Westerners working until trail's end.
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- Mathew McCue was born on 4 October 1895 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fugitive (1963) and Gunsmoke (1955). He died on 10 April 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1966, 70 years old.
1966, 11 westerns.
1966, The Fighters (1966).
1966, A Time to Kill (1966).
1966, The Raid: Part 1 (1966).
1966, Spy, Counterspy, Counter Counterspy (1966).
229 westerns, 40-66. - Stunts
- Actress
Definitely not your average 'prairie flower', brunette Evelyn Ruth Finley was known as the most accomplished stunt rider in the western genre. Famous director William A. Wellman was one of many who regarded her as the best in the business. She worked with horses from early childhood and grew up a tomboy on her father's ranch. Her dad had promised 'to put her into pictures', but how she eventually arrived in Hollywood is unclear. Winning a beauty contest as 'Miss Albuquerque' might have helped. The year was 1936 and her first picture was as stunt double to Jean Parker. By 1940, Evelyn was under contract at Monogram where her skills in the saddle quickly promoted her to leading lady opposite the likes of Tex Ritter, Tom Keene, Johnny Mack Brown and Buster Crabbe. As blonde Eve Anderson, she got to star in one of the last serials made at Columbia, Perils of the Wilderness (1956). However, Evelyn preferred the stunt work to acting, often doubling on horseback for glamorous stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Loretta Young. She remained involved in her area of expertise, either actively or as technical adviser, well into the 1980's. When not working in the film industry, she toured as an equestrian performer at different circuses. Evelyn was inducted into the Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.- Born in Butte Montana just before the turn of the century, Ethan Laidlaw worked as a steam fitter, bus driver, mechanic, salesman, and policeman, before moving to the Los Angeles in the early 1920's. Laidlaw's tall, lean frame and chiseled features made him a natural for gangster pictures, Westerns, and for any role that required a villain, heavy, or tough guy. While he seldom had a substantial speaking park, he found steady work for almost four decades.
Between the movies and the proliferation of TV Westerns in the 1950's, Laidlaw kept busy from 1925 until his death from a heart attack in 1963. All told, he had almost 450 known appearances in movies, and about 400 on TV. He was one of Hugh O'Brian's regulars on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," (which included Jimmy Noel, Buddy Roosevelt, Bill Coontz, and Phil Schumacher), with over 130 appearances on that series alone.
An avid biker, Laidlaw could be seen traveling the countryside on his motorcycle during the few times he wasn't working. Laidlaw lived in the Whitley Hills area of Hollywood, not far from the studios, from the early 1940's until his death. - While most actors like to play cowboy, Tom Smith was one. He was born to a family of poor German farmers who were originally from Germany. The shiftless Smith eventually made his way to California where he got into the motion picture business.
Staring in the 1920s, Smith worked in countless westerns. His prowess with a horse, his long hair, and his big bushy mustache was the very ideal image of what an old western outlaw looked like. Smith was so trusted with horses that he was taken across the country in 1930 so he could appear in Raoul Walsh's epic film The Big Trail.
Smith did not usually have dialog in the films that he appeared in but his appearance helped him gain work in countless films and television. By the 1930s, he was constantly appearing in Republic films typically appearing in posse or bar scenes. Through his connections, he was able to gain work in some of the better western productions and frequently appeared in higher-budgeted films as his career went on.
While most cowboys either retired or passed away, Smith found a new avenue of income with the introduction of television. He could regularly be seen appearing in some Universal Studios productions and in some of the more well-known westerns like Gunsmoke but during this period, he primarily did a lot of shows at For Star Productions studios where you can see him appear in bar scenes of shows like Zane Grey Theatre, The Rifleman, Black Saddle, and many other productions.
By the late 1960s, westerns were no longer as plentiful as they once were and Smith's career started to wind itself up. He spent his last few years making sporadic appearances on television shows like Gunsmoke and Barbary Coast until he passed away in 1976 leaving behind a legacy of being a true cowboy on-screen and off of it. - Actor
- Director
- Writer
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman was born on 17 August 1936 in Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, Roberts County, South Dakota, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Dances with Wolves (1990), Hidalgo (2004) and Dharma & Greg (1997). He was married to Rosie. He died on 13 December 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Dave Bald Eagle was born on 8 April 1919 in Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation, South Dakota, USA. He was an actor, known for Imprint (2007), Neither Wolf Nor Dog (2016) and River of Fundament (2014). He was married to Josee Kesteman and Penny Rathburn. He died on 22 July 2016 in Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, South Dakota, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Chief Yowlachie was born in Kitsap County, Washington, and later lived with his family on the Yakima Indian Reservation. Although he was not enrolled in the Yakima Nation, his parents John W. Simmons and Lucy Riddle both had Puyallup heritage and owned allotted land on the Yakima reservation. Yowlatchie's real name was Daniel Simmons and he began his show-business career as--believe it or not--an opera singer and spent many years in that profession. In the 1920s he switched to films, and over the next 25 or so years played everything from rampaging Apache chiefs to comic-relief sidekicks. A large, round-faced man, his distinctive voice--a deep, resonant bass somewhat resembling Bluto's in the old "Popeye" cartoons--was instantly recognizable, and he had the distinction of not appearing to have aged much over his career, which is most likely attributable to the fact that he looked quite a bit younger than he actually was, so his "aging" wasn't all that noticeable. In addition to his "serious" roles, he had somewhat more light-hearted parts in several films, notably Red River (1948), where he traded quips with veteran scene-stealer Walter Brennan, and held his own quite well.- Ralph Moody was born on November 5, 1886 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA as Ralph Roy Moody, the oldest son of Franklin Jerome Moody and Ida M. Hicklin. His introduction to show business was first as an actor on the stage in pre-radio days and then as a radio personality. His first acting role was in 1900 as the boy, Heinrich, in Rip Van Winkle. At the 1904 World's Fair he sang tenor in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He had a wide following as Uncle Abner on WIBW, CBS Radio, in the 1930's in Topeka, Kansas, USA. As Uncle Abner he was the town's barber, constable, postmaster, and chief source of information. Beginning in the mid-1940's he was a frequent radio cast member on The Roy Rogers Show. When Gunsmoke began its radio show run in 1952, Ralph Moody was one of the regular cast members. He began making film and television appearances at the age of 62. His first television roles were on three 1949-50 The Lone Ranger (1949) episodes, each time as an Indian chief with a different name. Frequently on TV westerns he had roles as an Indian, but was not type cast. His range of characters included a variety of roles with Jack Webb on Dragnet (1951). Many of his dozen appearances on The Rifleman (1958) were as Doc Burrage. He had six appearances on Bonanza (1959), most as an Indian, at the end of his 23 year acting career. He was married to Hazel B. McOwen. He died on September 16, 1971 in Burbank, California, USA.
- Charles Soldani was born on 1 June 1893 in Ponca City, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Daughter of the Jungle (1949), Man from Oklahoma (1945) and The Pioneers (1941). He died on 10 September 1968 in Glendale, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Burt Mustin was a salesman most of his life, but got his first taste of show business as the host of a weekly radio variety show on KDKA Pittsburgh in 1921. He appeared onstage in "Detective Story" at Sombrero Playhouse in Phoenix Arizona, and played the janitor in the movie version, (Detective Story (1951)), after moving to Hollywood. Hundreds of screen appearances later, he announced his retirement while filming an episode of Phyllis (1975). In the episode, his character married Mother Dexter, played by actress Judith Lowry. Lowry died one month before, and Mustin died one month after the episode aired.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Harry Carey, Jr., had been reliable character actor for decades, mostly in Westerns, before he retired. He is the son of the actor Harry Carey and the actress Olive Carey. He was born on his parents' 1000-acre ranch near Saugus, in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, which is now next door to Santa Clarita, a large town that certainly did not exist in 1947 or for decades longer. Thus, the young Harry Carey, Jr., grew up among cattle and horses at the ranch. Because of a large group of Navajo Indians who worked on his parents' ranch, he learned to speak the Navajo language at the same time that he was learning to speak English.
During World War II, Carey enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and he served in the Pacific Theater first as a Navy medical corpsman. However, he was transferred back to the United States (against his wishes) to serve under his father's good friend, the director John Ford, in making movies for the Navy (training films)and the O.S.S. (propaganda films).
After World War II ended, Carey tried to make a career in singing, but he was not successful at this. Hence, he moved into acting, and after a couple of small acting parts, he was given a chance to work in a motion picture with his father, the John Wayne film Red River (1948). (However, the father and the son did not have any scenes with one another). After the death of Harry Carey, Sr., in 1946, Mr. Ford gave the younger Carey a leading role in the movie that Ford dedicated to the memory of Harry Carey, Sr., in 1948, 3 Godfathers (1948).
As a full-fledged member of the noted John Ford Stock Company, Carey, Jr., appeared in many of Mr. Ford's epic Westerns during the following two decades. Carey also starred in a series-within-a-series on TV, The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955), which was shown as a part of The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). Very boyish looks characterized Carey's early years, but he matured into a strong and familiar character actor over the following four decades, and he acted in scores of films and TV programs in his long career. Carey, Jr., is married to Marilyn Fix Carey, the daughter of the actor Paul Fix.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Dub Taylor was born on 26 February 1907 in Richmond, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Getaway (1972), The Wild Bunch (1969) and You Can't Take It with You (1938). He was married to Florence Gertrude Heffernan. He died on 3 October 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in London, England, in 1853, prolific actor/director (300+ credits) Tom Ricketts is mostly forgotten today, but his chief claim to fame is that he directed the first motion picture shot in Hollywood.
Ricketts began his show-business career as an actor on the London stage, and gained a reputation as one of the best Shakespearean actors of his day. Ricketts never seemed to rest, working up until a few days before his death in 1939. He left for work one day with a bad cold, which quickly developed into pneumonia. His health went downhill rapidly and he died only a few days later. His wife, the actress Josephine Ditt (aka Josephine Ditt), was not notified of his death at the time; she was still suffering from the effects of a stroke that she had in December of 1938.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in 1911, Jeanette Nolan began her acting career in the Pasadena Community Playhouse. While still a student at Los Angeles City College, she made her radio debut in 1932, aged 20, in "Omar Khayyam", the first transcontinental broadcast from station KHJ. Her film debut was probably also her best part: Lady Macbeth opposite director/actor Orson Welles's Macbeth (1948). Her final film role was as Tom Booker (Robert Redford)'s mother, Ellen Booker, in The Horse Whisperer (1998).
