Trivia: Western star "Wild Bill" Elliott was plain Gordon Elliott when he launched his stage career at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1928. Under his given name, he began appearing in dress-extra film roles around the same time. While he had learned to ride horses as a youth and had won several rodeo trophies, movie producers were more interested in utilizing Elliot's athletic skills in dancing sequences, in which the still-unbilled actor showed up in tux and tails. Beginning in 1934, Elliot's film roles increased in size; he also started getting work in westerns, albeit in secondary villain roles. In 1938, Elliot was selected to play the lead in the Columbia serial The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, in which he made so positive an impression that he would be billed as "Wild Bill" Elliott for the remainder of his cowboy career, even when his character name wasn't Bill. Elliott's western series for Columbia, which ran from 1938 through 1942, was among the studio's most profitable enterprises. Fans were primed to expect an all-out orgy of fisticuffs and gunplay whenever Elliott would face down the bad guy by muttering, "I'm a peaceable man, but..." Elliott moved to Republic in 1943, where he continued turning out first-rate westerns, including several in which he portrayed famed fictional do-gooder Red Ryder. In 1945, Elliott began producing his own films, developing a tougher, more jaded characterization than before. A longtime admirer of silent star William S. Hart, Elliott successfully emulated his idol in a string of "good badman" roles. The actor's final western series was a group of 11 above-average actioners for Monogram in the early 1950s, in which Elliott did his best to destroy the standard cowboy cliches and unrealistic Boy Scout behavior symptomatic of the Roy Rogers/Gene Autry school. During his last days at Monogram (which by the mid-1950s had metamorphosed into United Artists), Elliott appeared in modern dress, often cast as hard-bitten private eyes. In 1957, Bill Elliott retired to his huge ranch near Las Vegas, Nevada, where he spent his time collecting western souvenirs and indulging his ongoing hobby of geology.

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: Trained for a career in opera, blonde leading lady Anne Jeffreys supported herself as a singer and model before going to Hollywood in 1941. Among her first film assignments was a modest Columbia 2-reeler, Olaf Laughs Last, starring El Brendel; she then worked briefly at MGM before signing at RKO. Jeffreys now insists that she was rushed through so many "B" pictures during her first few years at the latter studio that she's forgotten most of them. When reminded by a fan that she played Tess Trueheart in the first two Dick Tracy films, she refused to believe it until she saw the pictures herself on TV. Her roles, and the quality of her films, improved towards the end of her RKO stay, but by 1948 Jeffreys briefly abandoned Hollywood for Broadway. Appearing in several productions throughout the 1950s, Jeffreys was at one time the highest-paid actress on the New York musical stage. In 1951, Jeffreys married her second husband, actor Robert Sterling, with whom she co-starred in the very popular TV sitcom Topper (1953-55), as well as the very unpopular 13-week wonder Love That Jill (1958). Except for a few isolated films like Clifford (1992), Anne Jeffreys has limited her acting to television and the stage in the last few decades; she was a regular on the daytime drama General Hospital, and briefly hosted a fashion-and-health series on cable TV.

Trivia: A former University of Alabama football star, handsome Weldon Heyburn was better known for his busy private life than for any of the juvenile leads he played while under contract with Fox in the early '30s. He married Norwegian bombshell Greta Nissen, his leading lady in the courtroom drama The Silent Witness (1932) and they later co-starred in Hired Wife (1934) for low-budget company Pinnacle. By then, the marriage was all but over and Heyburn, who had gained quite a bit of weight, spent his remaining years onscreen playing villains in B-Westerns.

Trivia: Robust-looking character actress Alice Fleming, a Broadway veteran, enjoyed much success as the Duchess, William Elliott's aunt in Republic Pictures' popular "Red Ryder" Westerns. Incredibly popular at the time, especially with children, the "Red Ryder" films arguably constituted the studio's best-produced non-singing cowboy series, in no small measure due to a charming supporting cast that also included Bobby Blake (later Robert Blake) as Elliott's Indian sidekick Little Beaver. Alice Fleming left the series after three seasons in 1946 and was replaced by Martha Wentworth (who in turn was replaced by Marin Sais in a final series of films for low-budget Eagle-Lion). Decades earlier, Fleming appeared in several silent films, usually playing young society matrons. Most notable, perhaps, was His Greatest Sacrifice (1921), in which she played William Farnum's coldhearted and ambitious wife.

Trivia: Fresh out of Columbia University, handsome Kirk Alyn auditioned for a Broadway show as a gag , and much to his amazement, landed the role. He went on to appear as a chorus boy in such major musicals of the 1930s as Girl Crazy, Of Thee I Sing, and Hellzapoppin, and took small acting jobs in the Vitaphone two-reelers produced at Warner Bros.' Brooklyn studios. Moving to Hollywood in 1942, he was briefly seen in Columbia's My Sister Eileen (1942) and You Were Never Lovelier (1943), and played leads at PRC and Monogram. From 1946 to 1952, Alyn starred in six Columbia and Republic serials, never more memorably than as the Man of Steel in The Adventures of Superman (1948) and Atom Man Vs. Superman. Though it has been argued that he was more effective as Clark Kent than as Superman, Alyn still enjoys a loyal fan following for his two Superman appearances, reflecting this fact in the title of his 1974 autobiography A Job for Superman. From 1943 to 1949, Alyn was married to MGM contract vocalist Virginia O'Brien. Until his retirement in the 1960s, Kirk Alyn continued making TV appearances and also toured the straw-hat theater circuit with such Hollywood favorites as June Havoc and Veronica Lake.

