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Bob Steele (January 23, 1907 - December 21, 1988) was an American actor. He was born Robert Adrian Bradbury in Portland, Oregon, into a vaudeville family. After years of touring, the family settled down in Hollywood in the late 1910s, where his father, Robert N. Bradbury, soon found work in the movies, first as an actor, later as a director, and by 1920, he hired Bob and his twin brother Bill (1907–1971) as juvenile leads for a series of adventure movies entitled "The Adventures of Bob and Bill".
Bob's career began to take off for good in 1927, when he was hired by production company Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) to star in a series of Westerns. Bob—who was rechristened Bob Steele at FBO—soon made a name for himself, and in the late 1920s, 1930s and 1940s starred in B-Westerns for almost every minor film studio, including Monogram, Supreme, Tiffany, Syndicate, Republic (including several films of the Three Mesquiteers series) and Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) (including the initial films of their "Billy the Kid" series), plus he had the occasional role in an A-movie, as in the adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men from 1939.
In the 1940s, Bob's career as a cowboy hero was on the decline, but he kept himself working by accepting supporting roles in many big movies like Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep, or the John Wayne vehicles Island in the Sky, Rio Bravo and Rio Lobo. Besides these he also made occasional appearances in science fiction films like Atomic Submarine and Giant from the Unknown and did lots of television work, culminating in a regular supporting role in the army comedy F Troop (1965–1967), which allowed him to show his comic talent. Steele played the character of Trooper Duffy who claimed to have been "shoulder to shoulder with Davy Crockett at the Alamo"-in fact Steele played in With Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo in 1926.
Bob Steele died on December 21, 1988 from emphysema after a long sickness.
Bob Steele is said to have been the inspiration for the character "Cowboy Bob" in the Dennis The Menace comic strip.
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George Edwin Eldredge (September 10, 1898 – March 12, 1977) was an American actor who appeared in over 180 movies during a career that stretched from the 1930s to the early 1960s. He also had a prolific television career during the 1950s. He was the older brother of actor John Dornin Eldredge.
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Lane Chandler (1899–1972) was an American actor specializing in Westerns.
In the early 1920s he moved to Los Angeles, California, and started working as an auto mechanic. His real-life experiences growing up on a horse ranch landed him bit parts in westerns from 1925, for Paramount Pictures. Studio executives suggested changing his name to Lane Chandler, and as such he began achieving leading roles, the first being The Legion of the Condemned.
As a silent film star Chandler performed well, but when talkies arrived he was cast more in supporting roles, as in The Great Mike of 1944. He starred in a few low-budget westerns in the 1930s, but was more often cast as the leading man's partner, or saddle pal, or a sheriff or army officer. With the advent of television Chandler began making appearance on numerous series, often in Westerns such as The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, Lawman, Have Gun – Will Travel, Rawhide, Maverick, Cheyenne, and Gunsmoke. He continued acting on TV and in films through 1966.
He died in Los Angeles of heart disease in 1972, aged 73.
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Bud Osborne (July 20, 1884 – February 2, 1964) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 600 films and television programs between 1912 and 1963. Osborne was born in Knox County, Texas, and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.
Osborne specialized in westerns, and was also noted for his skill as a stage driver, and was thus much in demand from his first film in 1912, right through the early 1950s. He was working as a stunt man as late as 1948, in Ray Enright's Return of the Bad Men. As he grew older, Osborne played small character parts in television westerns such series as Have Gun – Will Travel, Bonanza, Bat Masterson, Rawhide and The Lone Ranger. His last role, was in an episode of Gunsmoke in 1963. His career spanned 51 years, with a total of 607 films and television episodes to his credit.