She appeared in more than 300 television shows, including episode roles in Perry Mason (1957), I Spy (1965), MacGyver (1985), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), and as a regular on The Richard Boone Show (1963) and The Virginian (1962). She received four Emmy nominations.
Nolan died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, in 1998, aged 86, following a stroke.- 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.
- Hank Patterson was born in Springville, Alabama to Green and Mary Newton Patterson. Hank's great-grandfather, James Pearson, was an original settler of St. Clair County, AL as was his mother's great-grandfather, Thomas Newton. Between 1894 & 1897, the family left AL to live in Taylor, Texas, where Hank attempted to work as a serious musician, only to settle for playing piano in traveling vaudeville shows. He worked his way out to California in the 1920s and here began his film career followed by long runs on two television series Gunsmoke (1955) and Green Acres (1965).1975, 86 years old.
1973, A Game of Death... An Act of Love: Part 2 (1973).
1973, The Widowmaker (1973). - 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.1952, 84 years old.
1952, Oklahoma Annie (1952).
1951, Belle Le Grand (1951).
1951, Boulder City Election (1951).- Actor
- Writer
Robert Brower was born on 14 July 1850 in Point Pleasant, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Little Minister (1921), Vanity Fair (1915) and How Mrs. Murray Saved the American Army (1911). He died on 8 December 1934 in West Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
A respected stage actor -- he trained at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts -- since the 1920s, birdlike Charles Halton's thinning hair, rimless glasses and officious manner were familiar to generations of moviegoers. Whether playing the neighborhood busybody, a stern government bureaucrat or weaselly attorney, you could count on Halton to try to drive the "immoral influences" out of the neighborhood, foreclose on the orphanage, evict the poor widow and her children from their apartment, or any other number of dastardly deeds, all justified by "I'm sorry but that's my job." His 40-year film career ended with High School Confidential! (1958), after which he retired.- Boston-born Franklyn Farnum was on the vaudeville stage at the age of 12 and was featured in a number of theatre and musical productions by the time he entered silent films near the age of 40. He appeared to be at his most comfortable in the saddle, his career dominated mostly by westerns. Some of his more famous films include the serial Vanishing Trails (1920) and features The Clock (1917), The Firebrand (1922), The Drug Store Cowboy (1925) and The Gambling Fool (1925). In 1925 he left films, but returned five years later at the advent of sound, only to find himself billed much further down the credits, if at all. He continued on, however, in these obscure roles well into the 1950s. Largely forgotten today, he is not related to silent actors and brothers Dustin Farnum and William Farnum. One of his three wives was the ill-fated Alma Rubens, to whom he was briefly married in 1918. Farnum passed away from cancer in 1961.1961, 83 years old.
1961, Incident of the Painted Lady (1961)
1961, 3 westerns.
1958-1961, 20 westerns.
1878 - 1961, 83. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Colorful American character actor equally adept at vicious killers or grizzled sidekicks. As a child he worked in the cotton fields. He attended Santa Monica Junior College in California and subsequently became an accountant and, at one time, manager of the Bel Air Hotel. Elam got his first movie job by trading his accounting services for a role. In short time he became one of the most memorable supporting players in Hollywood, thanks not only to his near-demented screen persona but also to an out-of-kilter left eye, sightless from a childhood fight. He appeared with great aplomb in Westerns and gangster films alike, and in later years played to wonderful effect in comedic roles.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
George Morgan was born on 10 October 1854 in Concord, Delaware, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Lurking Peril (1919), The Hurricane Express (1932) and The Pirate of Panama (1929). He died on 8 January 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
John Hugh Elliott was born July 5th 1876 to Sarah E. Norris (07/04/1845-02/21/1897) and Jehue S. Elliott (9/21/1845-8/18/1916) in Keosauqua. He had three sisters, Elizabeth (3/7/1869-01/18/1916), Fanny (10/31/1871-02/24/1897), and Nina (03/15/1887-05/26/1958). In Febuary 1897, Typhoid Fever hit the Elliott family. John, his mother, and sister Fanny all fell ill. Elizabeth came out from Keosaqua to care for her sick siblings. Fanny passed just three days after their mother but John, after about a week began his full recovery. On April 14th, 1897 he married Cleo Kelly. They lived in Pella Iowa where John had moved to in October 1895 with his family. Two years later, the couple had twins, a boy and girl, Donald and Dorothy on August 9th, 1899. It was a rough marriage since Cleo's family highly disapproved of her relationship with an "actor". John began as a stage actor, but he truly shone with his appearances in "talkies". John enjoyed playing a variety of roles, including those of more despicable characters, seeing it as a way to exercise an actor's best talents. He died December 12th, 1956 in his California home.- Actor
- Soundtrack
In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and performed in school plays. He worked some in vaudeville and also in various jobs such as clerking in a bank and as a lumberjack. He toured in small musical comedy companies before entering the military in 1917. After his war service he went to Guatemala and raised pineapples, then migrated to Los Angeles, where he speculated in real estate. A few jobs as a film extra came his way beginning in 1923, then some work as a stuntman. He eventually achieved speaking roles, going from bit parts to substantial supporting parts in scores of features and short subjects between 1927 and 1938. In 1936 his role in Come and Get It (1936) won him the very first Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. He would win it twice more in the decade, and be nominated for a fourth. His range was enormous. He could play sophisticated businessmen, con artists, local yokels, cowhands and military officers with apparent equal ease. An accident in 1932 cost him most of his teeth, and he most often was seen in eccentric rural parts, often playing characters much older than his actual age. His career never really declined, and in the 1950s he became an even more endearing and familiar figure in several television series, most famously The Real McCoys (1957). He died in 1974 of emphysema, a beloved figure in movies and TV, the target of countless comic impressionists, and one of the best and most prolific actors of his time.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Once a boxer, brawny character actor Tom Kennedy began his film career early in the silent era. He frequently played big, dumb, likable, working-class types, such as in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937). He also worked with W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in a career that lasted until his death at the age of 80.1965, 80 years old.
1965, 9 western credits. Tom Kennedy died in July.
1965, Seven Hours to Dawn (1965).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Leo Carrillo was born on 6 August 1881 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Guilty Generation (1931), The Cisco Kid (1950) and Crime, Inc. (1945). He was married to Edith Shakespear Haeselbarth. He died on 10 September 1961 in Santa Monica, 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.1964, 79 years old.
1963, 78 years old, - Tobe (1963).
1961, The Revenger (1961). Driver. Bishop, California location.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Victor Jory was born in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. His burly physique made him a wrestling and boxing champion during his military service in the United States Coast Guard. After a few appearances on Broadway, he made his way into Hollywood in the early 1930s. His acting career spanned exactly 50 years, during which he played in nearly 200 films and TV series. In his early years he was cast in romantic roles, but it wasn't long before he began playing villainous parts, likely due to his "black eyes" which could easily give the impression of intimidation. He is remembered for his role as the ruthless overseer Jonas Wilkerson in Gone With the Wind, and his role as Lamont Cranston in The Shadow. He also played Oberon in the 1935 film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Among these many co-starring roles, he also appeared in 7 Hopalong Cassidy films between the years 1941 and 1943, usually cast as the villain or a right hand man. The only Hopalong film in which he did not play a 'bad guy' was in Riders of the Timberlane where he played a hot blooded, broad-shouldered lumberjack. During his film career, Victor's voice also offered him the an extensive career in radio. He was the lead role in the radio series, Dangerously Yours, and he also narrated "Tubby the Tuba" and "Bumpo the Ballerina" for children. In the 1950s and 1960s, he began acting in television series while remaining in the film industry. He played the lead role of Detective Howard Finucane in the police drama series, Manhunt, which ran from 1959 to 1961. In 1962 he played Helen Keller's father in the film, The Miracle Worker, for which his co-stars Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft won Oscars. In 1964, he along with fellow actors Susan Seafourth and Coleen Gray testified before the United States Congress as part of Project Prayer, arguing in favor of an amendment which would restore school prayer, something which the United States had eliminated in the early 1960s. Victor Jory continued acting until he retired in 1980. He was married to Jean Inness Jory from 1928 until her death in 1978. Together they had two children, Jon and Jean. At age 79, Victor died of a heart attack on February 12, 1982, in Santa Monica, California.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
E.H. Calvert was born on 27 June 1863 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Wizard (1927), The Love Parade (1929) and Vultures of Society (1916). He was married to Lillian Drew and Thelma M. (actress). He died on 5 October 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carl Leviness is a perfect example of somebody who appeared as an extra in films because they loved doing so. The distinguished looking Leviness started appearing in stage productions in the early 1900s. He eventually got a job at the Thanhouser Company as an actor in many of its' silent films in what was the start of a long colorful career.
By the early 1910s, Leviness became an assistant director for some of the films produced by Thanhouser. Like many people in their job, Leviness wanted to move up the ladder and he eventually left the company to go to get work as a director in early films. Eventually companies wanted to get away from Thomas Edison and his desire to corner the market on films and to own everybody's work so they all migrated to California.
Leviness was never too comfortable with dialog and while his appearance was ideal for socialite sequences, Livess was only in his 40s when he started appearing in film. Whether then fight the daily grind of trying to get a speaking role in films, Leviness drifted into the background and appeared in various productions.
Heavily admired by his peers, directors like John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock regularly put Leviness and other old timers to work in their productions. Ford respected him so much that he usually put him in little roles that required a small bit of dialog or for the actor to be ungraded to a silent bit. He eventually retired shortly before his death but not before leaving a reputation of being loved and respected by everybody who worked with him.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Frank O'Connor was born on 11 April 1881 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Religious Racketeers (1938), Call of the Circus (1930) and The Lawful Cheater (1925). He died on 22 November 1959 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1959, 78 years old.
1958, Day of the Bad Man (1958).
1957, Decision at Sundown (1957).
1957, Run of the Arrow (1957).
