Western Gear. Shirts and vests.
List activity
1.8K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
108 people
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Clint Walker was born Norman Eugene Walker in Hartford, southwestern Illinois, to Gladys Huldah (Schwanda), a Czech immigrant, and Paul Arnold Walker, who was from Arkansas. Walker almost single-handedly started the western craze on TV in the 1950s as Cheyenne Bodie in Cheyenne (1955). Growing up in the Depression era meant taking work wherever you could get it, and Walker found himself working at such jobs as Mississippi River boatman, carnival roustabout and golf caddy. He quit high school at 16 and at age 17 joined the Merchant Marine. After the war he worked his way cross country, including working in the oil fields in Brownwood, Texas, and wound up in California, where he worked as an undercover agent for a private detective agency on the Long Beach waterfront. After a while he took a job as a security officer at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. It was there that he met quite a few Hollywood people who told him that his size, physique and good looks would serve him well in Hollywood and that he should go to Los Angeles and give it a try. He met actor Henry Wilcoxon, who introduced him to director Cecil B. DeMille, and Walker found himself playing the part of a Captain of the Guard in The Ten Commandments (1956). Someone from Warner Bros. saw the film, found out that Walker was under contract to producer Hal B. Wallis, bought up Walker's contract and gave him the lead in "Cheyenne". The series was a huge hit and spawned countless other western series, from Warners and other studios. However, Walker was dissatisfied with the way Warners was handling his career -- they would let other contract players make films, for example, but he wasn't allowed to -- and that triggered a dispute which ended up with him taking a walk from the show. He and Warners eventually settled their disagreements. When the show ended Walker began to get supporting parts in features, his biggest and most successful one being The Dirty Dozen (1967). He starred in the well-received The Night of the Grizzly (1966) and the not-so-well received None But the Brave (1965), a WWII film that was Frank Sinatra's one and only stab at directing. He also played the lead in Baker's Hawk (1976), and turned in a good performance as a villain in the TV movie Scream of the Wolf (1974). Lately he and several of his colleagues from "The Dirty Dozen" provided the voices for the animated film Small Soldiers (1998).1927 - 2018, 90.
131 westerns, 1955 - 2006.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Gail Russell was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 21, 1924. She remained in the Windy City, going to school until her parents moved to California when she was 14. She was an above-average student in school and upon graduation from Santa Monica High School was signed by Paramount Studios.
Because of her ethereal beauty, Gail was to be groomed to be one of Paramount's top stars. She was very shy and had virtually no acting experience to speak of, but her beauty was so striking that the studio figured it could work with her on her acting with a studio acting coach.
Gail's first film came when she was 19 years old with a small role as "Virginia Lowry" in Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour (1943) in 1943. It was her only role that year, but it was a start. The following year she appeared in another film, The Uninvited (1944) with Ray Milland (it was also the first time Gail used alcohol to steady her nerves on the set, a habit that would come back to haunt her). It was a very well done and atmospheric horror story that turned out to be a profitable one for the studio. Gail's third film was the charm, as she co-starred with Diana Lynn in Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1944) that same year. The film was based on the popular book of the time and the film was even more popular.
In 1945 Gail appeared in Salty O'Rourke (1945), a story about crooked gamblers involved in horse racing. Although she wasn't a standout in the film, she acquitted herself well as part of the supporting cast. Later that year she appeared in The Unseen (1945), a story about a haunted house, starring Joel McCrea. Gail played Elizabeth Howard, a governess of the house in question. The film turned a profit but was not the hit that Paramount executives hoped for.
In 1946 Gail was again teamed with Diana Lynn for a sequel to "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay"--Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946). The plot centered around two young college girls getting involved with bootleggers. Unfortunately, it was not anywhere the caliber of the first film and it failed at the box-office. With Calcutta (1946) in 1947, however, Gail bounced back with a more popular film, this time starring Alan Ladd. Unfortunately, many critics felt that Gail was miscast in this epic drama. That same year she was cast with John Wayne and Harry Carey in the western Angel and the Badman (1947). It was a hit with the public and Gail shone in the role of Penelope Worth, a feisty Quaker girl who tries to tame gunfighter Wayne. Still later Gail appeared in Paramount's all-star musical, Variety Girl (1947). The critics roasted the film, but the public turned out in droves to ensure its success at the box-office. After the releases of Song of India (1949), El Paso (1949), and Captain China (1950), Gail married matinée idol Guy Madison, one of the up-and-coming actors in Hollywood.
After The Lawless (1950) in 1950 Paramount decided against renewing her contract, mainly because of Gail's worsening drinking problem. She had been convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and the studio didn't want its name attached to someone who couldn't control her drinking. Being dumped by Paramount damaged her career, and film roles were coming in much more slowly. After Air Cadet (1951) in 1951, her only film that year, she disappeared from the screen for the next five years while she attempted to get control of her life. She divorced Madison in 1954.
In 1956 Gail returned in 7 Men from Now (1956). It was a western with Gail in the minor role of Annie Greer. The next year she was fourth-billed in The Tattered Dress (1957), a film that also starred Jeanne Crain and Jeff Chandler. The following year she had a reduced part in No Place to Land (1958), a low-budget offering from "B" studio Republic Pictures.
By now the demons of alcohol had her in its grasp. She was again absent from the screen until 1961's The Silent Call (1961) (looking much older than her 36 years). It was to be her last film. On August 26, 1961, Gail was found dead in her small studio apartment in Los Angeles, California.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Eddie Dean made his name as a country-western singer on radio in the '30s. He journeyed to Hollywood to make it in western movies, debuting in Manhattan Love Song (1934), but he could only land bit parts in features and musical shorts. His career started to take off in the early 1940s, though, and by 1945 he was among the more popular of the cowboy stars. However, several factors weighed against him rising much further: his stolid, somewhat dour screen personality, the fact that he was under contract to low-rent PRC (later Eagle-Lion) Pictures--whose shoddiness was legendary and whose westerns were not particularly popular among aficionados--and the unfortunate fact that the singing cowboy craze had pretty much run its course by the time he came along. His career can be summed up in a review of one of his films by the "New York Times": "Instead of the usual black and white, Eddie Dean's newest western has been shot in Cinecolor, but it's not an improvement; you can still see him."- Kathy Frye was born on 6 August 1928 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Pinch Singer (1936) and Women in the Night (1948). She was married to Stanley Morrison Smith. She died on 10 October 1991 in Riverside, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
The well-worn phrase "Tall in the saddle" is certainly one easy way of describing (and perhaps pigeon-holing) leathery, wiry-framed 1940s and early 1950s western film star Rod Cameron, although he proved quite capable in crime stories, horrors and even swing-era musicals.
The 6'4" Canadian-born actor was born Nathan Roderick Cox on December 7, 1910, and raised in Alberta. Once his aspirations of becoming a Royal Canadian Mountie passed, he decided to seek fame and fortune as an actor in New York and initially grabbed some work as a laborer on the Holland Tunnel project in Manhattan. When no progress was made acting-wise, he moved to California where he made his "debut" in an unbilled bit in one of Bette Davis' scenes in The Old Maid (1939). Upon release, however, he discovered his bit in the scene had been deleted.
Cameron found a slight "in" (as in "stand-in") with Paramount Pictures for such stars as Fred MacMurray while managing to find himself sparingly used in other Paramount films. To supplement his income he also played leading man in the studio's screen tests for starlet wanna-bes and his athleticism paid off playing stunt double for such established cowboy icons as Buck Jones. Cameron toiled as a bit player for quite some time and appeared insignificantly in such classics as Christmas in July (1940) and North West Mounted Police (1940) (where he fulfilled his early wish by playing a Mountie!). Occasionally he would find a noticeable secondary role, in such lesser films as The Monster and the Girl (1941), The Forest Rangers (1942) and as Jesse James in The Remarkable Andrew (1942).
