The Curious Case of Cookie on Route 66: Busting a TV Myth

The Curious Case of Cookie on Route 66: Busting a TV Myth

Route 66. Just the name conjures up images of a sweet Corvette, endless highways, and two cool dudes searching for adventure in early 1960s America. The CBS show was a total classic, filmed all over the U.S., capturing a real slice of life. But here’s a funny thing: over the years, a weird rumor has popped up – the idea that there was a character named “Cookie” on the show.

So, let’s get this straight: who played Cookie on Route 66? Drumroll, please… Nobody! Nope, no Cookie ever hopped into that Corvette with Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock. Period.

Where did this “Cookie” idea even come from? Well, my guess is it’s a case of mistaken TV identity. See, there was another super popular show back then called 77 Sunset Strip. And that show did have a memorable character: “Kookie” (with a “K”), played by Edd Byrnes. Kookie was this super hip parking attendant who always had the inside scoop for the detectives. “Kookie” and “Cookie” – easy to see how the names could get mixed up after all these years!

Route 66 was really about exploring what America was becoming, week by week. Tod and Buz weren’t just driving; they were meeting all sorts of people and getting into all kinds of situations. It was a pretty groundbreaking show for its time. Herbert B. Leonard and Stirling Silliphant were the masterminds behind it, the same guys who gave us Naked City. Martin Milner played Tod, the Yale grad who suddenly finds himself with a Corvette, and George Maharis was Buz, the street-smart orphan. Fun fact: when Maharis got sick, Glenn Corbett stepped in as Lincoln Case.

The show was so popular, it even gave Corvette sales a boost back in the day! And that theme song? Forget about it! Nelson Riddle’s tune was pure magic.

So, while there was never a “Cookie” cruising down Route 66, the show itself remains a total icon. It’s a reminder of a different time, a different America, and the open road that stretched out before us.

Oh, and just to be clear, they even tried to bring Route 66 back in the ’90s with Dan Cortese. Still no Cookie! The mystery is solved.