Leland Mills is a villain in the 1950s Western series Maverick, appearing as a secondary antagonist of the Season 2 episode "The Lonesome Reunion".
He is a seemingly harmless farmer who aids Bret Maverick in searching for the money buried on his land, but turns out to have been long aware of the money and willing to kill to get it.
He was portrayed by John Qualen.
Biography[]
Shortly after the robbery of the Federal Bank and Land Company in Denver, Colorado, Mills awoke one night after hearing noises coming from his barn. On investigation he discovered a wounded man named Johnny, one of the men who robbed the bank, who was shortly joined by another robber named Edgar Maxwell. Maxwell told Johnny that the loot was buried somewhere on the farm but refused to say where. Maxwell murdered Johnny so he wouldn't have to share the loot, not realising that Mills had seen everything. Mills later buried Johnny's body after Maxwell had gone, and spent the next eleven months searching all 25 acres of his land for the money.
Following Maxwell's escape from prison, Bret Maverick shows up on Mills' land to look for the money. Mills initially mistakes Bret for a poacher and threatens him, but relents after Bret reveals why he's there. Mills is excited to learn that Maxwell will be trying to retrieve the loot and arranges to meet Bret that night to wait for him.
When Maxwell arrives and begins digging, revealing that the money is coincidentally buried next to where Mills buried Johnny, Bret holds him at gunpoint. To both their surprise, Mills emerges with a rifle and reveals that he's been searching for the money ever since he saw Maxwell talking to Johnny. He threatens both of them to start digging, and Maxwell claims that he has an accomplice ready to gun Mills down. Mills disbelieves him and shoots Maxwell in cold blood. Flora, the Deputy Sheriff, then emerges from the undergrowth and shoots Mills in the arm.
Mills is arrested for killing Maxwell and placed in the local jail while Bret and Flora count up the recovered money. Just before leaving, Bret asks "Can old man Mills read?" (as unknown to Flora, there is a method of escape written on the ceiling), leaving Flora confused.