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- 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.- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
Art Davis was born on 31 May 1913 in Paradise, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Texas Marshal (1941), Rolling Down the Great Divide (1942) and Along the Sundown Trail (1942). He died on 16 January 1987 in Bloomburg, Texas, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Bob Livingston's father was a newspaper editor in Quincy, Illinois. As a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News Bob did a story on the Pasadena Playhouse, and that got him interested in acting. In his mid-20s, he was doing bit parts for Universal and Fox and went from there to romantic roles with MGM. His first real success came with Republic, in 1936, as a masked hero in the serial The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936). That led to more cowboy roles and the leading role in the "Three Mesquiteer" series. He had more appearances (29) in that series than anyone else. He played other cowboy roles (Zorro in The Bold Caballero (1936)), worked with Al St. John in the "Lone Rider" Series (1941-43) and finished up in a number of character parts in Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies.- Tom Seidel was born on 11 March 1917 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for 20, 000 Men a Year (1939), Moonlight and Cactus (1944) and Man with Two Lives (1942). He was married to Jean Hagen. He died on 7 December 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1917 - 1992, 75.
8 westerns, 41-44. - Monte Rawlins was born Dean Spencer in Yakima, Washington. His job as an aerial "barnstormer" in the 1930s landed him some aerial stuntwork in a few films. His big break came when he got the starring role in The Adventures of the Masked Phantom (1939), but the film, an independent effort, didn't have major studio backing and wound up being distributed via the states-rights system. After a few more small roles, Rawlins joined the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He stayed in the Marine Reserves after the war ended and was called up for service during the Korean conflict. In civilian life he had given up acting and took up a career in the sound recording field, first at Monogram Pictures and then at Walt Disney Studios. After retiring from Disney he moved to Hawaii, where he died in 1988.
- Fred Parker was born on 31 August 1876 in Sigourney, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Hell's Headquarters (1932), Range Riders (1934) and Timber Terrors (1935). He died on 29 February 1960 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Ben Corbett was born on 6 February 1892 in Hudson, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Code of the Cactus (1939), 45 Calibre Echo (1932) and Six-Gun Trail (1938). He was married to Edna May Haynes and Helen. He died on 19 May 1961 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
The son of a lumberman, Tom Mix joined the army as a young man and was an artillery sergeant during the Philippine campaign from 1898 to 1901, though he never saw action. In fact, Mix deserted from the army and carefully kept the facts about his military service a closely guarded secret. About 1903 he was drum major with the Oklahoma Cavalry Band, playing in the St. Louis World's Fair. In 1904 he was a bartender and sheriff/marshal in Dewey, Oklahoma. He was in a series of Wild West shows, such as The Miller Bros. Wild West Show, from 1906-1909; the Widerman show in Amarillo, Texas; with wife Olive Mix in Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition; and Will A. Dickey's Circle D Ranch. The latter supplied Selig Pictures with cowboys and Indians for movies and, in 1910, Mix was hired by Selig to provide and handle horses. His first movie was Ranch Life in the Great Southwest (1910). He continued with Selig until 1917, writing and directing as well as acting. He was signed by Fox Films in 1917 and remained with them until 1928, averaging five or so films a year. His popularity eclipsed all other great cowboy stars (Hoot Gibson and even the legendary William S. Hart) of the silent era and he earned--and spent--millions.