Cameron's banner year was 1943, when he finally broke out of the minor leagues and into the major ranks. His breakout screen role was as clench-jawed Agent Rex Bennett, out to bring down the foreign enemy and save the world, in the Republic serial cliffhangers G-Men vs. The Black Dragon (1943) and Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943). From there he was signed by Universal to appear in a flurry of low-budget westerns with Fuzzy Knight as his comic sidekick. Aside from the rough-hewn heroics he was paid to display, he would occasionally show a softer side for the ladies, such as with fellow Canadian Yvonne De Carlo in Salome, Where She Danced (1945), Frontier Gal (1945) and River Lady (1948). Seldom would he venture outside the action genre, however, one of the few times being his role as a symphony conductor in Swing Out, Sister (1945). For the most part he remained rooted in westerns and the only variance within that realm was the occasional black-hatted bad guy.
Among Cameron's many dusty showcases (more often than not made at Republic or Universal), Brimstone (1949), Stampede (1949), Dakota Lil (1950) and San Antone (1953) are worth a good look. Cameron never found his Stagecoach (1939) or Shane (1953), a vehicle that might have held him even "taller" in the saddle, but between 1953 and 1955 he was still ranked "top 5" box-office.
In the 1950s Cameron found time to settle into a couple of syndicated TV series. Both City Detective (1953) and State Trooper (1956) lasted a couple of seasons. He also guested on the more popular western series, such as Bonanza (1959), Laramie (1959) and The Virginian (1962). When his movie career began to fade in the early 1960s, he went to Spain for a few spaghetti westerns and appeared in a couple of low-budget westerns such as Requiem for a Gunfighter (1965) and The Bounty Killer (1965), which was noticed more for reuniting sagebrush stars from yesteryear than for its high quality. He also played an aging rodeo star who dies early in the story in the biopic Evel Knievel (1971).
The only serious tabloid scandal he ever found himself in was when he divorced wife Angela Alves-Lico (1950-1960) and then immediately married his ex-wife's mother, Dorothy, who was a few years older than him. An extended battle with cancer finally claimed the 73-year-old actor in 1983 at a Gainesville, Georgia, hospital.- Lois, was born in a tiny town in Minnesota in 1926, moved with her family to Long Beach, California where she had her first experience with theater as a set designer, stage manager and head electrician, was given a scholarship at the Pasadena Playhouse and became bitten by the "acting bug". In 1957 when she left SoCal and focused on family.
Lois married Maurice Willows in 1953 and, following the birth of their first daughter, moved to the desert and then Hawaii for seven years, where their second daughter, was born. Soon after the Willows returned to their Beverly Hills home, their third daughter was born. Maury and Lois have two grandchildren. Maury died of cancer in 1995. Through the years, the Willows have been active members of the Baha'i Faith, working for the unity of mankind and world peace. Lois is an elected member and served many years as secretary of the administrative body for the Baha'i's of Los Angeles and has volunteered nearly 40 hours a week at the local center. Part of her time is spent in inter-religious dialog, working with the Human Relations Council for the City of Los Angeles, planning cross-cultural events and helping arrange after-school tutoring and enrichment classes for at-risk young people. The Willows hold weekly introductory discussions about the Baha'i Faith in their home. Lois eventually returned to occasional work in the film industry and has appeared in seven more films and ten television shows. In recent years, Miss Hall has been invited to be a special guest at various film festivals across the country, and is delighted both the renew old friendships with those who were part of the "western stock company" so many years -- and to make new friends with the wonderful people who so faithfully attend the festivals. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Jimmy Martin was born on 10 August 1927 in Sneedville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for Five Red Herrings (1975) and High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music (1992). He died on 14 May 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Producer
American cowboy star of silent pictures. He studied science in school but dropped out to pursue a rodeo career. With some success, he was asked to appear in a number of film shorts, all before his eighteenth birthday. He worked for The American Film Manufacturing Company, but was soon signed by Universal Pictures and appeared in Western serials and short features there. He took some time away from movies to travel the country in a Wild West Show, then returned and did numerous Westerns for Triangle and Universal. He agreed to make a series of pictures in Central and South America, but eventually returned to Universal. With the arrival of sound pictures, he shifted into supporting roles before retiring from the screen in 1935, at the age of 45. He died in Los Angeles thirty-eight years later.- 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.- Actor
George Huggins was born on 8 November 1901 in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor. He died on 5 April 1959 in Los Angeles, 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.
- He fit the "tall, dark and handsome" Hollywood prototype beautifully and while the solidly built Greg McClure made a robust dent in Hollywood films after a "Cinderella Man" breakthrough toward the end of WWII, his name would be quickly forgotten following his early retirement.
He was born Dale D'Orr on April 5, 1915, in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of attorney Paul Bardsdale D'Orr. The family moved to Oakland, California when he was still young, and his parents divorced when he was but 12 years old. His stepfather was the pulp fiction writer Walter Easton, whose surname he eventually took.
After his years as a junior college football player in Oakland and playing football, he and brother Harvey relocated to Hollywood where they started a bodybuilding gym. An interest in acting led Greg to scout out stage and film extra work. With little on his resume except non-speaking soldier bits in such films as The Iron Major (1943) and See Here, Private Hargrove (1944), a change audition for the lead role in the Bing Crosby produced film The Great John L. (1945) led to a surprising hire. His marquee name was immediately changed to "Greg McClure" for the Irishman's part.
McClure's nascent leading man career lost its momentum when he was suddenly drafted into the Army not long after the film's release. Freelancing after his honorable discharge, he supplemented his erratic acting career by running a gym that included several film stars as clients. Later featured roles included a number of brutish boxers in such films as Bury Me Dead (1947), Lulu Belle (1948), Joe Palooka in the Big Fight (1949) and Roaring City (1951); the role of "Hammerhead" Hogan in the action adventure Thunder in the Pines (1948); a henchman in the Batman and Robin (1949) serial; a featured role in the "Cold War" espionage film Sky Liner (1949); one of the infamous Daltons in The Dalton Gang (1949); and a private in the war drama Breakthrough (1950);
McClure was forced to leave performing altogether in 1951 after it became known that he was a Communist sympathizer. In later years Greg found varied jobs as a soft drink exec, produce market manager, carpenter and handyman. He moved in with one of his four daughters from his first marriage following his second wife's death, McClure died at the age of 97 on December 7, 2012. - 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.
- Ellen Hall was born on 18 April 1923 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Range Law (1944), Lawless Code (1949) and Brand of the Devil (1944). She died on 24 March 1999 in Bellevue, Nebraska, USA.
