Trivia: Born Leonard Slye, Rogers moved to California as a migratory fruit picker in 1929. He formed a singing duo with a cousin, later changing his name to Dick Weston and forming a singing group, the Sons of the Pioneers; the group became successful, and appeared on Los Angeles radio and later in films. In 1935 he began appearing in bit roles in Westerns onscreen; by the early '40s Rogers had succeeded Gene Autry as "King of the Cowboys." His success was aided by the fact that Autry went to war and Rogers didn't; he also copied Autry's singing cowboy formula and wore clothes that went one better than Autry's ostentatiously fancy duds. Through the early '50s he starred in dozens of Westerns, often accompanied by his horse, Trigger (billed "the smartest horse in the movies"), and his sidekick, Gabby Hayes; his female lead was often Dale Evans, whom he married in 1947. From 1951-57 he starred in the TV series "The Roy Rogers Show." Meanwhile, he formed a chain of enterprises in the '50s; eventually this combination (a TV production company, Western products distributor/manufacturers, real estate interests, cattle, thoroughbred horses, rodeo shows, and a restaurant chain) was worth over $100 million.

Trivia: Virtually the prototype of all grizzled old-codger western sidekicks, George "Gabby" Hayes professed in real life to hate westerns, complaining that they all looked and sounded alike. For his first few decades in show business, he appeared in everything but westerns, including travelling stock companies, vaudeville, and musical comedy. He began appearing in films in 1928, just in time to benefit from the talkie explosion. In contrast to his later unshaven, toothless screen persona, George Hayes (not yet Gabby) frequently showed up in clean-faced, well groomed articulate characterizations, sometimes as the villain. In 1933 he appeared in several of the Lone Star westerns featuring young John Wayne, alternating between heavies and comedy roles. Wayne is among the many cowboy stars who has credited Hayes with giving them valuable acting tips in their formative days. In 1935, Hayes replaced an ailing Al St. John in a supporting role in the first Hopalong Cassidy film, costarring with William Boyd; Hayes' character died halfway through this film, but audience response was so strong that he was later brought back into the Hoppy series as a regular. It was while sidekicking for Roy Rogers at Republic that Hayes, who by now never appeared in pictures with his store-bought teeth, earned the soubriquet "Gabby", peppering the soundtrack with such slurred epithets as "Why, you goldurned whipersnapper" and "Consarn it!" He would occasionally enjoy an A-picture assignment in films like Dark Command (1940) and Tall in the Saddle (1944), but from the moment he became "Gabby", Hayes was more or less consigned exclusively to "B"s. After making his last film appearance in 1952, Hayes turned his attentions to television, where he starred in the popular Saturday-morning Gabby Hayes Show ("Hullo out thar in televisium land!") and for a while was the corporate spokesman for Popsicles. Retiring after a round of personal appearance tours, Hayes settled down on his Nevada ranch, overseeing his many business holdings until his death at age 83.

Trivia: American singer/actress Dale Evans took a stenographer's job while seeking out singing work. A widow at 17, she became a radio and nightclub songstress, married again and set out to try her luck in Hollywood. Few good parts came her way at the major studios (she is barely visible in 20th Century-Fox's Orchestra Wives [1942], which featured an equally unbilled Jackie Gleason), so she had to settle for leading roles at Republic Studios, a "B" factory. She wasn't keen on westerns, but westerns were what she got, co-starring in 20 oaters with Republic's Number One singing cowboy, Roy Rogers. It wasn't until Rogers' first wife died in the late '40s that he and Evans realized that theirs was more than just a happy professional association. Rogers and Evans were married in 1947, assuming the honorary mantle of "King of the Cowboys and Queen of the West;" it was Evans who wrote the couple's enduring theme song, "Happy Trails to You." The Rogers starred together in two TV series, a standard weekly western in the 1950s and an ABC variety show in 1962; in the early '80s, Evans soloed as host of a long-running syndicated religious talk show. Rogers and Evans' marriage was sorely tested by multiple tragedies; of Evans' six children, one was mentally retarded and only three survived past the age of 21. Evans was strengthened by the solidarity of her marriage and by her unwavering religious convictions. To help others to cope with anguish, she has written several uplifting books about the travails and triumphs of her life. She has also been quite active in her pet cause, the prevention of child abuse. In the mid-'90s Dale Evans was in the process of recovering from a serious illness, and resuming her religious and charitable activities.

