Western Gear pictures, 1, 1852 - 1899.
List 1 of 4. Western gear.
-Western gear worn by actors born 1852 - 1899.
-Western gear worn by actors born 1852 - 1899.
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- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Carl Sepulveda was born on 5 February 1896 in Ely, Nevada, USA. He was an actor, known for The Chinatown Mystery (1928), Rustlers of the Badlands (1945) and The Four-Footed Ranger (1928). He was married to Grace Barnett and Kathleen. He died on 24 August 1974 in North Highlands, California, USA.1896-1974, 78.
89 westerns, 26-51.- Blackjack Ward was born on 3 May 1891 in Franklin, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Texas Stampede (1939), Rainbow Riders (1934) and Lighting Bill (1934). He was married to Madeline J.. He died on 29 April 1954 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1891-1954, 62.
165 westerns, 27-46.
Gauchos of El Dorado (1941). 1941.
Horse wrangler, harmonica player, nester, smuggler, rustler. Vigilante, gambler, rider, El Malo rider. - Mark Hamilton was born on December 9, 1889 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA as Mark Lafayette Hamilton. He was a character actor known for Barbara Frietchie (1924), Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), The Rainbow Trail (1925), Sparrows (1926), and City Girl (1930). He died on April 12, 1963 in Walla Walla, Washington at the Veteran's Administration Hospital and was buried with military honors in Tacoma, Washington.
- Actor
- Producer
One of the finest teamsters in Hollywood screen history, Osborne handled the reins for horse-drawn coaches and wagons in countless westerns and historical photoplays from the early 20's through late 50's. And with his weathered, rumpled look, his Texas drawl and his nasal twang, he was often called upon to portray a seedy outlaw in any of those same westerns.1884 - 1964, 79.
643 westerns, 1912-1963. Over 50 years of westerns.
.45 Calibre War (1929). Flaming Guns (1932). The Gun Runners (1919).
Gun Smoke (1935). Guns of the Pecos (1936). Two Gun Law (1937).
Shootin' Square (1924). Square Shooter (1935). Land of the Six Guns (1940).
Six-Shootin' Sheriff (1938). Blazing Sixes (1937).
Liquor smuggler, street brawler, groucher, nitro handler, croupier, stableman, cattleman, bushwacker, mine owner, porter, unemployed farmer, stage driver, tar and feather man. Blacksmith, desert rat, cowardly sheriff.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Charles K. French was born on 17 January 1860 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Abysmal Brute (1923), Hands Up! (1926) and Gentle Julia (1923). He was married to Doris Herbert, Isabelle Gurton and Helen French. He died on 2 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.1860-1952, 92.
110 westerns,1909-1942.
293 credits,- Director, writer, assistant director, actor.
Father Esteban, Doctor, banker, Jury Foreman, sheep rancher, Major, Colonel.
1. The True Heart of an Indian (1909). 1909.- Actor
- Soundtrack
The son of a physician, Horace Murphy started his career as a child actor on showboats on the Mississippi. He later played the cornet in the band and eventually became half-owner of the showboat "Cottonblossom Floating Palace". After two seasons he sold his interest and organized a string of dramatic tent shows from New Orleans to Los Angeles, each of which also had a baseball team. Later he sold these and built two theaters, one in Los Angeles and one in Burbank. He entered movies in 1936 and went on to a career mostly in B-Westerns. He is perhaps best known as "Ananias", Tex Ritter's partner in a string of films. He also appeared on radio with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.1880-1975, 94.
95 westerns, 34-45.
2. Sundown on the Prairie (1939). 1939.
Ranch cook, riverboat captain, barber, jailor, constable, postal office clerk, poker player, ticket agent, uncertain rancher.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
A character actor whose film career spanned from Hollywood's Silent Era until the 1950s. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 11, 1882, Erville would start his film career in 1918 at the age of 36 in Her Man (1918). Film pioneer D.W. Griffith utilized Erville in many of his films, including 1924's America (1924) and Isn't Life Wonderful (1924). In 1926, Erville was in Sally of the Sawdust (1925), and for the first time, worked behind as well as in front of the camera, as the movie's Assistant Director. By the time talkies became the norm, Erville found his age and white hair earned him many "old codger" roles as everything from a sheriff to a blank clerk, although a lot of his roles fell into the the "uncredited" bit category. Despite this, he did manage to make his mark in several credited roles, with one of the best being his portrayal of Nate Tompkins in 1941's Sergeant York (1941). His last film role would be uncredited in 1957's The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), and on August 4, 1957, he would pass away at the age of 74 in Glendale, California.1882-1957, 74.
Blood on the Moon (1948). 1948.
42 westerns, 30-53.
Deacon, preacher, Padre, judge, liveryman, Dr.- American character actor of rustic types, Si Jenks was born Howard Hansell Jenkins in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on 23 September 1876, to John (a shopkeeper) and Catherine Jenkins. He was the sixth of seven children. Little is known of his boyhood. At 21, on 21 April 1898, the first day of the Spanish-American War, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard (Co. F, 6th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry). He served until October, 1898 (two months following the end of the war), but never left the U.S. during his tour of duty. The following January, he enlisted for three years in the U.S. Army, but only served eight months, as an artilleryman, again without leaving the U.S. He returned to Norristown in 1899 after his military service and worked at a local inn as a hostler through at least 1904. At some point, he developed an interest in entertainment as a career. By 1919, he was married to Victoria Allen, with whom he teamed up in a vaudeville act called "Small Town Wise Crackers." They toured the Orpheum Circuit, appearing in 45 theatres in 36 cities across the U.S. At some point, the marriage and the act broke up, and Jenkins, now billing himself as Si Jenks, continued with a variety of new partners in the act. In 1922, the tour landed him in Los Angeles. Comic actor-director Al St. John, whose later career as a bearded Western sidekick would come to resemble Jenks's, gave the 46-year-old vaudevillian small parts in a couple of his comedy shorts at Fox, where Jenks also was also cast in his first feature film, John Ford's The Village Blacksmith (1922) After a lapse of a couple of years, Jenks came to the attention of Mack Sennett, who put Jenks to work in some 15 pictures over the next decade. Jenks's most familiar roles called for him to work without his dentures and with a scrubby beard, and he quickly found work in a large number of mainly comedic roles, primarily in Westerns. Despite his familiarity as bearded sidekick types, he never achieved the fame of a George 'Gabby' Hayes or Al 'Fuzzy' St. John, but he was very much of a type with those actors. Largely in smaller roles, Jenks made over 220 films, as well as a handful of TV episodes, over the course of his thirty-year career. He retired in 1954 at 78 and lived much of the rest of his life with his wife and fellow ex-vaudevillian, British actress Lilian Hartford, at the Motion Picture Country House & Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He died there of heart disease at 93, on 6 January 1970. She followed him in death at age 100, in 1983.1876-1970, 93.
88 westerns, 28-54.
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), 1939.
