1881 - 1889 westerners

George Bancroft was raised in Philadelphia and attended high school at Tomes Institute (Philadelphia). He won an impressive appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated as a commissioned officer. He served in the Navy for the prescribed period of required service but no more. He decided to turn to show business, first as a theater manager. He worked in the old and fading minstrel show variety format into the 1920s but then decided to try his hand at acting. By 1923, he was good enough for Broadway and spent about a year there doing two plays. But he was already good enough for some early camera work for by 1921, so he had made his first appearance in the silent movie medium. Being a big man with dark features, he was a natural for heavies. And it seemed that early Westerns were an easy fit as well after his first four films. Through 1924 and into 1925, he did four, culminating with pay dirt in his appealing performance as rogue Jack Slade in the James Cruze Western The Pony Express (1925). With him was another up-and-coming character actor, Wallace Beery. Bancroft's acting made Paramount Pictures take a look at him as star material. His roles as tough guy took on more flesh into the later 1920s, especially in association with director Josef von Sternberg and his well-honed gangster films that started with Underworld (1927). Their work culminated with Sternberg's Thunderbolt (1929) for which Bancroft received an Oscar nomination. He was tops at the box office.

Bancroft's various on-screen personas as bigger-than-life strong man was not far from his off-screen character as Hollywood notability got to him. It was recalled that he became more difficult to deal with as his ego grew. At one point, he refused to obey a director's order that he fall down after being shot by the villain. Bancroft declared, "One bullet can't kill Bancroft!" Although he stayed busy through the 1930s, he was older and stouter -- the stuff of featured characters. And Bancroft was also getting a lot of competition from younger character actors. In the early '30s, his roles continued to typecast him as lead heavies, but increasingly, he was cast as second tier -- if with more variety -- in later roles. He was paper editor MacWade in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); a doctor in A Doctor's Diary (1937); a few sea captains along the way; and most memorably Marshal Curly Wilcox in the John Ford Western (his first with sound) Stagecoach (1939). Here he is particularly engaging tough lawman but with a big heart. Into the 1940s, he only did a handful of films. But he again had a rogue's spotlight with another name director -- Cecil B. DeMille -- in one of his always epic yarns. This time it was a Texas Ranger chasing a murderer over the Canadian border in North West Mounted Police (1940) with a stellar cast including Gary Cooper, everybody's favorite blond Madeleine Carroll, and Paulette Goddard as fleeing criminal, Jacques Corbeau's (Bancroft) daughter. By 1942, Bancroft had decided to move on, retiring with the intention of becoming a Southern California rancher. He quietly assumed this new role for a long run of 14 years before his passing.

Arnold Gray was born on 20 April 1899 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Bird of Paradise (1932), West of Broadway (1926) and The Flame of the Yukon (1926). He was married to Josefina Ramos. He died on 3 May 1936 in Alpine, California, USA.

Tom Chatterton was born on 12 February 1881 in Geneva, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Drums of Fu Manchu (1940), A Soul Enslaved (1916) and Captain America (1944). He died on 17 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Joe King was born on 9 February 1883 in Austin, Texas, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Smashing the Money Ring (1939), Special Agent (1935) and Her Bitter Cup (1916). He was married to Hazel Buckham. He died on 11 April 1951 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

One of the finest teamsters in Hollywood screen history, Osborne handled the reins for horse-drawn coaches and wagons in countless westerns and historical photoplays from the early 20's through late 50's. And with his weathered, rumpled look, his Texas drawl and his nasal twang, he was often called upon to portray a seedy outlaw in any of those same westerns.

Welshman Caryl ap Rhys Pryce spent much of his life as a professional soldier, and fought in units as varied as the British army, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Mexican revolutionaries fighting against dictator Porfirio Díaz.

Born in British India, he was an RCMP officer in 1911 when he became aware of the revolution in Mexico, and decided to leave Canada, travel south and join the rebel army. He found himself in the Mexican state of Baja California, and joined a rebel unit comprised of Mexicans, American radicals and European mercenaries. He was soon elected commander by the unit, and took part in the Battle of Tijuana. The Mexican government apparently complained to the American government about American citizens joining the rebel forces, and Pryce and the Americans in his unit were indicted by the US government for violating neutrality laws. Captured by the Mexican government and charged with murder and arson--because of his involvement in the Battle of Tijuana--Pryce was eventually released on bail. Charges against him were soon dismissed and he left Mexico for Canada. He joined the Canadian army and fought in World War I. He then transferred to the British army, attaining the rank of major, which he held until he retired. He is known to have been alive in 1925, according to records in the British Army's personnel office, but nothing was heard of him after that date.