In addition to Mix's riding and shooting skills, the films also showcased the talents of his amazing horse, Tony the Horse. Sound and encroaching middle age were not favorable to Mix, and after making a handful of pictures during the sound era he left the film industry after 1935's serial, The Miracle Rider (1935) (a huge hit for lowly Mascot Pictures, grossing over $1 million; Mix earned $40,000), touring with the Sells Floto Circus in 1930 and 1931 and the Tom Mix Circus from 1936 to 1938. While Mix was a great showman, the combination of the Depression and the high overhead of his traveling shows conspired against his success. Mix developed a comical style, emphasizing fast action thrills to a greater extent than had been common in earlier westerns, and he did his own stunts. He was king of the cowboys during the 1920s and remained popular on radio and in comic books for more than a decade after his death. He died in an auto accident in 1940.- Tex Palmer was born on 31 July 1904 in Xenia, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Champion (1955), Romance of the Rockies (1937) and The Phantom Stage (1939). He died on 22 March 1982 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tex Williams, along with Spade Cooley and Bob Wills, was among the most popular bandleaders in the musical genre known as "western swing" in the 1940s and 1950s (although he used the nickname "Tex", he was actually from Illinois). His popularity led to Universal Pictures bringing him to Hollywood to make a series of musical western shorts in the late 1940s, and he and his band shot about a dozen of them before the series ended in 1952.- 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.- Jack Evans was born on 5 March 1893 in Neills Creek, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hidden Woman (1922), Lightning Range (1933) and The Fighting Deputy (1937). He was married to Fannie. He died on 14 March 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Harry Woods was born on 5 May 1889 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The Viking (1928), Monkey Business (1931) and Colorado Territory (1949). He was married to Helen P. Hookenberry. He died on 28 December 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
Kermit Maynard was born on 20 September 1897 in Vevay, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fighting Texan (1937), Valley of Terror (1937) and Phantom Patrol (1936). He was married to Edith Jessen. He died on 16 January 1971 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
After high school Gene Autry worked as a laborer for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in Oklahoma. Next he was a telegrapher. In 1928 he began singing on a local radio station, and three years later he had his own show and was making his first recordings. Three years after that he made his film debut in Ken Maynard's In Old Santa Fe (1934) and starred in a 13-part serial the following year for Mascot Pictures, The Phantom Empire (1935). The next year he signed a contract with Republic Pictures and began making westerns. Autry--for better or worse--pretty much ushered in the era of the "singing cowboy" westerns of the 1930s and 1940s (in spite of the presence in his oaters of automobiles, radios and airplanes). These films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs. During World War II he enlisted in the US Army and was assigned as a flight officer from 1942-46 with the Air Transport Command. After his military service he returned to making movies, this time with Columbia Pictures, and finally with his own company, Flying A Productions, which, during the 1950s, produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954). He wrote over 200 songs. A savvy businessman, he retired from acting in the early 1960s and became a multi-millionaire from his investments in hotels, real estate, radio stations and the California Angels professional baseball team.- Jack Trent was born on 24 August 1896 in Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Devil Plays (1931), The Woman Who Was Forgotten (1929) and Discarded Lovers (1932). He died on 1 August 1961 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Canada's child prodigy violinist. Played a command performance for the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII, at age 5.) First cousin of Walter Huston, father of child actress Baby Rose, Grandfather of Sharmagne Leland-St. John-Sylbert, Great-grandfather of 'Daisy Alexandra Sylbert'.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
American Western star and character actor whose career spanned six decades. The son of director Robert N. Bradbury, he appeared in vaudeville with his parents and with his twin brother Bill Bradbury appeared as a child in a series of 16 semi- documentary short films directed by their father, The Adventures of Bob and Bill. As Bob Bradbury Jr., he played juvenile roles in silent films, then took the stage name Bob Steele in 1927. He appeared in scores of films during the Thirties, rising to B-Western stardom and an apparently solid position as one of Republic Studios' top draws. Occasionally he made an appearance in more prominent films, as in his role as Curly in Of Mice and Men (1939). But he remained primarily a figure in Westerns. His stardom diminished by the mid-40s, and he spent the next quarter-century in character roles, some highly visible, such as his part in The Big Sleep (1946). But he also eventually turned up as a virtual extra in pictures like Shenandoah (1965). He appeared often on television and regained some fame in his role as Trooper Duffy in F Troop (1965). He died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, following a long illness.