- 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.- Archie Twitchell was born on 28 November 1906 in Pendleton, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for Mickey the Kid (1939), Television Spy (1939) and Web of Danger (1947). He was married to Lillian Vaughan and Sherma. He died on 31 January 1957 in Pacoima, California, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Dee Cooper was born on 25 May 1920 in Muleshoe, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (1976), The Return (1980) and Texas Detour (1978). He died on 14 December 1989 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Russell Hopton was born on 18 February 1900 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Once in a Lifetime (1932), The Little Giant (1933) and Star of Midnight (1935). He died on 7 April 1945 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- 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.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Robert Bice was born on 4 March 1914 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Foxfire (1955), Invasion, U.S.A. (1952) and Burke's Law (1963). He was married to Beverly L Boos, Audrey Daphne Stuart and Louise Weatherford. He died on 8 January 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- 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.- 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.- Clancy Cooper was born on 23 July 1906 in Boise, Idaho, USA. He was an actor, known for The Wild North (1952), Street of Chance (1942) and Railroaded! (1947). He was married to Elizabeth Murray Keyser. He died on 14 June 1975 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Slim Andrews was born on 8 December 1906 in Gravette, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Arizona Frontier (1940), Ridin' the Cherokee Trail (1941) and Rollin' Home to Texas (1940). He was married to Lucille. He died on 3 April 1992 in Gravette, Arkansas, USA.- 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)'.- Actor
- Director
- Make-Up Department
Milburn Morante (often alternatively credited as 'Moranti') began as a turn-of-the-century vaudevillian, part of a family trio calling themselves 'The Three Morantes'. After moving from San Francisco to L.A., he gravitated towards the film industry by 1913, initially with Keystone-Triangle, and, later, becoming regular support for eccentric knockabout comedienne Gale Henry in Universal's 'Joker' and 'Model' series of comedy shorts. Two years later, he formed his own production company, Mercury, which effectively provided steady employment to his old vaudeville partners, father Joe and brother Al. He released through the independent Bull's Eye Film Corporation, but his comic characterisations never caught on with the public. By the time Bull's Eye became incorporated into Reelcraft in 1920, the Morante company had gone bust and Milburn moved into directing small-scale westerns (usually starring Pete Morrison) and comedy shorts for Morris R. Schlank's independent Premier Pictures Corporation, inevitably destined for rural release only.
Milburn also continued as a prolific character actor, both in slapstick farce (eg in The Detectress (1919), opposite Henry), and as comic relief in westerns, notably as sidekick to Buzz Barton in a series of oaters made between 1926 and 1929. As visual madcap comedy waned with the advent of sound, Milburn confined himself almost exclusively to playing grizzled prospectors, tramps, bartenders and more town drunks than one can throw a whiskey glass at. On occasion, he essayed the odd seedy second string villain and was last gainfully employed in several episodes of The Cisco Kid (1950).- If ever there was an actor born to play a tough Irish cop, it was Ken Lynch, and he played so many of them in his long career that he could probably do it in his sleep. His suspicious manner, aggressive attitude, steely eyes and snarling voice broke down many a quavering suspect. He also played military officers, business executives and private eyes, and every so often he'd be a sheriff in a western, but it was as a street cop or detective that most people remember him.
Born in Albany, NY, he started his acting career in radio dramas, and after gaining experience there he headed to Los Angeles, making his film debut in 1950. He appeared in quite a few movies over his career, but he also did an enormous amount of television work, and that's where most probably remember seeing him, as he turned up on pretty much every cop show, detective show and private-eye series ever made (he even showed up in an episode of the Jackie Gleason comedy series The Honeymooners (1955)--as a tough Irish detective!).
He died in 1990 in Burbank, CA. - 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.- 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.
- Don Stewart was born to George and Marian Stewart on November 14, 1935. He spent his youth in Nebraska with his older brother, George, and his younger brother and sister, Jack and Marilyn. He then moved to New York and began studying opera. He worked on and off Broadway, and even understudied for Robert Goulet in Camelot at a young age. He was in the Air Force as one of the youngest commanders, and then in the Navy and Naval Reserves. He flew fighter jets off of aircraft carriers, etc. He started working on television, and also began singing in night clubs. He has a wonderful and powerful voice. He spent many years as "Michael Bauer" on "The Guiding Light,' before branching out to do more movies, stage, commercials, voice-overs, etc. During all this he married Susan Tremble in 1970-something, and they had two daughters, Heather-Michelle and Genevra. They lived in Oakland, NJ while Don was filming the Guiding Light, then moved to Santa Barbara, CA in 1985. Don enjoyed playing tennis with friends, flying his airplane, working on his tractor at his house, and riding horses with his daughters. Don and Sue divorced in 1993 or so. He remained an eligible bachelor for basically the rest of his life, partly because his children didn't believe anyone was good enough for him. In 2002, Don was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. He was doing OK with that, undergoing medical treatment but still basically healthy, until June 2005. At that point he was diagnosed with lung cancer, despite having lived a very clean and healthy life as a non-smoker. He died from the disease only a few months later.
- Lee Morgan was born on 12 June 1902 in Stanford, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (1948), Return of the Lash (1947) and Cheyenne Takes Over (1947). He died on 30 January 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
Bill Burrud was born on 12 January 1925 in Hollywood, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Idol of the Crowds (1937), Girl Overboard (1937) and Devil's Squadron (1936). He died on 12 July 1990 in Sunset Beach, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
Francis Walker was born on 1 April 1910 in Fruitvale, Idaho, USA. He was an actor, known for West of Abilene (1940), The Law of the Plains (1929) and Thundering Frontier (1940). He died on 8 March 1971 in Redding, 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.
- 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.- Carol Henry was born on 14 July 1918 in Walters, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951), Black Eagle (1948) and Everglades! (1961). He died on 17 September 1987 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Russell Arms played Chester Finley opposite Doris Day in "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (Warner Bros. 1953). Chester, a nerd in love with Marjorie Winfield, Day's character, was Marjorie's piano teacher, a rival to Bill Sherman, played by Gordon MacRae. Arms, in 1953, was not yet a featured player on NBC-TV's "Your Hit Parade." He became one of the program's four regular singers in 1954.- Bob Woodward was born on 5 March 1909 in Kiowa, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951), The Range Rider (1951) and The Fighting Texan (1937). He was married to Diana Mack. He died on 7 February 1972 in Granada Hills, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Stuntman and actor Boyd Stockman was born on February 12, 1916 in Red Rock, Grant County, New Mexico. Boyd moved to California in the early 1940's where he and his brother worked for the Bakersfield Land and Cattle Company. Stockman began his film business career doing stunts at Monogram Pictures in the mid-1940's after he was spotted roping cattle at the L.A. Coliseum Rodeo by fellow stuntmen Joe Yrigoyen and Andy Jauregui, who suggested to Stockman that he try his hand in the movies. An expert horseman and team driver, Boyd was usually cast in Westerns as a stagecoach driver. Moreover, Stockman was also a regular in Gene Autry Western programmers made by Columbia. His career as both an actor and stuntman in Westerns spanned over three decades altogether. Boyd returned to his native state of New Mexico in the mid-1970's. Stockman died at age 82 on March 10, 1998 in Silver City, New Mexico.- Her father, J. King Ross was a superb horse trainer, a dapper gentleman who was with numerous traveling circuses and shows. Betsy was born on 14 March 1921 (not 1922 which is the date most often given for her birth). She appeared in a few motion pictures but when she was about 13 she decided she did not want to be an actress and her parents honored her wish. She married a road building engineer named Day and lived on a 10,000 acre ranch in South American while her husband was building roads there. The couple had one son, who was born in the USA (as per Betsy's wish). She and baby returned to the ranch after his birth. Her husband was killed in a landslide, she and baby returned to California where she reentered college. (This bio courtesy of Mr. Donn Moyer who knew Betsy's father)
- Norma Brooks was born on 24 September 1936 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress, known for Sea Hunt (1958), Blazing the Overland Trail (1956) and The Bob Cummings Show (1955). She died on 6 February 2005 in Reno, Nevada, USA.
- Patricia Walthall was born on 16 March 1918 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Empty Holsters (1937).
