Colt .45

Randolph Scott (Actor) .. Steve Farrell

Born: January 23, 1898
Died: March 02, 1987
Birthplace: Orange County, Virginia, United States

Trivia: Born Randolph Crane, this virile, weathered, prototypical cowboy star with a gallant manner and slight Southern accent enlisted for service in the U.S. Army during World War I at age 19. After returning home he got a degree in engineering, then joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse. While golfing, Scott met millionaire filmmaker Howard Hughes, who helped him enter films as a bit player. In the mid '30s he began landing better roles, both as a romantic lead and as a costar. Later he became a Western star, and from the late '40s to the '50s he starred exclusively in big-budget color Westerns (39 altogether). From 1950-53 he was one of the top ten box-office attractions. Later in the '50s he played the aging cowboy hero in a series of B-Westerns directed by Budd Boetticher for Ranown, an independent production company. He retired from the screen in the early '60s. Having invested in oil wells, real estate, and securities, he was worth between $50-$100 million.

Zachary Scott (Actor) .. Jason Brett

Born: February 24, 1914
Died: October 03, 1965

Trivia: After one year of college he dropped out and moved to England, where he acted in provincial theaters. He returned to the U.S. and worked his way up from stock to Broadway, leading to a film contract with Warners; he debuted onscreen in the ruthless title role of The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). Afterwards he was often typecast as a well-dressed, sleek cad, and in most of his later films he portrayed smooth scoundrels; occasionally, however, he played sympathetic leads. In the late '50s he quit making films, focussing instead on TV and the stage. He appeared in several films in the early '60s before dying of a brain tumor at 51. He was married to stage actress Ruth Ford.

Lloyd Bridges (Actor) .. Paul Donovan

Born: January 15, 1913
Died: March 10, 1998
Birthplace: San Leandro, California, United States

Trivia: Working from the ground up in stock companies, Lloyd Bridges was a member of the progressive Actors Lab company in the mid 1930s. He made his Broadway debut toward the end of that decade in a production of Othello. Signed by Columbia in 1941, Bridges appeared in everything the studio assigned him, from Three Stooges 2-reel comedies to such "A" pictures as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943). He began freelancing in 1945, accepting the prescient role of a deep-sea diver in 1948's 16 Fathoms Deep, among other films. The most memorable of his '50s assignments was the leading role in the cult science-fiction programmer Rocketship X-M (1950) and the part of the look-out-for-number-one deputy in High Noon (1952).Thanks to his earlier involvement in the Actors Lab and his admission at the HUAC hearings that he'd once flirted with communism, Bridges was "graylisted" during the mid-'50s, able to find work only in lesser pictures and TV shows. He was rescued by producer Ivan Tors, who cast Bridges as diver-for-hire Mike Nelson in the TV series Sea Hunt. Filmed between 1957 and 1961, Sea Hunt was the most popular syndicated program of the era, turning Bridges into a millionaire. Alas, neither of his subsequent series of the '60s, The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962) and The Loner (1965), survived their first seasons. Undaunted, Bridges continued working into the '90s, displaying a hitherto untapped flair for zany comedy in such films as Airplane! (1980), Joe vs. the Volcano (1990), and the two Hot Shots films. Bridges was the father of actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. A committed environmentalist, he was involved in several organizations including the American Oceans Campaign and Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles-based group. Bridges died of natural causes on March 10, 1998. Shortly before his passing, he had completed work on two films, Jane Austen's Mafia and Meeting Daddy; in the latter film, Bridges co-starred with his eldest son Beau.

Ruth Roman (Actor) .. Beth Donovan

Born: December 22, 1922
Died: September 06, 1999
Birthplace: Lynn, Massachusetts

Trivia: Roman studied acting at the Bishop Lee Dramatic School and worked on stage before becoming a leading lady of Hollywood films in the mid '40s. (She later moved into character roles.) The film for which she first received good reviews and critical attention was Champion (1949). She tended to play determined, strong-willed characters who are cold externally but inwardly passionate. She is best remembered for her starring role in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951) opposite Farley Granger. During the rest of the '50s she primarily appeared in routine films. She has also done much TV work, including the series The Long Hot Summer.

