#tom legarde

This article is going to stray off the usual Redshirt/ TOS extras topic a bit. I ran across the basic info while researching someone else and realized this was just too good not to share.

Take a good look at this October 1967 TV Guide article. Most Trek fans know there were at least five female android series in "I, Mudd" and that three sets of identical twins were used to represent certain series. But most people either don't realize or don't pay attention to the fact there was a male set of twins used to represent the Herman series in the episode. They were usually seen in the background, guarding doorways or seen behind the shoulders of the main characters.

Their names were Tom and Ted Le Garde and chances are, you have never heard of them before. But it turns out they were quite well known in some areas of the world by the time they appeared on Star Trek.

(Billy Blackburn was also a member of the Herman series of androids but notice he was placed in the forefront and the twins were placed farther back so you would not notice they really do not look all that similar) Even though Tom and Ted were primarily known as country western singers from Australia, they had been encouraged by their manager to take acting lessons. During the 60s, the twins came to the U.S. to seek their fame and fortune. By chance, the Le Gardes were appearing in Los Angeles in an off-Broadway production of THE WORLD OF CARL SANDBURG. William Shatner was a friend of the director and producer, Ed Ludlum, and he was there in attendance on opening night. After the show was over, Shatner came backstage and chatted a bit with them. Eventually, he told them about an opportunity on an upcoming Star Trek episode called "I, Mudd" to play twin androids and asked if they were interested. And of course they were!

They believed their connection with Shatner and Ludlum proved useful when they landed their next role as a pair of river bandits in an episode of Daniel Boone titled "Sidewinder and Cherokee." The twins enjoyed keeping both Fess Parker and the guest star Forrest Tucker confused about which brother they were speaking with.

But let's back up a little bit and take a look at how the twins got their start. When they were children, they fell in love with both country western music and cowboy movies. The first western movie they saw was one with Hopalong Cassidy, whom they would meet many years later. 

Tom and Ted Le Garde eventually left the home at the age of 15 to work at one of the largest cattle ranches in Australia. Quick to learn, soon they became adept at riding horses, herding cattle, whip-cracking, and marksmanship with a rifle. But their love of music also led them into entering many singing contests while they were also participating in rodeos. In 1947, Tom and Ted received an offer to join Buddy Williams Wild West Show. At that time, they were the youngest professional rodeo riders at the age of 17. But they were also allowed to continue singing and became popular with the audiences as Australia’s Yodeling Stockmen.

And all that hard work paid off. In 1950, Tom and Time Le Garde  released their first recordings for Rodeo. And in 1952, their fortunes took off when they signed on with their first manager, Edward Samuels. He helped them refine their act, steered them toward motivational books, and had them take acting lessons. Between 1952 and 1957, they released a number of singles under the Regal Zonophone label. 

In 1954, Tom and Ted Le Garde met their idol William Boyd aka "Hopalong Cassidy" while he was on tour in Australia. That was likely the most important moment in their lives. For the rest of that tour, they were his support act. By the time they decided to try their luck in the U.S. and Canada, he had introduced them to others well known country western singers such as Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry.

The Le Gardes were already popular recording stars in Australia before they left for the United States. They had hit singles on both the Rodeo and Regal Zonophone Records, including "Before the Dawn," There's a Bridle Hanging on the Wall," and "Nobody's Darling But Mine." After they had finished their first American tour, they set up their own version of The Grand Ole Opry in Sydney and began recording for Columbia Records, sometimes with Lorne Green and Marty Robbins. The Le Gardes put out three albums and a string of singles. With Gary Paxton as producer, they recorded the single "True Love" which broke into the Top 90 Country Hits. The Le Gardes had another Top 90 single with "I Can Almost Touch The Feelin'." Gary Paxton had again served as their producer. The following year, they barely made the charts with "Daddy's Makin' Records in Nashville."

With all these recordings, naturally they began showing up on variety and talk shows in Australia, Canada, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Las Vegas as well as producing several of their own. After appearing in several shows in Canada, it was rumored they were going to have their own talk show there but it never seemed to pan out. However, back in Hollywood, the Le Gardes were seen on Doye O’Dell’s Western Varieties TV shows and hosted their own TV series on KTLA-TV Los Angeles. They made several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville as well. Back in Australia, they began working on their own show called "Country Style" in 1967, even filming at least one episode. However the TV studio rejected it and the episode was not aired until 2010. But the following year, they did agree to host a variety show called Studio A. On one of their returns to the United States, Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker helped them get a three year contract in Las Vegas which provided some stability while they continued to record.

How many times have we seen a Star Trek connection to Elvis Presley? This one, however, is unique. Not only were the Le Garde twins taken under the wing of Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, but they also wore variations of a very famous Elvis costume on stage. Elvis' jumpsuit was known as the "Light Blue Target Suit" and was made by Bill Belew's IC Costume Company. The white and the black versions of the Le Garde's outfits were made by the same company. No one knows if Colonel Tom Parker took them to Bill Belew's company and asked to have these jumpsuits created off the pattern for Elvis Presley's or if the Le Gardes themselves ask Parke for help in ordering the two sets. Bill Belew rarely did individual orders by the 70s so Parker had to have been involved somehow. In the photo above, the suit in the center is a copy of the Elvis suit - the stones are a lighter blue. But you can see there are slight differences between the ones worn by the Le Gardes and this copy - the stones in the Le Gardes’ jumpsuit were spaced farther apart. If you want to see the actual Elvis outfit, you can click on this link.  https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/elvismomentsintime/13-blue-starburst-jumpsuit-t6529.html

In 1987, they were awarded Hall Of Fame status at Australia’s prestigious Tamworth Country Festival and during the 80s, they launched their own Boomerang label and made several appearances in the UK, including at the Wembley Festival. Their last US country chart entry in 1988, "Crocodile Man From Walk," reached number 92.