Trivia: Born to a family of vaudevillians, Hardie Albright studied drama at Carnegie Tech and took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago before embarking upon his adult theatrical career. He made his New York debut with Eva Le Gallienne's company in 1926, and his motion picture bow in 1931. Though typed as a virile, athletic leading man, there was always the air of dishonesty surrounding Albright's performances; as such, he was better off playing unsympathetic roles. Since one of his trademarks was a fixed, insincere grin, it is altogether appropriate that his last Hollywood role was as the double-crossing "Smiley" in Angel on My Shoulder (1946). His final film appearance was in exploitation producer Kroger Babb's notorious Mom and Dad, a 1949 quickie about sex education. In his last years, Hardie Albright wrote several informative textbooks on the art of acting, and also taught drama classes at UCLA.

Trivia: Originally an opera singer, American actress Margaret Dumont was engaged in 1925 to act in The Cocoanuts, a Broadway musical comedy starring the Marx Brothers. As wealthy widow Mrs. Potter, Dumont became the formidable stage target for the rapid-fire insults and bizarre lovemaking approach of Groucho Marx. So impressive was her "teaming" with Groucho that she was hired for their next Broadway production, Animal Crackers (1928), in which she portrayed society dowager Mrs. Rittenhouse. Though Groucho would later insist that Dumont never understood his jokes, she more than held her own against the unpredictable Marx Brothers, facing their wild ad-libs, practical jokes and roughhouse physical humor with the straight-faced aplomb of a school principal assigned a classroom of unruly children. Dumont continued appearing opposite the Marx Brothers when they began making motion pictures, co-starring in seven of the team's films, most notably as hypochondriac Emily Upjohn in A Day at the Races (1937). It was for this picture that Dumont won a Screen Actor's Guild award; upon this occasion, film critic Cecilia Ager suggested that a monument be erected in honor of Dumont's courage and steadfastness in the face of the Marx invasion. Although she appeared in many other films (sometimes in the company of other famous comedy teams such as Laurel and Hardy, Wheeler and Woolsey, and Abbott and Costello), it is for her Marx appearances that Dumont--often dubbed "the Fifth Marx Brother"--is best remembered. Dumont made her last professional appearance a week before her death, on the TV variety series Hollywood Palace; appropriately, it was in support of Groucho Marx in a re-creation of the "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" production number from Animal Crackers.

Trivia: The son of an itinerant sharecropper, Roy Barcroft harbored dreams of becoming an army officer, and to that end lied about his age to enter the service during World War I. Discouraged from pursuing a military career by his wartime experiences, Barcroft spent the 1920s in a succession of jobs, ranging from fireman to radio musician. In the 1930s he and his wife settled in California where he became a salesman. It was while appearing in an amateur theatrical production that Barcroft found his true calling in life. He eked out a living as a movie bit player until finally being signed to a long contract by Republic Pictures in 1943. For the next decade, Barcroft was Republic's Number One villain, growling and glowering at such cowboy stars as Don "Red" Barry, Wild Bill Elliot, Sunset Carson, Allan Lane, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. His best screen moments occurred in Republic's serial output; his favorite chapter-play roles were Captain Mephisto in Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945) and the invading Martian in The Purple Monster Strikes (1945). In the 1948 serial G-Men Never Forget, Barcroft played a dual role--an honest police commissioner and his less-than-honest look-alike--ending the film by shooting "himself." In contrast to his on-screen villainy, Barcroft was one of the nicest fellows on the Republic lot, well-liked and highly respected by everyone with whom he worked. When the "B"-picture market disappeared in the mid-1950s, Barcroft began accepting character roles in such A-pictures as Oklahoma (1955), The Way West (1967), Gaily Gaily (1969) and Monte Walsh (1970). Heavier and more jovial-looking than in his Republic heyday, Roy Barcroft also showed up in dozens of TV westerns, playing recurring roles on Walt Disney's Spin and Marty and the long-running CBS nighttimer Gunsmoke.