- 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.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Ted Wells was a second-echelon western hero at Universal in 1920s silents and also made several low-budget westerns for "Poverty Row" producers William M. Pizor and Robert J. Horner. During those silents Wells used his own name as well as "Pawnee Bill, Jr.". When sound arrived, he found himself relegated to bit parts and (slightly larger) supporting roles, as well as doubling and stunt work. Wells re-connected with Horner in the mid-'30s. The collaboration resulted in Wells doing hero duty in a pair of bottom-of-the-barrel sagebrush yarns, The Phantom Cowboy (1935) (from Aywon Pictures) and the lost/missing Defying the Law (1935) (also from Aywon). "Film Daily" announced that Wells had signed to star in eight films for Horner, but only two were actually made. Wells returned to bits and supporting roles in westerns and serials and wound up as the frequent double for William Boyd in Boyd's Hopalong Cassidy films from the late 1930s through 1944.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Cliff Nazarro was born on 31 January 1904 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for Forged Passport (1939), Ding Dong Williams (1946) and Hillbilly Blitzkrieg (1942). He died on 18 February 1961 in Ventura County, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Silent western actor Bob Curwood was born in Romania in 1899 as John Balas Belasco. His parents were non-professionals Maria and Russen Balas Belasco. His movie-name was changed to Bub Curwood when he was given the lead role in a series of silent western and Royal-Canadian-Mounted shorts at Universal Pictures Corporation, circa 1925. Curwood starred in 26 silent shorts but his strong accent and inability to speak English bought an end to his career when Universal started producing sound films. Some sources credit John Balas Belasco as being a relative of either Universal-president Carl Laemmle, or Mr. Laemmle's wife. Most likely true as no studio in the history of American films had more relatives of the boss on its payroll than Universal.- 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.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Cowboy actor Buddy Roosevelt was born Kenneth Stanhope Sanderson in Meeker, Colorado, in 1898. His parents were emigrants from England, and at age 16 Kenneth got a job with the C.B. Irwin WIld West Show. When the show traveled to Southern California in 1914, the young Sanderson learned that stunt work in the burgeoning film industry paid much better, and was quite a bit safer, than busting broncs and the kind of roping, trick riding and other hard and dangerous tasks required of a Wild West show performer, and he soon got a job doing stunts in westerns for pioneering producer Thomas H. Ince at his Inceville studio, and often performed as a stunt double for William S. Hart. When the US entered World War I in 1917 Roosevelt enlisted in the Navy and was aboard the USS Norfolk when it was sunk. As if that wasn't enough, he contracted the Spanish flu during the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed millions worldwide, but he managed to survive both the sinking and the flu and returned to Hollywood at war's end.
Going back to stunt work, he was the stunt double for matinee idol Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (1921), the picture that made Valentino a star. After more stunt work and small parts in a few films, Sanderson was hired by shoestring producer Lester F. Scott Jr. to star in a series of low-budget westerns. Scott didn't think that "Kenneth Sanderson" was enough of a cowboy name so he changed it to Buddy Roosevelt. The newly renamed cowboy actor made Rough Ridin' (1924) for Scott, the first of 25 that Roosevelt would make for him. Budgets for these pictures were usually less than $25,000--a paltry sum even for the early 1920s--but Scott had the sense to hire veteran supporting characters and efficient directors like a young Richard Thorpe (later to become a mainstay at prestigious MGM) and the pictures proved popular and made money. Unfortunately for Roosevelt, however, Scott signed two more cowboy actors, Jay Wilsey and Hal Taliaferro, which meant that the low budgets on Roosevelt's films got even lower.
In 1928 Roosevelt left Scott for another "B" outfit, Rayart Pictures, but the films he made for that company weren't much of an improvement over his Scott opuses (and in many cases were even worse). After a half-dozen of Rayart's "extravaganzas", Roosevelt managed to get a good role in a big picture for a major studio--The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1928) for Fox. As luck would have it, though, Roosevelt broke his leg shortly before filming was to start. He was replaced by Warner Baxter, who went on to win an Academy Award for the part, which started him on a long and distinguished career. Buddy, on the other hand, went back to making "B" (and even lower-grade) horse operas. He signed with cheapjack producer/director Jack Irwin for a trio of oaters that were barely released. Irwin ran out of money on the third of this trio, "Valley of Bad Men"--which was apparently NEVER released--and Roosevelt was once again out of a job. He did some stunt work and got some small parts in small films, and eventually signed with low-rent specialist Victor Adamson (aka Denver Dixon) for a series of extremely low-budget westerns for Adamson's Superior Talking Pictures outfit. Supposedly shot in only a few days on budgets that were so low that Superior could only afford to pay Roosevelt $250 for each one, these films have gained a reputation for incoherence, ineptness and cheapness that few others have achieved, even to this day.