Square dance caller, dance floor cowboy, buckboard driver, bather, eccentric dancer, stagecoach driver, hillbilly, bumpkin, prospector, storekeeper, farmer. - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
American character actor, the most famous of Western-movie sidekicks of the 1930s and 1940s. He was born May 7, 1885, the third of seven children, in the Hayes Hotel (owned by his father) in the tiny hamlet of Stannards, New York, on the outskirts of Wellsville, New York. Hayes was the son of hotelier and oil-production manager Clark Hayes, and grew up in Stannards. As a young man, George Hayes worked in a circus and played semi-pro baseball while a teenager. He ran away from home at 17, in 1902, and joined a touring stock company. He married Olive Ireland in 1914 and the pair became quite successful on the vaudeville circuit. Retired in his 40s, he lost much of his money in the 1929 stock market crash and was forced to return to work. Although he had made his film debut in a single appearance prior to the crash, it was not until his wife convinced him to move to California and he met producer Trem Carr that he began working steadily in the medium. He played scores of roles in Westerns and non-Westerns alike, finally in the mid-1930s settling in to an almost exclusively Western career. He gained fame as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Windy Halliday in many films between 1936-39. Leaving the Cassidy films in a salary dispute, he was legally precluded from using the "Windy" nickname, and so took on the sobriquet "Gabby", and was so billed from about 1940. One of the few sidekicks to land on the annual list of Top Ten Western Boxoffice Stars, he did so repeatedly. In his early films, he alternated between whiskered comic-relief sidekicks and clean-shaven bad guys, but by the later 1930s, he worked almost exclusively as a Western sidekick to stars such as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Randolph Scott. After his last film, in 1950, he starred as the host of a network television show devoted to stories of the Old West for children, The Gabby Hayes Show (1950). Offstage an elegant and well-appointed connoisseur and man-about-town, Hayes devoted the final years of his life to his investments. He died of cardiovascular disease in Burbank, California, on February 9, 1969.- Jack Kenny was born on 16 November 1886 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Northern Code (1925), Not Quite Decent (1929) and Beauty and Bullets (1928). He was married to Bryna Davis. He died on 26 May 1964 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of those familiar character actors who seems to have been born old, Will Wright specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints,crooked small-town politicians and the like. A former newspaper reporter in San Francisco, he switched careers and entered vaudeville, then took to the stage. He ventured from acting to producing, and staged shows on Broadway as well as other cities, eventually making his way to Hollywood. He appeared in over 100 films and did much TV work, including a recurring role on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Although his hunched-over figure, craggy face and somewhat sour disposition made it seem like he started out his 20+-year career as an old man, he was actually only 68 when he died of cancer in Hollywood in 1962.1894-1962, 68.
107 westerns, 41-62.- Mathew McCue was born on 4 October 1895 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fugitive (1963) and Gunsmoke (1955). He died on 10 April 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
This old codger film favorite, born in 1869 (some reports say 1875), got into the entertainment field at an early age, first as a circus performer (aerialist and trapeze artist). When acting sparked his interest, he worked in a series of stock companies while writing stage plays that he himself could star in. He married actress Anna Chance around the turn of the century, and they remained a devoted couple until her death 47 years later. They had no children. Charley came into his own in films at the ripe old age of 60 as the ultimate humorous, toothless character in a range of films with rustic settings. Notable movies include The Petrified Forest (1936) with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart, The Good Earth (1937) with Paul Muni and Luise Rainer, and They Died with Their Boots On (1941) with Errol Flynn. However, his best-remembered parts were as huggable Uncle Henry in the classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), ornery Grandpa Joad, who refused to leave the homestead in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Inspector Queen in the Ellery Queen whodunits that ran from 1940 through 1942, and the amiable ne'er-do-well Jeeter Lester in Tobacco Road (1941). A soft, humorous presence who seemed frail around the edges, he was a thorough delight, his folksy presence gracing over 100 films. He died in 1956.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lynn was one of the old grubby prospector sidekicks who supplied the comic relief in a number of Republic Westerns through the forties and early fifties. He also appeared with the Three Stooges in 'The Yokes on Me (1944)'. His last two films were of a religious nature with 'A Man Called Peter (1955)' and 'The Ten Commandments (1956)'.1897-1958, 61.
110 westerns, 1940-1958.
Drummer, burlesque customer, Doc, frontiersman, desert rat, panhandler, old timer in bathtub.- Julian Rivero was born on 25 July 1890 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Burn 'Em Up Barnes (1934), The Mad Empress (1939) and Heroes of the Alamo (1937). He was married to Isobel Thomas. He died on 24 February 1976 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.1890-1976, 85.
118 westerns, 24-68. 44 years of westerns.
Death Rides the Range (1939). 1939.
General, sheriff, deputy, doctor, rancher, postman, barber, padre, candy vendor, wagon driver, vaquero, captain. - Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Stevens was born on 26 May 1893 in Solomonsville, Arizona, USA. He was an actor and assistant director, known for The Three Musketeers (1921), The Americano (1916) and Ebb Tide (1937). He was married to Lila Ethel Berry. He died on 22 August 1964 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Eddy Waller worked in vaudeville and the theater before he entered movies in 1936. Within a few years he was being cast in character parts. In the 1940s he would be a mainstay in the westerns of Republic Pictures and would work with just about every cowboy actor from Tim Holt to Rocky Lane. With Lane, Eddy's billing would be as high as second, as he played grizzly old prospector Nugget Clark, adding the comic relief to a picture with such pearls as "He is as square as the day is long". The "B" western finally died out in the 1950s, and so did Eddy's career.1889-1977, (88).
259 westerns, 36-63.
The Return of the Cisco Kid (1939), 1939. Credited : Guard on stagecoach. - Roger Williams was a man of many careers, one of which was portraying heavies in a hundred plus B westerns, serials and a other features during the years 1933 - 1939. At Republic Pictures, he did westerns with the Three Mesquiteers, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry. But his usual employers were Poverty Row production companies churning out westerns starring Fred Scott, Tom Tyler, Jack Perrin, Kermit Maynard, Harry Carey, Bob Custer, Rex Bell, Rex Lease, Reb Russell, others.
Roger Grimes Williams was born in Denver, Colorado on February 8, 1898 to Charles H. Williams and Eva / Evangeline Lloyd. Circa 1910, the family had re-located to Los Angeles.
He served in the Army during World War I, became a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery, and served from June 23, 1917 - January 8, 1919.
Before and after his brief time in Hollywood, Williams had many jobs. In the census and other records, he was a "Paper Maker", "General utility - Iron works", "Ox Welder", "Mechanic", "Designer - Ornamental Iron", "Stage Manager", and "Engineer" for Douglas Aircraft, McDonnell Aircraft and Northrop Aircraft.
Appears he also did four years of college, probably after his World War I military service.
Circa 1939 - 1940, Williams exited the movie business and began work in the airplane industry. In the 1940 census, he's with Douglas Aircraft in California and when he registered for the World War II draft in late 1942, he was in St. Louis, Missouri and employed by McDonnell Aircraft ... and he still had the "acting bug".
Several articles in the August, 1943 editions of the St. Louis Star-Times newspaper highlight a play to be performed by McDonnell Aircraft's in-house MAC Players dramatic group. The director was Roger Williams, aeronautical engineer at McDonnell Aircraft and one-time actor at Republic Pictures.
Circa late 1940s, Roger and family returned to California and he was employed as an engineer with Northrop Aircraft Corporation.
Roger was married three times. His first was to (purported) actress Vera Paloma Bennett in 1916 and that ended in a 1919 divorce. Marriage number two was in 1920 to Ruby Bell Noe in Utah and daughter Juanita was born in 1921. Ruby passed away from tuberculosis in December, 1922. Ellen was his third wife and they had two sons and a daughter: Dolores Evangeline was born in 1928; Roger Lincoln in 1930; and Arthur Francis in 1932.
In their later years, Roger and Ellen resided in Paramount, Los Angeles County, California. He passed on December 18, 1964 at St. Helens Hospital, Bellflower, California and cause of death was arteriosclerotic heart disease. Roger and Ellen are interred at Westminster Memorial Park, Westminster, Orange County, California.
Current biographies on Roger Williams are chock full of misinformation. He did not graduate from the Colorado School of Mines in Denver. And he was not the Roger Williams who died in 1939 at the Wildyrie Camp in the San Bernardino Mountains in California. That Roger Williams was born in 1889 in Dayton, Ohio, is interred in Dayton, and was an auditor for the Los Angeles Biltmore hotel.1889-1939, 49.
89 westerns, 1933-1939. - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Christian Rub was born on 13 April 1886 in Graz, Styria, Austria. He was an actor, known for You Can't Take It with You (1938), Peter Ibbetson (1935) and Girls' Dormitory (1936). He was married to Amy. He died on 14 April 1956 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.- American cowboy and actor Slim Whitaker was working the rodeo circuit at age 17, eventually becoming a cowhand on the Chowchilla Ranch in central California. In 1912 he was hired as a riding extra and stunt man by Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson for westerns being filmed in Niles Canyon, CA. During the silent era his peers were Hal Taliaferro, Al Bridge, Charles King, Ken Maynard, Yakima Canutt, Walter Brennan, Hoot Gibson, a very young John Wayne and many others. He was one of the most prolific of the B-western bad guys and supporting actors. His movie career spanned 36 years, from the silents through the post-World War II period, and he appeared in over 300 films.1893-1960, 66.