1881 - 1959, 78.- Tully Marshall intended to pursue a legal career, until he tried a dramatic course at Santa Clara University. He started stage work in San Francisco in 1883 and moved to New York in 1887, where he played in various roles on Broadway and on the road. After a few small parts in films he was given the role of the High Priest of Babylon in the D.W. Griffith classic, Intolerance (1916). One of his finest roles in silents was that of an old frontiersman in another classic, The Covered Wagon (1923).
When sound arrived Marshall was very much in demand and worked for nearly every major studio. His last film was Behind Prison Walls (1943). He died on March 10, 1943, after a 60-year career in entertainment. - Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
J. Farrell MacDonald was born on 14 April 1875 in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Sunrise (1927), My Darling Clementine (1946) and The Great Lie (1941). He was married to Edith Bostwick. He died on 2 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. His break came when John Ford noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master (1950). He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Studio publicity incorrectly puts his birthplace at Mission, Texas. Ken was a trick rider with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and later with Ringling Brothers and was also a champion rodeo rider. His movie debut, The Man Who Won (1923), was the first of many for this early cowboy movie superstar. He was famous for the stunts he could enact with his horse Tarzan. Maynard was the first singing cowboy in the movies. During the 1930s, he dropped out of movies and went back to rodeo work. He did a few more low-budget films in the early 1940s, and then retired for good except for bit parts. His last years were miserable; poor and unremembered, he lived alone in a trailer, an alcoholic who at his death was a victim of serious malnutrition.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Nelson McDowell was born on 14 August 1870 in Greenville, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1920), The Girl of the Golden West (1923) and The Ridin' Kid from Powder River (1924). He was married to Sophie Lottie Green. He died on 3 November 1947 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Jay Hunt was born on 4 August 1855 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Black Sheep of the Family (1916), What Love Can Do (1916) and The Promise (1917). He was married to Florence Hale. He died on 18 November 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA.1932, 77 years old.
1931, Frank Sutter, In Old Cheyenne (1931).
1931, Patrick O'Brien, The Cheyenne Cyclone (1931).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Hobart Bosworth--pioneering movie director, writer, producer and actor--was born Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth on August 11, 1867, in Marietta, OH. He was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and John and Priscilla Alden on his father's side and of New York's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New World, on his mother's side. Bosworth was always proud of his lineage.
After his mother died his father remarried and the young Hobart took a dislike to his stepmother. Convinced that he was "ill used and cruelly treated," as he told an interviewer in 1914, he ran away from home for to New York City. He signed on as a cabin boy on the clipper ship "Sovereign of the Seas" and was soon out at sea.
After his first voyage, a five-month affair that took him from New York to San Francisco, he spent his wages on candy. Sleeping it off on a bench in the park in back of Trinity Church, the young boy did not know that the organ music he was listening to as he dozed was being played by his very own uncle. A Captain Roberts, who found stevedore work for the lad, told him of his uncle's presence in San Francisco. He continued as a sailor, as the sea was in his family's blood, eventually spending three years at sea. "All my people were of the sea and my father was a naval officer," he told an interviewer. He spent 11 months on an old-fashioned whaler plying the Arctic region, then was employed doing odd jobs in San Francisco. After turns as a semi-professional boxer and wrestler, Bosworth tried ranching in Southern California and Mexico, where he learned to become an expert horseman. Finally, his interest in art led him to the stage.
Thinking he'd like to become a landscape painter, a friend suggested that Bosworth work as a stage manager to raise the money to study art. Acting on his friend's advice, Bosworth obtained a job with McKee Rankin as a stage manager at the California Theatre in San Francisco. With the money he made, he undertook the study of painting. Eventually he was pressed into duty as an actor with a small part with three lines. Though he botched the lines, he was given other small roles. Bosworth was 18 years old and on the cusp of a life in the theater.
He signed on with Louis Morrison to be part of a road company for a season as both an actor and as Morrison's dresser, playing William Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" and "Measure for Measure" (during his time with the company, Hobarth and another writer wrote a version of "Faust" that Morrison used for 20 years in repertory). By 1887 he was acting at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco, and became proficient enough on stage to give Shakespearean recitals in costume the following year. He had acted almost all of the famous characters in the Shakespearean canon by the time he was 21 years old, though he admitted that he was the worst Macbeth ever.
Bosworth eventually wound up in Park City, UT, where he was forced to work in a mine, pushing an ore wagon in order to raise money. He escaped the pits to tour with magician Hermann the Great as the conjurer's assistant for a tour through Mexico. For the first time in eleven years, the 21-year-old Bosworth met his father. Hobarth recalled, "[H]e looked at me and said 'Hum! I couldn't lick you now, son.'" They never met again.
Bosworth arrived back in New York in December 1888, and was hired by Augustin Daly to play Charles the Wrestler in "As You Like It." He did so well in the role that Daly kept him on. Bosworth remained with Daly's company for 10 years, in which he played mostly minor parts. Seven times while he was with the company it made foreign tours, playing in Berlin, Cologne, London, Paris and other European cities.
Eventually, being kept in small parts eroded his confidence, and Bosworth left Daly to sign on with Julia Marlowe, who cast him in leads in Shakespearean plays. Just as Bosworth began to taste stage stardom in New York, he was struck down with tuberculosis, a very serious ailment in the 19th century. Bosworth was forced to give up the stage, as he was not allowed to toil indoors. Though he made a rapid recovery, he returned to the stage too quickly and suffered a relapse. For the rest of his working life he had to balance his acting with periods of rest so as to keep his T.B. under control.
Bosworth re-established himself as a lead actor on the New York stage, appearing opposite the famous actress Minnie Maddern Fiske (Mary Augusta Davey) in the 1903 Boradway revival of Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler." He also appeared that year on the Great White Way as the lead in "Marta of the Lowlands," which was produced by Harrison Grey Fiske, Mrs. Fiske's husband. The role propelled him to Broadway stardom. However, he was forced again to give up the stage when he lost 70 pounds in ten weeks.
Moving to Tempe, AZ, to partake of the salubrious climate improved his chances of battling T.B., and eventually he got the disease under control. While he was not actually an invalid, he was forced to live like one and remain in a warm climate lest he suffer a relapse. The T.B. robbed him of his voice, but since he was no longer on stage, it didn't matter. There was a new medium for actors: motion pictures. Bosworth moved to San Diego, which had a reputation of having the most perfect climate in the continental United States, and in 1908 was contracted to make a film by the Selig Polyscope Co. Shooting was to be down in the outdoors, and he did not have to use his voice, which was in a poor condition. The arrangement was perfect for him. "I believe, after all, that it is the motion pictures that have saved my life," he recounted less than a decade later. "How could I have lived on and on, without being able to carry out any of my cherished ambitions? What would my life have meant? Here, in pictures, I am realizing my biggest hopes." Signing with Selig, Bosworth eventually spearheaded the movie company's move to Los Angeles. He is widely credited with being the star of the first movie made on the West Coast. Due to his role in pioneering California for the film industry, Bosworth often was referred to as the "Dean of Hollywood." He wrote the scenarios for the second and third pictures he acted in, and directed the third. According to his own count, he eventually wrote 112 scenarios and produced 84 pictures for Selig. Bosworth was attracted to Jack London's work due to his out-of-doors filming experience and the requirements of his health, which obviated acting in studios. "In all my reading I have never come across better material for motion picture plays than Jack London's stories, and I hope to go right through the whole lot."
In 1913 he formed his own company, Hobart Bosworth Productions Co., to produce a series of Jack London melodramas. He produced, directed and starred in the company's first picture, playing Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf (1913), with London himself appearing as a sailor. The movie was released in the U.S. by W.W. Hodkinson Corp. D.W. Griffith also released a Jack London picture earlier that year, Two Men of the Desert (1913), but Bosworth followed up "The Sea Wolf" with The Chechako (1914), with Jack Conway playing the lead as Smoke Bellew, the title character of the eponymous London novel the movie is based on. "The Chechako" and some of the subsequent Boswoth-London pictures were distributed through Paramount, the releasing arm of Famous Players-Lasky.
Conway also starred in the Bosworth-directed follow-up The Valley of the Moon (1914), in which Bosworth had a supporting role. He also appeared as an actor in John Barleycorn (1914), which he co-directed with J. Charles Haydon. He produced, directed, wrote and acted in Martin Eden (1914) and An Odyssey of the North (1914), playing the lead in the latter, which was released by Paramount. He finished up the series by producing, directing and playing the lead in the two-part "Burning Daylight" series: Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Alaska (1914) and Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Civilization (1914), both of which were released by Paramount.
Bosworth hooked up with the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Co., making its Los Angeles facility on North Occidental Boulevard his headquarters. Subsequently Bosworth Inc. and Oliver Morosco Photoplay were absorbed by Paramount in 1916. Between 1913 and 1921 Hobart Bosworth Productions produced a total of 31 pictures, most of which starred Bosworth. The company ceased operations after producing The Sea Lion (1921).
The merger with Paramount ended the period in Bosworth's creative life where he was a major force in the motion picture industry, which was undergoing changes as the industry matured and solidified. He directed his last picture even before the merger, The White Scar (1915), which he also wrote and starred in for Universal Film Manufacturing Co. After his own production company wound up, Hobart Bosworth began playing supporting roles as an actor. He divorced his first wife, Adele Farrington, in 1919, the year after their son George was born.
He survived the transition to sound. Aside from appearing in Warner Bros.' showcase film Show of Shows (1929), his talking picture debut proper was in the short subject A Man of Peace (1928) for Vitaphone, while his first sound feature was Vitaphone's Ruritania drama General Crack (1929), starring John Barrymore.
Though he appeared in small roles in A-list films, including some classics, Bosworth primarily made his living as a prominently billed character actor in "B" westerns and serials churned out by Poverty Row studios. In his roles in A and B pictures, he typically was typecast as a fatherly type, such as dads, clergymen, judges, governors and the like, though occasionally he got to play a heavy. His most memorable roles included playing John Gilbert's father in both King Vidor's classic The Big Parade (1925) and Clarence Brown's A Woman of Affairs (1928), and Conrad Nagel's father in Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930). He also appeared in the Al Jolson vehicle Mammy (1930), directed by Michael Curtiz, and in the Little Rascals' only feature film, General Spanky (1936) (a flop).
