our interest in glenn corbett dates back to 1963 when he replaced the "ailing" george maharis on the cbs series route 66 near the end of the third season. of course, even before corbett turned up on the program as a vietnam vet from houston, route 66 had been must-see-tv for a lot of us simply because of the weekly guest star list, which tended to feature gods & goddesses like tuesday weld, anne francis, suzanne pleshette and ralph meeker. in fact, just about every really interesting person in the known universe at some time or other turned up as a guest star on route 66. ralph meeker actually appeared in two episodes -- a maharis episode and a particularly memorable corbett episode.

starring with martin milner on route 66 would have been enough to earn sainthood for damn near any performer, but glenn corbett's career is interesting for a number of other considerations. for instance, using the name glenn robinson he worked for a while in the mid-1950s as a physique model for bob mizer's legendary athletic model guild based in los angeles. just thumb through a few ancient issues of amg's physique pictorial and you'll find shots of glenn posing and smiling rather confidently in various attire, from sailor suits to bikini briefs. we seem to recall one particularly interesting study where he was wearing native american attire and bikini, which, as everyone knows, was once the traditional dress for many native americans. eventually, and with his clothes on, glenn was able to get fairly steady work in film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

we admit we haven't seen as much as we would like to see of glenn's work. we especially would like to check out his debut in 1950's the fireball, which featured glenn at about age 16. his co-stars in that film were mickey rooney, pat o'brien, marilyn monroe, beverly tyler and milburn stone. marilyn monroe!!! we'd also like to know what glenn was doing in the years between 1950 and 1956. were those the bikini years?