325 westerns, 14-49.
Stable owner, saloon owner, mine owner, jailbird, roper, rodeo wrangler, cantina thug, sniper, migrant, loader. - Earl Dwire was born on 3 October 1883 in Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Randy Rides Alone (1934), Radio Patrol (1937) and The Lawless Frontier (1934). He was married to Elizabeth Alice Maddeaux and Ruth Lechler, nee Castle. He died on 16 January 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Tex Driscoll was born on 7 September 1889 in Center, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for In the Days of Buffalo Bill (1922), The Squaw Man (1914) and The Country Boy (1915). He died on 1 June 1970 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1889-1970, 80.
118 westerns, 14-60.
Barber, stage driver, rancher, mine owner, prospector, dancer, gunman, bartender, logger, miner. - Actor
- Stunts
George Sowards was born on 27 November 1888 in Denver, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Outlawed (1921), Back Fire (1922) and Borrowed Trouble (1948). He was married to Edna E. Zilke. He died on 20 December 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1888-1975, 87.
368 westerns, 21-66.
7 stunts. 1931-1953.
Peace pipe passer, cowhand, square dance caller, dancer, coffin man, prisoner, stagecoach driver.- Dennis Hoey was born on 30 March 1893 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943), Terror by Night (1946) and The Spider Woman (1943). He was married to Josephine Marta Ricca and Sarah Pearl Lyons (known as Cissie). He died on 25 July 1960 in Palm Beach, Florida, USA.
- Born in Butte Montana just before the turn of the century, Ethan Laidlaw worked as a steam fitter, bus driver, mechanic, salesman, and policeman, before moving to the Los Angeles in the early 1920's. Laidlaw's tall, lean frame and chiseled features made him a natural for gangster pictures, Westerns, and for any role that required a villain, heavy, or tough guy. While he seldom had a substantial speaking park, he found steady work for almost four decades.
Between the movies and the proliferation of TV Westerns in the 1950's, Laidlaw kept busy from 1925 until his death from a heart attack in 1963. All told, he had almost 450 known appearances in movies, and about 400 on TV. He was one of Hugh O'Brian's regulars on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," (which included Jimmy Noel, Buddy Roosevelt, Bill Coontz, and Phil Schumacher), with over 130 appearances on that series alone.
An avid biker, Laidlaw could be seen traveling the countryside on his motorcycle during the few times he wasn't working. Laidlaw lived in the Whitley Hills area of Hollywood, not far from the studios, from the early 1940's until his death.1899-1963, 63.
519 westerns, 25-63.
Landrush (1946). 1946.
Train brakeman, ranch foreman, constable, lumberjack, saloon waiter, stagecoach guard, ringsider. - Actor
- Stunts
- Director
Wilbert Jay Wilsey was born in Clark County, Missouri, in 1896. He learned to ride a horse at a very young age, and when he got older he began appearing on the rodeo circuit. In 1924 he found himself in Hollywood and, hearing that producers were looking for good horsemen for western movies, went looking for work and wound up under contract to producer Lester F. Scott Jr. and his Action Pictures, a low-budget company that produced mostly westerns. The company gave him the stage name "Buffalo Bill Jr.", although he had no connection whatsoever with the real Buffalo Bill Cody, aka Buffalo Bill. Wilsey worked steadily during the silent era, mostly for Scott. He also appeared in a couple of non-westerns for Universal, the serials A Final Reckoning (1928) and The Pirate of Panama (1929).
When sound came along Wilsey didn't have any trouble making the transition, and along with former colleagues at Action Pictures Buddy Roosevelt and Hal Taliaferro (aka Wally Wales) worked in westerns on a regular basis for a succession of low-budget--VERY low-budget--production companies, such as Big 4, Syndicate, West Coast Pictures and Cosmos Pictures. Wilsey worked for notorious micro-budget producer Victor Adamson (aka Denver Dixon and the father of 1960s schlock director/producer Al Adamson) in a string of ultra-cheap westerns that are considered among the worst pictures--let alone westerns--ever made. Inept and shoddy in every conceivable aspect of filmmaking--the budget on the 1934 Adamson western "Lightning Bill" was so low that its title card was misspelled as Lighting Bill (1934) and Adamson couldn't afford to have the card redone--they nevertheless made money because the budgets were so rock-bottom they didn't have to sell all that many tickets in order to make a profit.
Wilsey stayed mired at the bottom of the Hollywood food chain, churning out not only cheap features but also even cheaper two-reelers for such quickie producers as William M. Pizor of Imperial Pictures. He also ground out several "Z" westerns for infamous fly-by-night schlockmeister Robert J. Horner, whose "epics" made the bottom-of-the-barrel films Wilsey turned out for Adamson look like Gone with the Wind (1939) by comparison. Wilsey was paid a pittance for the independent westerns he made--his colleague Buddy Roosevelt is known to have gotten $250 for each three-day wonder he made for Victor Adamson, so Wilsey's pay was most likely about the same--and as starring roles in the independent "B" westerns dried up he took to accepting supporting parts and stunt work in other cowboy stars' westerns and personal appearances at rodeos and "wild west" shows.
His last film role was in the John Wayne Cold War propaganda piece Big Jim McLain (1952), in which Wayne, as an investigator ferreting out Communist subversives, travels to Hawaii to root out Commies plotting to take over the islands. Wilsey, unbilled, has a one-line role as a Communist labor organizer.
After Wilsey retired, he and his wife, actress Genee Boutell, spent much time on board their 42-foot-long saiboat, the "Ruana", which Wilsey had built himself, and sailed all over the Pacific Ocean, to such places as Mexico, Hawaii and Tahiti.
Jay Wilsey died of lung cancer on October 25, 1961, in Los Angeles.1896-1961, 65.
93 westerns, 24-44.
33 stunts, 32-44, 21 stunts past 40th birthday.
Five Bad Men (1935). 1935. Stunts, actor.
Thunder guard, fence foreman, Texas ranger, stagecoach shotgun.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
The son of a rancher-turned-politician, Guinn Williams was given the nickname "Big Boy" (and he was, too - 6' 2" of mostly solid muscle from years of working on ranches and playing semi-pro and pro baseball) by Will Rogers, with whom he made one of his first films, in 1919. Although his father wanted him to attend West Point (he had been an officer in the Army during World War I), Williams had always wanted to act and made his way to Hollywood in 1919. His experience as a cowboy and rodeo rider got him work as a stuntman, and he gradually worked his way up to acting. He became friends with Rogers and together they made around 15 films. Additionally,in a film that has recently received critical acclaim, he appeared alongside Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor in the silent film Lucky Star (1929), playing a brute vying for the affections of Janet Gaynor in competition with a returning war veteran, played by Charles Farrell. He then easily made the transition from silents to talkies. Although he also starred in a series of low-budget westerns in the early and mid-1930s, he really came into his own as a supporting player in the late 1930s and early 1940s, especially at Warner Bros., where he appeared in such resoundingly successful westerns as Dodge City (1939) and Santa Fe Trail (1940) with his friends Errol Flynn and Alan Hale. Williams specialized in the somewhat dim and quick-tempered but basically decent sidekick, a role he would play for the next 20 years or so. He also made sound films other than westerns, and was in, for example, A Star Is Born (1937). Late in his career, he won the hearts of TV viewers in a regular role as Pete, the comedic roadie in Circus Boy (1956). In the early 1960s Williams' health began to deteriorate, which was noticeable in his last film, The Comancheros (1961), in which he had a small part and, sadly, did not look well at all. He died of uremic poisoning shortly afterwards.1899-1962, 63.
150 westerns, 19-61.
Powdersmoke Range (1935). 1935. Lullaby Joslin.
Names- Windy Brody, Wagon Wheel, Kewpie Blain, Borax Bill, Nitro Rankin, Teddy Bear, Saddle Grease Williams, Prairie Dog, Moose, Buffalo, Small Potatoes.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bob Card was born on 4 May 1887 in Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Ridin' the Cherokee Trail (1941), Terror of the Plains (1934) and Across the Plains (1939). He was married to Hazel. He died on 7 April 1970 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1887-1970, 82.