Tall in the saddle, and dark and handsome to boot, he may be little remembered today when compared to a William S. Hart, Tom Mix or Hoot Gibson, but cowboy hero Roy Stewart was arguably one of the best known of the silent screen back then. While touring with the famous Floradora Girls, Stewart entered films in the early 1910s in support roles until signing with Triangle in 1916 and emerging as a star. Known for his engaging, dimpled grin, he proved a solid and rugged hero and churned out during the course of his career hundreds of two-fisted two-reelers such as The Learnin' of Jim Benton (1917), Cactus Crandall (1918), which he co-wrote, and The Sagebrusher (1920), not to mention reenacting a number of tales from the Old West and portraying such legendary figures as Buffalo Bill and Daniel Boone. Out of the saddle Stewart was quite at home in plush drama and served as a perfect leading man for the likes of Lillian Gish in __House Built Upon Sand, The (1916), Bessie Love in A Daughter of the Poor (1917) and Mary Pickford in her classic silent Sparrows (1926). Come the advent of sound, Stewart lost his footing and was relegated to support roles as a character actor. He continued working until his sudden death in 1933 of a heart attack in his Los Angeles home at the age of 49.

At six and a half feet tall, Robert Emmet Milasch might have made a great circus performer. In fact, early in his career, that's exactly what he was. Born April 18, 1885, in New York City, Milasch ran away as a youngster and joined a circus, becoming a contortionist. He then joined another circus which toured South Africa. When he joined his last circus, in England, he performed as a clown. Returning to the United States when he was about fifteen years old, he got a job with the Gaumont Film Company, earning a few dollars a day. He then joined the Edison Company. Some sources claim his first film was "Babes in a Barrel," a 300-foot short produced by Edison around 1900. He was paid three dollars to appear as a brakeman and a train robber in the famous 1903 Edison film The Great Train Robbery (1903). In the early days of films, Milasch would write scenarios, erect sets, handle props, and even cast the parts. Often he would find extras in neighborhood saloons, offering customers five dollars for a day's work. He appeared in the first talkie, entitled "The Chimes of Normandie." The dialog was recorded on cylinders and played on a phonograph behind the movie screen. In 1912, he began filming a semi-documentary entitled "The Great Diamond Mystery," based upon a real diamond theft in Europe. His camera crew followed the police every time there was a new lead. Apparently the film was never completed. In 1913, while filming the two-reel short Hard Cash (1913), produced by the Edison Company, Milasch escaped serious injury. He was on a ship's mast during a fire scene, and his shoes and socks were scorched from the flames. Milasch was able to stay on the mast until the scene was over. Years later, Director Henry King offered him a role in Tol'able David (1921). Milasch was already committed to something else, but he had a friend who looked a lot like him and told King about him. The friend's name was Ernest Torrence, who got the part, and also a career start. Milasch had an extensive filmography, and claimed he had appeared in about 3000 films. He also claimed he had appeared in three versions of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame": the 1939 Charles Laughton version, the 1923 Lon Chaney version, and the 1917 version entitled The Darling of Paris (1917), which featured Theda Bara as the gypsy Esmeralda. He worked steadily into the early 1950s, in uncredited roles. After retiring from the screen, he ran a gift shop in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Milasch died on November 14, 1954, at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Los Angeles. He was married twice, and was survived by a son named Wally.

Kernan Cripps was born on 8 July 1886 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for Federal Operator 99 (1945), Those Who Dance (1930) and Daughter of Don Q (1946). He died on 12 August 1953 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Once a boxer, brawny character actor Tom Kennedy began his film career early in the silent era. He frequently played big, dumb, likable, working-class types, such as in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937). He also worked with W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in a career that lasted until his death at the age of 80.

