Diane Brewster
Diane Brewster
. Diane Brewster (11 March 1931 in Kansas City, Missouri – 12 November 1991 in Studio City, California) was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in US TV series of the 1950s and 60s: confidence trickster "Samantha Crawford" in Maverick; pretty young second-grade teacher "Miss Canfield" in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife "Helen Kimble" in The Fugitive. On Maverick, a sophisticated ABC western series featuring James Garner and Jack Kelly, Brewster's character was a gorgeous gambling con artist who often faked a southern accent. Though she was usually on the wrong side of the law, she was also ultimately likable; perhaps this was because "Samantha Crawford" was named after Maverick writer/producer Roy Huggins' mother. Brewster had actually first played Crawford in one 1956 episode of Cheyenne, another western television series (episode entitled "Dark Rider"), before showing up opposite James Garner in the third episode of Maverick, "According to Hoyle." Brewster's other Maverick appearances include the episodes "The Savage Hills" with Jack Kelly, "The Seventh Hand" with Garner, and the famous "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" with both Kelly and Garner. Including the Cheyenne episode, Brewster played Samantha Crawford only five times (with her last appearance coming in 1958), but she made an indelible impression on critics and viewers.