- John Tyrrell entered show business at the age of 16 as half of the vaudeville dance team of Tyrrell and Mack. The act became very successful, and for the next ten years they played engagements all over the country and secured billing as featured players in the famous revue "George White's Scandals." As vaudeville began to wane, however, Tyrrell saw the handwriting on the wall and began studying acting, sensing that his future would be in motion pictures. He spent two years with a stock theater company in Connecticut perfecting his craft, then journeyed to Hollywood. He was soon placed under a long-term contract to Columbia Pictures, and appeared in many of the studio's prestige pictures in supporting parts. He was a staple in the studio's comedy shorts, and often appeared with such comics as El Brendel, Andy Clyde and The Three Stooges, specializing in playing con artists, swindlers and other shady types.
- 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.- Walter Coy was born on 31 January 1909 in Great Falls, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Searchers (1956), The Lusty Men (1952) and Pancho Villa (1972). He was married to Ruth E. Harburger, Anne Burr, Idyl Lilith Stanward and Esther Bullis. He died on 11 December 1974 in Santa Maria, 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.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Frank McGlynn Jr. was born on 9 July 1904 in Marin County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Bar 20 Rides Again (1935), Hop-a-Long Cassidy (1935) and America (1924). He died on 29 March 1939 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Arthur Space was born on 12 October 1908 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for The Big Noise (1944), The Bat People (1974) and Terror at Red Wolf Inn (1972). He was married to Mary (Mollie) Campbell. He died on 13 January 1983 in Hollywood, California, 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.- 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
- Soundtrack
Frank Fenton was born on 9 April 1906 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for Tripoli (1950), Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943) and Streets of Ghost Town (1950). He was married to Queena Bilotti. He died on 24 July 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
American leading man famed as the star of one of the longest-running shows in U.S. television history, Gunsmoke (1955). Born of Norwegian heritage (the family name, Aurness, had formerly been Aursness) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Rolf and Ruth Duesler Aurness. His father was a traveling salesman of medical supplies and his mother later became a newspaper columnist. James attended West High School in Minneapolis. Although he appeared in school plays, he had no interest in performing, and dreamed instead of going to sea. After high school, he attended one semester at Beloit College before receiving his draft notice in 1943. He entered the army and trained at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, before shipping out for North Africa. At Casablanca, Arness joined the 3rd Infantry Division in time for the invasion of Anzio. Ten days after the invasion, Arness was severely wounded in the leg and foot by German machine-gun fire. His wounds, which plagued him the rest of his life, resulted in his medical discharge from the army.
While recuperating in a hospital in Clinton, Iowa, Arness was visited by his younger brother Peter (later to gain fame as actor Peter Graves), who suggested he take a radio course at the University of Minnesota. James did so, and a teacher recommended him for a job as an announcer at a Minneapolis radio station. Though seemingly headed for success in radio, he followed a boyhood friend's suggestion and went with the friend to Hollywood to find work as a film extra. Arness studied at the Bliss-Hayden Theatre School under actor Harry Hayden, and while appearing in a play there was spotted by agent Leon Lance. Lance got the actor a role as Loretta Young's brother in The Farmer's Daughter (1947). The director of that film, H.C. Potter, recommended that he drop the "u" from his last name and soon thereafter the actor was officially known as James Arness.
Little work followed this break, and Arness became sort of beach bum, living on the shore at San Onofre and spending his days surfing. He began taking his acting career more seriously when he began to receive fan mail following the release of the Young picture. He appeared in a production of "Candida" at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, and married his leading lady, Virginia Chapman. She pressed him to study acting and to work harder in pursuit of a career, but Arness has been consistent in ascribing his success to luck. He began to act small roles with frequency, often due to his size, and mostly villainous characters. Most notable among these was that of the space alien in The Thing from Another World (1951).
While playing a Greek warrior in a play, Arness was spotted by agent Charles K. Feldman, who represented John Wayne. Feldman introduced Arness to Wayne, who put the self-described 6', 6" actor under personal contract. Arness played several roles over the next few years for and with Wayne, whom he considered a mentor. In 1955, Wayne recommended Arness for the lead role of Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke (1955). (Contrary to urban legend, Wayne himself was never offered the role.) Arness at first declined, thinking a TV series could derail his growing film career, but Wayne argued for the show, and Arness accepted. His portrayal of stalwart Marshal Dillon became an iconic figure in American television and the series, aired for 20 seasons, is, as of 2008, the longest-running dramatic series in U.S. television history. Arness became world-famous and years later reprized the character in a series of TV movies.
After the surprising cancellation of "Gunsmoke" in 1975, Arness jumped immediately into another successful (though much shorter-lived) Western project, a TV-movie-miniseries-series combination known as "How The West Was Won." A brief modern police drama, McClain's Law (1981), followed, and Arness played his mentor John Wayne's role in Red River (1988), a remake of the Wayne classic.
Following the aforementioned "Gunsmoke" TV movies (the last in 1994, when Arness was 71), Arness basically retired. His marriage to Virginia Chapman ended in divorce in 1960. They had three children, one of whom, Jenny Lee, committed suicide in 1975. Arness subsequently married Janet Surtrees in 1978.- Actor
- Writer
Kenne Duncan was born on 17 February 1902 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for Night of the Ghouls (1959), Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945) and The Astounding She-Monster (1957). He died on 5 February 1972 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Duane Grey was born on 4 October 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for JFK (1991), Charro! (1969) and Jungle Jim (1955). He died on 13 October 2001 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
- Arthur Scofield Franz was born in Perth Amboy, NJ, to Dorothy and Gustav Franz, German immigrants. He was a reliable character actor in many 1940s and 1950s "B" pictures, often cast as a friendly small-town businessman or professional (as in The Doctor and the Girl (1949)) or the lead's sympathetic friend (as in Invaders from Mars (1953)). He wasn't confined to just "B" pictures, however. He had good parts in such major productions as Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and Alvarez Kelly (1966) and acquitted himself well. However, the film he's probably best remembered for is Edward Dmytryk's solid little "B" thriller The Sniper (1952), in which he turned in an outstanding performance as a mentally unstable ex-soldier in San Francisco who, after being rejected by a woman he was interested in, snaps and terrorizes the city by taking out his old army rifle and stalking and picking off women.
- William attended grammar and high schools in New York and New Jersey. Upon graduation, he enrolled at West Virginia University where he planned to study law and played football and tennis. One summer, his uncle got him a job at the Suffern County (in New York) Theatre. He worked with actors Broderick Crawford, George Tobias, José Ferrer and Kent Smith. After that experience, he decided to continue with theatre and left college and toured with "Tobacco Road". He had a brief stint with the Mercury theatre in New York and then left for Hollywood and was signed to an MGM contract. He was supposed to have made a movie with Esther Williams which never came about. Then it was off to the Army. Discharged in 1946, he spent three years with Columbia before freelancing. He starred for the entire run of the TV series It's a Great Life (1954).
- Paul E. Burns was born on 26 January 1881 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Smoky River Serenade (1947), The Pilgrim Lady (1946) and Son of Paleface (1952). He died on 17 May 1967 in Van Nuys, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stalwart, durable Monte Blue, a romantic leading man of the silent days, was born January 11, 1887, as Gerard Monte Blue (some sources indicate 1890, but his mother's application for his admission to the Soldier's and Sailor's Orphan's Home lists his birth date as January 11, 1887). Various sources have reported his first name as George or Gerald, but, again, in his mother's application, it is spelled Gerard. His father was killed in a railroad accident when Monte was eight and his mother could not support four children. He was admitted (along with another brother, Morris) to the orphanage at that time. There he built up his physique playing football. At one time or another the able-bodied gent was a railroader, a fireman, a coal miner, a cowpuncher, a ranch hand, a circus rider, a lumberjack and, finally, trekking west, he became a day laborer for D.W. Griffith's Biograph Studios.
