| Alt Name: | "Foreign Legionnaire" |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Director: | Lester Fuller |
| Starring: | Buster Crabbe Fuzzy Knight Cullen Crabbe |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 65 |
| Location: | Agadir, Morocco |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Channel: | NBC |
Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion is an American half-hour black-and-white television series about the French Foreign Legion starring Buster Crabbe in the title role. Crabbe's real-life son Cullen Crabbe played the Legion mascot, with cowboy sidekick Fuzzy Knight playing himself as Legion comedy relief.[1] The series premiered on NBC on 13 February 1955 and ended its first run with the 65th episode shown on 7 December 1957. It was shown for many years in syndication on American television under the title Foreign Legionnaire.[2]
The first season of the television show was filmed on location in North Africa with many actual Legionnaires and their installations featuring in the show. With increased danger to the crew, the series moved to Italy. The studio was one owned by Sophia Loren and was just outside the gates of the US Army base, Camp Darby, near Pisa.
One of the producers of the show was Harry Saltzman. The executive producer was Gilbert A. Ralston. Directors were Marcel Crevenne, Sam Newfield, Pierre Schwab, and Jean Yarbrough. Writers were Jack Andrews, Gene Levitt, and William N. Robson.[3]
Three episodes were spliced together as a film released in the United Kingdom called Desert Outpost (1954) directed by Sam Newfield.[4]