On this Day in 1950...

One of the all-time great Westerns was released, Winchester 73, starring James Stewart and directed by Anthony Mann. Here's the trailer for the movie:

King Baggot (1879-1948)

Today in 1948 marks the death of actor and director King Baggot, who appeared in over 300 movies beginning in 1909 and directed some 45 films. Among these was William S. Hart's last film Tumbleweeds (1925), which is available for viewing on Youtube:

On this Day in 1973...

Cahill, U.S. Marshal was released, starring John Wayne and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Here's the opening scene (with Greek subtitles, I think), courtesy of Youtube:

Robert Ryan (1909-1973)

Chicago born, distinguished US actor and long time civil rights campaigner, Robert Ryan served in the United States Marines as a drill instructor (winning a boxing championship) and went on to become a key figure in post WWII American film noir and western productions.Ryan grabbed critical attention for his dynamic performance's as an anti-Semitic bully in the superb Crossfire (1947), as an over-the-hill boxer who refuses to take a fall in The Set-Up (1949) and as a hostile & jaded cop in On Dangerous Ground (1952). Ryan's athletic physique, intense gaze and sharply delivered, authoritarian tones made him an ideal actor for the oily world of the film noir genre, and he contributed solid performances to many noir features, usually as a vile villain. Ryan played a worthy opponent for bounty hunter James Stewart in the Anthony Mann directed western The Naked Spur (1953), he locked horns with an intrepid investigator Spencer Tracy in the suspenseful Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and starred alongside Harry Belafonte in the grimy, gangster flick Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). Plus, the inventive Ryan excelled as the ruthless "John Claggart" in Billy Budd (1962), and two different WWII US generals - firstly in the star filled The Longest Day (1962) and secondly in Battle of the Bulge (1965).For the next eight years prior to his untimely death in 1973, Ryan landed some tremendous roles in a mixture of productions each aided by his high calibre acting skills leaving strong impressions on movie audiences. He was one of the hard men hired to pursue kidnapped Claudia Cardinale in the hard boiled action of The Professionals (1966), a by-the-book army colonel clashing with highly unorthodox army major Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen (1967), and an embittered bounty hunter forced to hunt down old friend William Holden in the violent Sam Peckinpah western classic The Wild Bunch (1969). Ryan's final onscreen performance was in the terrific production of The Iceman Cometh (1973) based on the Eugene O'Neill play and also starring Lee Marvin and Fredric March.Legend has it that Sam Peckinpah clashed very heatedly with Ryan during the making of The Wild Bunch (1969), however Peckinpah eventually backed down when a crew member reminded Sam of Robert Ryan's proficiency with his fists !Primarily a man of pacifist beliefs, Ryan often found it a challenge playing sadistic and racist characters that very much were at odds with his own personal ideals. Additionally, Ryan actively campaigned for improved civil rights, restricting the growth of nuclear weapons and he strongly opposed McCarthyism and its abuse of innocent persons. A gifted, intelligent and powerful actor, Robert Ryan passed away on July 11th, 1973 of lung cancer.

(From IMDB)

On this Day in 1954...

Apache was released, directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire and Charles Bronson. Here's the trailer:

Rod Steiger (1925-2002)

On this day in 2002, Oscar-winning actor Rod Steiger died. He appeared in several Westerns, including Jubal (1956) and Run of the Arrow (1957). The latter is one of my personal favorites with a great cast: Charles Bronson, Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Tim McCoy and Olive Carey. There he plays an ex-Confederate who goes off to live with the Sioux and finds his loyalties tested during an Indian war.

On this Day in 1965...

The Glory Guys was released, starring Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell and Senta Berger. The screenplay was written by Sam Peckinpah.

Brandon DeWilde (1942-1972)

Born into a theatrical family, he made a much-acclaimed Broadway debut at the age of nine in "The Member of the Wedding." He was the first child actor to win the Donaldson Award and went on to repeat his role in the film version directed by Fred Zinnemann in 1952. As the blonde, blue-eyed Joey who idolizes the strange gunman (Alan Ladd) in Shane (1953), he stole the picture and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination the following year. He starred in his own television series "Jamie" (1953) during 1953-54 and made his mark as a screen adolescent during the 1960s, playing younger brothers in All Fall Down (1962) and Hud (1963) starring Paul Newman. However, he managed to keep his career building up to his adult status. While en route to visit his wife at a hospital where she had recently undergone surgery, he was killed in a vehicle accident as the camper van he was driving struck a parked truck. He was only thirty years old. (From IMDB) He'll be forever remembered for his last line in the movie Shane (1953):

Cameron Mitchell (1918-1994)

Today also marks the death of veteran character actor Cameron Mitchell, who appeared in countless TV and big-screen Westerns. One of his best appearances was as the jaded sheriff who takes to outlawry in Paul Newman's Hombre (1967).

Roy Rogers (1912-1998)

Today in 1998 marks the death of singing cowboy and all-around nice guy Roy Rogers, born Leonard Slye in Oklahoma. Here's the opening of his 1950's TV show:

Katy Jurado (1924-2002)

Today in 2002 marks the death of actress Katy Jurado, a Mexican actress whose breakthrough role in the U.S. was as Gary Cooper's ex-mistress in High Noon (1952). She also appeared in many other classic Westerns, including One-Eyed Jacks (1961) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973).