Trivia: American character actor Stanley Price reportedly launched his screen career in 1922. Possessed of a sharkish smile and luminescent stare, Price was usually seen as a villain, often of the psychotic variety. He was a "regular" in the serial field, appearing in such chapter plays as The Miracle Rider (1935), Red Barry (1938), Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Holt of the Secret Service (1942), Batman (1943), Captain America (1944), Superman (1948), and King of the Rocket Man (1949). His flair for comedy was well represented in such films as Road to Morocco (1942), in which he played the blithering idiot in the opening bazaar scene, and his many appearances with the Three Stooges. According to at least one source, Stanley Price was briefly a dialogue director at Lippert Studios.

Trivia: A former Miami Beach lifeguard, strapping Ohio-born Bob Wilke performed stunt work in Hollywood films from 1936, often working for low-budget studios such as Republic Pictures and Monogram. He began earning better roles in the mid- to late '40s, mostly villainous, and went on to become one of the busiest supporting players on television in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in small-screen Western fare ranging from Gene Autry to Lancer.

Trivia: Steely-eyed, mustachioed Edward Cassidy (or plain Ed Cassidy) bore a striking resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt, whom he played three times onscreen, including a brief appearance in the MGM musical Take Me out to the Ball Game (1949). But the McGill University graduate was more at home in B-Westerns and serials, of which he did an impressive total of 218. Cassidy could occasionally be found on the wrong side of the law, but more often than not, he would portray the heroine's (or hero's) beleaguered father, the stern sheriff, or a troubled rancher. Retiring after his 1957 appearance in the television series Circus Boy, the veteran supporting player died from undisclosed causes at the Motion Picture House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA.

Trivia: A beauty-contest winner at age 13, Dorothy Granger went on to perform in vaudeville with her large and talented family. Granger made her film bow in 1929's Words and Music, and the following year landed a contract with comedy producer Hal Roach. Working with such masters as Harry Langdon, Laurel & Hardy and Charley Chase, she sharpened her own comic skills to perfection, enabling her to assume the unofficial title of "Queen of the Short Subjects." During her long association with two-reelers, she appeared with the likes of W.C. Fields (The Dentist), the Three Stooges (Punch Drunks), Walter Catlett, Edgar Kennedy, Hugh Herbert and a host of others. She also appeared sporadically in features, playing everything from full leads to one-line bits. A favorite of director Mitchell Leisen, Granger essayed amusing cameos in such Leisen productions as Take a Letter, Darling (1942) and Lady in the Dark (1944). George Cukor wanted to cast Granger in the important role of Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind (1939), but producer David O. Selznick decided to go with Ona Munson, who had more "name" value. Granger is most fondly remembered for her appearances in RKO's long-running (1935-51) Leon Errol short-subject series, in which she was usually cast as Leon's highly suspicious spouse. She retired from films in 1963, keeping busy by helping her husband manage a successful Los Angeles upholstery store. Dorothy Granger made her last public appearance in 1993 at the Screen Actors Guild's 50th anniversary celebration.

Trivia: Bob Nolan spent his earliest professional years as a singer on the Chatauqua tent-show circuit. In 1933, Nolan teamed up with Roy Rogers and Tim Spencer to form a country-western harmony group known as the Pioneer Trio. Matriculating into the Sons of the Pioneers, the group rose to fame thanks to Rogers' effortless charisma and Nolan's songwriting prowess. One of Nolan's tunes, "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds," was a bonafide "crossover" hit, enchanting even non-C&W fans. In films from 1935, Nolan invariably appeared on screen with the Sons of the Pioneers, though many felt that he could have been just as big a solo western star as his old pal Roy. Nolan scored another hit-parade success in 1941 with "Cool Water." Bob Nolan continued in films until 1948, thereafter confining his appearances to live programs.

