"Teaspoon" Hunter, played by legendary actor Anthony Zerbe, was the eccentric, overbearing, yet still a teddy-bear employer of the Pony Express station. The first impression we got of Teaspoon seemed to be that of the town drunk, but we soon realized that he had a certain wisdom that proved valuable to the young men and woman in his care. His wit and undeniable charm was another characteristic that made us all love Teaspoon.

Teaspoon was a retired veteran who was one of five survivors of the famous Texas battle that occurred at the Alamo during the Texas War for Independence in March of 1836. Sent by Colonel Bowie to take a message to Sam Houston, Teaspoon and the five returned to the Alamo to bear witness of the destruction there. (not entirely historically accurate) In one episode, this came back to haunt Teaspoon as each member of the five were being hunted down and murdered. This brought him back to the Alamo nearly 25 years later when he learned that he was now the ONLY living survivor.

Teaspoon has a true heart for romance. As he likes to boast, he was married six times, three times to white women and three times to Indian women, but his first wife was his true love. He had one daughter, Elizabeth, but she died before he ever has a chance to set his eyes on her. However, he learned about her from her roommate, Amanda, when she came to Sweetwater posing as Elizabeth to take from Teaspoon $10,000 that he had in a bank account in another town. Amanda was meant to kill Teaspoon for the money, but she grew attached to him and after she finally told Teaspoon the truth, he decided to give her the money and they became partners to open a saloon. Even though Amanda wasn't his real daughter, Teaspoon decided to look upon her like she was since Amanda was Elizabeth's only friend.

Teaspoon sometimes seems to be a bit rough on the riders at first, but that soon fades as he grows attached to each one. He becomes the father figure to these orphans and hopes to guide them in the right direction in life. He takes pride in all of his riders, even when they make the wrong decisions. And just as he looks after the riders, they look after Teaspoon as well. And when Jesse James joins the group, Teaspoon feels especially dedicated to help this young one find the right path, even though all of his fathering doesn't help when it comes to the influence that Frank has over Jesse.

Teaspoon is another one with a nickname, but at least we find out that his real name is Aloysius. Among Teaspoon's other jobs, he was also the marshal when Sam and Emma married and moved away, and he also officiated at Lou and Kid's wedding.

Teaspoon tried hard to keep the riders together as the years went on. When the war came about and personal decisions had to made, he fought hard to help them follow the right paths, and even harder to keep them together, but it all came to no avail as they made their separate ways to their futures. He hated to see them go, but he knew that there was nothing he could do. As much as he cared, he had to let them go.

After the end of the series, we assume that Teaspoon fought hard to keep the Pony Express alive, but the invention of the telegraph put an end to the Pony Express in late November of 1861. Who knows? Maybe Teaspoon got married again and settled down for good. But we do know that he was one of a kind, and someone you don't have the pleasure of knowing everyday.

Veteran actor Anthony Zerbe is nowhere near as crusty or saltry as his "Young Riders" counterpart Teaspoon Hunter, quite the opposite in fact. This is a very cultured gentleman as apt to be seen reading poetry as firing a six shooter. During his distinguished thirty years career he has played every type of role under the sun, from the most vile of villains to religious figures to the devil himself; from dedicated doctors to equally dedicated killers; from upstanding law enforcement officials to dastardly spies. He's done it all.

Anthony was born on May 20, 1936 in Long Beach, CA. He began in the mid-fifties appearing frequently in some of the most popular television programs of the day such as "Gunsmoke", "Naked City" and "Bonanza". He appeared in the original "Mission: Impossible" series on five separate occasions as five different characters. He also made multiple guest appearances throughout the years on series like "Cannon", "The Equalizer, "The Big Valley", "The Wild Wild West", "Kung Fu", "Hawaii Five-O", "Little House on The Prairie" "Tales From The Crypt", "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Under Suspicion".

Despite his extensive work in episodic television, he still found time to appear in numerous made for television movies and mini-series, including such notable productions as "Centennial", "The Chisholms", "The North And South, Book II", and recently, "Asteroid" with Don Franklin.

And yet, he still found the time to work in many well-known theatrical films. These have included such well-respected and popular films as Cool Hand Luke, Will Penny, They Call Me MISTER Tibbs, Papillion, The Turning Point, and License To Kill.

If all of this wasn't enough to keep him busy, he has also appeared on the stage regularly for a number of years in various productions on Broadway and off as well as dramatized poetry readings with fellow actor Roscoe Lee Browne among others. These poetic productions include "Behind The Broken Words", "It's All Done With Mirrors - The Poetry of e.e. cummings", and "Prelude To Lime Creek".

With this extensive body of work, it is amazing that he was able to find time to do "The Young Riders", only his second television series. His first was 25 years earlier when he played police Lieutenant KC Trench on the police drama "Harry O" for a year. His portrayal of Lt. Trench earned him an Emmy award in 1976.

Since "The Young Riders" went off the air, Anthony has kept busy by continuing his stage work, performing on tour and at colleges; appearing on television and in the movies, too. He can be seen in the upcoming film The Touch with Bridget Fonda and Christopher Walken. Or, you can hear his work as a voice actor, dramatically reading audio books like John Saul's "Darkness".

In 1998, we had the chance to see Anthony on the big screen again. He played Admiral Daughtery in the ninth installment of the Star Trek saga, Insurection. And 1999 brought about another feature film, True Crime.

The new millennium has brought Anthony another busy schedule as well. Although he has made several guest appearance in such TV shows as "Frasier" and "Total Recall 2070", Anthony's next big screen appearance will be in the sequel to The Matrix which is still in production.

A truly amazing career for an amazingly talented actor.

For more information on Anthony Zerbe, please visit IMDB.com.

Information for this page provided by wCw, Ishani, & Ken Gerdes
Pictures provided by Wendy