Blue eventually became a stuntman for Griffith and an extra in The Birth of a Nation (1915), which was his first film. Griffith took him in and made him an assistant on his classic epic Intolerance (1916), where he earned another small part. Gradually moving to support roles for both Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, Blue earned his breakthrough role as "Danton" in Griffith's Orphans of the Storm (1921) with sisters Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish. He rose to stardom as a rugged romantic lead opposite Hollywood's top silent stars, among them Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow and Norma Shearer. He made a relatively easy transition into talkies as he had a fine, cultivated voice, but, at the same time, lost most of his investments when the stock market crashed in 1929. By the 1930s the aging star had moved back into small, often unbilled parts, continuously employed, however, by his old friend DeMille and Warner Bros. At the end of his life he was working as an advance man for the Hamid-Morton Circus in Milwaukee. He died of a coronary attack complicated by influenza in 1963.- 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.- 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.- Robert Carson was born on 8 June 1909 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Ten Commandments (1956), Jungle Man (1941) and Red Snow (1952). He was married to Ann Kutner. He died on 2 June 1979 in Atascadero, California, USA.
- Gregg Barton was born on 5 June 1912 in Long Island City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Tripoli (1950), The Gunman (1952) and The Gene Autry Show (1950). He was married to Bonita Cooper and Helen Norris. He died on 28 November 2000 in Fallbrook, California, USA.
- Born in Naponee, Nebraska. His father was horse buyer for the U.S. Army. Pierce learned to ride horses bareback because parents could not afford a saddle. Attended University of Nebraska and the Emerson College of Oratory. Received the "Golden Boot" award in 1992. The city of Orange, California declared a "Pierce Lyden Day". He also received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame. The state of Nebraska honored him with the prestigious "Buffalo Bill Award" in 1997. He had divorced once and is twice widowed. His only child, a son, died in 1988.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
An American character actor of prodigious output who also directed and wrote silent films, Paul Hurst spent much of his early work in low-budget westerns. A native of Traver, California (in the San Joaquin Valley), Hurst had first-hand knowledge of western lore, growing up surrounded by the multimillion-acre Lux & Miller ranches that ran cattle throughout the state. Visiting San Francisco as a young man, he became involved in amateur theatricals and thereafter traveled to Los Angeles to join the emerging film industry there. He began appearing in films as early as 1912, most of them westerns. By 1916 Hurst was directing them as well (some sources report that he served in World War I as a member of the French Foreign Legion, but the dates of his film projects make this story highly suspect).
In the early 1920s Hurst wrote several scenarios for films he directed and in which he appeared. He proved adept at working as a director for some of the cheapest producers along Gower Gulch, where movies were normally shot on location in a week or less and where stuntmen were often the highest-paid folks on the set. Within a few years he focused all of his energies into acting, however, notably becoming one of the few successes to emerge from "Poverty Row".
Hurst quickly became one of the more prolific and familiar characters in American movies. With his stocky build and squinty demeanor, and with a raspy voice that enhanced his memorability once sound pictures came in, Hurst played villains, cops and comedy sidekicks in more than 250 films. His most famous role was that of the deserter shot dead on the stairway of Tara by Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939). Hurst was the sidekick to Monte Hale in a number of B westerns. Former Gower Gulch veteran John Wayne hired Hurst for Big Jim McLain (1952) knowing that Hurst was ill with terminal cancer. In 1953, at age 64, owing to his health problems, Paul Hurst committed suicide.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
American leading man of silent Westerns whose career was much overshadowed by that of his more famous brother Jack Hoxie. He grew up in the backwoods and mountains of Idaho. His older brother had become a champion rodeo rider, a talent he parlayed into early success in cowboy movies. Following in his brother's footsteps, Al Hoxie moved to Los Angeles, not yet twenty years old. His brother Jack soon got him work as a stuntman and wrangler, and Al doubled for his brother and other actors in numerous films of the early 1920s. He began to get bit parts, and then bigger roles, in his brother's films and then on his own. A Poverty Row studio called Anchor Films saw potential in the strapping cowboy with the famous (last) name. They signed him to play the lead in a series of Westerns, which then led to a new series contract with producer Bud Barsky. None of these pictures ventured far beyond mediocre, and with the coming of sound in the late 1920s, Hoxie, with no great following, quit the business. He returned to his Northwest roots for several years, then returned to Los Angeles, this time to work as a conductor on the Red Line streetcars. For a few years he was a forest ranger, then went into law enforcement, first for the Anaheim, California, police department, and then for the Patton State Hospital. While there, Hoxie regained some public attention by disarming a deranged man with hostages. He was presented California's highest award for bravery, the California Medal of Honor. He retired thereafter and spent his remaining years in Redlands, California, where he died in 1982, seventeen years after the death of his more famous older brother.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Of Swedish descent, burly, light-haired character actor Karl Swenson was born in Brooklyn and started his four-decade career on radio. Throughout the late 30s and 40s, his voice could be heard all over the airwaves, appearing in scores of daytime serials ("Lorenzo Jones") and mystery dramas ("Inner Sanctum Mysteries"). He gave visual life to one of his serial characters, Walter Manning, in "Portia Faces Life" when it went to TV in 1953. It was during his lengthy work in this medium that he met his wife, stage and radio actress Joan Tompkins. They appeared together throughout their careers on TV and in a few films. In the 1950s, he kept afloat on TV in rugged guest spots (Dr. Kildare (1961), Gunsmoke (1955), Maverick (1957), Mission: Impossible (1966) and Hawaii Five-O (1968)). He didn't appear in films until age 50+ with minor roles in Kings Go Forth (1958), North to Alaska (1960), The Birds (1963) and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). His voice was also well utilized in such animated features as The Sword in the Stone (1963) as the voice of Merlin. Karl met actor Michael Landon on the set of Bonanza (1959), appearing in four separate episodes over time. Landon remembered him when he began to film Little House on the Prairie (1974). Cast in the recurring role of lumber mill owner Lars Hanson, he remained with the show until his death in 1978 of a heart attack. His character on the show also died.- 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
- Soundtrack
Rotund comic character actor of American films. Born Andrew Vabre Devine in Flagstaff, Arizona, he was raised in nearby Kingman, Arizona, the son of an Irish-American hotel operator Thomas Devine and his wife Amy. Devine was an able athlete as a student and actually played semi-pro football under a phony name (Jeremiah Schwartz, often erroneously presumed to be his real name). Devine used the false name in order to remain eligible for college football. A successful football player at St. Mary & St. Benedict College, Arizona State Teacher's College, and Santa Clara University, Devine went to Hollywood with dreams of becoming an actor. After a number of small roles in silent films, he was given a good part in the talkie The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931) in part due to his fine record as a football player. His sound-film career seemed at risk due to his severely raspy voice, the result of a childhood injury. His voice, however, soon became his trademark, and he spent the next forty-five years becoming an increasingly popular and beloved comic figure in a wide variety of films. In the 1950s, his fame grew enormously with his co-starring role as Jingles P. Jones opposite Guy Madison's Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951), on television and radio simultaneously. In 1955, before the Hickok series ended, Devine took over the hosting job on a children's show retitled Andy's Gang (1955), in which he gained new fans among the very young. He continued active in films until his death in 1977. He was survived by his wife and two sons.- Born in 1914, durable, dependable actor James Seay was initially designed for romantic leads after being signed by Paramount in 1940. Caught up in a number of uncredited roles, the actor seemed to fare better as a villain or stern, officious type. Although military service may have taken away any chance for outright stardom, he compensated in later years by focusing on minor character roles, finding steady employment in late '40s and '50s films as a voice of authority. He was the benign old folks home doctor who expounds on Kris Kringle's mental condition in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), portrayed Col. George Washington during his early military career in When the Redskins Rode (1951) and became a familiar figure in "B" sci-fi classics, notably The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), When Worlds Collide (1951), The War of the Worlds (1953), Killers from Space (1954), Beginning of the End (1957) and The Amazing Colossal Man (1957). Seay's career extended into TV, which included recurring roles on such western series as Fury (1955) (as a sheriff) and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) (as a judge). In hundreds of small-screen parts, he also played a captain in Disney's "Swamp Fox" series in 1959. Not seen after the early 1970s, Seay died at age 78 in 1992.