These pictures finished Buddy Roosevelt's career as a "star", but he still remained active in the business, doing stunt work and appearing in small parts and bit roles until he retired after making his last film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), in 1962. He died in his home town of Meeker, Colorado, on October 6, 1973.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Began in show business as a radio singer. In the early 1930s he became one of the first singing screen cowboys. He starred in a series of musical westerns for Paramount, and another series for 20th Century Fox. In later years he was featured in supporting roles well into the 1950s.- Kenneth MacDonald was born Kenneth Dollins on September 8, 1901, in Portland, IN. He began his career as a stage actor in the 1920s and came to Hollywood in the early 1930s. He broke into motion pictures, but after several small roles, he found employment difficult to come by. He hit upon the idea of a little self-promotion, wrote a pamphlet called "The Case of Kenneth MacDonald" and distributed it to as many producers as he could find. The ploy worked; he started getting jobs at most of the studios in Hollywood, and became a regular fixture in Columbia's Charles Starrett series of "Durango Kid" westerns.
However, he is probably best remembered as a foil for many of Columbia's comedy teams in the studio's two-reelers, particularly The Three Stooges. His suave demeanor and rich, booming voice perfectly fit the role of the con man, crooked lawyer or criminal gang leader he often played, and he showed a surprising flair for physical comedy, taking a two-finger poke in the eyes from Moe Howard, a pie in the face from Larry Fine or an iron bar on the head from Curly Howard with the best of them. He left the Columbia shorts department in 1955 and semi-retired from acting.
From 1951-53 he was a frequent guest star, mostly as a sheriff, on the television series The Range Rider (1951). From 1957-66 he had a recurring role as Judge Carter on the television series Perry Mason (1957). He was also a frequent guest star as Col. Parker on the ABC television series Colt .45 (1957). Kenneth MacDonald died at age 70 at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, CA, on May 5, 1972 from a combination of brain and lung cancer. - 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.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Slye) moved to California in 1930, aged 18. He played in such musical groups as The Hollywood Hillbillies, Rocky Mountaineers, Texas Outlaws, and his own group, the International Cowboys. In 1934 he formed a group with Bob Nolan called Sons of the Pioneers. While in that group he was known as Leonard Slye, then Dick Weston. Their songs included "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". They first appeared in the western Rhythm on the Range (1936), starring Bing Crosby and Martha Raye. In 1936 he appeared as a bandit opposite Gene Autry in "The Old Coral". In 1937 Rogers went solo from "The Sons Of The Pioneeres", and made his first starring film in 1938, Under Western Stars (1938). He made almost 100 films. The Roy Rogers Show (1951) ran on NBC from October 1951 through 1957 and on CBS from 1961 to September 1964. In 1955, 67 of his feature films were released to television.- Richard Bailey was born on 26 September 1919 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945), The Train (1964) and City of Silent Men (1942). He died on 6 February 2000 in Mission Viejo, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
Frank McCarroll was born on 5 September 1892 in Morris, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Devil Diamond (1937), Gunman's Code (1946) and Valley of Terror (1937). He was married to Mary Ellen Treadwell and Lorrie. He died on 8 March 1954 in Burbank, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Al St. John was born on 10 September 1893 in Santa Ana, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Billy the Kid in Texas (1940), Prairie Badmen (1946) and Billy the Kid Trapped (1942). He was married to Yvonne June Villon Price Pearce (actress), Lillian Marion Ball and Flo-Bell Moore. He died on 21 January 1963 in Lyons, Georgia, USA.125 westerns, 18-52.
1893-1963, 69.- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
American leading man and character actor of the silent period. Born in Crystal City, Missouri(though a number of popular reference works list Switzerland and Kokomo, Indiana). He is listed in the 1880 census as living in Kokomo at the age of two years. This means his date of birth must have been 1878. His father, Paul Santschi was born in Sigriswill, Switzerland and came to the U.S. as a child. Tom Santschi promoted the myth that he was born in Switzerland since it seemed much more exciting than being born in Crystal City or Kokomo. After performing as an amateur actor, he made his professional stage debut at age 19, and worked for the next decade in the theatre. He landed a small role in a film produced by Selig Polyscope, and over the next few years rose from bit player to leading man. He directed and wrote a few of his films. Following the First World War, he became more frequently seen in supporting roles, often as villains. He worked consistently until his death in 1931.- Ted French was born on 21 April 1899 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Quick and the Dead (1963), Range Beyond the Blue (1947) and Ridin' Down the Trail (1947). He was married to Nellie Louise Cowles and Gladys Genevieve Worden. He died on 3 July 1978 in Los Angeles, California, USA.32 westerns.
- 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. - Emberry Cannon Gray was born on April 7, 1885 in Leon, Chickasaw Nation in present day Oklahoma. His family moved to Cache, Indian Territory within two years. The small town of Cache was near Fort Sill. Emberry's mother was 1/4 Chickasaw. His father had been a Texas Ranger in the Trinity Division and later served in the Confederate Army.
