Editing Alias Smith and Jones (section)

===Recasting of Hannibal Heyes===
In the early morning hours of December 31, 1971, series star Pete Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 31. He was reportedly suffering from depression and had been drinking heavily when he shot himself. Upon learning of Duel's death, executive producer Jo Swerling Jr. initially wanted to end the series, but ABC refused.<ref name= "go on">{{cite book|last1= Snauffer| first1= Douglas |last2= Thurm| first2= Joel|title=The Show Must Go on: How the Deaths of Lead Actors Have Affected Television Series| publisher= McFarland| year= 2008| isbn= 978-0-7864-3295-0}}</ref>{{rp|27–28}} Swerling later stated:

<blockquote>ABC said, "No way!" They said, "You have a contract to deliver this show to us, and you will continue to deliver the show as best you can on schedule or we will sue you." Hearing those words, Universal didn't hesitate for a second to instruct us to stay in production. We were already a little bit behind the eight ball on airdates. So, we contacted everybody, including Ben (Murphy), and told them to come back in. The entire company was reassembled and back in production by one o'clock that day shooting scenes that did not involve Peter — only 12 hours after his death.<ref name= "go on" />{{rp|28}}</blockquote>

Series writer, director, and producer Roy Huggins contacted actor [[Roger Davis (television actor)|Roger Davis]] (who provided narration for the series, and who had also appeared in episode 19 "Smiler with a Gun") the day of Duel's death to fill the role of Hannibal Heyes, and actor/voice man Paul Frees came in to loop Duel's unfinished [[Dubbing#ADR/post-sync|ADR]] on "The Men That Corrupted Hadleyburg".<ref>episode 33, "The Men Who Corrupted Hadleyburg"</ref> Davis was fitted for costumes the following day, and began reshooting scenes Duel had previously completed for an unfinished episode the following Monday. According to Swerling, the decision to continue production so soon after Duel's death was heavily criticized in the press at the time.<ref name= "go on" />{{rp|29–30}}