Werner Paul Raetzmann was one of seven children born to a German-born father and Wisconsin-born mother. He and one brother decided to change their last name to Richmond. He grew up in Reedsburg, Wisconsin where he became an expert horseman as a young man, and this skill would later earn him roles in western movies. He had blue/gray eyes and brown hair, handsome, chiseled features and maintained an enviable physique. A Chicago census from 1910 gives his occupation as a traveling salesman of musical merchandise. Moving to New York City, Warner became a true pioneer of the American cinema, making his first films in 1912. By 1917 he was a regular in the New Jersey studios (Solax Studio in Fort Lee) of Maurice Tourneur. When the film industry moved to southern California, Richmond and his wife also moved to rural Toluca Lake with their only son. He was not a contract player, so he made films, silent and subsequently talking pictures, with every major and minor studio. Included in his many screen credits are short subjects and serials, such as 'Flash Gordon' and many westerns. For 34 years he was steadily employed as a screen actor. His co-stars included Carole Lombard, Pearl White, Mary Astor, Ben Lyon, Theda Bara, Dorothy Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Richard Dix, Hoot Gibson, Tex Ritter, ZaSu Pitts, Spencer Tracy, William Haines, Jason Robards, Sr., Frank Morgan, Gene Autry, John Wayne, William Boyd, Pola Negri and Gabby Hayes. In two different films he portrayed American patriot John Hancock. He made several films under the direction of John Ford, Karl Freund, King Vidor, W. S. Van Dyke, William A. Seiter, Lloyd Bacon, Ralph Ince, Albert S. Rogell, Raoul Walsh, Cecil B. DeMille and Harry Beaumont. He was often cast as a lawyer, judge, father, henchman, and district attorney. In his fourth decade of acting, he suffered partial facial paralysis after a nasty fall from a horse. Following a diligent regime of physiotherapy, he overcame his injury and returned to work in the Hollywood studios.

William Gould was born on 2 May 1886 in Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for Buck Rogers (1939), The Winner's Circle (1948) and Murder in the Big House (1942). He was married to Raven. He died on 15 May 1969 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.

Harry Tenbrook was born on 9 October 1887 in Oslo, Norway. He was an actor, known for They Were Expendable (1945), A Slight Case of Murder (1938) and The Land of Might (1912). He died on 14 September 1960 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Staunch, granite-jawed American leading man of silent and early talkie films, much associated with Westerns. A native of New York City, Holt often claimed to have been born in Winchester, Virginia, where he grew up. The son of an Episcopal minister, he attended Trinity School in Manhattan, then the Virginia Military Institute, from which he was expelled for bad behavior. Giving up his vague hopes of becoming a lawyer, he went on the road, engaging in numerous occupations. He mined gold in Alaska, worked as both a railroad and a civil engineer, delivered mail, rode herd on cattle, and played parts in traveling stage productions. While looking for work as a surveyor in San Francisco in 1914, he volunteered to ride a horse over a cliff in a stunt for a film crew shooting in San Rafael. In gratitude, the director gave him a part in the film. Holt followed the movie people to Hollywood and began getting bits and stunt jobs in the many Westerns and serials being made there. He impressed a number of co-workers at Universal Pictures, among them Francis Ford and his brother John Ford, and Grace Cunard. Holt soon became a frequent supporting player in their films, and then a star in serials.

A move to Paramount studios in 1917 cemented his leading man status, and he became one of the studio's great stars, particularly in a very successful series of Westerns based on the novels of Zane Grey. Talkies proved no problem for Holt, and his career thrived, although mostly in run-of-the-mill adventure films. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Holt entered the U.S. Army at the age of 54, serving at the request of General George C. Marshall as a horse buyer for the cavalry. Upon his return to pictures following the war, he alternated between character roles in major films such as John Ford's They Were Expendable (1945) and leading roles in minor Westerns. He made a cameo appearance in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) which starred his son Tim Holt. That same year father and son played father and son in a B-Western, The Arizona Ranger (1948). Less than three years later, on January 18, 1951, Holt died of a heart attack at the Los Angeles Veterans Hospital in Sawtelle, a couple of blocks west of the Los Angeles National Cemetery where he is now buried.

Forbes Murray was born on 4 November 1884 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Lady and the Mob (1939), The Apache Kid (1941) and Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945). He died on 18 November 1982 in Douglas County, Oregon, USA.

J. Frank Glendon was born on 25 October 1885 in Buckskin Township, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Lights of Old Broadway (1925), Three Pals (1926) and The Lost Special (1932). He was married to Virginia McCandless and Leslie Cook. He died on 17 March 1937 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Bryant Washburn was born on 28 April 1889 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Captain Midnight (1942), Skinner's Baby (1917) and Till I Come Back to You (1918). He was married to Virginia Vance and Mabel Forrest. He died on 30 April 1963 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.