- 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.- After a long film career, he lived a quiet, sober life, returning to his boyhood home area. In 1965 he was employed as an advertising salesman for WQVA, a radio station in Quantico Va. under the supervision of Rick Miller, Sales Manager/Sports Director. He lived with his wife and son Hunter in a beautiful house overlooking the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Va.
- Johnny Ginger was born on 16 June 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for The Outlaws Is Coming (1964), The Johnny Ginger Show (1960) and Alleged (2010).
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Hugh O'Brian had the term "beefcake" written about him during his nascent film years in the early 1950s, but he chose to avoid the obvious typecast as he set up his career.
O'Brian was born Hugh Charles Krampe on April 19, 1925, in Rochester, New York, to Ohio-born parents Edith Lillian (Marks) and Hugh John Krampe, a United States Marine Corps officer. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants, while his mother was of half German Jewish and half English/Scottish descent. O'Brian first attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, then Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri. Moving from place to place growing up, he managed to show off his athletic prowess quite early. By the time he graduated from high school, he had lettered in football, basketball, wrestling and track. Originally pursuing law, he dropped out of the University of Cincinnati in 1942 (age 19) and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Upon his discharge he ended up in Los Angeles. Hugh joined a little theater group and a Santa Barbara stock company, where he developed his acting chops and slowly built up his résumé. He was discovered for TV by director/actress Ida Lupino, which opened the door to his signing with Universal Studios for films.
Hugh's gentlemanly ruggedness, similar to a James Garner or a Gene Barry, was ideal for pictures, and his lean physique and exceptionally photographic mug had the modest, brown-eyed, curly-haired looker plastered all over the movie magazines. He rebelled against the image for the most part and, as a result, his years with Universal were not as fruitful as they could have been. For the duration, he was pretty much confined as a secondary player to standard action pictures such as The Return of Jesse James (1950), The Cimarron Kid (1952), The Battle at Apache Pass (1952), Red Ball Express (1952), Son of Ali Baba (1952), The Lawless Breed (1952), Seminole (1953), Saskatchewan (1954) and Drums Across the River (1954). It was Rock Hudson who earned all of the Universal glamour guy roles and the out-and-out stardom that could easily have been Hugh's. In 1954, he left Universal to freelance but did not fare any better with more serviceable roles in White Feather (1955) and The Twinkle in God's Eye (1955).
Hugh finally earned top status in the "B" action adventure The Brass Legend (1956) but it did little to advance his film career. Offered the starring role in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) on TV, a year later, it became a mainstay hit and Hugh an "overnight" star. During his six-year run on the western classic, he managed to show off his singing talents on variety shows and appeared on Broadway, replacing Andy Griffith for a week in the musical "Destry Rides Again" in January of 1960.
The hirsutely handsome bachelor remained a durable talent throughout the 60s and 70s with plentiful work on the big screen, including Come Fly with Me (1963), Love Has Many Faces (1965), Ten Little Indians (1965), Ambush Bay (1966), Africa: Texas Style (1967), Strategy of Terror (1969), John Wayne's last film The Shootist (1976), and Bruce Lee's last film Game of Death (1978), as well as with the TV-movies Wild Women (1970), Harpy (1971), Murder on Flight 502 (1975), Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover (1977), Murder at the World Series (1977), Cruise Into Terror (1978). He also starred in the crime adventure series Search (1972), but never got the one role to earn the critical attention he merited. In addition, he kept busy on the summer stock circuit.
In later years, he appeared in the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito comedy "Twins"; returned as "Wyatt Earp" in the TV movies The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994); and made guest appearances on such TV shows as "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat," "Matt Houston," "Murder, She Wrote," "L.A. Law" and made his last on-camera appearance on the series "Call of the Wild" in 2000.
A sports enthusiast, his hobbies included sailing, tennis, swimming and long-distance bicycling, and his many philanthropic efforts did not go unrecognized. His proudest achievement was the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY), which he founded in 1958 after spending considerable time with Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his clinic in Africa. Struck by the impassioned work being done by Schweitzer, O'Brian set up his own program to help develop young people into future leaders. O'Brian was awarded honorary degrees by several prestigious institutions of higher learning. The perennial bachelor finally "settled down" and tied the knot at age 81 with longtime companion Virginia Barber, who was close to three decades his junior. They lived in his Benedict Canyon home.
Hugh died on September 5, 2016, in Beverly Hills, California, of natural causes.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
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.- An actor whose filmography comprises 307 films and TV series episodes can't have been in 307 memorable works. Which is the case of Richard (aka Dick) Alexander, one of those numerous character actors Hollywood used to over-consume without giving them the opportunity to really display their talents. Too bad because during the years 1926-1931, Alexander looked set to have an interesting career with supporting roles alongside Olga Baclanova (Lou's sweetheart in Josef von Sternberg's The Docks of New York (1928)), Bebe Daniels (Gonzales in Rio Rita (1929) and even the Divine Greta Garbo (The general's aide in The Mysterious Lady (1928). He also appeared in Lewis Milestone's antiwar masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) as a German soldier. Unfortunately this was to be his swan song - with only a couple of exceptions such as Destination Unknown (1933) or The Scarlet Empress (1934)). As of 1931, Richard Alexander was to be hired either for minor (at times even very minor) parts in A Films (a warrior in The Crusades (1935), a farmer in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), a man with a pike in Marie Antoinette (1938)) or for supporting parts in hordes of mediocre westerns. Richard Alexander's tall figure, strong build and square-jawed face actually killed his career. The fault lies with the laziness of casting directors: Richard Alexander had given a good performance as a henchman in The Lone Star Ranger (1930), well, he would be a brutal henchman in every two run-of-the-mill westerns. Among the 300-odd roles he played, he was cast forty times as a henchman, no less! And if he was not the villain of the piece he was often credited as a strong, big, burly or tough guy. Sure he always made a good job of it but Richard Alexander had shown at the outset of his career how varied his acting could be and he would certainly rather not have repeated the same type of character over and over again. That is why playing Prince Barin, Buster Crabbe's loyal ally in the Flash Gordon (1936) serial must have been a breath of fresh air for him. Whatever the case may be, Richard Alexander continued bravely to be tough and burly on the screen, not retiring before the age of 72. Towards the end of his career, the aging performer also became an active member of the Screen Actors Guild, representing Hollywood extras. In 1989,Alexander passed away more or less forgotten in spite of his 307 screen appearances. He was 86.
