- Born
- Died
- Birth nameBernard Wasdon Mattox
- Nickname
- Barnyard
- Height6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
- Gregory Walcott grew up in North Carolina and went into the Army just after the end of World War II. After leaving the service, he grew restless on the East Coast and, with $100 in his pocket, thumbed his way west to pursue an acting career. An agent who spotted him in a little theater play helped Walcott land his debut movie role in Red Skies of Montana (1952). Two years later, on the strength of his performance as a drill instructor in the Marine Corps movie Battle Cry (1955), he was placed under contract at Warner Brothers. He co-starred (as a drill instructor again) in another Marine Corps story, The Outsider (1961), which earned him a Universal contract and his own TV series, 87th Precinct (1961) (1961-62) with Robert Lansing.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
- Square jawed, tall and handsome Gregory Walcott was born "Bernard Mattox" in Wendell, North Carolina on January 13th 1928 and he was kept perpetually busy throughout the 1950s and 1960s guest starring in dozens of TV shows, usually westerns such as Cheyenne (1955), Zane Grey Theatre (1956), Wagon Train (1957) and Rawhide (1959) that took advantage of his clean cut looks and broad shouldered physique.
Walcott was also seen in feature films such as Mister Roberts (1955), Badman's Country (1958), the woeful Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) and Prime Cut (1972). Interestingly, in the 1970's he turned up in beefier roles in a string of Clint Eastwood films, usually getting on the wrong side of the the taciturn Eastwood. Walcott was an inept Western sheriff in Joe Kidd (1972), a naive used car salesman falling prey to Jeff Bridges sob story scam in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), a wannabe assassin niggling Eastwood in The Eiger Sanction (1975) and a pompous police officer on the receiving end of Eastwood's fast fists in Every Which Way But Loose (1978). Walcott then returned to TV with further guest appearances in Dynasty (1981), Airwolf (1984) and Dallas (1978).
Most recently Walcott was back on screen as a potential film backer in the Tim Burton ode to Hollywood's worst director, Ed Wood (1994).- IMDb Mini Biography By: firehouse44@hotmail.com
- SpouseBarbara May Watkins(October 3, 1954 - June 14, 2010) (her death, 3 children)
- During the 1970s served as a great "ham-fisted" foil to Clint Eastwood, appearing in four of Eastwood's films: The Eiger Sanction (1975), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) and Joe Kidd (1972). Usually Eastwood would pummel Walcott to a bloody pulp by the end of the picture.
- Greg was introduced to his wife Barbara at a party by Hollywood legend, Dale Evans. Greg and Barbara had been married for 55 years when Barbara passed away on June 14, 2010.
- When he met Ava Gardner, he informed her that they came from the same hometown.
- Interviewed in "It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition" by Tom Weaver (McFarland, 1996).
- [on starring in Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)] I didn't want to be remembered for that. But it's better to be remembered for something than for nothing, don't you think?
- [on playing villains] The villains always seemed to have a little more dimension, a little more color, a little more character. It's kind of fun, too.
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