This veteran character and his younger brother, western actor Jack Rockwell, were born to American parents south of the border in Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1882. Charles Trowbridge was educated in Napa, California and Hawaii, then studied for his degree at Stanford University. He forsook a thriving career as an architect in his twenties for stage acting, receiving early training at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco with Bert Lytell and Bessie Barriscale. He then moved to New York where he earned a number of regional roles in the Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia areas before making his Broadway bow with "The Marriage Game" in 1913. He proceeded to build up his resume impressively with the plays "Daddy Long Legs" in 1914 and when it was revived in 1918, "The Broken Wing (1920), "Craig's Wife (1925), "Ladies Leave" (1929) and "Dinner at Eight" (1933). He made a sampling of silents over the years as well, primarily in drama, with The Fight (1915), Thais (1917) and The Eternal Magdalene (1919) to name a few. After co-starring opposite Corinne Griffith in Island Wives (1922), however, he was not seen again for nearly a decade.

After a steady diet of Broadway plays, he was signed by Paramount for character roles in sound pictures and proceeded to support the top stars. With his rangy build, piercing blue eyes, premature gray hair and serious countenance, Trowbridge was particularly useful throughout the 1930s and 1940s in crime yarns, horrors and in rugged settings starting out with Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard in the romantic drama I Take This Woman (1931). Trowbridge usually adopted a friendly but intelligent, officious demeanor as assorted doctors, judges, bankers, lawyers, military brass and even U.S. presidents. He appeared rather indiscriminately in a number of "A" quality films including Captains Courageous (1937), Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant York (1941) and Mildred Pierce (1945), and in popular cliffhangers such as King of the Texas Rangers (1941), Adventures of the Flying Cadets (1943) and Captain America (1944). He often played well-meaning victims who died in the first reel, notably in horrors. His last two films were unbilled bits, courtesy of John Ford, in The Wings of Eagles (1957) and The Last Hurrah (1958). Retired thereafter, Trowbridge passed away a number of years later at age 85.

Harry Tyler was born on 13 June 1888 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Naked Street (1955) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). He was married to Gladys Crolius. He died on 15 September 1961 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Movies, especially comedies, have always needed big, blustery, booming authoritarian types for the lead to play off of (or against), and one of the best was Thurston Hall, most famous for his role of Mr. Schuyler in the Topper (1953) series of the early 1950s. Hall was a tall, distinguished, imposing-looking man, which fit perfectly with the variety of military officers, wealthy businessmen, bankers and upper-crust types he played so well. The Boston-born Hall was attracted to a theatrical career as a youth, and toured New England with a theater troupe and eventually journeyed to Britain, where he spent several years on the stage. He formed his own theater company and successfully toured South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. By the time he entered films he was an established and successful stage actor, in both the U.S. and Europe. He started out in silent films, but his rich baritone voice enabled him to easily transition into talkies. He appeared in more than 200 films, his final one being Affair in Reno (1957), although he had kept busy in television, with appearances on many different series in addition to his co-starring role on "Topper". He died of a heart attack in 1958.

Harry Bowen was born on 4 October 1888 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Luckiest Girl in the World (1936), The Headline Woman (1935) and The Fourth Alarm (1930). He died on 5 December 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Francis X. Bushman was born on 10 January 1883 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Sabrina (1954), The Phantom Planet (1961) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). He was married to Iva Millicient Richardson, Norma Emily Atkin, Beverly Bayne and Josephine Fladine Duval. He died on 23 August 1966 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.

Paul Harvey was born on 10 September 1882 in Sandwich, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Spellbound (1945), Calamity Jane (1953) and Algiers (1938). He was married to Merle Stanton and Ottye Henrietta Cramer (actress). He died on 15 December 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Max Asher was born on 5 May 1885 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Rip Van Winkle (1921), The Great Towel Robbery (1913) and Captain Kidd's Priceless Treasure (1914). He died on 15 April 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Walter Rodgers was born on 31 August 1886 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Heart of Maryland (1927), The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924) and Vengeance - and the Woman (1917). He was married to Amanda Dorothea Sautters. He died on 24 April 1951 in Studio City, California, USA.