Ian Macdonald (Actor) .. Miller

Born: June 28, 1914

Trivia: Flint-eyed American character actor Ian MacDonald began appearing in films in 1941. The war interrupted MacDonald's screen career, but he was back at his post in 1947. Nearly always a villain on-screen, his most celebrated role was Frank Miller, the vindictive gunman who motivates the plot of High Noon (1952). Likewise memorable were his portrayals of Bo Creel in White Heat (1949) and Geronimo in Taza, Son of Cochise (1954). In films until 1959, Ian MacDonald also occasionally dabbled in screenwriting.

Chief Thundercloud (Actor) .. Walking Bear

Born: April 12, 1899
Died: November 30, 1955

Trivia: Though the "Chief" was a purely honorary title, Chief Thundercloud was indeed a Native American. Educated at the University of Arizona, Thundercloud (given name: Victor Daniels) worked at a series of manual-labor and rodeo jobs before trying his luck in Hollywood. In films from 1928 through 1952, Thundercloud is best known for creating the role of Tonto in the 1938 serial The Lone Ranger. He also played the title role in Paramount's Geronimo (1939), though he incredibly received no on-screen credit. Chief Thundercloud should not be confused with another prominent Indian actor, Chief Thunderbird, who appeared as Sitting Bull in 1936's Annie Oakley, nor with film-actor Scott T. Williams, who also billed himself as Chief Thundercloud.

Luther Crockett (Actor) .. Judge Tucker

Walter Coy (Actor) .. Carl

Born: January 01, 1912
Died: January 01, 1974

Charles Evans (Actor) .. Redrock Sheriff

Buddy Roosevelt (Actor) .. Guard

Born: June 25, 1898
Died: October 06, 1973

Trivia: American silent screen cowboy Buddy Roosevelt came to Hollywood in 1914 with the C.B. Irwin Wild West Show. Working primarily as a stunt man in William S. Hart Westerns at Triangle, Roosevelt was earning 22 dollars a week plus board when World War I took him overseas. Working his way back to Hollywood after the Armistice, Roosevelt doubled Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (1920), as well as William Desmond. Universal starred him as Kent Sanderson in the two-reeler Down in Texas (1923), but he somehow fell between the cracks at that studio, signing instead a personal contract with independent producer Lester F. Scott Jr. Scott didn't like the name Kent Sanderson and changed it to Buddy Roosevelt, in honor of former president Theodore Roosevelt. Making 25 fast-paced Westerns for Scott's Action Pictures, the former stunt man proved to be an acceptable actor who did not look the fool even with the heavy doses of comedy that Scott seemed to favor. Unfortunately, the Roosevelt budgets deteriorated as Scott brought Buffalo Bill Jr. and Wally Wales into the fold and Roosevelt bolted in January 1928, in favor of Rayart. With the veteran J.P. McGowan at the helm, Roosevelt continued to do strong work, but sound interrupted what could have been a career on the upswing. He was tested for the lead in the Fox Western In Old Arizona (1929), but a broken leg caused him to be replaced by Warner Baxter, who, of course, went on to earn an Academy Award for his role as the Cisco Kid. A chance to star in a new series reportedly went out the window when Mrs. Roosevelt, a cousin of Clark Gable, got into an argument with the producer, ex-stunt man Paul Malvern; John Wayne earned the berth instead and the rest, as they say, is history. There would be a few Western leads to come, but only for bottom-rung producers such as Jack Irwin and Victor Adamson. Roosevelt continued playing bits in Westerns through the early '60s, however; his final role -- a mere walk-on -- came in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Retiring to his hometown in Colorado, Buddy Roosevelt kept up a correspondence with Western fans from around the world.

Roydon E. Clark (Actor)

Born: April 15, 1928

Hal Taliaferro (Actor) .. Stagecoach Guard

Born: January 01, 1895
Died: January 01, 1980

Art Miles (Actor) .. Bystander

Born: February 15, 1901

Franklin Farnum (Actor)

Born: June 05, 1878
Died: July 04, 1961

Trivia: A rugged and trustworthy Western hero from Boston, silent screen cowboy Franklyn Farnum's appeal was closer to William S. Hart than Tom Mix. Farnum's road to screen stardom began in vaudeville and musical comedy. While he was not related to stage and screen stars William Farnum and Dustin Farnum, two legendary brothers who also hailed from Boston, he never really dissuaded the name association, and while he never achieved the same success as the other Farnums, it was not for lack of trying. Onscreen from around 1914, Franklyn Farnum was usually found in inexpensive Westerns and reached a plateau as the star of the 1920 serial The Vanishing Trails and a series of oaters produced independently by "Colonel" William N. Selig, formerly of the company that bore his name. In 1918, Farnum received quite a bit of press for marrying screen star Alma Rubens, but the union proved extremely short-lived. As busy in the 1920s as in the previous decade, Farnum made the changeover to sound smoothly enough, but he was growing older and leading roles were no longer an option. He maintained his usual hectic schedule throughout the following three decades, more often than not playing villains and doing bit parts, working well into the television Western era. For many years, Farnum was the president of the Screen Extras Guild. In 1961, Franklyn Farnum died of cancer at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA.