Emberry grew up among the Apache, Comanche and Kiowa as Cache was the commercial center of their territories. He and his brothers played with the children of Comanche Chief Quanah Parker. His parents became good friends with the Parker family. By the time Emberry was seven years old, he had started going by the name "Bee Ho". Quanah Parker gave him this name, which means "Brother of the Cripple" since Bee Ho's brother, Emmet Gray, was stricken with polio as a small boy and walked with a crutch for the remainder of his life. In about 1902, Bee Ho and his younger brother, Weaver, rode sixty miles on one horse to the town of Chickasha. They made the journey to view the Pawnee Bill Wild West exhibition. They were very impressed with the trick ropers and began teaching themselves rope tricks using clothesline and anything else they could spin. Within two years, both were performing with Wild West shows. Both brothers would enjoy amazing fifty-year careers in western performance.
Bee Ho's skills included extremely intricate rope tricks, horse riding tricks, knife throwing, whip tricks, banjo and comedy.
He joined several major Wild West shows including Colonel Cummins' Wild West Indian Congress and Rough Riders of the World, Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West (which later featured Buffalo Bill and carried his name in the title), California Frank's All-Star Wild West, and The Irwin Brothers Cheyenne Frontier Days Wild West Show. He operated his own Wild West show called Bee Ho Gray's Wild West for a few years starting in 1919. He also performed with various circuses including the Shriner's and Ringling Brothers.
In about 1912, Bee Ho accompanied Sioux Chief Iron Tail to Washington D.C. and New York where he modeled for artist James Earle Fraser as he worked on designs for the new Buffalo Nickel. He supposedly traveled with Iron Tail to act as an interpreter.
Bee Ho won the World Champion Trick and Fancy Roper title at The Winnipeg Stampede in 1913 and held that title until 1916 when he lost it to Chester Byers.
Bee Ho and his wife, Broadway actress, equestrienne and horse trainer Ada Sommerville, spent many years as Vaudeville performers with both the B.F. Keith, Orpheum and Western circuits. Their show usually received top billing and was sought after across the country. They maintained a packed schedule of performances and literally played thousands of venues and shows during their career.
Bee Ho performed in Erich von Strohiem's "Greed" in 1924. Bee Ho's performance was apparently cut from the film when the length was reduced by about 80%. According to a 1926 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Republican newspaper article, Bee Ho displayed his skill with knife throwing in the film.
Bee Ho also performed in a number of more obscure, early western films from the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Bison Films and The Vitaphone Corporation including "Hey! Hey! Westerner".
In May and June 1922, Bee Ho and Ada Sommerville were featured in a Broadway musical called "Red Pepper". The stars of the show were the famous minstrel duo, McIntyre and Heath. The show then went on the road for one year, closing in North Dakota in June 1923.
Bee Ho added a trained coyote to his act in the early 1930s and began making radio appearances with his witty Oklahoma comedy. He appeared on stage and on the radio with personalities such as Bing Crosby, Will Rogers, Fred Stone, Joe E. Brown, Mary Beth Hughes, Eddie Nugent, Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard and many others. Many of the western stars who performed in the first half of the 1900s got their start with him at the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West as they saw their way of life on the open range disappearing.