128 westerns, 29-44.
Fiddler, guitar player, cowhand banjo player, rancher, departing townsman, 1st violin player, Lazy D cowhand eating beans. Texas ranger, settler, barbeque guest, rodeo judge.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
A storybook hero, the original screen cowboy, ever forthright and honest, even when (as was often the case) he played a villain, William S. Hart lived for a while in the Dakota Territory, then worked as a postal clerk in New York City. In 1888 he began to study acting. In 1899 he created the role of Messala in "Ben-Hur", and received excellent reviews for his lead part in "The Virginian" (1907). His first film was a two-reeler, His Hour of Manhood (1914). In 1915 he signed a contract with Thomas H. Ince and joined Ince's Triangle Film Company. Two years later he followed Ince to Famous Players-Lasky and received a very lucrative contract from Adolph Zukor. His career began to dwindle in the early 1920s due to the publicity surrounding a paternity suit against him, which was eventually dismissed. He made his last film, Tumbleweeds (1925), for United Artists and retired to a ranch in Newhall, CA. By that time audiences were more interested in the antics of a Tom Mix or Hoot Gibson than the Victorian moralizing of Hart. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, NY.- Frank Campeau was born on 14 December 1864 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for 3 Bad Men (1926), Battling Bunyan (1924) and The Life of the Party (1920). He was married to Sarah Estelle Lewis and Lillian Stratton Corbin. He died on 5 November 1943 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Born in New York City to a Judge of Special Sessions who was also president of a sewing machine company. Grew up on City Island, New York. Attended Hamilton Military Academy and turned down an appointment to West Point to attend New York Law School, where his law school classmates included future New York City mayor James J. Walker. After a boating accident which led to pneumonia, Carey wrote a play while recuperating and toured the country in it for three years, earning a great deal of money, all of which evaporated after his next play was a failure. In 1911, his friend Henry B. Walthall introduced him to director D.W. Griffith, for whom Carey was to make many films. Carey married twice, the second time to actress Olive Fuller Golden (aka Olive Carey, who introduced him to future director John Ford. Carey influenced Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle to use Ford as a director, and a partnership was born that lasted until a rift in the friendship in 1921. During this time, Carey grew into one of the most popular Western stars of the early motion picture, occasionally writing and directing films as well. In the '30s he moved slowly into character roles and was nominated for an Oscar for one of them, the President of the Senate in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He worked once more with Ford, in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), and appeared once with his son, Harry Carey Jr., in Howard Hawks's Red River (1948). He died after a protracted bout with emphysema and cancer. Ford dedicated his remake of 3 Godfathers (1948) "To Harry Carey--Bright Star Of The Early Western Sky."1878-1947, 69.
122 westerns, 10-48.- Actor
- Director
George Chesebro was an American character actor who, after a few leading roles in silent films, became an omnipresent bit player in "B" westerns. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chesebro became involved in traveling stock theater productions before the age of 20, and by 1911 was a seasoned performer. He played in a musical spectacular that toured Asia for two years, then returned to America and played in stock and vaudeville. Moving to Los Angeles in 1915, Chesebro began to supplement his vaudeville career with movie work and quickly began moving up the ladder of film success. World War I interrupted his work (sources differ as to whether he served in the US Navy or US Army). Following the war he resumed his movie career, starring in several popular serials. His popularity and the size of his roles waned during the 1920s, and with the arrival of talkies he was most often seen as heavies, henchmen and cops in a huge number of westerns and crime dramas, most of them low-budget. He became a fixture in "B" westerns, rarely billed but always familiar, and finished out his career in the 1950s with the demise of the B-Western. Occasional TV appearances marked his retirement, and he died in 1959, two months prior to his 71st birthday.1888-1959, 70.
318 westerns, 16-54.- Jim Farley was born on 8 January 1882 in Waldron, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The General (1926), Captain January (1936) and The Devil Within (1921). He died on 12 October 1947 in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, USA.1882-1947, 65.
49 westerns, 17-48. - Actor
- Writer
American character actor, a fixture both in Westerns and in the comedies of Preston Sturges. Although frequently billed as "Alan" Bridge, he was born Alfred Morton Bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1891 (not as "Alford" Bridge in 1890, as his tombstone erroneously states), he and his sister, future actress Loie Bridge, were raised by their mother Loie and her second husband, butcher Wilmer Shinn. Following service as a corporal in the U.S. Army infantry in the first World War, Bridge joined a theatrical troupe which also included several of his relatives. The 1920 census showed him on tour in Kansas City, Missouri. He dabbled in writing and in 1930 sold a script to a short film, Her Hired Husband (1930). He followed this with a B-Western script, God's Country and the Man (1931), in which he made his film debut as an actor. For the next quarter century, he managed the atypical achievement of maintaining a career in both B-Westerns and in bigger dramatic and comedy features. Ten films for director Preston Sturges represent probably his most familiar contribution to Hollywood history. Bridge also appeared frequently on television until his death in 1957 at 66.1891-1957, 66.
130 westerns, 31-54.- Charles Anthony Hughes was born on 21 March 1890 in Augusta, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for The Crimson Flash (1927), Call of the Yukon (1938) and The Last Alarm (1940). He died on 7 November 1967 in Augusta, Georgia, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
Frank Ellis was born on 26 February 1897 in Newkirk, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Roll Wagons Roll (1940), Treason (1933) and Elmo the Fearless (1920). He was married to Madonna L. Shelburg, Jessie and Nellie. He died on 23 February 1969 in Saugus, California, USA.1897-1969, 71.
610 westerns, 21-69.- Blackie Whiteford was born on 27 April 1889 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man from New Mexico (1932), The Fighting Coward (1935) and The Black Coin (1936). He was married to Alma Bennett. He died on 21 March 1962 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.1889-1962, 72.
236 westerns, 25-62. - Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Archie Ricks was born on 29 February 1896 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and assistant director, known for A Daughter of the Sioux (1925), In Broncho Land (1926) and Where Romance Rides (1925). He was married to Ethel Marion Jones. He died on 10 January 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- American actor who had a brief flirtation with stardom before settling into character roles and bit parts. Born in rural South Dakota (according to government records, though some sources say Walsh County, North Dakota) as Robert C. Oakes, the son of a horse rancher, he moved with his family to Culbertson, Montana (not his birthplace as some sources have it), where he grew up. The family moved again and he graduated from high school in Helena. A brief attendance at Montana Wesleyan College was interrupted by the offer of a job driving a tour bus in Yellowstone National Park.
Drifting down to Los Angeles in the early 1920s, he got work as an auto mechanic, but his ranch-honed cowboy skills got him bit parts in pictures at Paramount when director John Waters offered him work in a series of Westerns. Paramount recognized possibilities in the tall, rugged, handsome cowboy and put him (with a new name, Lane Chandler) into leading roles, first in Westerns, then in contemporary films opposite some of the biggest star actresses of the time, Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, Betty Bronson, and Esther Ralston. As silent films were phased out, Chandler found his stock slipping at Paramount, which had begun to overtly favor Gary Cooper in his place. He began appearing in lower-budgeted Westerns, first in leads, then as second leads to stars such as John Wayne and Jack Hoxie. During this period he free-lanced at Big 4, Syndicate Pictures and Kent (see Willis Kent) Pictures, all a far cry from his days under contract with Adolph Zukor. Despite the relatively poor production values, several of his early talkies (The Hurricane Horseman (1931) and The Cheyenne Cyclone (1931)) rise above similar fare in entertainment value. Unfortunately, Chandler was also forced to work on other lesser productions helmed by hack directors such as J.P. McGowan who cared more about quickly earning a paycheck than the product itself. His association with Kent ended in 1930s and Chandler drifted to another independent outfit called Empire Pictures which promised to produce 6 films, although only 2 were ultimately shot, the entertaining quickies The Lone Bandit (1935) and The Outlaw Tamer (1935). Now in his mid-30's Chandler found his career in irreversible decline and settled into supporting roles. A favorite of director Cecil B. DeMille, Chandler worked in many DeMille films, often in tiny bit parts, though he claimed these were his favorite parts. Eventually Chandler no longer commanded roles of any substance and he spent the remaining 35 years of his career in progressively smaller supporting parts, playing in hundreds of films, often uncredited. A stalwart of television Westerns of the 1950s, he was a familiar face to movie fans for nearly fifty years. An astute businessman with industrial and property holdings, he died in Los Angeles in 1971 at 73.1899-1972, 73.
