Throughout her film and television career, Meg Foster didn't appear in all that many Westerns. Sure, there was Oblivion and Oblivion 2 in the 1990s, but those were sci-fi westerns. There was also a 1990 guest appearance on the Western series The Young Riders. However, if you look far enough back, you'll find that Meg Foster made a pair of TV appearances on shows set in the Old West right at the beginning of her screen career.
Here Come the Brides - "Two Worlds" (February 20, 1970)
Meg Foster's guest role on Here Come the Brides is certainly earliest TV appearance I have seen of hers. Indeed, IMDb only lists an appearance on NET Playhouse as occuring earlier than this (though they could be and often are wrong).
Meg Foster has intense, bright blue eyes and because of this she has often played blind characters in various projects throughout the years. In this episode of Here Come the Brides, Meg Foster plays a blind girl whose father does not want her gain her vision for fear of losing her. Despite this, Joshua Bolt (played by David Soul) takes her from Seattle to San Francisco to see a doctor who thinks he might be able to help her see.
Looking quite young, Meg Foster handles her role on Here Comes the Brides quite deftly. It's really no wonder that she worked so steadily on TV throughout the 1970s if she could turn out performances this good so early in her career.
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| Meg Foster and David Soul |
Bonanza - "The Silent Killer" (February 28, 1971)
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Meg Foster's second Old West television appearance was on the long-running Bonanza series. The actress gives an expert performance as a woman who happens to be at the Ponderosa when an influenza epidemic breaks out.
As you can see above, Meg Foster even got a positive press blurb concerning her guest role on the show. Her scenes with guest co-star Louise Latham alone are nearly worth the price of admission.
It's actually a bit strange that Meg Foster never really got a chance to follow-up with any other Western work...It would have been nice to see her in an Old West film or miniseries (if you think about it, Meg Foster never really did all that many period pieces during any phase of her career...which is odd!)
