Steptoe and Son (an unsuccessful adaptation of the British TV series). "I feel I shall have a complete regeneration of my career", he said in 1965. He later appeared in What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, and Welcome to Hard Times. He also made several guest appearances on television. In 1966 Ray claimed, "I've been turning down a lot of TV and B movies. I won't consider anything but important roles in important pictures." He said he was "almost independently wealthy", having saved and invested wisely in real estate from the times when his fee was $100,000 a film. He was interested in returning to politics but not until he had made "at least" four more movies. "The ideal situation would be three films every two years." In 1966 Ray played "Jake", a deaf mute, in "The Virginian" entitled "Jacob was a plain man". He formed his own company, Crockett Productions, and bought two original scripts for films that were not made: Soldares, by Edwin Gottlieb, about the search for Pancho Villa, and Frogman, South Pacific, by William Zeck. His best-known work of the 1960s was his portrayal of Sergeant Muldoon, alongside John Wayne, in The Green Berets (1968). Ray starred in Kill a Dragon, shot in Hong Kong in 1966, and Suicide Commando, shot in Rome and Spain in 1968. He also made two television pilots in the 1960s; neither was picked up. Career decline As the 1960s ended, Hollywood's appetite for Ray's machismo started to wane. Though he worked steadily in the 1970s, the quality of his roles diminished, and he was typically cast as a gruff and gravelly redneck. By 1976, Ray was broke. He blamed this on his ex-wives and red tape that meant he could not develop his real estate properties. "I lost it all", he said. "And I am very, very bitter about it... The biggest mistake I ever made was discovering women. I only wish society had been as free and easy when I was coming along as it is today because if that had been the case I wouldn't have been married. Three women in my life utterly destroyed me." In 1979, Ray appeared in a pornographic movie, Sweet Savage, in a nonsexual role. Ray said later: I wanted, I guess, to see what it was all about—a kind of half-assed adventure, you know? It