250 westerns, 27-71. - John Rockwell was the brother of film character actor Charles Trowbridge. He was a film actor for Columbia Studios and acted in film "westerns", predominately, but also worked for 'Republic Pictures Studios' for many years.
He died at Glendale Sanitarium Hospital from 'hyperstatic shock' and 'enforced bed rest'. In other words, he had a 'nervous breakdown'. He also lived in the city of Glendale, California which is a suburb of Los Angeles, California.1890-1947, 57.
237 westerns, 27-47.
Mexico. USA. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Art Mix was born on 18 June 1896 in Atlas, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Bandit Chaser (1928), Treason (1933) and Maisie (1939). He was married to Inez Gomez. He died on 7 December 1972 in Riverside, California, USA.1896-1972, 76.
218 westerns, 1922-1946.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Andy Clyde's more than 40-year film career started on the vaudeville stages and music halls in his native Scotland in the 1920s. He made his way to Hollywood and began as an extra in Mack Sennett comedies, but he was soon moved up to featured player, usually the sidekick or second banana to the lead. He had his own series of well-received comedy shorts at Educational Pictures in the mid-1930s, and began a long association with Columbia Pictures, where he made his own series of comedy shorts over the next 20 years. Being a popular player there, he outlasted every Columbia Pictures comedian except The Three Stooges.
He is best remembered, however, for his role as California Carlson, the easygoing comedic relief in Paramount's highly successful "Hopalong Cassidy" series. He played in 36 of the 66 movies, and also joined William Boyd ("Hoppy") on his popular radio show. Clyde also appeared in several other western films, usually playing the grizzled, grungy, scruffy marshal, deputy or just plain old cowboy, generally with several days growth of beard and a sloppy, mismatched wardrobe (in real life he was exactly the opposite, being a slick, clean-shaven and sharp dresser). His last film, Pardon My Nightshirt (1956), also brought an end to his Columbia shorts series. He had regular parts in such TV series as No Time for Sergeants (1964) and The Real McCoys (1957).
He died in 1967, age 75, in Hollywood, still working.1892-1967, 75.
Scotland. USA.
117 westerns, 31-62.- Lem Sowards was born on 17 October 1892 in Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Red Blood (1925). He died on 20 August 1962 in Sawtelle, California, USA.1892-1962, 69.
27 westerns, 22-59.
2 stunts. - Actor
- Producer
- Director
A pioneering cowboy star of silent and early talking Westerns, Hoot Gibson was one of the 1920s' most popular children's matinée heroes. In his real life, however, he had a rather painful rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags career, a problem that seemed to plague a number of big stars who fell victim to their high profile and wound up living too high on the hog.
An unfortunate byproduct of stardom is, of course, the misinformation that is often fed to the public over the years by either overzealous publicity agents or the actor himself. The many variations of just how Gibson earned the name tag "Hoot" is one of them: (1) As a youth, he loved to hunt owls; (2) while a teenager working on a rodeo ranch, other ranch hands called him "Hoot Owl" and that the name was shortened to just "Hoot"; (3) he picked up the nickname while a messenger with the Owl Drug Company; and (4) while touring briefly in vaudeville, he would hoot when the audience cheered and, thus, the nickname.
What facts are known about Hoot is that he was born Edmund Richard Gibson on August 6, 1892, in Tekamah, Nebraska. As a child he grew up among horses and received his first pony at the age of 2-1/2. His family moved to California when he was 7. At age 13 the adventurous youth ran away from home and joined a circus for a time. Later work included punching cows in both Wyoming and Colorado (at the time, a territory and not a state). While working on the Miller 101 Ranch at Fort Bliss, Oklahoma, as a horse wrangler, Hoot developed a strong, active interest in the rodeo scene--in particular, bronco busting. In 1907 he signed a four-year contract with the Dick Stanley-Bud Atkinson Wild West Show, which toured throughout the US and (later) Australia.
By 1910 Hoot had found an "in" to the movie business as one of the industry's first stuntmen (for which he was paid $2.50 for performing stunts or training horses). Director Francis Boggs was looking for experienced cowboys and stunt doubles to appear in his western short Pride of the Range (1910) starring Tom Mix; both Hoot and another future cowboy star, Art Acord, were hired. Hoot lost a solid Hollywood contact in Boggs, however, when the director and his working partner, producer William Nicholas Selig, were both shot in October, 1911, by a mentally disturbed employee (Selig was injured, but Boggs was killed). Gibson managed to find other stunt work in director D.W. Griffith's western short The Two Brothers (1910) and several others for the next few years.
Acting, at this point, was not his bread-and-butter income. Hoot still continued to forge a name for himself on the rodeo circuit with his pal Acord. In 1912, at age 20, he won the title "All-Around Champion Cowboy" at the famed annual Pendleton (Oregon) Round-Up. He also won the steer-roping World Championship at the Calgary Stampede. While on the circuit, he met fellow rodeo rider Rose August ("Helen") Wenger. They eventually married (there is still some question about whether they legally exchanged vows) and she took on the marquee name of Helen Gibson. She even found film stunt work herself and eventually was chosen to replace Helen Holmes as star of the popular movie serial The Hazards of Helen (1914) during mid-filming. Hoot himself had a minor role in the Universal cliffhanger.
Hoot picked up a couple of more strong connections in the film industry with western star Harry Carey and director John Ford. Gibson gained some momentum as a secondary player in a few of their films, including Cheyenne's Pal (1917), Straight Shooting (1917), The Secret Man (1917) and A Marked Man (1917). With the outbreak of World War I, however, Gibson's film career was put on hold. He joined the US Army, eventually attaining the the rank of sergeant while serving with the Tank Corps, and was honorably discharged in 1919. He returned immediately to Universal and was able to restart his career, quickly working his way up to co-star status in a series of short westerns, most of which were directed by his now close friend Ford. The two-reelers usually co-starred either Pete Morrison or Hoor's wife Helen, or sometimes both. Films such as The Fighting Brothers (1919), The Black Horse Bandit (1919), Rustlers (1919), Gun Law (1919), The Gun Packer (1919) and By Indian Post (1919) eventually led to his solo starring success.
During this prolific period, he was frequently directed by George Holt (The Trail of the Holdup Man (1919)), Phil Rosen (The Sheriff's Oath (1920)) and Lee Kohlmar (The Wild Wild West (1921)). It was at this time that he and wife Helen separated and divorced. In the early 1920s, Hoot went on to marry another Helen--Helen Johnson. They had one child, Lois Charlotte Gibson, born in 1923. The couple divorced in 1927.
Superstardom came with the John Ford (I)full-length feature western Action (1921), which was taken from "The Three Godfathers" story. It starred Hoot, Francis Ford and J. Farrell MacDonald as a trio of outlaws on the lam who find a baby. From that point on, both Hoot and Tom Mix began to "rule the west". Gibson's light, comedic, tongue-in-cheek manner only added to his sagebrush appeal, especially to children and women. His vehicles were non-violent for the most part, and he rarely was spotted carrying a gun while riding his palomino horse Goldie. Not a particularly handsome man, his boyish appeal and non-threatening demeanor were his aces in the hole--a major distinction that separated him from the more ascetic cowboy stars of the past.
By 1925 Hoot was making approximately $14,500 a week and spending it about as fast as he was making it. He successfully made the transition to talkies and, in 1930, married popular Jazz-era actress Sally Eilers, a third party to his previous divorce. The couple made three features together: The Long, Long Trail (1929), Trigger Tricks (1930) and Clearing the Range (1931). When she found celluloid success on her own with Bad Girl (1931), Sally decided to split from Hoot professionally and personally. They divorced in 1933.