Barry Reagan (Actor) .. Bystander

Howard Negley (Actor) .. Townsman

Born: April 16, 1898

Trivia: American general purpose actor Howard Negley made his screen bow as Nelson in 20th Century Fox's Smokey. Negley went on to reasonably prominent character parts in such B-pictures as Charlie Chan in the Trap (1947). For the most part, he played nameless bit parts as police captains, politicians, and reporters. Howard Negley was last seen as the Twentieth Century Limited conductor in Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959).

Aurora Navarro (Actor) .. Squaw

Leo J. McMahon (Actor)

Paul 'Tiny' Newlan (Actor) .. Townsman

Born: June 29, 1903

Franklyn Farnum (Actor) .. Townsman

Born: June 05, 1878

Edward Peil Sr (Actor) .. Townsman

Born: January 18, 1882
Died: December 29, 1958

Trivia: Enjoying a screen career that began in 1908 and lasted until the early '50s, Edward Peil Sr. remains one of those faces every lover of classic Hollywood movies knows so well but just cannot quite place. A barnstormer of the old school, Peil supported legendary stage diva Helena Modjeska in road companies of such theatrical classics as The Witching Hour and Brewster's Millions. Although he had dabbled in motion picture acting as early as 1908 (probably with the Philadelphia-based Lubin company), Peil came into his own with D.W. Griffith, who cast him as Evil Eye in Broken Blossoms (1919) and Swan Way in Dream Street (1921), not exactly characterizations that will endear him to modern, more politically correct moviegoers. Peil, whose last name was often misspelled "Piel," performed more evil-doing later in the decade, although age had a mellowing effect and he increasingly began playing gentleman ranchers, the heroine's father/uncle, decent lawmen, and the like, carving out a whole new career for himself in the field of B-Westerns. According to genre expert Les Adams, Peil made a total of 104 sound Westerns and 11 serials, adding the "Sr." to his name when his namesake son dropped his previous moniker of Johnny Jones. Father and son made one film together: the 1941 aviation drama I Wanted Wings. Edward Peil Sr. died in 1958 at the age of 76.

Jack Watt (Actor) .. Posseman

Carl Andre (Actor) .. Indian

Paul Newlan (Actor)

Born: June 29, 1903
Died: November 23, 1973

Trivia: It is usually axiomatic that any actor who uses the nickname "Tiny" is anything but. Such was the case of tall, stockily built Paul "Tiny" Newlan. Born in Nebraska, Newlan began his acting career in repertory at the Garden Theater in Kansas City. After attending the University of Missouri, he played pro football and basketball, then returned to acting. In films from 1935, he signed a two-year Paramount contract in 1938, leading to dozens of tiny roles as bartenders, bouncers, stevedores, and the like. The size of his screen roles increased in the late '40s-early '50s, though Newlan didn't start landing truly important parts until he entered television. Paul Newlan is best remembered for his recurring appearances as Captain Grey on the TV cop show M-Squad (1957-1960).