Trivia: The grandson of a governor of New Mexico, pioneering screen cowboy Edmund Cobb began his long career toiling in Colorado-produced potboilers such as Hands Across the Border (1914), the filming of which turned tragic when Cobb's leading lady, Grace McHugh, drowned in the Arkansas River. Despite this harrowing experience, Cobb continued to star in scores of cheap Westerns and was making two-reelers at Universal in Hollywood by the 1920s. But unlike other studio cowboys, Cobb didn't do his own stunts -- despite the fact that he later claimed to have invented the infamous "running w" horse stunt -- and that may actually have shortened his starring career. By the late '20s, he was mainly playing villains. The Edmund Cobb remembered today, always a welcome sign whether playing the main henchman or merely a member of the posse, would pop up in about every other B-Western made during the 1930s and 1940s, invariably unsmiling and with a characteristic monotone delivery. When series Westerns bit the dust in the mid-'50s, Cobb simply continued on television. In every sense of the word a true screen pioneer and reportedly one of the kindest members of the Hollywood chuck-wagon fraternity, Edmund Cobb died at the age of 82 at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA.

Trivia: From his first film, Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande (1923), to his last, Fancy Pants (1950) American supporting player Hank Bell specialized in westerns. While still relatively young, Bell adopted the "grizzled old desert rat" characterization, that sustained him throughout his career, simply by removing his teeth and growing a thick, inverted handlebar mustache. Though occasionally given lines to speak, he was usually consigned to "atmosphere roles:" if you'll look closely at the jury in the Three Stooges 2-reeler Disorder in the Court, you'll see Bell in the top row on the left, making swimming motions when Curly douses the jurors with a fire hose. A fixture of "B"-pictures, Hank Bell occasionally surfaced in "A" films like Abraham Lincoln (1930), Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), The Plainsman (1936), Geronimo (1939) and My Little Chickadee (1940).

Trivia: On screen from the late '20s, roly-poly B-Western and serial perennial Jack Kirk (born Kirkhuff) began turning up in low-budget Westerns after the advent of sound, usually as a member of various music constellations bearing names like "Range Riders" and "Arizona Wranglers." He later essayed scores of scruffy-looking henchmen and, as he grew older and more settled, began playing bankers, sheriffs, and ranchers. Under term contract with B-Western industry leader Republic Pictures from July 12, 1943, to July 11, 1944, Kirk found roles increasingly more difficult to come by thereafter and left films in 1948 to work on a fishing vessel in Alaska. The former actor reportedly died of a massive heart attack while in the process of unloading a night's catch.

Trivia: Enjoying one of the longer careers in Hollywood history, Gino Corrado is today best remembered as a stocky bit-part player whose pencil-thin mustache made him the perfect screen barber, maître d', or hotel clerk, roles he would play in both major and Poverty Row films that ranged from Citizen Kane (1941) and Casablanca (1942) to serials such as The Lost City (1935) and, perhaps his best-remembered performance, the Three Stooges short Micro Phonies (1945; he was the bombastic Signor Spumoni).A graduate of his native College of Strada, Corrado finished his education at St. Bede College in Peru, IL, and entered films with D.W. Griffith in the early 1910s, later claiming to have played bit parts in both Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). By the mid-1910s, he was essaying the "other man" in scores of melodramas, now billed under the less ethnic-sounding name of Eugene Corey. He became Geno Corrado in the 1920s but would work under his real name in literally hundreds of sound films, a career that lasted well into the 1950s and also included live television appearances. In a case of life imitating art, Corrado reportedly supplemented his income by working as a waiter in between acting assignments.

Trivia: Snake-eyed, mustachioed character actor Frank Ellis seldom rose above the "member of the posse" status in "B" westerns. Once in a while, he was allowed to say things like "Now here's my plan" and "Let's get outta here," but generally he stood by waiting for the Big Boss (usually someone like Harry Woods or Wheeler Oakman) to do his thinking for him. Ellis reportedly began making films around 1920; he remained in the business at least until the 1954 Allan Dwan-directed western Silver Lode. Frank Ellis has been erroneously credited with several policeman roles in the films of Laurel and Hardy, due to his resemblance to another bit player named Charles McMurphy.

Trivia: In films from at least 1918, when he billed himself "Texas Cooper," this busy bit-part player/B-Western extra looked for all the world like "Buffalo" Bill Cody, whom he finally got to play in his last film, the Lash LaRue Western King of the Bullwhip (1951). Hardly ever receiving onscreen billing, Cooper appeared in literally hundreds of B-Westerns -- genre historian Les Adams has counted 116 appearances in Westerns and serials in the sound era alone -- -- usually just hanging around in the background. If a group of spectators gathered to watch a shootout in the street, a saloon girl's performance, or a skirmish outside the sheriff's office, Cooper was almost always included, easily spotted by his long white hair and florid mustache. Few knew him by name, but almost every kid in the audience cheered when he appeared. His wife Nona was reputedly one of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz.

