George Maharis (September 1, 1928 – May 24, 2023) was an American actor, singer, and visual artist who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66.

Maharis also recorded several pop music albums at the height of his fame, and later starred in the TV series The Most Deadly Game.

He left before graduating and served for 18 months in the United States Marine Corps and then earned his high school diploma.

He got his first break as an actor on the television comedy series Mister Peepers,[4] playing a parody of Marlon Brando.

[6] After a short stint at the Cincinnati Playhouse,[4] Maharis returned to New York and won recognition in off-Broadway productions.

In 1955, Maharis received critical acclaim for his roles in John Van Druten's play Dancing in the Chequered Shade, and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton.

[7][8] In October 1958, a New York Times critic described his performance in Jean Genet's Deathwatch as "correctly volatile, harsh, soft and cunning".

[6] Brooks Atkinson wrote that Maharis' performance as the "overwrought yet searching intruder" was "a first-rate piece of acting".

[15] One assessment of his early career put him in the "tough personality" tradition of Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield.

To aging debutantes, he was the ideal Fourth of July date, especially when it came time for shooting firecrackers.Beginning in 1960, Maharis co-starred with Martin Milner in the CBS television series Route 66.

[19] He was scheduled to sing on the Ed Sullivan Show on June 16, 1963,[21] until the Route 66 producers, claiming he was still under exclusive contract to them, prevented his appearance by legal action.

[19] One claimed Maharis cared only about a film career and had "no regard for this company, his co-star, Marty Milner, and the 50 or 60 other people on the show".

[20] Maharis countered that they needed to learn that "There isn't any more Old Hollywood where a company can buy movie stars like pieces of meat."

Maharis soon won the legal argument that his contract was void and although the Route 66 producers attempted a reconciliation, he made his first post-Route 66 television appearance on July 2, 1963.

In the last analysis, it's your own standards, your own belief that you are doing something good, that sells a show.A string of films followed, including Quick, Before It Melts (1964),[23] The Satan Bug and Sylvia (both 1965),[24] A Covenant with Death[25] and The Happening (both 1967),[26] and The Desperados (1969).