In addition to Vidor, Brown and Curtiz, Bosworth worked with other great directors, including Ernst Lubitsch (in support of John Barrymore in Eternal Love (1929)), D.W. Griffith (playing Gen. Robert E. Lee in Abraham Lincoln (1930)), 'Frank Capra' (in Dirigible (1931)) and Lady for a Day (1933)) and John Ford (headlining Hearts of Oak (1924), starring in Hangman's House (1928) and playing the Chaplain in support of Will Rogers in Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)).
Bosworth had a featured role in the early science-fiction movie Just Imagine (1930) and played Chingachgook in support of star Harry Carey's Hawkeye in Mascot Pictures' serial The Last of the Mohicans (1932). As the sound era wore on, he was reduced to bit parts, frequently uncredited, in such A-pictures as the W.C. Fields comedy Million Dollar Legs (1932) and the Errol Flynn western They Died with Their Boots On (1941). He kept working until the year before his death, appearing in six films in 1942, including an uncredited bit role as a clergyman in support of Barbara Stanwyck in The Gay Sisters (1942), his penultimate picture. His last film was Universal Pictures' western Sin Town (1942), starring Constance Bennett and Broderick Crawford, which was advertised with the intriguing tagline "The Glory Hole of the Booming Oil Towns!"
Altogether, Hobart Bosworth acted in over 250 movies from 1908 to 1942, directed 44 known pictures from 1911 to 1915, and wrote 27 & produced 11 known pictures from 1911 to 1921. His actual count might be hundreds more.
Hobart Bosworth, the "Dean of Hollywood," died on December 30, 1943 of pneumonia in Glendale, CA. He was 76 years old. He was survived by his second wife, Cecile, and his son George.- 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 1963.1963, 76 years old.
1960, Floyd -Rancher, The Lucifer Urge (1960).
1960, 4 westerns.
116 westerns, 69 features, 15-60.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Considering the kind of scruffy, backwoods, uneducated, Deep-South hillbilly types he played, many people would be surprised to hear that Ken Curtis wasn't actually born in the south but in the small town of Las Animas, Colorado, the son of the town sheriff. They would probably be even more surprised to learn that he began his show business career as a singer in the big-band era, and was a vocalist in the legendary Tommy Dorsey orchestra. He entered films in the late 1940s at the tail-end of the singing-cowboy period in a series of low-budget Westerns for Columbia Pictures. When that genre died out, Curtis turned to straight dramatic and comedy parts and became a regular in the films of director John Ford (who was his father-in-law). Curtis branched out into film production in the 1950s with two extremely low-budget monster films, The Killer Shrews (1959) and The Giant Gila Monster (1959), but he is best known for his long-running role as Festus Hagen, the scruffy, cantankerous deputy in the long-running TV series Gunsmoke (1955).- Tex Cooper was born as Judge Thomas Cooper in Denton, Texas, the son of Wilford Cooper and Lemon Pair. Tex had siblings Walter and George Cooper. His parents were farmers and hailed from Bradley County, Tennessee. Tex's trademark in the movies was his Buffalo Bill lookalike appearance. His grandfather was Thomas Cooper who married Martha Rucker and his great grandparents were Bennett and Lydia Cooper from North Carolina.
- British-born American character actor. He labored in a San Francisco glass factory until his thirties, then embarked on an acting career. He became a respected teacher, director, and performer at famed Pasadena Community Playhouse in California. He appeared in numerous films in the Thirties and Forties, his craggy face enlivening many movies. Several of his children had effective careers in front of or behind the camera.1953, 74 years old.
1952, Blinky, Oklahoma Annie (1952). Credited.
1879 - 1953, 74. London. California. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Otis Harlan was born on 29 December 1865 in Zanesville, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Show Boat (1929), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and Nine and Three-Fifths Seconds (1925). He was married to Nellie Harvey. He died on 21 January 1940 in Martinsville, Indiana, USA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
At various times in his life a rancher, deputy sheriff and rodeo performer, this huge, towering (6' 5") beast of a man was born George Glenn Strange in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899, but grew up a real-life cowboy in Cross Cut, Texas. He taught himself (by ear) the fiddle and guitar at a young age and started performing at local functions as a teen. In the late 1920s, Glenn and his cousin, Taylor McPeters, better known later as the western character actor Cactus Mack, joined a radio singing group known as the "The Arizona Wranglers" that toured throughout the country.
They both started providing singing fillers in film westerns in the early 1930s. Glenn would play extra or bit roles for a number of years B Western and serials. One of his first roles was uncredited as a soldier, in tin armor, as part of "Ming's Army", in the science fiction classic serial "Flash Gordon"(1936/I). He would perform as a cowhand, rustler, accomplice, sidekick, or plain old warbling, harmonica-blowing cowboy. Eventually in the late 30s, his billing improved and he evolved into a full-time bad guy in hundreds of "B" westerns. He was seen (or glimpsed) in many of the popular serials of the day, including The Hurricane Express (1932), Law of the Wild (1934),
The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939), and Riders of Death Valley (1941). It was his massive build that helped him break into the Universal horror picture genre of the 1940s. Horror star Boris Karloff had grown weary and fearful of his Frankenstein Creature typecast and abandoned the role. Glenn was the perfect replacement for the job and made his monstrous debut with House of Frankenstein (1944), quickly followed by House of Dracula (1945). It was he who played the Creature in the cult horror/comedy classic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) as part of the monstrous trio of Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man.
As the "B" western started faded off into the sunset in the 1950s, Strange moseyed on over to TV work. He played the nemesis "Butch Cavendish" and later reprised the role, after a prison escape, on "The Lone Ranger" (1949). Among other TV roles, he capped off his career with a steady (12 years) role as Sam the bartender on the classic Gunsmoke (1955) series from 1962 until shortly before his death from lung cancer in 1973.- A character actor and veteran of hundreds of Hollywood westerns, Tom London seemed to be born in the saddle. As a trick rider he performed riding specialties in a number of films. His career started in the teens and through the 1920s he alternated between good guy and bad. He made appearances in non-westerns such as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Platinum Blonde (1931), but westerns were his mainstay. When the "B" western disappeared in the mid-'50s, so did his career. He appeared in only a handful of film for the rest of the decade.
- Charles Brown Middleton was born 7th October 1879. His father was a military man with a strong sense of discipline which conflicted with Charles' own outlook on how to live his life so when 12 he ran away to join a circus and looked after the elephants before moving into performing in dramatic vignettes between traditional acts. At 18 he'd formed his own stock company which toured the South performing Shakespeare and self penned melodramas. He worked his way onto the Vaudeville circuit earning a reputation as a good actor which is how he met Stan Laurel. He appeared in some silent films in the 20's but his career took off with sound as stage actors were in demand due to their experience of vocal performance. He had a very distinctive voice which marked him out from the competition.He appeared with 3 great film comedy teams - Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges. He was often cast as a 'Heavy' and appeared in a lot of serials - Di ck Tracy, Batman, and Black Raven but is probably best remembered as Ming the Merciless in 3 Flash Gordon serials of the 30's. He was never under contract which allowed him to choose his own roles but a succession of unwise career choices led to less work in his later years so for every good role there were some bad ones. In his final years he took to the stage touring theatres showing clips from his films and talking about his work. On 19th April 1949 he was admitted to hospital and had an operation for gangrene on his right foot and died on the 22nd with cause of death being given as arteriosclerotic heart disease which he'd been suffering from for 20 years.1949, 74 years old.
1949, The Last Bandit (1949).
1948, Station West (1948)
47 westerns, 44 features, 30-49.
1874 - 1949, 74. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Olin Howland had a career in movies which stretched from the 20s, up through the time he passed away, in the late 50s. After a few attempts at films in the silent era, Olin began to appear regularly in the sound pictures of the 1930s. His roles were usually in mysteries and dramas, and he became a western character actor in the 'horse operas' put out by Republic in the 1940s. One of his most memorable roles was also one of his last; he appeared in First Stop (1955), as the owner of a broken down motel in the middle of nowhere, which the Ricardo's and Mertz's are forced to stay at for the night (and which the can't leave because the car's steering wheel was mysteriously *stolen*.- A veteran stage and screen actor, Swickard was the brother of actor Charles Swickard. He entered films in 1912 and was playing supporting roles for Mack Sennett by 1914. He remained with Sennett until 1917 when he started numerous aristocratic roles in films. His career in sound films was somewhat limited and he played in low-budget and action serial type films. In 1939, his ex-wife, Broadway actress Margaret Campbell, was brutally murdered by their son. Swickard died a year later from natural causes, not, by jumping from the Hollywood sign as several accounts state.1940, 73 years old.
1939, Texas Malden, The Pal from Texas (1939).