- Actor
- Director
Morgan Wallace was born on 26 July 1881 in Lompoc, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Wild Girl (1932), The Mouthpiece (1932) and Dream Street (1921). He was married to Louise Chapman Wallace. He died on 12 December 1953 in Tarzana, California, USA.- After spending his childhood in San Francisco, Bennett eventually moved to Los Angeles and was residing in Beverly Hills by 1930. From the onset, he had close ties to the acting profession, his mother (Ella Costillo Bennett) being a celebrated drama critic and author. His first acting was in stock and his entry to films was via stunt work. Throughout his career he was variously billed either as "Ray' or (for better productions) as 'Raphael' Bennett. When he eventually graduated to speaking parts -- which varied in size from small to medium -- it was generally as hard-bitten desperadoes or assorted sneaky henchmen in westerns and serials. On luckier occasions he got to play the lead villain. The majority of his appearances were for Poverty Row outfits like Republic or Monogram. The life of a small part contract player could not have been an easy one. The 1940 census had Ray working for six weeks in 1939, earning a meagre $1250. In between filming, Ray tried his hand at writing dramatic novels with a historical setting. At least one of his unpublished manuscripts ("The Shelter of the Cloth") is still held as part of the UCLA Library Special Collections. He never married and died from a long-standing heart affliction in December 1957 at the age of 62.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Born Rex Lloyd Lease in West Virginia on February 11, 1903 (not 1901, according to Social Security records found), future cowboy actor Rex Lease was raised in Columbus, Ohio and very briefly attended Ohio Wesleyan University initially interested in the ministry. When this fell through, he decided to attempt an acting career instead. Setting his sights on Hollywood at age 19 in 1924, he broke into silent films as an extra and bit player.
Rex's first role of any significance was as the adult son of Irene Rich and Morgan Wallace in the melodrama A Woman Who Sinned (1924). Within a couple of years the strapping, exceedingly handsome actor had made it into the silent co-star ranks of romantic drama, jazz-age comedy, canine adventures and rugged action in such fare as Somebody's Mother (1926), Mystery Pilot (1926), The Timid Terror (1926), The Outlaw Dog (1927), Clancy's Kosher Wedding (1927), The College Hero (1927) and as the murderous bad guy, The Solitaire Kid, in the silent Tim McCoy western The Law of the Range (1928) co-starring a very young Joan Crawford.
Lease made an easy transition come the advent of sound and continued on as heroes and romantic leading men types in such early talkies as Borrowed Wives (1930), Troopers Three (1930), The Sign of the Wolf (1931), Chinatown After Dark (1931), The Monster Walks (1932) and Inside Information (1934). Having appeared in the title role of the western The Utah Kid (1930), within a few years Rex hit minor cowboy hero stardom with such offerings as The Cowboy and the Bandit (1935), Cyclone of the Saddle (1935), Fighting Caballero (1935), The Ghost Rider (1935), Rough Riding Ranger (1935), Custer's Last Stand (1936), Cavalcade of the West (1936) and The Silver Trail (1937). Just as quickly, however, his hero status fell aside and he found himself, more often than not, shuffled back to playing secondary partners or villains for a host of other established or ascending sagebrush stars such as his old pal Tim McCoy, as well as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hoot Gibson, Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter, Tom Tyler, Bob Steele, Allan Lane, Bill Elliott and a quickly rising John Wayne.
By the late 1930's, Rex was finding himself with little to no billing at all -- appearing as a bank robber in the Laurel & Hardy comedy A Chump at Oxford (1940), a cop in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and minor henchmen in such second-string westerns as Saddlemates (1941), Jesse James at Bay (1941), Idaho (1943), King of the Cowboys (1943), Rough Riders of Cheyenne (1945) and Frontier Gal (1945). Occasional featured roles included those in Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground (1943), Springtime in Texas (1945), Days of Buffalo Bill (1946), The People's Choice (1946) and the serial cliffhanger The Crimson Ghost (1946). Lease went on to appear in hundreds of films over a three and a half decade career.
In the 1950's Rex added TV to his extensive résumé with appearances on "The Abbott & Costello Show," "The Roy Rogers Show," "Tales of the Texas Rangers," "Fury," "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," "Maverick" and several spots (his last being in 1960) on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp." A few minor 50's western movie parts also came his way with Ride, Vaquero! (1953), Calamity Jane (1953), Backlash (1956) and Tension at Table Rock (1956).
Rex's personal life was turbulent, what with five marriages and divorces -- his first two being actresses Charlotte Merriam and Eleanor Hunt). He eventually retired and died of undisclosed causes in the Los Angeles area on January 3, 1966, at the age of 62. He was discovered by his son Richard, who was shot to death at age 25 the following year after being involved in a traffic altercation with two teenagers.- Emile Meyer was born on 18 August 1910 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Paths of Glory (1957), Shane (1953) and Sweet Smell of Success (1957). He died on 19 March 1987 in Covington, Louisiana, USA.
- 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. - Burly, craggy-faced tough guy actor George Mathews was brought up in Manhattan and educated in Brooklyn. He had an extensive career on stage, which began in the early 1930s, after he failed to get a job with the US Post Office. Instead, he joined the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Theatre Program, a government agency that provided jobs for the unemployed on public works projects during the Depression. He first appeared on Broadway in the key role of Dynamite Jim in "Processional" (1937). With his broad face, strong eyebrows, gravelly voice and jutting lower lip, Mathews was invariably cast as heavies or hard-as-nails military types. He appeared to great effect on stage in 1942-43 as Sgt. Ruby in "The Eve of St. Mark" on Broadway, and repeated his role in the film version (The Eve of St. Mark (1944)), a perfect showcase for his screen personae. Not just a one-note "plug ugly", he was equally as effective at portraying comic toughs, which he did in Pat and Mike (1952), becoming the recipient of some judo action meted out by Katharine Hepburn; and the Garson Kanin-directed musical comedy 'Do Re Mi' (1960-62), as Fatso O'Rear, starring Phil Silvers.
Mathews also acted in classical plays like "Antigone" (1946, as a guard) with Cedric Hardwicke and played Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1949-50), going on tour with fellow cast members Uta Hagen and Anthony Quinn. This performance garnered some critical accolades from Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times. In 1950, he joined Tyrone Power in a sell-out London production of "Mister Roberts" at the Coliseum Theatre, playing the role of the captain. In films, he was notable as the gambler Williams in the powerhouse drama The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and as the sadistic Sheriff Bull Harper in the colorful western The Last Wagon (1956). Mathews also had a recurring role in the TV comedy series Glynis (1963), playing ex-cop Chick Rogers who aids and abets mystery writer and amateur sleuth Glynis Johns in solving a string of "whodunnits".
In private life, Mathews was the antithesis of the ruffians he often portrayed on screen: amicable and intelligent. Outside of his profession, he was an avid chess player and often participated in international tournaments. He retired from the acting profession in 1972 and died in South Carolina in November 1984. - Arthur Rankin was born on 30 August 1895 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for To Have and to Hold (1922), The Great Adventure (1921) and The Truth About Husbands (1920). He was married to Marian Mansfield and Mignon Audrey Klemm. He died on 23 March 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Charles Le Moyne was born on 27 June 1880 in Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), The Coquette's Awakening (1915) and Sudden Bill Dorn (1937). He died on 13 September 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Stunts
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cliff Lyons was an American actor, stuntman and second-unit director, primarily of Westerns, particularly the films of John Ford and John Wayne.
Lyons, the son of Garrett Thomas Lyons and Wilhamena Johnson Lyons, was raised on a South Dakota farm, though his family lived for a time in Memphis, TN, where he attended business school. An expert horseman, he gave up the notion of a business career and opted for the rodeo arena instead, touring the country and eventually reaching Los Angeles at the age of 21. With accomplished cowboys in great demand, Lyons quickly became involved in movies, working both as a stuntman and actor. After only a couple of bit parts, he was signed by low-budget producer Bud Barsky to do seven inexpensive Westerns directed by Paul Hurst, with Lyons and Al Hoxie alternating as the hero and the heavy. Lyons and Hoxie alternated in another Western series produced by Morris R. Schlank, and, as Cliff "Tex" Lyons, he seemed headed for minor stardom as a B-Western lead.