Hoot lost his Universal contract in 1930, which signified the start of his decline. While he secured contracts with lesser studios during the early 1930s, such as Allied Pictures and First Division Pictures, the quality of his films suffered. By this time Hoot had already begun to feature race cars and airplanes in his pictures. such as The Flyin' Cowboy (1928) and The Winged Horseman (1929). Airplanes in particular became a large, expensive passion of his. In 1933 he crashed his biplane during a National Air Race in Los Angeles, which had pitted him against another cowboy star, Ken Maynard. Fortunately, he survived his injuries.
With the advent of talking films, singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were becoming the new rage, and both Hoot and Tom Mix felt the kick. Yet he managed a couple of "comebacks" by pairing up with others stars. He joined old silent film teammate Harry Carey and 'Guinn Big Boy Williams' in the "Three Mesquiteers" western Powdersmoke Range (1935), and was billed second to Ray Corrigan in the Republic serial The Painted Stallion (1937).
Hoot left films and toured with the Robbins Brothers and Russell Brothers circuses during 1938 and 1939 before retiring from show business altogether. His multiple divorces and reckless spending habits had taken their toll on his finances. For a time he found work in real estate before Monogram Pictures offered the stocky-framed actor a chance to return in 1943. Hoot teamed up with cowboy star Ken Maynard in the popular "Trail Blazers" series, and the duo were later joined by Bob Steele. Chief Thundercloud replaced a difficult Maynard on a couple of the films, but by the end of the series Gibson and Steele were riding alone together. The nearly dozen films in the series began with Wild Horse Stampede (1943) and ended with Trigger Law (1944), the latter being his last hurrah in films.
Hoot then returned to real estate. By the time he appeared as a surprise guest on the popular sitcom I Married Joan (1952) starring Joan Davis, his Western features of the 1930s and 1940s, as well as those of Maynard, Steele and others were a large staple of films seen by a TV audience that couldn't get enough Western fare. He did a favor for old friend John Ford by appearing in a cameo role in the director's 1959 film The Horse Soldiers (1959). His last movie spotting was a guest cameo in the "Rat Pack" film Ocean's Eleven (1960).
Hoot married a fourth and final time on July 3, 1942, to one-time radio singer and actress Dorothea Dunstan. This marriage took hold and lasted for 20 years until his death. By the 1960s Gibson was on the verge of financial collapse after a series of bad investments. Diagnosed with cancer in 1960, rising medical costs forced him to find any and all work available. He was relegated at one point to becoming a greeter at a Las Vegas casino and, for a period, worked at carnivals.
It was an unhappy end for a cowboy who brought so much excitement and entertainment to children and adults alike. Gibson died of cancer at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, just a couple of weeks after his 70th birthday. He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. In remembrance, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 1979, was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.1892-1962, 70.
192 westerns, 1910-1959.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Buck Jones was one of the greatest of the "B" western stars. Although born in Indiana, Jones reportedly (but disputedly) grew up on a ranch near Red Rock in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and there learned the riding and shooting skills that would stand him in good stead as a hero of Westerns. He joined the army as a teenager and served on US-Mexican border before seeing service in the Moro uprising in the Philippines. Though wounded, he recuperated and re-enlisted, hoping to become a pilot. He was not accepted for pilot training and left the army in 1913. He took a menial job with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show and soon became champion bronco buster for the show. He moved on to the Julia Allen Show, but with the beginning of the First World War, Jones took work training horses for the Allied armies. After the war, he and his wife, Odelle Osborne, whom he had met in the Miller Brothers show, toured with the Ringling Brothers circus, then settled in Hollywood, where Jones got work in a number of Westerns starring Tom Mix and Franklyn Farnum. Producer William Fox put Jones under contract and promoted him as a new Western star. He used the name Charles Jones at first, then Charles "Buck" Jones, before settling on his permanent stage name. He quickly climbed to the upper ranks of Western stardom, playing a more dignified, less gaudy hero than Mix, if not as austere as William S. Hart. With his famed horse Silver, Jones was one of the most successful and popular actors in the genre, and at one point he was receiving more fan mail than any actor in the world. Months after America's entry into World War II, Jones participated in a war-bond-selling tour. On November 28, 1942, he was a guest of some local citizens in Boston at the famed Coconut Grove nightclub. Fire broke out and nearly 500 people died in one of the worst fire disasters on record. Jones was horribly burned and died two days later before his wife Dell could arrive to comfort him. Although legend has it that he died returning to the blaze to rescue others (a story probably originated by producer Trem Carr for whatever reason), the actual evidence indicates that he was trapped with all the others and succumbed as most did, trying to escape. He remains, however, a hero to thousands who followed his film adventures.1891-1942, 50.
144 westerns, 14-42.- The son of vaudeville performers, Richard Theodore "Ted" Adams was part of his parents' troupe before attending Cornell University at the age of 18. After college he did stock work for three years before going on to New York City and stage work there. For more than half his life he performed on the stage before coming to films around 1926. He and his good friend Leo Carrillo performed together in Porter Emerson Browne's play "The Bad Man" in 1920, and Adams was also in the Broadway production of "Kongo", which starred Walter Huston, in 1926.
His earliest documented film role was as the doctor in Rayart's The Road Agent (1926), starring Al Hoxie, and he made his sound-film debut in 1930's Under Texas Skies (1930), starring Bob Custer. Adams quickly established himself in westerns, in which he worked almost exclusively for 25 years in over 200 films. He was a mainstay performer (mostly lead villains) for the low-budget films cranked out by independents such as Supreme, Metropolitan, Puritan, Colony and Victory in the 1930s and PRC and Monogram in the 1940s, in addition to appearing in films from Republic, Columbia, Paramount and Universal.
Following a role in Bill Elliott's Kansas Territory (1952) for Monogram Pictures, and some TV work on Russell Hayden's Cowboy G-Men (1952) TV series, Ted Adams hung up his spurs at the age of 62, then lived quietly in retirement until his death from heart disease at the age of 83. A widower at the time of his death, September 24, 1973, he was at Braewood Convalescence Hospital in South Pasadena, his place of residence prior to his death. His cremated remains were placed at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.1890-1973, 83.
165 westerns, 25-53. - Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Wallace MacDonald was born on 5 May 1891 in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor and producer, known for A Man's World (1942), Flame of Stamboul (1951) and Are All Men Alike? (1920). He was married to Doris May. He died on 30 October 1978 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.1891-1978, 87.
Canada. USA.
44 westerns, 19-59.- Bill Borzage was born on 4 March 1892 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Way Down East (1935). He died on 7 June 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.77 westerns, 43-73.
1892-1973, 81. - "Doc T". as he was known, was a Ph.D., and Professor of Theatre at Michigan State University in the early 1940s, just before World War II. He often spoke about leaving academia and actually trying his hand at the craft he taught. After the war, he got his chance and never looked back.1894-1974, 79.
439 westerns, 1946-1970. - Actor
- Producer
- Director
The son of a day laborer, William Boyd moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was seven. His parents died while he was in his early teens, forcing him to quit school and take such jobs as a grocery clerk, surveyor and oil field worker. He went to Hollywood in 1919, already gray-haired. His first role was as an extra in Cecil B. DeMille's Why Change Your Wife? (1920). He bought some fancy clothes, caught DeMille's eye and got the romantic lead in The Volga Boatman (1926), quickly becoming a matinée idol and earning upwards of $100,000 a year. However, with the end of silent movies, Boyd was without a contract, couldn't find work and was going broke. By mistake his picture was run in a newspaper story about the arrest of another actor with a similar name (William 'Stage' Boyd) on gambling, liquor and morals charges, and that hurt his career even more. In 1935 he was offered the lead role in Hop-a-Long Cassidy (1935) (named because of a limp caused by an earlier bullet wound). He changed the original pulp-fiction character to its opposite, made sure that "Hoppy" didn't smoke, drink, chew tobacco or swear, rarely kissed a girl and let the bad guy draw first. By 1943 he had made 54 "Hoppies" for his original producer, Harry Sherman; after Sherman dropped the series, Boyd produced and starred in 12 more on his own. The series was wildly popular, and all recouped at least double their production costs. In 1948 Boyd, in a savvy and precedent-setting move, bought the rights to all his pictures (he had to sell his ranch to raise the money) just as TV was looking for Saturday morning Western fare. He marketed all sorts of "Hoppy" products (lunch boxes, toy guns, cowboy hats, etc.) and received royalties from comic books, radio and records. He retired to Palm Desert, California, in 1953. In 1968 he had surgery to remove a tumor from a lymph gland and from then on refused all interview and photograph requests.1895-1972, 77.