Roydon Clark (Actor) .. Indian

Clyde Hudkins Jr. (Actor) .. Indian

Leroy Johnson (Actor) .. Indian

Ben Corbett (Actor) .. Henchman

Born: February 06, 1892
Died: May 19, 1961

Trivia: A diminutive, pot-bellied supporting player in B-Westerns, Ben Corbett had enjoyed some success at the famous rodeo at Pendleton, OR, and at New York's Madison Square Garden, where his roping and "Roman" riding skills reportedly won him several trophies. Entering films as a riding double for William Desmond and Antonio Moreno in Vitagraph Westerns and action melodramas in the 1910s, Corbett later became a member of Western star Hoot Gibson's stock company at Universal. That studio saw enough comedic potential in the former stunt man to team him with the equally diminutive Gilbert "Pee Wee" Holmes as Magpie and Dirtshirt in a series of rural comedy shorts set in the fictive community of Piperock. The series, which was released on Universal's "Mustang Brand" in the mid-'20s, counted among its leading ladies such future stars as Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray. In the 1930s, Corbett's character of Magpie returned in several independently produced "Bud 'n Ben" western shorts and the now veteran supporting player later became Tim McCoy's sidekick at low-budget Victory Pictures. He seems to have popped up in every other low-budget Western thereafter, usually appearing unbilled. B-Western compiler Les Adams has verified Corbett's presence in about 185 Westerns and half a dozen serials between 1930 and the actor's retirement in the early '50s, but there may actually have been many more. History, alas, has not been kind to the rustic B-Western perennial, whose arcane comedy relief, most fans of the genre agree, often seems more a hindrance than a help in keeping a plot moving.

Kansas Moehring (Actor) .. Henchman

Born: June 09, 1897
Died: November 03, 1968

Trivia: A busy presence in B-Westerns and serials from 1920-1950, Carl "Kansas" Moehring spent his first decade in films supporting his good friend Hoot Gibson in scores of that silent Western star's best vehicles for Universal. Rarely billed after the changeover to sound, Moehring (who hailed from Ohio despite his nickname) was often one of the villain's henchmen, a stage driver, or on rare occasions -- such as the 1947 Johnny Mack Brown oater Trailing Danger -- a lawman. Moehring passed away at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital.

Warren Earl Fisk (Actor) .. Henchman

Forrest R. Colee (Actor) .. Henchman

Artie Ortego (Actor) .. Henchman

Born: February 09, 1890
Died: July 24, 1960

Trivia: The husband of early Western star Mona Darkfeather, American stuntman/supporting player Art Ortego (born Arturo Ortega) played mostly Native American roles but also did his fair share of Mexican "greasers" in an amazing career that lasted from 1912-1951. Along the way, Ortego attempted to escape such typecasting by billing himself Art Ardigan. The ploy failed and he continued to play mainly villains up until his final credited film, 1951's Skipalong Rosenbloom.

Richard J. Brehm (Actor) .. Henchman

Dick Hudkins (Actor) .. Henchman

Leo McMahon (Actor) .. Henchman

Bob Burrows (Actor) .. Henchman

William Steele (Actor) .. Henchman

Born: March 28, 1889
Died: February 13, 1966

Trivia: Blond American screen cowboy William Steele began his acting career with the Méliès company in his hometown of San Antonio, TX. As a youngster, Steele was known as a top pistol marksman and a splendid trick roper, traits that would stand him in good stead in his chosen profession. The Méliès company's best remembered film was The Immortal Alamo from 1911, and Steele, then going under his real name, William Giddinger, played William Travis, one of the last of the heroes still standing. Later, in Hollywood, he was rarely this heroic on screen; instead, as William Steele, he menaced about every cowboy star under the California skies, usually playing the intelligent but ruthless boss villain. Appearing in hundreds of "B"-westerns, Steele's career lasted until 1956.

Alan Hale (Actor) .. Sheriff Harris

Born: March 08, 1921
Died: January 02, 1990
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States

Trivia: The son of a patent medicine manufacturer, American actor Alan Hale chose a theatrical career at a time when, according to his son Alan Hale Jr., boarding houses would post signs reading "No Dogs or Actors Allowed." Undaunted, Hale spent several years on stage after graduating from Philadelphia University, entering films as a slapstick comedian for Philly's Lubin Co. in 1911. Bolstering his acting income with odd jobs as a newspaperman and itinerant inventor (at one point he considered becoming an osteopath!), Hale finally enjoyed a measure of security as a much-in-demand character actor in the 1920s, usually as hard-hearted villains. One of his more benign roles was as Little John in Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood (1922), a role he would repeat opposite Errol Flynn in 1938 and John Derek in 1950. Talkies made Hale more popular than ever, especially in his many roles as Irishmen, blusterers and "best pals" for Warner Bros. Throughout his career, Hale never lost his love for inventing things, and reportedly patented or financed items as commonplace as auto brakes and as esoteric as greaseless potato chips. Alan Hale contracted pneumonia and died while working on the Warner Bros. western Montana (1950), which starred Hale's perennial screen cohort Errol Flynn.

10:15 am - 12:15 pm, Thursday, November 20 on WRNN Outlaw (48.4)