1939, Gonzales, Mexicali Rose (1939) - George Selk was born on 15 May 1893 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for Adventures of Superman (1952), Gunsmoke (1955) and Lawman (1958). He died on 22 January 1967 in Montrose, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Elder brother of the director John Ford and himself a screen director (and John's erstwhile mentor) until the advent of sound. He had also acted in his own films and those of other directors, but turned to acting exclusively circa 1929. As actor, he would provide convincing portrayals of men of authority - men sometimes ruthless if not downright unsavory. (See him as the Republican judge in his brother John's The Informer (1935).) But he also had an ample feel for light comedy. (See him in John's The Quiet Man (1952), as the village elder who - almost in the manner of slapstick - rouses himself from his very deathbed to witness the film's donnybrook dénouement.)- Actor
- Stunts
Bob Burns was born on 21 November 1884 in Glendive, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for Jus' Travlin' (1925), Melting Millions (1927) and Blazing Sixes (1937). He was married to Julia Bearcroft. He died on 14 March 1957 in Burbank, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rambunctious British leading man (contrary to popular belief, he was of Scottish ancestry, not Irish) and later character actor primarily in American films, Victor McLaglen was a vital presence in a number of great motion pictures, especially those of director John Ford. McLaglen (pronounced Muh-clog-len, not Mack-loff-len) was the son of the Right Reverend Andrew McLaglen, a Protestant clergyman who was at one time Bishop of Claremont in South Africa. The young McLaglen, eldest of eight brothers, attempted to serve in the Boer War by joining the Life Guards, though his father secured his release. The adventuresome young man traveled to Canada where he did farm labor and then directed his pugnacious nature into professional prizefighting. He toured in circuses, vaudeville shows, and Wild West shows, often as a fighter challenging all comers. His tours took him to the US, Australia (where he joined in the gold rush) and South Africa. In 1909 he was the first fighter to box newly-crowned heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, whom he fought in a six-round exhibition match in Vancouver (as an exhibition fight, it had no decision). When the First World War broke out, McLaglen joined the Irish Fusiliers and soldiered in the Middle East, eventually serving as Provost Marshal (head of Military Police) for the city of Baghdad. After the war he attempted to resume a boxing career, but was given a substantial acting role in The Call of the Road (1920) and was well received. He became a popular leading man in British silent films, and within a few years was offered the lead in an American film, The Beloved Brute (1924). He quickly became a most popular star of dramas as well as action films, playing tough or suave with equal ease. With the coming of sound, his ability to be persuasively debonair diminished by reason of his native speech patterns, but his popularity increased, particularly when cast by Ford as the tragic Gypo Nolan in The Informer (1935), for which McLaglen won the Best Actor Oscar. He continued to play heroes, villains and simple-minded thugs into the 1940s, when Ford gave his career a new impetus with a number of lovably roguish Irish parts in such films as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Quiet Man (1952). The latter film won McLaglen another Oscar nomination, the first time a Best Actor winner had been nominated subsequently in the Supporting category. McLaglen formed a semi-militaristic riding and polo club, the Light Horse Brigade, and a similarly arrayed precision motorcycle team, the Victor McLaglen Motorcycle Corps, both of which led to conclusions that he had fascist sympathies and was forming his own private army. McLaglen denied espousing the far right-wing sentiments that were often attributed to him. He continued to act in films into his 70s and died, from congestive heart failure, not long after appearing in a film directed by his son, Andrew V. McLaglen.- Blackie Whiteford was born on 27 April 1889 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man from New Mexico (1932), The Fighting Coward (1935) and The Black Coin (1936). He was married to Alma Bennett. He died on 21 March 1962 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Harry Todd was born on 13 December 1863 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for One Is Guilty (1934), Ten Nights in a Bar-Room (1931) and Tea: With a Kick! (1923). He was married to Margaret Joslin. He died on 15 February 1935 in Glendale, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
Frank Ellis was born on 26 February 1897 in Newkirk, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Roll Wagons Roll (1940), Treason (1933) and Elmo the Fearless (1920). He was married to Madonna L. Shelburg, Jessie and Nellie. He died on 23 February 1969 in Saugus, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Chuck Connors was born Kevin Joseph Connors in Brooklyn, New York, to Marcella (nee Lundrigan; died 1971) and Alban Francis "Allan" Connors (died 1966), Roman Catholic immigrants of Irish descent from the Dominion of Newfoundland (now part of Canada). Chuck and his two-years-younger sister, Gloria, grew up in a working-class section of the west side of Brooklyn, where their father worked the local docks as a longshoreman. He served as an altar boy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica School and attended school there. He later became a member of the Bay Ridge Boys' Club and playing sandlot ball as a member of the Bay Ridge Celtics.
A life-long Dodgers' fan, he always dreamed of a baseball career with his favorite team. His natural athletic prowess earned him a scholarship to Adelphi Academy, a private high school, and then to Seton Hall, a Catholic college in South Orange, New Jersey. Leaving Seton Hall after two years, on October 20, 1942, aged 21, he joined the army, listing his occupation as a ski instructor. After enlistment in the infantry at Fort Knox, he later served mostly as a tank-warfare instructor at Camp Campbell, Kentucky, and then finally at West Point. Following his discharge early in 1946, he resumed his athletic pursuits. He played center for the Boston Celtics in the 1946-47 season but left early for spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Baseball had always been Connors' first love, and for the next several years he knocked about the minor leagues in such places as Rochester (NY), Norfolk (VA), Newark (NJ), Newport News (VA), Mobile (AL) and Montreal, Canada (while in Montreal he met Elizabeth Riddell, whom he married in October 1948. They had four sons during their 13-year marriage). He finally reached his goal, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, in May 1949, but after just five weeks and one at-bat, he returned to Montreal. After a brief stint with the Chicago Cubs in 1951, during which he hit two home runs, Connors wound up with the Cubs' Triple-A farm team, the L.A. Angels, in 1952.
A baseball fan who was also a casting director for MGM spotted Connors and recommended him for a part in the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn comedy Pat and Mike (1952). Originally cast to play a prizefighter, but that role went instead to Aldo Ray. Connors was cast as a captain in the state police. He now abandoned his athletic hopes and devoted full time to his acting career, which often emphasized his muscular 6'6" physique.
During the next several years Connors made 20 movies, culminating in a key role in William Wyler's 1958 western The Big Country (1958). Also appearing in many television series, he finally hit the big time in 1958 with The Rifleman (1958), which began its highly successful five-year run on ABC. Other television series followed, as did a number of movies which, though mostly minor, allowed Connors to display his range as both a stalwart "good guy" and a menacing "heavy".
Connors died at age 71 of lung cancer and pneumonia on November 10, 1992 in Los Angeles, California. He is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery with his tombstone carrying a photo of Connors as Lucas McCain in "The Rifleman" as well as logos from the three professional sports teams he played for: the Dodgers, Cubs and Celtics.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Stevens was born on 26 May 1893 in Solomonsville, Arizona, USA. He was an actor and assistant director, known for The Three Musketeers (1921), The Americano (1916) and Ebb Tide (1937). He was married to Lila Ethel Berry. He died on 22 August 1964 in Hollywood, California, USA.1964, 71 years old.
1961, Sub-Chief, Incident of the Boomerang (1961).
1961, 3 westerns.
1893 - 1964, 71.- Guy Wilkerson was born on 21 December 1899 in Whitewright, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fugitive (1963), Captain Midnight (1942) and Return of the Rangers (1943). He died on 15 July 1971 in Hollywood, California, USA.1971, 71 years old.
1971, Milt Jarvis, A Deck of Aces (1971)
1970, There Was a Crooked Man... (1970).
1970, Monte Walsh (1970). - Born in the upstate New York town of Horseheads in 1878, William Desmond began his show business career in vaudeville and on the stage. He had his own theatrical company by the time he made his film debut in Kilmeny (1915). Starting out in dramatic parts, Desmond soon switched to westerns and action serials, and became a major western star. When the sound era began Desmond was almost 50 years old, and was soon relegated to supporting roles. He continued making films into the 1940s.
- Duke Fishman was born on 15 July 1906 in Manila, Philippines. He was an actor, known for The Doris Day Show (1968). He died on 22 December 1977 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Jay C. Flippen could probably be characterized these days as one of those craggy, distinctive faces you know but whose name escapes you while viewing scores of old 1950s and 1960s films and television series. Playing both sides of the law throughout his career, his huge cranium, distinctive bulldog mug, beetle brows, bulky features, usually scowling countenance, and silver-white hair were ideally suited for roles as criminals and rugged adventurers, while his background as a standup comedian in burlesque, vaudeville and minstrel shows.
He was born John Constantine Flippen on March 6, 1899, in Little Rock, Arkansas. His father, John (a bookkeeper), died in 1908. Flippen's older sister, Era, died a year later (in 1909). His mother, Emma L. Flippen (née Pack), earned an income as a dance and theatre instructor. His maternal grandmother, Mary Pack, lived with the family. Picking up on his mother's artistic interests, Flippen joined the Al G. Field Minstrels at age 16. He was discovered by African-American star comedian Bert Williams in the 1920s, and was Williams' Broadway black face understudy and tour replacement for the 1920 musical revue "Broadway Brevities". Between 1924-29, he recorded scores of songs for Pathé Columbia, Perfect, and Brunswick Records. A veteran radio announcer for Yankee baseball games, Flippen was a lifelong baseball fan who forged friendships with several major league baseball stars. He also appeared on Broadway throughout the mid-1920s (and after), including "June Days" (1925), "Hello, Lola" (1926), "The Great Temptation" (1926), "Padlocks of 1927" (1927), "Second Little Show" (1930), the musical "Hellzapoppin'" (1941), and "Take a Bow" (1944).
Flippen made his film debut in the short The Ham What Am (1928), which captured a vaudeville performance, followed by a few other early 1930's shorts. He didn't move strongly into feature films until post-World War II where he could be counted on to provide his patented gruff and bluster in primarily war stories, film noir, and westerns whether playing a sheriff, farmer, cop, prison warden, military high-ranker or bartender. After playing Hodges, a guard, in Brute Force (1947), he appeared in such other crime yarns as Intrigue (1947), They Live by Night (1948), A Woman's Secret (1949), The Las Vegas Story (1952), The Wild One (1953), The Killing (1956), The Midnight Story (1957), Studs Lonigan (1960) and, The Seven Minutes (1971). His also dominated in such westerns as The Lady from Texas (1951), Devil's Canyon (1953), Man Without a Star (1955), Oklahoma! (1955) (as Ike Skidmore), The Restless Breed (1957), Run of the Arrow (1957), The Deerslayer (1957), From Hell to Texas (1958), and The Plunderers (1960).
Flippen supported many a top Hollywood male star during his four-decade film career. His atmospheric characters notably supported James Stewart in several of his top-notch vehicles, including Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), Thunder Bay (1953), The Far Country (1954), Strategic Air Command (1955), The Restless Breed (1957), Night Passage (1957), and Firecreek (1968). He was a regular player on 1960s television as well, including Bonanza (1959), The Untouchables (1959), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Route 66 (1960), Burke's Law (1963), Gunsmoke (1955), Rawhide (1959), That Girl (1966), and The Name of the Game (1968). He also co-starred as an Chief Petty Officer in Ensign O'Toole (1962).
In later years, Flippen was dogged by illness. While filming his sheriff role in the classic comedy western Cat Ballou (1965), he had to have his leg amputated after a minor scrape, probably aggravated by diabetes, turned into a severe infection. He continued his career often in a wheelchair. His latest television roles were on episodes of The Virginian (1962), Here Come the Brides (1968), and Ironside (1967).1971, 71 years old.