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: In films from 1935, American character actor Bud Geary showed up in fleeting roles as chauffeurs, sailors and cops at a variety of studios. Geary was signed to a 20th Century-Fox contract in 1942, but nothing really came of it. He finally blossomed as an actor when he hitched up with Republic in the mid-1940s. One of the best "action" heavies in the business, Geary convincingly menaced everyone in sight in such Republic serials as Haunted Harbor (1944), The Purple Monster Strikes (1945) and King of the Texas Rangers (1946). Bud Geary was on the verge of bigger things when he was killed in a car accident at the age of 47.

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: Veteran movie villain Kenne Duncan began plying his wicked trade in 1933. He hit his stride in the 1940s, when he was under contract to Republic Pictures. Duncan sneered and skulked his way through scores of westerns and serials, usually as the raffish aide-de-camp of the principal heavy (as in the 1941 serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel). When Republic slowed down production in the mid-1950s, Duncan reluctantly found himself in the circle of Hollywood "fringies" who populated the films of immortal bad-movie maven Ed Wood Jr. One of Kenne Duncan's final screen appearances was as phony mystic and erstwhile vampire Dr. Acula in Wood's Night of the Ghouls

Trivia: The quintessential B-movie lawman, granite-faced, mustachioed Jack Rockwell began turning up in low-budget oaters in the late 1920s and went on to amass an impressive array of film credits that included 225 Westerns and two dozen serials, working mostly for Republic Pictures and Columbia although he was never contracted by either. The Jack Rockwell that most fans remember is a stolid, unsmiling sheriff or marshal but he could also pop up as ranchers, homesteaders, stage drivers, and the occasional henchman, always recognizable even if unbilled and awarded only a couple of words of dialogue. Born John Trowbridge, Rockwell was the brother of another busy Hollywood supporting player, Charles Trowbridge (1982-1967).

Trivia: Former rodeo performer Frank McCarroll made his first film, Big Calibre, in 1935. From that point onward, until his retirement in 1951, McCarroll appeared in nothing but westerns. He played dozens of small roles as gunmen, posse leaders and the like, and also served as stunt double for some of the biggest stars in the shoot-'em-up genre. Ironically, Frank McCarroll died in an accidental fall in his own home.

Trivia: Born two weeks before the great San Francisco earthquake, Jack O'Shea held down a variety of jobs before entering films in 1938. Nearly always cast as swarthy, mustachioed Western villains, he more than earned his billing as "Black Jack O'Shea" and "the Man You Love to Hate." An able stunt man, he doubled for such stocky performers as Lou Costello, Leo Carrillo, and Orson Welles. Retiring from films in the mid-'50s, Jack O'Shea kept busy as the proprietor of an antique shop in Paradiso, CA, where he briefly served as honorary mayor (given his unsavory screen image, one wonders if he fixed the election).

Trivia: The quintessential "Big Boss" heavy in B-Westerns, with or without a mustache, LeRoy Mason entered films in the mid-'20s as Roy Mason, playing mostly juveniles. After the advent of talkies, he was usually on the wrong side of the law, appearing opposite nearly every Western star on the Hollywood prairie, a career that included quite a few action serials as well. By the 1940s, he had become one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood, switching from 20th Century Fox to Republic and back again with seemingly little time to recuperate. In 1943, he signed a "term player" contract with Republic and became busier than ever. The hectic schedule took an awful toll, however, when he suffered a fatal heart attack on the set of the 1947 Monte Hale Western California Firebrand. Mason was married to Rita Carewe, who briefly billed herself Rita Mason, a former actress and the daughter of silent screen director Edwin Carewe.

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: Ace stuntman Tom Steele (born Skeoch) was as handsome as any of the leading men he doubled in scores of serials and action melodramas, and almost always better paid. In fact, Republic Pictures used to cast their serial heroes for their resemblance to Steele, the only stuntman ever actually under term contract to the studio (the equally legendary Dale Van Sickel, Dave Sharpe, and Ted Mapes were hired per project). Steele, who often portrayed three or sometimes even four different characters in a serial, continued his career well into the television era, retiring in the mid-'80s.

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: A dancer and radio actress, auburn-haired Maxine Doyle had also appeared in vaudeville with comedian Charlie Murray prior to entering films in 1934. In 1935, she became one of Paramount's highly advertised "Scintillating Sextuplets" (along with, among others, Olivia de Havilland and June Travis) but her roles remained minor until chosen as the female lead opposite Ralph Byrd in S.O.S. Coast Guard (1937), a 12-chapter serial from Republic Pictures co-directed by action-adventure wunderkind William Witney, whom she later married. Doyle spent most of her remaining career in Westerns chiefly for Republic, with whom she was under contract from 1943 to 1944, a gesture, it was said, to her husband who was serving in the military.