Rex Bell (1903-1962)

Rex Bell (October 16, 1903 – July 4, 1962), born George Francis Beldam, was Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and a western movie star. Rex was born in Chicago and married actress Clara Bow in 1931. They had two sons, Tony Beldon (born 1934, changed name to Rex Anthony Bell, Jr.) and George Beldon, Jr. (born 1938). In 1931, Rex and Clara founded the Walking Box Ranch. In 1944 Bell ran for the United States House of Representatives on the Republican ticket against Democrat Berkeley Bunker. His wife, Clara Bow, attempted suicide to avoid the public spotlight, thus dampening the zeal for Bell's campaign and contributing to the lieutenant governor's loss to Bunker. Bell was the leader of the Nevada state GOP and in 1948 was an alternate to the Republican National Convention. He was also active in the Nevada Chamber of Commerce and Boy Scouts. The ties Bell forged during those years helped him win the lieutenant governor's office in 1954. That year Charles H. Russell, the incumbent GOP governor, also won. In 1958 Democrat Grant Sawyer unseated Russell, but Bell won re-election as lieutenant governor. His final film appearance was a brief cameo as a cowboy in John Huston's film The Misfits (1961), which was shot on location in Nevada. The Rex Bell Elementary School in Las Vegas was named in honor of Bell. His grave is located in Glendale, California's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

(From Wikipedia)

Happy Fourth, From a 1930's Western

Clint Eastwood on What Makes a Good Western

Warren Oates (1928-1982)

Today marks the death of that great character actor Warren Oates (1928-1982) (second from left). Here's from IMDB: American character actor of the 1960s and 1970s whose distinctive style and intensity brought him to offbeat leading roles. Oates was born in a very small Kentucky town and attended high school in Louisville, continuing on to the University of Louisville and military service with the U.S. Marines. In college he became interested in the theatre and in 1954 headed for New York to make his mark as an actor. However, his first real job in television was, as it had been for James Dean before him, testing the contest gags on the game show "Beat the Clock" (1950). He did numerous menial jobs while auditioning, including serving as the hat-check man at the nightclub "21". By 1957 he had begun appearing in live dramas such as "Studio One" (1948), but Oates' rural drawl seemed more fitted for the Westerns that were proliferating on the big screen at the time, so he moved to Hollywood and immediately stared getting steady work as an increasingly prominent supporting player, often as either craven or vicious types. With his role as one of the Hammond brothers in the Sam Peckinpah masterpiece Ride the High Country (1962), Oates found a niche both as an actor and as a colleague of one of the most distinguished and distinctive directors of the period. Peckinpah used Oates repeatedly, and Oates, in large part due to the prominence given him by Peckinpah, became one of those rare character actors whose name and face is as familiar as those of many leading stars. He began to play roles which, while still character parts, were also leads, particularly in cult hits like Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). Although never destined to be a traditional leading man, Oates remained one of Hollywood's most valued character players up until his sudden death from a heart attack at the age of 53. His final two films, Tough Enough (1983) and Blue Thunder (1983), filmed back-to-back in early 1982 shortly before his death, were dedicated to his memory.

On this Day in 1968...

The Scalphunters was released, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis, Telly Savalas and Shelly Winters. Davis was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.

On this Day in 1957...

The Tall T was released, directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, and Maureen O' Sullivan. Wikipedia says of the movie: In 2000, The Tall T was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Neal Hart (1870-1949)

Today also marks the death of 1920's Western star Neal Hart (no relation to William S.), who was reputedly a sheriff out West before pursuing an acting career. In the sound era he featured mainly as a character actor.

Ray Teal (1902-1976)

Most familiar to TV audiences as no-nonsense Sheriff Roy Coffee on the long-running western series "Bonanza" (1959), Ray Teal was one of the most versatile character actors in the business. In his almost 40-year career he played everything from cops to gunfighters to sheriffs to gangsters to a judge at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials. He could play a kindly grandfather in one film and a heartless, sadistic killer in the next, and be equally believable in both roles. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, he was a musician who worked his way through college playing the sax in local bands. At UCLA in the 1920s he formed his own band and led it until 1936. He appeared in several films in minor bit parts, and it wasn't until 1938 that he had a somewhat more substantial part, in Western Jamboree (1938). The next year he had a bigger part in the splashy Spencer Tracy adventure 'Northwest Passage' (Book I -- Rogers' Rangers) (1940) as one of Rogers' Rangers. He appeared in serials, westerns, crime dramas, costume epics (he even appeared as Little John in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946)!), war pictures, had a small but memorable part as an anti-Semitic blowhard who gets knocked into a store display by Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and a bigger and more memorable part as one of Spencer Tracy's fellow judges in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). He also made many appearances on TV, in everything from "The Lone Ranger" (1949) to "Green Acres" (1965). He died of natural causes in 1976.

On this Day in 1959...

Warlock was released, starring Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Richard Widmark, and Dorothy Malone.