1971, Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster? (1971).
51 westerns, 22 features, 50-71.
1899 - 1971, 71.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Benson Fong was born on 10 October 1916 in Sacramento, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Shanghai Cobra (1945) and The Scarlet Clue (1945). He was married to Maylia. He died on 1 August 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- 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
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Thomas Mitchell was one of the great American character actors, whose credits read like a list of the greatest American films of the 20th century: Lost Horizon (1937); Stagecoach (1939); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); Gone with the Wind (1939); It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and High Noon (1952). His portrayals are so diverse and convincing that most people don't even realize that one actor could have played them all. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1940 for his role as the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
New York-born Irving Cummings began his career as an actor on the Broadway stage in his late teens, and appeared with the legendary Lillian Russell's company. He entered films in 1909 as an actor, and became a very popular leading man in the early 1920s. He began directing at around that time, turning out mostly action films and an occasional comedy, but he really came into his own in the 1930s at 20th Century-Fox. Cummings specialized in the big, splashy Technicolor musicals for which Fox became known, and was responsible for many of Betty Grable's, Alice Faye's and Shirley Temple's most enjoyable films.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Earle Hodgins was born on 6 October 1893 in Payson, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Oregon Trail (1945), The Sagebrush Family Trails West (1940) and Heroes of the Alamo (1937). He was married to Elizabeth Birss Ogilvie and Sue Henley. He died on 14 April 1964 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- James A. Marcus was born on 21 January 1867 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Sadie Thompson (1928), The Eagle (1925) and Oliver Twist (1922). He was married to Lillian Hathaway. He died on 15 October 1937 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
The youngest of three sons, he was born in Norfolk, Ontario, Canada and was educated at McGill University then In 1904 he moved to New York where he appeared in a number of plays on Broadway including The Blue Grass Handicap, The Superstition of Sue and successful The Chorus Lady after which he was invited by D.W. Griffith to join Biograph Studios where he made his film debut in The Greaser's Gauntlet (1908) followed by some 50 other films. Then, in 1910, he wrote his first film script, Sunshine Sue (1910), which was followed by many more. In 1912, he turned to directing with An Outcast Among Outcasts (1912) with a further 40 or so in the next 20 years. Acting wasn't neglected, with his appearing in Griffith's classic Intolerance (1916). Mack Sennett hired him to direct and star in a number of films at his Keystone Studios. He made the successful transition from silents to sound and frequently returned to his roots on Broadway. He married twice, first to actress Alice Louise Perine in October 1898 and had two children After their divorce and while working at Biograph Studios, he met and married actress/screenwriter Bess Meredyth (1890-1969) with whom he had a son.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
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.1949, 69 years old.
1949, The Wyoming Bandit (1949).
1949, Stampede (1949).
1949, The Younger Brothers (1949).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Born in New York City to a Judge of Special Sessions who was also president of a sewing machine company. Grew up on City Island, New York. Attended Hamilton Military Academy and turned down an appointment to West Point to attend New York Law School, where his law school classmates included future New York City mayor James J. Walker. After a boating accident which led to pneumonia, Carey wrote a play while recuperating and toured the country in it for three years, earning a great deal of money, all of which evaporated after his next play was a failure. In 1911, his friend Henry B. Walthall introduced him to director D.W. Griffith, for whom Carey was to make many films. Carey married twice, the second time to actress Olive Fuller Golden (aka Olive Carey, who introduced him to future director John Ford. Carey influenced Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle to use Ford as a director, and a partnership was born that lasted until a rift in the friendship in 1921. During this time, Carey grew into one of the most popular Western stars of the early motion picture, occasionally writing and directing films as well. In the '30s he moved slowly into character roles and was nominated for an Oscar for one of them, the President of the Senate in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He worked once more with Ford, in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936), and appeared once with his son, Harry Carey Jr., in Howard Hawks's Red River (1948). He died after a protracted bout with emphysema and cancer. Ford dedicated his remake of 3 Godfathers (1948) "To Harry Carey--Bright Star Of The Early Western Sky."- Clarence Geldert was born on 9 June 1865 in New Brunswick, Canada. He was an actor and director, known for A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923), Jungle Bride (1933) and Wasted Lives (1923). He died on 13 May 1935 in Calabasas, California, USA.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Tex Ritter was born on 12 January 1905 in Murvaul, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Song of the Gringo (1936), High Noon (1952) and Varsity Blues (1999). He was married to Dorothy Fay. He died on 2 January 1974 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of those familiar character actors who seems to have been born old, Will Wright specialized in playing crusty old codgers, rich skinflints,crooked small-town politicians and the like. A former newspaper reporter in San Francisco, he switched careers and entered vaudeville, then took to the stage. He ventured from acting to producing, and staged shows on Broadway as well as other cities, eventually making his way to Hollywood. He appeared in over 100 films and did much TV work, including a recurring role on The Andy Griffith Show (1960). Although his hunched-over figure, craggy face and somewhat sour disposition made it seem like he started out his 20+-year career as an old man, he was actually only 68 when he died of cancer in Hollywood in 1962.1962, 68 years old.
1962, A Bit of Glory (1962).
1962, The Mountain Girl (1962).
1962, A Grave for Cully Brown (1962).
1962, The Runaway (1962).
1962, The Troubled Heir (1962).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Victor Potel was born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1889. His first film was in 1910, for Essanay Film Manufacturing Company in Chicago. Potel worked for Essanay in most of the Broncho Billy series, as well as playing a character called "Slippery Slim" in almost 80 movies as well as Universal Pictures' "Snakeville" series. He moved to Universal in 1928 to make Melody of Love (1928) and worked steadily, playing small and sometimes uncredited bit parts, primarily comic roles due to his height and awkward look. Potel also wrote and directed. In 1935 he provided continuity and dialogue for several films. He became part of Preston Sturges' stock of character actors, appearing in nine films written and directed by Sturges. Potel work until his death on 8 March 1947, just after finishing playing "Barfly" in Relentless (1948).1949, 68 years old.
1948, Relentless (1948).
1947, Burch Nellice, Ramrod (1947).
1889 - 1947, 57.
174 westerns.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Hollywood stalwart Bruce Cabot's main claim to fame, other than rescuing Fay Wray from King Kong (1933), is that he tested for the lead role of The Ringo Kid in John Ford's Western masterpiece Stagecoach (1939). John Wayne got the role and became the most durable star in Hollywood history, while Cabot (eventually) found himself a new drinking partner when the two co-starred in Angel and the Badman (1947). In the latter stages of his career, Cabot could rely on Wayne for a supporting part in one of the Duke's movies.
It wasn't always so. In the 1930s Cabot's star shone bright. He was born with the unlikely name Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad, New Mexico, the son of French Col. Etienne de Bujac and Julia Armandine Graves, who died shortly after giving birth to the future Bruce Cabot. After leaving the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, the future thespian hit the road, working a wide variety of jobs including sailor and insurance salesman, and doing a stint in a knacker's yard. In 1931 he wound up in Hollywood and appeared in several films in bit parts.
The young Monsieur de Bujac met David O. Selznick, then RKO's central producer (a job akin to Irving Thalberg's at MGM), at a Hollywood party, which led to an uncredited bit part as a dancer in Lady with a Past (1932) and a supporting role in The Roadhouse Murder (1932). On a parallel career track at the time, Marion Morrison (John Wayne) had failed to follow up on his audacious debut in Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail (1930) (the Duke had appeared in 18 movies previously but had only been billed in one, as "Duke Morrison" in the unlikely John Wayne vehicle Words and Music (1929)). Cabot and Wayne eventually appeared in 11 films together.
Although Cabot was prominently featured in the blockbuster "King Kong" in 1933, he never did make the step to stardom, though he enjoyed a thriving career as a supporting player. He was a heavy in the 1930s, playing a gangster boss in Let 'em Have It (1935) and the revenge-minded Native American brave Magua after Randolph Scott's scalp in The Last of the Mohicans (1936); over at MGM, he ably supported Spencer Tracy as the instigator of a lynch mob in Fritz Lang's indictment of domestic fascism, Fury (1936). A freelancer, he appeared in movies at many studios before leaving Hollywood for military service. Cabot worked for Army intelligence overseas during World War II; after the war, he continued to work steadily, with and without his friend and frequent co-star, the Duke.
Bruce Cabot died in 1972 of lung and throat cancer. He was 68 years old.- Russell Collins was born on 11 October 1897 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Enemy Below (1957), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and Fail Safe (1964). He died on 14 November 1965 in West Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Robert McKenzie was born on 22 September 1880 in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland [now Ballymena District, Northern Ireland], UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Beginner's Luck (1935), The White Outlaw (1929) and A Naughty Nurse (1928). He was married to Eva McKenzie. He died on 8 July 1949 in Manunuck, Rhode Island, USA.1949, 68 years old.
1946, Duel in the Sun (1946).
1946, 3 westerns.
1880 - 1949, 68. Ireland. USA.
161 westerns.- Herman Hack was born on 15 June 1899 in Panola, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Arizona Trails (1935), The Tia Juana Kid (1935) and Range Riders (1934). He was married to Signe Hack. He died on 19 October 1967 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.1967, 68 years old.
1966, 12 westerns,
To Kill a Buffalo (1966)
Wishbone (1966).
A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966).
The Rare Breed (1966).
Waco (1966).
1061 westerns, 630 features, 31-66. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Forrest Tucker, best known to the Baby Boom generation as Sergeant O'Rourke on the classic TV sitcom F Troop (1965), was born on February 12, 1919, in Plainfield, Indiana. He began his performing career at age 14 at the 1933 Chicago "Century of Progress" World's Fair, pushing big wicker tourists' chairs by day and singing at night. His family moved to Arlington, Virginia, where he attended Washington-Lee High School in 1938.
Big for his age, as a youth Tucker was hired by the Old Gayety Burlesque Theater in Washington, DC, to serve as a Master of Ceremonies for the burly-cue after consecutively winning Saturday night amateur contests. He was fired when it was found out that he was underage. When he turned 18, he was rehired by the Old Gayety.