125 westerns, 26-60.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Tom Chatterton was born on 12 February 1881 in Geneva, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Drums of Fu Manchu (1940), A Soul Enslaved (1916) and Captain America (1944). He died on 17 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Four years after appearing with Gene Autry on a national radio show in 1932 he went to Hollywood. By that time he Max was a skilled vaudevillian (magician, juggler, whistler, impressionist, card tricks). His specialty was ventriloquism. On the Orpheum Circuit his dummy was named Skully Null; he became Elmer Sneezeweed in the movies. His debut was in Ride, Ranger, Ride (1936) in 1936, the same year he took over the part of Lullaby in the "Three Mesquiteer" series. He played the part in 21 films, leaving in 1939. After that he did 24 "Range Buster" pictures, co-starred in Ken Maynard's last picture and co-starred eight times with Johnny Mack Brown. He played a doctor in Giant (1956). After leaving movies he continued to appear in television shows such as Ramar of the Jungle (1952). He died in Cottonwood, AZ.1891-1973, 82.
69 westerns, 36-56.- Actress
- Stunts
Helen Gibson was one of the earliest serial stars. In 1915 she took over the title role in The Hazards of Helen (1914) from Helen Holmes. Known for her athletic abilities and willingness to do dangerous but exciting stunts, she made the transition from serials to features easily. She was the second wife of cowboy star Hoot Gibson. After her starring days ended in the early 1920s, she went on to become one of the industry's best stunt women, while also taking small acting parts, until her retirement in early 1962.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Actor/producer/director Leo Maloney was owner of the Leo Maloney Studio located in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California. Several early westerns were filmed at the studio, which overlooked orange groves and included a small city that housed 35 people who lived there year-round. The last film he directed and produced, Overland Bound (1929), was one of the first all-talking pictures. After a celebration for the new film, Maloney suffered a heart attack and was unable to enjoy the film's success.1888-1929, 41.
117 westerns, 11-29.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Harry A. Pollard was born on 23 January 1879 in Republic City, Kansas, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Quest (1915), Tonight at Twelve (1929) and Sporting Youth (1924). He was married to Margarita Fischer. He died on 6 July 1934 in Pasadena, California, USA.1879-1934, 55.
10 westerns, 10-22.- Bud McClure was born on 21 February 1883 in Hopland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Flyin' Buckaroo (1928), The Mystery Rider (1928) and Heroes of the Range (1936). He was married to Grace. He died on 2 November 1942 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
American cowboy star of silent films, Jack Hoxie was raised in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and in Idaho, learning riding and roping at an early age. He became a popular and successful rodeo star, winning national championships. In 1914, after touring the U.S. in a Wild West show, he came to Hollywood and got work as a stuntman. He had a handsome, stalwart quality that, along with his skills as a cowhand, quickly gained him the attention of producers and studios. Born John Stone, he changed his name to Hartford Hoxie and then to Art Hoxie when producer Anthony J. Xydias of Sunset Productions signed him for a series of low-budget Westerns. By 1921 Hoxie was successful enough to catch the eye of Universal Pictures, which hired him away and placed in him in more prestigious westerns. Although not a star of the magnitude of Douglas Fairbanks or Charles Chaplin, Hoxie was a prominent name among western stars. His career faded quickly after sound, as even though he looked the part of a cowboy, his skills did not extend to sounding like one (he could barely read). He continued to appear, albeit in smaller roles, well into the 1930s, when he left Hollywood to star in his own western-style circus. By the end of the 1930s he had retired to a ranch in Oklahoma, where he lived out his days in obscurity. He died in Kansas in 1965 at the age of 80. He was survived by his brother, lesser-known cowboy actor Al Hoxie.1885-1965, 80.
107 westerns, 10-33.
Grinning Guns (1927).
A Six Shootin' Romance (1926).
Gun Law (1933).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Emory Parnell was born on 29 December 1892 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943), Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). He was married to Effie Laird. He died on 22 June 1979 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.1892-1979, 86.
84 westerns, 39-71.- Leon Beaumon - also credited as Leon Beauman, Beaumont, and Leon Duval
- was a minor stage and film actor during the 1920s and 1930s. He was
Leon's filmography is largely a mystery, due to the passage of time and his legendary attempts to hide his true age; thus he gave few details of his Hollywood career to his children. From a scrapbook, archival sources, and his lifelong friend and fellow actor, the late Bob St. Angelo, it is known so far that he had credited roles in A Fight to the Finish (1925), Clancy of the Mounted (1933), Pioneer Trail (1938) and The Law Comes to Texas (1939). He had uncredited roles in Cleopatra (1934), Folies Bergère de Paris (1935), Fugitive at Large (1939), Les Misérables (1935), Call of the Wild (1935), The Freshman (1925), The Mighty Barnum (1934) The Sea Wolf (1930), The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Vagabond King (1930) and Western Frontier (1935). He often played the bad guy in Ken Maynard's westerns. During his acting days, Leon ran an ice cream shop in Hollywood. He was also an inventor, creating one of the first wireless radios, the record changer on record players, and numerous other gadgets. During World War 2, Leon joined the Army Air Corps and remained stateside. Subsequently he became a real estate broker, and eventually an industrial landlord. Leon remained single until 1961 when he married Theresa (Hermine Gruber). They made their home in a Los Angeles suburb and had three children, Florence, Anthony and Monique. Leon never retired, even putting a roof on a building when he was in his 70s. His beloved wife preceded him in death, in 1978. Leon passed away from cancer in 1981, at the age of 83. His nephew and his nephew's wife, Jim and Marj Smerber, generously took care of him in his illness and finished rearing his minor children.1898-1981, 83.
5 westerns, 25-39. - Actor
- Writer
- Production Manager
Frank Brownlee was born on 11 October 1874 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Return of Mary (1918), The Vanishing Legion (1931) and His Own Law (1920). He was married to Louise Massie. He died on 10 February 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Clarence Muse was born on October 14, 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA as Clarence Edouard Muse. He was an actor, known for Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and The Black Stallion (1979). He was married to Irene Ena Kellman, Willabelle Burch West and Ophelia Belle Labertier. He died on October 13, 1979 in Perris, California, USA1889-1979, 89.
19 westerns, 31-72.
Credits -soundtrack, writer, composer, producer, dance director.- Burtis Harwood Rumsey was born in Butte, Montana on 15 Oct 1892 to Burtis Harwood Rumsey and Hannah Cummins who both died between 1904 and 1910. Burtis married Dona Grace (Douglas) Benneche. He preceded her in death on 6 July 1968 at the Motion Picture Home, Woodland Hills, California and was buried in the Cherokee Memorial Park Cemetery, Lodi, California.
Burtis had a brother, Roscoe William and a sister, Doris Margaret.1892-1968, 75.
71 westerns, 55-59. - José Luis Tortosa was born in 1896 in Spain. He was an actor and writer, known for De la sartén al fuego (1935), El capitán Tormenta (1936) and El día que me quieras (1935). He died in 1963 in the USA.1896-1963, 67.
4 westerns, 39-41. - Actor
- Additional Crew
Morgan Farley was born on 3 October 1898 in Mamaroneck, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for High Noon (1952), Soylent Green (1973) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). He died on 11 October 1988 in San Pedro, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Cyril Ring was born on 5 December 1892 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Cocoanuts (1929), I Wake Up Screaming (1941) and The Social Lion (1930). He was married to Molly Green and Charlotte Greenwood. He died on 17 July 1967 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born on May 21, 1899 in Springfield, Massachusetts, veteran character actor Ralph Sanford came from a theatrical family. His parents were in the business, although not as actors.