Ada Sommerville died in 1940 at the age of sixty-eight. Bee Ho continued with his act using other assistants to fill her role, but the days of Vaudeville were over and his career was relegated to county fairs, small corporate events and school benefits. He died in Pueblo, Colorado on August 3, 1951 at the age of sixty-six while visiting his sisters. Many of his friends and family members never knew what became of him. He is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Pueblo, Colorado. - Actor
- Stunts
Clyde Howdy was born on 31 May 1921 in Arlington, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for PT 109 (1963), Mod Squad (1968) and Daniel Boone (1964). He died on 3 October 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Henry Wills was born on a cattle ranch in Arizona in 1921. After graduating high school he headed to Hollywood, and was soon working as an extra, mainly in westerns. He picked up some extra money doing stunt work, and soon began to concentrate on that field. He gained a reputation as one of the best horsemen in the business, specializing in horse falls--he's estimated to have done over 1400 of them in his career--transfers from horses to wagons and stagecoaches, and bulldogging (jumping off his horse to take down a rider on another horse), etc. His first job as a full-fledged Stunt Coordinator was on The Magnificent Seven (1960), and he became a Second-Unit Director on Major Dundee (1965). He worked on many of the top TV westerns, and was stunt coordinator and Second Unit Director on the hit series The High Chaparral (1967). He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, CA, in 1994.- Actor
- Stunts
Jack Montgomery was born on 14 November 1891 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for The New Frontier (1935), Pursued (1947) and The Outlaw Deputy (1935). He was married to Marian Baxter. He died on 21 January 1962 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
J.P. McGowan was born on 24 February 1880 in Terowie, South Australia, Australia. He was a director and actor, known for The Lost Express (1917), Hills of Missing Men (1922) and Do or Die (1921). He was married to Mrs. Kaye Swart Northrop, Leona (Lorna) Haviland and Helen Holmes. He died on 26 March 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
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Marshall Reed was born on 28 May 1917 in Englewood, Colorado, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Madmen of Mandoras (1963), Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958) and They Saved Hitler's Brain (1968). He was married to Carlyn Miller. He died on 15 April 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
Terry Frost was born on 26 October 1906 in Bemidji, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Mysterious Island (1951), Dead Man's Gold (1948) and Apache Rose (1947). He was married to Marion Carney and Marguerite Beday. He died on 1 March 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- William Wilkerson was born on 18 September 1902 in Cobb, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Juarez (1939), Singin' Spurs (1948) and California Conquest (1952). He died on 3 March 1966 in Hollywood, California, USA.
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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."- Although Charles King played a variety of roles in silent films, and even made a series of comedy shorts for Universal in the 1920s, it was as a villain in sound westerns that King achieved his greatest fame. In the 1930s and 1940s his jowly face, beady eyes, Texas accent, droopy walrus mustache and overhanging beer belly became familiar to legions of fans of B westerns, especially those of rock-bottom PRC Pictures (it seemed like he showed up in every western PRC ever made), and you knew as soon as you saw him that he would meet his doom before the end of the last reel. Sometimes he was actually the head of the gang, but usually he was just a hired gun or, on even rarer occasions, "middle management". There's a line in Blazing Saddles (1974) where Gene Wilder says, "I've killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille"; it's doubtful that anyone has been killed more times in films than Charlie King. He's been shot, beaten up, run over, thrown off cliffs and blown up by the likes of John Wayne, Buster Crabbe, Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and pretty much anyone who ever appeared in a movie with him--if he had been in a Shirley Temple picture, she would have found a way to bump him off.
After a memorable career as a punching bag, piñata and moving target for most of the actors in Hollywood, Charlie King finally hung up his spurs in 1957, and died of cirrhosis of the liver in May of that year. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Bill Cody Jr. was born on 18 April 1925 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Scouts to the Rescue (1939), Frontier Days (1934) and The Girl of the Golden West (1938). He was married to Elizabeth Sidford MacGregor. He died on 11 August 1989 in Studio City, California, USA.- Actor
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- Soundtrack
Craggy-faced, athletic veteran character actor who played hard-bitten or menacing types in numerous westerns and crime dramas. One of five brothers, Woodward grew up in Arlington, Texas. He had a keen interest in aviation early on and took flying lessons from 1941, getting his pilot's license and subsequently served in both World War II (Army Air Corps) and Korea (Military Air Transport Command). Woodward first acted at Arlington State College, majoring in music and drama. He appeared for a while with the Margo Jones Repertory Theatre '47 in Dallas and then went back to study for a degree in corporate finance at the University of Texas, graduating in 1948. At one time, he sang with a jazz band and as a member of a barber shop quartet as well as having a regular weekly gig as a talk show host on local radio. Possessed of a powerful bass-baritone voice, Woodward's ultimate ambition had been to sing for the Metropolitan Opera. That didn't pan out. Neither did his hope that moving to Hollywood in 1955 might open the door to a career in musicals. Instead, he successfully auditioned at Disney for The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), followed by a part in the western pioneer saga Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956). His first big break was as co-star opposite Hugh O'Brian in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), playing the role of Earp's deputy Shotgun Gibbs for four seasons. This effectively typecast him as a western genre actor with a record number of guest spots on Gunsmoke (1955) and Wagon Train (1957). Nonetheless, his most famous role was that of ""the man with no eyes", a sinister chain gang overseer in Cool Hand Luke (1967), distinguished by perpetually wearing reflective sunglasses. He also made two appearances on Star Trek (1966) (most famously as Simon Van Gelder, the first human with whom Spock 'mind melds') and played the shrewd Armani-suited oil tycoon Punk Anderson in 55 episodes of Dallas (1978).