After graduating from high school in 1938, the 6'4", 200-lb. Tucker played semi-pro football in the Washington, DC, area. He also enlisted in the National Guard and was assigned to a cavalry unit in Ft. Myers, Virginia. He started at the top when he entered the movies, in a supporting role in William Wyler's The Westerner (1940) opposite Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan, who won his third Oscar for portraying Judge Roy Bean in the picture. He got the role during his 1939 vacation from the Old Gayety, which shut down due to the District of Columbia's horrible summers in the days before air conditioning was common.He was signed to the part in the Wyler picture, which required a big fellow with enough presence for a fight scene with the 6'3" superstar Cooper.
Tucker moved to California and began auditioning for parts in films. After "The Westerner", it was off to Poverty Row, where he appeared in William Beaudine's Emergency Landing (1941) at rock-bottom PRC (Producers Releasing Corp.). He was soon signed by Columbia and assigned to the B-pictures unit, though he was lent to MGM for the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn vehicle Keeper of the Flame (1942), his last film before going off to World War II.
Tucker served as an enlisted man in the Army during the war, being discharged as a second lieutenant in 1945. He returned to Columbia and resumed his acting career with an appearance in the classic film The Yearling (1946). He signed with Republic Pictures in 1948, which brought him one of his greatest roles, that of the Marine corporal bearing a grudge against gung-ho sergeant John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). At Republic Tucker was top-billed in many of the "B' pictures in the action and western genres the studio was famous for, such as Rock Island Trail (1950), California Passage (1950) and Ride the Man Down (1952), among many others. In 1958 he broke out of action / western pictures and played Beauregard Burnside to Rosalind Russell's Auntie Mame (1958), the highest grossing US film of the year. It showed that Tucker was capable of performing in light comedy.
Morton DaCosta, his director on "Auntie Mame", cast Tucker as "Professor" Harold Hill in the national touring production of The Music Man (1962), and he was a more than credible substitute for the great Broadway star Robert Preston, who originated the role. Tucker made 2,008 appearances in The Music Man over the next five years, then starred in "Fair Game for Lovers" on Broadway in 1964.
However, it was television that provided Tucker with his most famous role: scheming cavalry sergeant Morgan O'Rourke in "F Troop", which ran from 1965 to 1967 on ABC. Ably supported by Larry Storch, Ken Berry and James Hampton, Tucker showed a flair for comedy and he and Storch had great chemistry, but the series was canceled after only two seasons. It has, however, remained in syndication ever since.
Following "F Troop", Tucker returned to films in supporting parts (having a good turn as the villain in the John Wayne western Chisum (1970)) and character leads (The Wild McCullochs (1975)). On television he was a regular on three series: Dusty's Trail (1973) with Bob Denver; The Ghost Busters (1975), which reunited him with Larry Storch; and Filthy Rich (1982). Tucker was also a frequent guest star on TV, with many appearances on Gunsmoke (1955) and in the recurring role of Jarvis Castleberry, Flo's estranged father, on Alice (1976) and its spin-off, Flo (1980). He continued to be active on stage as well, starring in the national productions of Plaza Suite (1971), Show Boat (1936), and That Championship Season (1982). He also toured with Roy Radin's Vaudeville Revue, a variety show in which, as a headliner, he told Irish stories and jokes and sang Irish songs.
Tucker returned to the big screen after an absence of several years in 1986, playing hero trucker Charlie Morrison in the action film Thunder Run (1985). His comeback to features was short-lived, however, as he died on October 25, 1986, in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, of complications from lung cancer and emphysema. He was 67 years old. Tucker was buried in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.- Kernan Cripps was born on 8 July 1886 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for Federal Operator 99 (1945), Those Who Dance (1930) and Alibi (1929). He died on 12 August 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Robert Burton was born on 13 August 1895 in Eastman, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for The Big Heat (1953), The Twilight Zone (1959) and The Slime People (1963). He was married to Marguerite Garrett. He died on 29 September 1962 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.1962, 67 years old.
1962, Doc Burrage, The Princess (1962).
1962, 5 westerns.
95 westerns, 16 features, 52-62. - Jim Farley was born on 8 January 1882 in Waldron, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The General (1926), Captain January (1936) and The Devil Within (1921). He died on 12 October 1947 in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- William McCall was born on 19 May 1870 in Delavan, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Fighting Fate (1921), The Little Minister (1922) and Across the Border (1922). He was married to Catherine Schomer. He died on 10 January 1938 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Law, Morris Ankrum was an attorney and an economics professor before switching careers and joining the theater. He was a veteran stage actor by the time he entered the film industry in the 1930s. His film career spanned 1933-64, during which time he played in 279 films and TV shows. Ankrum spent much time in westerns, playing everything from Indian chiefs to crooked bankers. Among his best remembered parts are his numerous villainous roles in Paramount's highly popular Hopalong Cassidy film series. The Hoppy films in which he appears include North of the Rio Grande (1937), Hills of Old Wyoming (1937), Pirates on Horseback (1941), Three Men from Texas (1940), Borderland (1937), and Hopalong Cassidy Returns (1936), among others.
He was cast in many other films throughout the '30s, '40s, and '50s, varying from small appearances to co-starring roles. He can be seen in low-budget "B" pictures and big-budget blockbusters alike. It was in the 1950s, though, that he hit his stride in the science-fiction genre, where his gruff, no-nonsense demeanor and authoritative voice perfectly fit the role of the military officer helping scientists fight off outer-space menaces, most memorably as Col. Fielding in the classic Invaders from Mars (1953).
Later in his career he did much TV work, in such series as Bonanza (1959), The Rifleman (1958), Rawhide (1959), Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1955), Maverick (1957), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Sea Hunt (1958), and over a dozen more. At the end of his career from 1957-64, he had a recurring role as a judge in 22 episodes on the Perry Mason (1957) TV series.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Roscoe Ates was born on 20 January 1895 in Grange, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Freaks (1932), The Great Lover (1931) and Tumbleweed Trail (1946). He was married to Beatrice Heisser, Barbara Ray and Clara C. Adrian. He died on 1 March 1962 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Roderic (Rodd) Redwing claimed to be a Chickasaw Indian, although recent data raises questions about his heritage. He was born on August 24, 1904 in New York City, New York, USA. His father, Ulysses Redwing, was a stage actor. He traveled with his family to England and attended London's Westminster Grammar School while they toured with a circus. His mother left the Chickasaw reservation in Oklahoma to study hair styling in New York City. She and her four sisters built up a chain of twenty-two beauty parlors from New York City to Miami. When they returned to New York he attended Herron High School in Hell's Kitchen, then graduated from New York University. He was a gifted athlete, excelling in football at both levels.
Redwing had stage credits in the 1920's on Broadway, i.e., "Bad Man" with Holbrook Blynn and "Queen of Sheba with Greta Wilson. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant. All during his acting, stunt double, and technical advisor years to the movie and television industries he was a gunsmith with Stembridge Gun Rentals, the largest and best known firearms rental company in Hollywood. Realistic shooting scenes were pioneered by Redwing. He first showed the violent impact of a .45 Colt cartridge. While filming Shane (1953), Redwing attached wires to a chest harness worn by Elisha Cook Jr., jerking him violently backward when he was shot down in the street by Jack Palance. He is known for his work on The Ten Commandments (1956), The Mole People (1956), and Shalako (1968). He had a publicity appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the late 1950's as part of the first Los Angeles Dodgers baseball season. In 1961 he required abdominal surgery and half of his stomach was removed.
In 1959 he married German-born Ericka Rosa (Nicki) Wagner. He was only married once. His mother died on the Cherokee Reservation in Oklahoma, USA in 1953. He died on May 30, 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA as he was returning from Spain to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). After being stricken with a heart attack in flight he succumbed thirty-five minutes later.- Robert McWade was born on 25 January 1872 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Kennel Murder Case (1933), The Dragon Murder Case (1934) and Anything Goes (1936). He was married to Almina Lee. He died on 19 January 1938 in Culver City, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Kentucky-born Tom Powers signed with Vitagraph Pictures at 21 years of age, in 1911. He stayed there for two years, then shortly thereafter traveled to England, appearing there in both stage productions and films. When he returned to the US he made a few more pictures, but stopped making movies in 1917 and concentrated exclusively on stage work. He didn't appear onscreen again until 1944, when he acceded to Billy Wilder's request to play Mr. Dietrichson, Barbara Stanwyck's doomed husband, in Double Indemnity (1944). He made up for lost time over the next 12 years, appearing in dozens of pictures--often as a detective, army officer, District Attorney or other authority figure--until 1955, when he died of heart failure in November of that year (his last film, The Go-Getter (1956), was released after his death).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Frank Albertson entered the film industry in 1922 as a prop boy, but soon graduated into acting. He was a prolific and reliable character actor who occasionally played the lead in a "B" picture, but was used mainly as a supporting actor in scores of films, often cast as a wisecracking cab driver, a cop or a reporter.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Achieving both film and TV notice during his lengthy career, this diminutive Asian-American character was born Victor Cheung Young on October 18, 1915 in San Francisco to Chinese emigrants. When his mother died during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, his father placed Victor and his sister in a children's shelter and returned to China, returning to the USA in the mid-1920s, having remarried. The two children were released back to his guardianship, and began learning Chinese. To contribute to the family income, young Sen Yew was employed as a houseboy at age 11 and managed to earn his way through college at the University of California at Berkeley with an interest in animal husbandry and receiving a degree in economics.
Following a move to Hollywood for some post graduate work at UCLA and USC, Victor gained an entrance into films via extra work, where he was in such roles as a peasant boy in The Good Earth (1937), and a soldier in Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), among others. During this early period he also worked as a salesman for a chemical firm. In one of Hollywood's more interesting tales of being "discovered", the story goes that Victor (as he would become known) was on the 20th Century-Fox studio lot at the time trying to pitch one of his company's flame retardant compounds to industry techies when one of them suggested he check out casting. The original actor who had played Charlie Chan, Warner Oland, died and the series was undergoing a major casting overhaul. In the end, Sidney Toler, received cast approval, chose the fledgling actor following a screen test to play his #2 son, Jimmy Chan, for the film Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938). Victor went on to play the role for seventeen other "Charlie Chan" features. Needless, to say he quit the sales business for good.