An actor and stage manager on the Broadway stage in the early years of his career, Sanford appeared in such productions as "Half a Widow" (1927), "The Constant Sinner" (1931) and "Between Two Worlds" (1934). He began his screen work in 1937 at Vitaphone Pictures working in shorts, as a burly foil to such established two-reeler comics as Shemp Howard, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Fritz Feld. He found steady employment in primarily unbilled bits (truck driver, guard, etc.), notably for Paramount. He upgraded to occasional featured parts in such films as Undercover Agent (1939), Wildcat (1942), A Night for Crime (1943) and My Pal Trigger (1946), but for the most part he was utilized solely in "tough guy" parts. He would play minor roles for other studios as well, usually typed as a two-bit gangster or hassled cop. He continued his busy schedule throughout the 1950s with TV work and had a recurring part as Jim "Dog" Kelly on Hugh O'Brian's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) series for the 1958-59 season.
The heavyset actor died at the age of 64, succumbing to a heart ailment on June 20, 1963.1899-1963, 64,
87 westerns, 1938-1961.- Ralph Moody was born on November 5, 1886 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA as Ralph Roy Moody, the oldest son of Franklin Jerome Moody and Ida M. Hicklin. His introduction to show business was first as an actor on the stage in pre-radio days and then as a radio personality. His first acting role was in 1900 as the boy, Heinrich, in Rip Van Winkle. At the 1904 World's Fair he sang tenor in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He had a wide following as Uncle Abner on WIBW, CBS Radio, in the 1930's in Topeka, Kansas, USA. As Uncle Abner he was the town's barber, constable, postmaster, and chief source of information. Beginning in the mid-1940's he was a frequent radio cast member on The Roy Rogers Show. When Gunsmoke began its radio show run in 1952, Ralph Moody was one of the regular cast members. He began making film and television appearances at the age of 62. His first television roles were on three 1949-50 The Lone Ranger (1949) episodes, each time as an Indian chief with a different name. Frequently on TV westerns he had roles as an Indian, but was not type cast. His range of characters included a variety of roles with Jack Webb on Dragnet (1951). Many of his dozen appearances on The Rifleman (1958) were as Doc Burrage. He had six appearances on Bonanza (1959), most as an Indian, at the end of his 23 year acting career. He was married to Hazel B. McOwen. He died on September 16, 1971 in Burbank, California, USA.1886-1971, 84.
145 westerns, 48-71. - Actor
- Producer
American leading man of silent pictures who specialized in Westerns. His mother and father were, respectively, a singer and an actor, and he and his younger brother William Farnum were introduced to the theatre at an early age. Raised in Maine, Dustin attended the East Maine Conference Seminary, but left school to go on the stage at the age of fifteen. With his brother, he formed a vaudeville act consisting largely of tumbling and wrestling. He spent several years touring in stock companies before making a great success in the play "Arizona" in New York. After a number of Broadway hits, he went to Cuba in 1913 to star in a film, Soldiers of Fortune (1914). Soon thereafter, Cecil B. DeMille gave Farnum the leading role in the film version of one of Farnum's Broadway hits, "The Squaw Man." He followed this smash hit with a number of film versions of plays he had starred in on Broadway. His brother William had himself become a big star in pictures, and the two of them signed contracts with the Fox Film Corporation. Although Dustin Farnum played a wide variety of roles, he tended toward Westerns and became one of the biggest stars of the genre. At the age of fifty-two, Farnum retired from films and, but for a few stage roles, lived quietly with his third wife, actress Winifred Kingston for three years, until his death in 1929 from kidney failure.1874-1929, (55).
22 westerns, 14-26.- Michael Vallon was born on 21 July 1897 in Dover, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Adventures of Superman (1952), Tarnished (1950) and The Dawn Express (1942). He died on 13 November 1973 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Burt Mustin was a salesman most of his life, but got his first taste of show business as the host of a weekly radio variety show on KDKA Pittsburgh in 1921. He appeared onstage in "Detective Story" at Sombrero Playhouse in Phoenix Arizona, and played the janitor in the movie version, (Detective Story (1951)), after moving to Hollywood. Hundreds of screen appearances later, he announced his retirement while filming an episode of Phyllis (1975). In the episode, his character married Mother Dexter, played by actress Judith Lowry. Lowry died one month before, and Mustin died one month after the episode aired.- Actor
- Writer
David Leonard was born on 5 September 1891 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Lust for Life (1956), Song of My Heart (1948) and The Bishop's Wife (1947). He died on 2 April 1967 in San Fernando, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
A former salesman and vaudeville and stage actor, Harold Lockwood was one of the earliest romantic stars of American films. He was paired with Mary Pickford, Kathlyn Williams and Dorothy Davenport, among others, but his most popular films had him as the lover of May Allison, and they became one of the earliest screen romantic teams. Unfortunately, Lockwood contracted influenza during the worldwide flu epidemic of 1918, and was one of the millions who died from it.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
"B"-picture cowboy star Bill Cody was born William Joseph Cody, Jr., on January 5, 1891, in St. Paul, Minnesota (some sources list his place of birth as Manitoba, Canada). He was no relation to William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody. He was educated at Saint Thomas Military Academy in Minneapolis and later attended St. Johns University in New York. After graduating, he became an actor with the Metropolitan Stock Company, which toured the US and Canada. He wound up in Hollywood in 1922 and got employment as a stuntman, eventually working his way up to bit parts as an actor.
As an actor using the pseudonym "Paul Walters," Cody appeared in two movies for producer'Jesse Goldburg''s Independent Pictures. In 1924, Goldburg decided to star Cody, under his own name, in a series of eight B-Western features, beginning with Dangerous Days (1924). Though he was short, Cody handled himself well in fight scenes, where he usually took on villains bigger than himself. As was typical of the genre, Cody's horse "Chico" was featured as a co-star, though he also rode a horse named "King."
Goldburg dropped Cody after the series, which wound up in 1925. He moved on to producer Pat Powers' Associated Exhibitors to make two films in 1926, then starred in The Arizona Whirlwind (1927) for Myron Selznick, which was released through Pathe Pictures. Possibly influenced by Selznick, who became a talent agent who pioneered the production of motion pictures by their stars, Cody created his own production company, making B-Westerns released by Pathe. Pathe terminated its relationship with Cody in 1928, and he signed with with Universal to star in three detective movies that proved to be his last silent pictures. In 1929, Cody went on tour with the Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Show.
He made the transition to sound, and was back in the saddle in Under Texas Skies (1930) in 1930 for W. Ray Johnston's Syndicate Pictures. He subsequently signed with Monogram and made a series of eight B-westerns co-starring Andy Shuford in the popular Bill and Andy Series. In 1932, Monogram decided to replace Cody and its other western star, Tom Tyler, signing Bob Steele and Rex Bell to take their place.
It was back to touring with his Wild West show, this time with the Bostock Wild Animal Circus. He saddled up again for the silver screen in 1934, making three westerns for Robert Horner's Awyon Pictures, one of the poorest of the Poverty Row studios. His Awyon Picture The Border Menace (1934) has been called "the worst B-Western ever made". After fulfilling his contract, Cody went back on tour as the star of the Downie Bros. Circus.
Bill Cody and his wife Regina had two sons, Bill, Jr. and Frank. Cody signed up with producer Ray Kirkwood to make a series of Westerns in late 1934, and his son, Bill Cody, Jr. co-starred in four of them, beginning with _Frontier Days_ (1934). Bill Cody's last movie for Kirkwood was Outlaws of the Range (1936), which also co-starred Bill, Jr. Spectrum, which released most of his Kirkwood pictures, announced that Bill Cody Sr. and Jr. would star in a series of B-westerns released by Spectrum the 1936-37 season, but it was never made.
He took time out from touring with his Wild West Show to star in one final picture, _Fighting Cowboy, The (1939). Cody's last hurrah on the screen were bit parts as a rancher in John Ford's classic Stagecoach (1939) and as a sheriff in the George O'Brien western The Fighting Gringo (1939). He appeared in the serial The Masked Marvel (1943) and also had an uncredited bit part in Walter Wanger's production Joan of Arc (1948). It is likely that he appeared in bit parts in other movies in the 1940s, but no credits currently exist.
Bill Cody died at Santa Monica, California, Jan. 24, 1948. He was 57 years old.