Thomas Morgan Woodward was awarded the Golden Boot Award from the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Fund in August 1988. In 2009, he became an inductee into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Privately, he was a respected authority on Early American Aircraft. According to his website, his main hobby was "restoring, rebuilding and flying antique airplanes".- Actor
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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.- Actor
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George DeNormand's life is an example of somebody whose life is almost too eventful to be true. Once he got out of the military, he became a professional boxer. Like most boxers, his career only lasted a handful of professional bouts however it opened up the door to a move to appearing as a stuntman in films.
While most boxers who appeared in movies had faces which showcased the many years of abuse they took during their career, DeNormand was able to escape with face and cognitive ability intact. In the 1930s, he started a long career as a stuntman. Like most stuntman, he had a specialty, and his was appearing in fight scenes and doubling for actors who the studio did not want to risk hurting.
There was no better period in DeNormand's career than the 1940s. By then he had established himself as one of the go-to brawlers for movies. This led him to be cast as a regular henchman in various Johnny Mack Brown movies where he was able to get paid as a stuntman and as an actor. Sometimes he was handy to have around just in case they needed a stuntman to do a fighting sequence or if they needed a random henchman to have beaten up. DeNormand had several credited roles in the late 1940s where he was an outlaw that Johnny Mack Brown had to fight or a gang member Brown had to shoot off a horse.
Like most stuntmen, DeNormand's body began to break down in the 1950s and he found regular work as an extra in both westerns and dramas as an extra. Sometimes he would be given dialog but DeNormand's thick New York accent made it really hard to give him lines of dialog if the setting was wrong. He was able to appear multiple times in many of the hit television shows of the time and he even had a few talking appearances in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
By the late 1960s, DeNormand's stunt days were over. The various productions he worked for would occasionally have him do a few small stunts that could not be done by a regular person. These were regularly referred to by various cast members as "Whammys" where the stunt would not be hazardous enough to call in a member of the stuntman's union but where an extra would get upgraded in pay. One of DeNormand's final stunts or credits where he received a whammy was on the hit television show "The Wild Wild West" where he played a murdered toy maker who receives a close-up right before his body falls out of a closet.
DeNormand was heavily connected to the studios so by the 1970s, he was still receiving various silent bits from movies. He was still frequently chosen in shows like Gunsmoke to play a banker or movies like Get to Know Your Rabbit where he had a single line of dialog as an aspiring magician. DeNormand loved the motion picture industry and he continued to appear in various films until he died as result of cancer in 1976 leaving behind a legacy of somebody who appeared in various aspects of the film industry and who was greatly respected by all who knew him.- Tall, rangy Jim Davis spent much of his early career in westerns mainly at Republic Pictures. The Missouri-born and -raised Davis' relaxed, easygoing manner and Southern drawl easily fit most moviegoers' image of the cowboy and Republic put him in a ton of them over the years (the fact that, unlike a lot of movie cowboys, he looked right at home on a horse didn't hurt, either). He alternated between good-guy and villain roles, one of his better ones being that of the devious, murderous fur trapper working for Kirk Douglas' competition in The Big Sky (1952). He is best known, however, for his role as Ewing family patriarch Jock in the long-running TV series Dallas (1978).