Victor enjoyed playing Jimmy, the earnest rookie detective who, to his chagrin, was always under the watchful eye of his famous father while trying to help solve murder cases. Outside the role, however, Victor (billed variously as Sen Yung, Victor Yung, and Victor Sen Yung at different times) found the atmosphere oppressive. Usually cast in nothing-special Asian stereotypes, sometimes villainous, in war-era films, parts in such movies as The Letter (1940) starring Bette Davis, Secret Agent of Japan (1942), Little Tokyo, U.S.A. (1942), Moontide (1942), Across the Pacific (1942), Manila Calling (1942), China (1943) and Night Plane from Chungking (1943), did little to advance his stature in Hollywood. His career was interrupted for U.S. Air Force duty as a Captain of Intelligence during WWII. His part in the Chan pictures was taken over by actor Benson Fong.
Victor was able to pick up where he left off in Hollywood following the war and returned to his famous role as #2 son. The character's name, however, was eventually changed from "Jimmy" to "Tommy" after a third installment of Charlie Chan pictures were filmed with Roland Winters now the title sleuth after the death of Toler in 1947. While Victor's workload was fairly steady, again the roles themselves were meager and hardly inspiring. Most were in "B" level crime mysteries and war pictures and many were uncredited roles. Reduced often to playing middle-age servile roles (houseboys, laundrymen, valets, clerks, dock workers and waiters), some of his slightly more prominent roles include those in Woman on the Run (1950), Forbidden (1953), Target Hong Kong (1953), and Trader Tom of the China Seas (1954). His last film appearance was in The Man with Bogart's Face (1980).
On TV, he appeared in two familiar recurring roles. On the John Forsythe series, Bachelor Father (1957), he showed up as "Peter Fong" on the final season of the sitcom. He played the cousin to houseboy Sammee Tong's regular character. Victor is better remembered, however, for the part of Hop Sing, the earnest, volatile cook to the Cartwright clan, provided sporadic comic relief on Bonanza (1959). He also appeared in the TV pilot and in several episodes of Kung Fu (1972), as well as popping up in dramatic episodes of Hawaiian Eye (1959), The F.B.I. (1965). and Hawaii Five-O (1968). Sitcoms gave a hint of his gentle, humorous side in Here's Lucy (1968), Get Smart (1965) and Mister Ed (1961).
Married and divorced with one child, he sought work outside of acting by the mid-1970s. At one point he was giving cooking demonstrations in department stores. An accomplished chef who specialized in Cantonese-style cooking, in 1974, he published the 1974 Great Wok Cookbook and dedicated the book to his father, Sen Gam Yung.
Victor Sen Yung was working on a second cookbook when he was suddenly found dead in November of 1980 under initially "mysterious circumstances" in his modest San Fernando Valley bungalow. Following an investigation it was determined that Victor was accidentally asphyxiated in his sleep after turning on a faulty kitchen stove for heat. He was survived by his son, Brent Kee Young, and two grandchildren.- Production Manager
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gaston Glass was born on 31 December 1899 in Paris, France. He was a production manager and actor, known for Cameron of the Royal Mounted (1921), The Call of the Klondike (1926) and Behind Closed Doors (1929). He was married to Bo Peep Karlin. He died on 11 November 1965 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Leo White started in comedy on the boards of English music hall in the late 1890's. He accompanied theatrical producer Daniel Frohman (later a partner of Adolph Zukor in Famous Players Lasky) to Hollywood in 1910. From 1914, he appeared in Essanay comedies and filmed the 'Sweedie' series with Wallace Beery. He then became a regular supporting player in Charles Chaplin's films at Essanay and, later Mutual, playing dapper, moustachioed continental (particularly French) villains and pompous aristocrats. That image remained with him, as he was contracted by Essanay to play the comic foil to their new French star comedian Max Linder.
White's major dramatic film credits of the silent period included Blood and Sand (1922) with Rudolph Valentino and the biblical epic Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). He successfully made the transition to talking pictures and had supporting roles in two Marx Brothers comedies, Monkey Business (1931) and the classic A Night at the Opera (1935), as well as playing a barber in Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). In the years just prior to his death, he worked as an extra in several films for Warner Brothers.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Gangly and rugged stage and screen character star Otto Hoffman was born in New York in 1879. Began as a stage performer in the 1890's. Made his movie debut under the direction of Stuart Paton in The White Terror (1915) starring Hobart Henley for the IMP Film Company. Otto directed only one film, The Secret of Black Mountain (1917) made in 1917 starring Vola Vale, afterwards he just concentrated on acting he was much better at it. He most often played cadaverous, crafty, menacing characters in more than 200 movies, such as The Kaiser's Shadow (1918), The Eagle (1925), The Valley of the Giants (1927), The Terror (1928), and Noah's Ark (1928). His ethnic range in many talkies include The Desert Song (1929), Abraham Lincoln (1930), Cimarron (1931), Eddie Cantor's Kid Millions (1934), Girl Loves Boy (1937), W.C. Fields' My Little Chickadee (1940), and his last film just before he died was as Oscar in This Is the Life (1944). Married Laura King and has a daughter Eugenie Hoffman.- Paul Kruger was born on 24 July 1895 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor, known for The Heart of Maryland (1927), Canon City (1948) and Hello, Everybody! (1933). He died on 6 November 1960 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.1960, 65 years old.
1960, Rancher, The Protectors (1960).
1960, Cimarron (1960).
1960, The Plunderers (1960).
1960, Hang the Men High (1960).
1960, Keys to Trouble (1960).
1960, The Lariat (1960).
1960, Riot at Arroyo Seco (1960).
1960, No Bridge on the River (1960).
61 westerns, 36 features, 31-60. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Respected character actor of the silent and early sound period, specializing in cruel villains. The son of Kansas City policeman Noah Webster Beery and Frances Margaret Fitzgerald Beery, Noah Nicholas Beery and his younger brother Wallace Beery both left home in their teens, each seeking a career as a performer. Noah made his stage debut at the age of 16 and worked steadily in the theatre until his early 30s. Following his brother into films, he quickly established himself as a competent player and a familiar heavy in all sorts of films, particularly westerns. He never achieved the great fame of his younger brother, but succeeded in carving a memorable niche for himself in the history of film. His son Noah Beery Jr. became equally familiar as a character actor, though usually in more genial roles.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Sailor Vincent was born on 24 October 1901 in Dracut, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man I Love (1929), Woman Trap (1929) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He died on 12 July 1966 in Toluca Lake, California, USA.1966, 64 years old.
1966-1967, 20 western credits.
1967, Red Tomahawk (1967)
1966, Waco (1966).
1966, The Fighters (1966).
1966, Go for Broke (1966).
1966, Harvest (1966).
1964, Advance to the Rear (1964). Last stunt work.- 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.1962, 63 years old.
1961, Ed McBain -Gunrunner, The Comancheros (1961).
1960, Five Bold Women (1960). Credited.
149 westerns, 19-61.- Steve Clark was born on 26 February 1891 in Davis County, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Durango Valley Raiders (1938), Haunted Ranch (1943) and Saddle Mountain Roundup (1941). He was married to Emily Margaret Clark and Ruth. He died on 29 June 1954 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA.1954, 63 years old.
1954,
Sky Sign (1954).
Silent Testimony (1954).
Marriage by Mail (1954).
314 westerns, 270 features, 33-54. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Albert Salmi was born on March 11, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish parents. After serving in the Army during WWII, he used the GI Bill to study at the Dramatic Workshop of the American Theater Wing and the prestigious Actors Studio. He became a stage actor, very soon landing on Broadway, where his role as Bo Decker in "Bus Stop" was his biggest stage success. A compromise between the stage and screen was live TV drama, in which he was cast regularly. His portrayal of Bruce Pearson in the The United States Steel Hour (1953)'s live 1956 broadcast of "Bang the Drum Slowly" was heart-tuggingly poignant. Salmi's very first film appearance was a choice role in The Brothers Karamazov (1958), for which he turned down an Oscar nomination. The National Board of Review succeeded in presenting him with its award for the same picture, however. Salmi came to enjoy film work and actively sought out parts in westerns. He became a very familiar presence, especially on the TV screen, where he guest starred in many of the westerns and other series of the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1967 he was presented with the Western Heritage (Wrangler) Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his role in the Gunsmoke (1955) episode entitled "Death Watch". This bronze cowboy on horseback became his most cherished award. Salmi demonstrated his versatility, however, as years went on. Tall, brawny and sometimes quite intimidating, he was often cast as the bad guy or the authority figure. He was equally convincing, though, as a wronged or misunderstood good guy or a good-natured sidekick. A method actor, Salmi had the ability to make you love or hate his character.
He was, in real life, quite different from most of the characters he played. A quiet-natured family man, he was an oddity by glitzy Hollywood standards. Many of his friends and co-stars have commented on his sense of humor and his lack of pretense. In semi-retirement, he shared his knowledge of theatre by teaching drama classes in Spokane, Washington, where he and his wife settled.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Prolific western utility player, in Hollywood from 1932. Noticeable for his dusky looks, hypnotic stare and crocodilian smile, Price was perhaps one of the busier small-part actors of the period, as attested by the fact, that -- in 1939 alone -- he worked for 52 weeks and earned $2700. He served in the military during the latter stages of World War I and thereafter acted on stage in the Midwest. Except for a part in a failed 1929 Broadway play, he did not make much of a splash on the Great White Way but apparently also sidelined as a playwright. From the early 30's, he was seldom out of film work, amassing numerous credits as nervous or craven second-string henchmen, Mexican bandidos, maniacal killers, gamblers, barflys and even the odd lawman in westerns. He was especially active for Republic and Monogram, supporting popular sagebrush heroes Johnny Mack Brown, William Boyd, Tex Ritter, Bob Steele and Charles Starrett. Price made occasional appearances in crime and science fiction serials. He received his most prominent billing (fourth) as 'the Phantom Ruler' in Republic's The Invisible Monster (1950). Price was known for his distinctively well-intoned, quiet delivery. Not surprisingly, then, that he was employed by Lippert Productions as a dialogue coach/director towards the latter stages of his career, from 1948 to 1955.1955, 62 years old.
1955, Kentucky Rifle (1955).
1955, First Posse (1955).
1956, Perils of the Wilderness (1956).