Susan Dey spent the latter half of 1975 and all of 1976 doing guest appearances on hour-long TV dramas. One of the shows she was featured on was the premiere episode
The Quest, a western which starred Tim Matheson and Kurt Russell. The show was about two brothers who were searching the wild west for their sister, who had been kidnapped by Indians. In the debut episode, entitled 'The Captive', Susan Dey starred as Charlotte Ross, a woman who had been captured by a tribe and subsequently began living amongst them, having a son with a member of the tribe. While seeking their sister, Quentin Beaudine (Tim Matheson) and Morgan Beaudine (Kurt Russell) come across Susan Dey instead and rescue her (against her will). When they take her back into town, she is shunned because she has a half-breed son and people are generally suspicious of her because she has been living amongst the Indians. Eventually, after learning that she has no relatives to go back to, she begins working in a brothel. Only the help of the Beaudine brothers and the love a kind-hearted soldier can save her....
When this originally aired it was 90 minutes in length, as is often the norm for pilot films. I think it may have been shortened to 60 minutes for some subsequent airings. This was released on videocassette at some point under the title
The Captive: The Longest Drive 2.
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| Promotional photo of Susan Dey for The Quest |
Here are two newspaper clippings about
The Quest and Susan Dey's appearance on the show:
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| Milwaukee Journal (September 22, 1976) |
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| Lodi News-Sentinel (August 10, 1976) |
Here are some images of Susan Dey on
The Quest (click to see the pics full size):