Unfortunately, Lyons' voice was not well-suited for sound and the talkie revolution confined him to small roles. As his small shot at stardom faded, however, his career as a stunt double for stars big and small was on the rise. He doubled such cowboy stars as Tom Mix, Ken Maynard, Buck Jones and Johnny Mack Brown. In 1936 he worked with John Wayne for the first and struck up a personal and business relationship that would remain strong for three decades. Wayne was influential in getting Lyons his first work as a second-unit director and in introducing Lyons to John Ford, for whom Lyons would do some of his finest work. Lyons' reputation as a stunt coordinator is comparable to that of acknowledged master Yakima Canutt, with whom Lyons partnered on numerous occasions. Perhaps Lyons' most impressive work was the massive and dynamic battle sequences of Wayne's The Alamo (1960).
He was married from 1938-55 to actress Beth Marion, with whom he had two sons. Cliff Lyons died in 1974 at 72, not long after coordinating stunts for Wayne's The Train Robbers (1973).- Tall, hulking character actor Dick Curtis spent years at Columbia Pictures menacing everyone from cowboy star Charles Starrett to the slapstick team of The Three Stooges. Curtis, unlike many movie villains, showed a genuine flair for comedy--especially physical comedy--in his many appearances in the studio's two-reelers and could do a double-take, a pratfall, take a pie in the face, a finger-poke to the eyes or a crowbar on the top of the head with the best of them. Although much of his career was spent at Columbia, where he specialized in western villains, he can also be seen as one of the crewmen who set out to rescue Fay Wray from the clutches of the giant ape in the original King Kong (1933).
He died in Hollywood of pneumonia in 1952. - Actor
- Additional Crew
Buzz Barton was born on 3 September 1913 in Gallatin, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Rough Ridin' Red (1928), The Bantam Cowboy (1928) and Pals of the Prairie (1929). He was married to Thelma Doyle. He died on 20 November 1980 in Reseda, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
Lew Meehan (birthname James Llewellyn Meehan)was born September 7, 1890 in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota and died on August 10, 1951 in Los Angeles, California. His film career began in 1921 and ended in 1944, albeit he appears in a stock footage montage, as a police car driver (from "Waterfront Lady" (1935)) in 1947's "Dick Tracy Meets Grusome". His flat-and-crooked nose and morose appearance relegated he spend most of his 200-plus film career as an uncredited henchman with few lines of dialogue but, once in a while,he moved upward to the position of dog-kicking henchman or even a credited none-to-bright hired gunman in "The Red Rope (1937)". His 1942 World War II draft registration card has his occupation as...Freelance actor-motion pictures... and the "person who will always know your address " line listed Screen Actors Guild, with a notation of "(no relatives)".- Actor
- Stunts
Forest Burns was born on 15 January 1914 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Invisible Monster (1950) and Cimarron Strip (1967). He was married to Claire Louise Bertrand. He died on 25 April 1998 in Kern County, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Mitchell Rhein was born on 16 June 1900 in New York, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Howdy Mate (1931), The Cat's Paw (1931) and Target: The Corruptors (1961). He was married to Mildred Rayfield. He died on 23 September 1977 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Most familiar to TV audiences as no-nonsense Sheriff Roy Coffee on the long-running western series Bonanza (1959), Ray Teal was one of the most versatile character actors in the business. In his almost 40-year career he played everything from cops to gunfighters to sheriffs to gangsters to a judge at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials. He could play a kindly grandfather in one film and a heartless, sadistic killer in the next, and be equally believable in both roles. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was a musician who worked his way through college playing the sax in local bands. At UCLA in the 1920s he formed his own band and led it until 1936. He appeared in several films in minor bit parts, and it wasn't until 1938 that he had a somewhat more substantial part, in Western Jamboree (1938). The next year he had a bigger part in the splashy Spencer Tracy adventure Northwest Passage (1940) as one of Rogers' Rangers. He appeared in serials, westerns, crime dramas, costume epics (he even appeared as Little John in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946)!), war pictures, had a small but memorable part as an anti-Semitic blowhard who gets knocked into a store display by Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and a bigger and more memorable part as one of Spencer Tracy's fellow judges in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). He also made many appearances on TV, in everything from The Lone Ranger (1949) to Green Acres (1965). He died of natural causes in 1976.- Alan Wells was born on 23 March 1926 in Benzonia, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Cape Fear (1962), Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956) and The Great Missouri Raid (1951). He was married to Barbara Lang and Claudia Barrett. He died on 14 June 2008 in Reno, Nevada, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
Bill Clark was born on 11 February 1919 in Alabama, USA. He was an actor, known for Bonanza (1959) and Young Fury (1964). He died on 7 June 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Norwegian by heritage and a San Franciscan by birth, brown-haired, brown-eyed Gregg Palmer (born Palmer Lee) broke into show biz as a radio announcer. After an early '50s stint as a contract player at Universal, he turned to freelancing, closing out the decade by starring and co-starring in a number of detective, Western and sci-fi adventures. In the '60s, Palmer drifted into supporting roles and much TV work, and reinforced his growing rep with Western fans by becoming a regular member of John Wayne's latter-day stock company.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Frank McGrath was born on 2 February 1903 in Mound City, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), Wagon Train (1957) and Tammy and the Millionaire (1967). He was married to Libby Quay Buschlen. He died on 13 May 1967 in Hollywood, California, USA.- 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
- Production Manager
Fred Hoose was born on 4 March 1868 in Burlington, Vermont, USA. He was an actor and production manager, known for Western Mail (1942), Wild Horse Stampede (1943) and East Side Kids (1940). He died on 12 March 1952 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.- 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
- 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.- Born Gordon Nance in 1904 on a farm in Pattonsburg, Missouri -- a small town about 60 miles northeast of Kansas City -- the future "Wild Bill Elliott" grew up around horses. His father was a commissioner at the Kansas City Stockyards. and at age 16 Elliott won a first-place ribbon in that city's annual "American Royal Horse and Livestock Show." After a move to California, he appeared in a few productions at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he was spotted by a talent scout. He made his first movie in 1925. A steady stream of movies followed, first silents and then talkies, in which he played too great a variety of roles to be "typed." In many of these movies he was billed as "Gordon Elliott." In 1938, however, Columbia cast him as the lead in its 15-chapter serial, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938), and Elliott's identification with westerns began. He even began to adopt the names "Bill" or "Wild Bill." He also became famous for using the line, "I'm a peaceable man ... " (which was inevitably followed by an outburst of violence). Elliott reached his peak of popularity at Columbia when he was teamed with Tex Ritter for a series of films. In 1943 he left Columbia for Republic, where his westerns had somewhat larger budgets. This was followed by a move to Monogram (later Allied Artists) in 1951. He was now back in low-budget B-westerns, the last one appearing in 1954. There followed five other B pictures in which he played a Los Angeles police detective. He filmed "pilots" for two potential TV series, "Marshal of Trail City" and "Parson of the West," but neither of them sold. His film career over, Elliott settled in Las Vegas where he hosted a weekly TV show in which he interviewed guests and showed some of his old movies. He also became a pitchman for a cigarette company. In 1961 his 34-year marriage to Helen Josephine Meyer ended and he took Dolly Moore as his second wife. He died of lung cancer in 1965 and is buried in Las Vegas at Palm Memorial Park.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
James Alexander was born in Indiana, on May 20, 1914. He appeared in only a few motion pictures during his brief career and did not start acting until he was 38 years old, with his film debut in the 1952 motion picture "Jack and the Beanstalk", starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
His later credits include "Port of Hell" (1954), "Treasure of Ruby Hills" (1955), "Las Vegas Shakedown" (1955), and "Night Freight" (1955). He had roles in the television shows "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" and "The Abbott and Costello Show." He died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 46.