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- Stunts
Roy Bucko was born on 22 August 1893 in Colusa, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Young Blood (1932). He was married to Rheba. He died on 6 August 1954 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
John Beach was born on 9 November 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Blue Montana Skies (1939), Hopalong Rides Again (1937) and Heroes of the Hills (1938). He was married to Constantine Johnston. He died on 23 October 1997 in Palm Beach, Florida, USA.- Rudolph Bucko (real name Rudolph Bouckou) was a working cowhand from Yakima, Washington, who, with his brother Roy Bucko, drifted south and found themselves riding Hollywood's western ranges. Neither brother was often billed but Rudolph was billed by his nickname, "Buck' Bucko, and he actually had a credit or so when he was billed as Rudolph "Buck" Bucko. Because of the two different billing names in his few credited roles, trade journals of the time, especially the annual "Film Daily Year Book", carried a listing for both Rudolph Bucko and Buck Bucko, even though both names were for the same actor. Some sources don't know that so, based on their skimpy and incorrect research, three Bucko brothers have been "created." Buck worked in well over 200 sound-era westerns and serials, and both Bucko brothers appeared in most of the Ken Maynard westerns of the era. Both were primarily mainstays at Columbia and Universal during that period, and both worked in many Republic films from 1935-1952 or so. Both Bucko brothers were present in most of the films either worked in, but not always - Roy appeared in at least 55 more films than Rudolph Ralph was the smaller of the two brothers
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Neal Hart was born on 7 April 1879 in Staten Island, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Butterfly Range (1922), Lure of Gold (1922) and South of Northern Lights (1922). He was married to Lula Gertrude Pielstick. He died on 2 April 1949 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.1879-1949, 69.
129 westerns, 16-49.- Actor
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American actor of small roles in Westerns, particularly those of John Ford. Although his screen credits and many records indicate a wide variety of names and spellings, Steele's own signatures on his military documents indicate that he was born William Anton Gittinger on March 28, 1888 (not 1889) in San Antonio, Texas. Little is known of his life prior to his arrival in Los Angeles around 1910. As the film industry in Hollywood was just blossoming, and as he apparently had great experience with horses, Steele easily obtained work in quickie Westerns. He fought in Europe in World War I, then returned to Hollywood. While he was extremely inconsistent in the names he used, he worked consistently in Westerns throughout the silent era and up until the 1950s. His final appearance was as the wounded posse member Nesby in Ford's The Searchers (1956), his tenth film for Ford. He died ten years later, not quite 78 years old. He was survived by his wife Josephine, an actress. He is buried under his birth name at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.- Actor
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- Art Department
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.
Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern California, where they tried ranching in the Mojave Desert. Until the ranch failed, Marion and his younger brother Robert E. Morrison swam in an irrigation ditch and rode a horse to school. When the ranch failed, the family moved to Glendale, California, where Marion delivered medicines for his father, sold newspapers and had an Airedale dog named "Duke" (the source of his own nickname). He did well at school both academically and in football. When he narrowly failed admission to Annapolis he went to USC on a football scholarship 1925-7. Tom Mix got him a summer job as a prop man in exchange for football tickets. On the set he became close friends with director John Ford for whom, among others, he began doing bit parts, some billed as John Wayne. His first featured film was Men Without Women (1930). After more than 70 low-budget westerns and adventures, mostly routine, Wayne's career was stuck in a rut until Ford cast him in Stagecoach (1939), the movie that made him a star. He appeared in nearly 250 movies, many of epic proportions. From 1942-43 he was in a radio series, "The Three Sheets to the Wind", and in 1944 he helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a Conservative political organization, later becoming its President. His conservative political stance was also reflected in The Alamo (1960), which he produced, directed and starred in. His patriotic stand was enshrined in The Green Berets (1968) which he co-directed and starred in. Over the years Wayne was beset with health problems. In September 1964 he had a cancerous left lung removed; in 1977 when Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope was being made, John Waynes archive voice was used for the character Garindan ezz Zavor, later in March 1978 there was heart valve replacement surgery; and in January 1979 his stomach was removed. He received the Best Actor nomination for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and finally got the Oscar for his role as one-eyed Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). A Congressional Gold Medal was struck in his honor in 1979. He is perhaps best remembered for his parts in Ford's cavalry trilogy - Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).Lost his hat.- American actor who starred in silent Westerns under one name, then moved into character roles and bit parts under another. Born Floyd Taliaferro Alderson in Sheridan, Wyoming, and raised on a ranch in Rosebud County, Montana, he became an expert horseman. He served in World War I, then traveled to California. After getting work as a wrangler for Universal Pictures, he entered films as an extra in 1915. By the 1920s he was starring in silent Westerns under the stage name Wally Wales. His career declined, and in the mid-1930s, he changed to a new stage name, Hal Taliaferro, and worked in supporting roles and even bit parts for the rest of his career, primarily in Westerns. In the 1950s, he retired to his family's property in Montana (then and now known as the Bones Brothers Ranch). He devoted himself to landscape painting until a series of strokes debilitated him. He died in a nursing home in his birthplace, Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1980. His papers are archived at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.Lost his hat.