fish for two days for spring salmon at the mouth of the Little White Salmon River, and then to move up the Columbia to fish for sturgeon just below The Dalles Dam. Everyone, including Horsley, the camera crew and me (playing the part of the reluctant guide), knew our roles in making the half-hour show.
Unfortunately, the fish must not have received the script, because they missed their cue entirely the first day. It's not easy to sweat like it's the middle of August when the temperatures are in the 40s and the wind is blowing a gale. But, as the first day of filming, or what was supposed to be filming, wore on, I began to sweat profusely.
It was my job to put us on fish, and that was not happening. I am somewhat used to fishing for 14 hours without hooking a fish, but when you have a camera crew hovering around your boat like a flock of very hungry vultures, it can get pretty intense. Then plop a television star into the seat next to you and the pressure elevates a notch or two more.
Luckily, the next day a few fish decided that they wanted their 15 minutes of fame, and when the third salmon was hooked, fought and then lost right next to the boat, the producer of the show announced, "That's it, we have a show." I have to admit that Horsley was very accommodating and understanding about the hot-and-cold fishing. Obviously the man is an outdoorsman and has done enough fishing to know that the fish don't always bite when you want them to.
During our time on the water, I got to talk to him about the television business and about his love for the outdoors. After growing up in Colorado, where he hunted, fished, and did some acting and singing in high school, Horsley got his "big chance" when some Hollywood producers spotted him in a play in New York and asked if he would like to read for a part in a new show they were making. He did, and a short time later he was starring with gruff, veteran actor William Conrad in the NBC prime time show "Nero Wolfe.
" Horsley said that, while many others didn't, he got along great with Conrad. But the man was a bit of an eccentric. He had clauses in his contract that didn't allow the cameras to shoot him below the waist, and that his close-ups were to be taken at such an angle that the viewers couldn't tell he was reading cue cards.
The reason for the "waist-up" demand was that Conrad always wore bedroom slippers. "Nero Wolfe" lasted only one season, but it didn't take long for Horsley to find another series. The next year he became the star of Matt Houston, which ran on ABC from 1982 through 1985.
The show is still running today in syndication in countries all around the world. "That's the show that I am most known for," Horsley said of the detective show. "In fact, there is still quite a Matt Houston fan club in England.
" Through the years he has starred in other TV series, including his personal favorite, "Paradise" (1988-1991 on CBS), along with a couple of mini-series, a bunch of made-for-TV movies and a few feature length films. Most recently, Horsley was the host of "Benelli's Dream Hunts" on the Outdoor Channel, a job that paid him to travel around the U.S.
and to several other countries in pursuit of big and small game. Not a bad gig for someone who loves to hunt. He hasn't given up totally on acting, however.
"I'm up for a part right now in a movie with Sean Penn called 'Border Crossings,'" Horsley said. "But you never know what is going to happen." He doesn't seem too worried about the acting work, or lack there of, in recent years.
"I'm writing a couple of books, I've been doing some voice-over work, and there is this new show," Horsley said as we trolled down the middle of Drano Lake looking for a spring salmon to co-star in this particular episode. "This has been great fun." "Western Sportfishing" is going to be one of the new feature shows on the Outdoor Channel and it has Horsley traveling from Alaska to Mexico in search of popular fresh and saltwater species of fish.
According to executive producer Russ Cameron, "Western Sportfishing" is definitely a fishing show, but it will also highlight some of the history and geography of each region where Horsley and his guests are fishing. Fortunately, for the second episode of the shoot, I was relegated to camera-boat operator, and the pressures of finding some sturgeon fell on the shoulders of guide Jack LaFond of The Dalles. The sturgeon fishing was almost as tough as the salmon fishing, which seems to happen with TV cameras around.
By the end of the second day of filming, however, Horsley had caught several small sturgeon, along with a beautiful, big 6-footer, which helped make the show. From the shoot on the Columbia, the "Western Sportfishing" crew was headed to the Oregon coast and then up to Alaska to film more of the 13 episodes for this year. After that, Horsley will return to his small ranch in Southern California, where he'll keep working on his books and enjoying a little time off.
Or he might take another role on television or in the movies if one pops up. That is, as long as his character doesn't have to die. Because, you know, he did promise Grammy.
* Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.
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