Trivia: Hailing from Indiana despite his moniker, Tex Terry was one of those utilitarian B-Western performers who could play almost anything, from bearded henchmen or rustlers to solid townsmen to clean-cut cowboys. Genre expert Les Adams has clocked Terry's B-Western and serial appearances to 52 but he can be found lurking in the background of many a Grade-A budget oaters as well. Onscreen from at least 1940, Terry later added television to his curriculum vitae, appearing on such programs as The Gene Autry Show, Gunsmoke, and Have Gun Will Travel.

Trivia: One of the most popular, and recognizable, character actors in B-Western history, pudgy, mustachioed Bud Osborne (real name Leonard Miles Osborne) was one of the many Wild West show performers who parlayed their experiences into lengthy screen careers. Especially noted for his handling of runaway stagecoaches and buckboards, Osborne began as a stunt performer with Thomas Ince's King-Bee company around 1912, and by the 1920s he had become one of the busiest supporting players in the business. Rather rakish-looking in his earlier years, the still slender Osborne even attempted to become a Western star in his own right. Produced by the Bud Osborne Feature Film Company and released by low-budget Truart Pictures, The Prairie Mystery (1922) presented Osborne as a romantic leading man opposite B-movie regular Pauline Curley. Few saw this little clunker, however, and Osborne quickly returned to the ranks of supporting cowboys, often portraying despicable villains with names like Satan Saunders, Piute Sam, or Bull McKee. Playing an escaped convict masquerading as a circuit rider in both the 1923 Leo Maloney short Double Cinched and Shootin' Square, a 1924 Jack Perrin feature Western, Osborne even demonstrated an affinity for comedy. The now veteran Bud Osborne continued his screen career into the sound era and became even busier in the 1930s and 1940s. As he grew older and his waistline expanded, Osborne's roles became somewhat smaller and instead of calling the shots himself, as he often had in the silent era, he now answered to the likes of Roy Barcroft and Charles King. But he seems to pop up in every other B-Western and serial released in those years, appearing in more than 65 productions for Republic Pictures alone. By the 1950s, the now elderly Osborne became one of the many veteran performers courted by maverick filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr., for whom he did Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tucson Kid (1954), an unsold television pilot, Jailbait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955), and Night of the Ghouls (1958). When all is said and done, it was a rather dismal finish to a colorful career.

Trivia: In time-honored Hollywood tradition, cowboy star Roy Rogers' golden palomino Trigger underwent a name change when he ascended to stardom. Sired from a racehorse, the flaxen-maned stallion was born Golden Cloud, making his film debut as Olivia De Havilland's horse in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Purchased by Rogers in 1938, the palomino was renamed Trigger by Rogers's movie sidekick, Pat Buttram. Trigger's first appearance with Rogers was in Under Western Skies, the first of his 87 starring appearances. In his last theatrical feature, the Bob Hope vehicle Son of Paleface (1952), Trigger was billed as "The Smartest Horse in the Movies," proving the veracity of that statement by sharing a sidesplitting hotel room scene with Hope. Trigger's career was far from over when he left films: he went on to co-star in four seasons of TV's The Roy Rogers Show and continued to make personal appearances with Roy Evans and Dale Evans into the late '50s. He also enjoyed the attentions of a worldwide fan club, affixing his "autograph" to many an 8 X 10 glossy.

Trivia: Robert J. Wilke's first taste of popularity came while he was performing with a high-dive act at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Encouraged to give Hollywood a try, Wilke entered films as a stunt man and bit player in 1936. He spent most of his movie career in Westerns like High Noon (1952), Arrowhead (1953), The Lone Ranger (1955), and The Magnificent Seven (1960), generally playing bad-guy roles which required both menace and physical dexterity. In 1965, Robert J. Wilke was seen on a weekly basis as Sheriff Sam Corbett on the TV sagebrusher The Legend of Jesse James.