Handsome American leading man Guy Madison stumbled into a film career and became a television star and hero to the Baby Boom generation. As a young man he worked as a telephone lineman, but entered the Coast Guard at the beginning of the Second World War. While on liberty one weekend in Hollywood, he attended a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast and was spotted in the audience by an assistant to Henry Willson, an executive for David O. Selznick. Selznick wanted an unknown sailor to play a small but prominent part in Since You Went Away (1944), and promptly signed Robert Moseley to a contract. Selznick and Willson concocted the screen name Guy Madison (the "guy" girls would like to meet, and Madison from a passing Dolly Madison cake wagon). Madison filmed his one scene on a weekend pass and returned to duty. The film's release brought thousands of fan letters for Madison's lonely, strikingly handsome young sailor, and at war's end he returned to find himself a star-in-the-making. Despite an initial amateurishness to his acting, Madison grew as a performer, studying and working in theatre. He played leads in a series of programmers before being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok in the TV series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951). He played Hickok on TV and radio for much of the 1950s, and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was also in westerns. After the Hickok series ended Madison found work scarce in the U.S. and traveled to Europe, where he became a popular star of Italian westerns and German adventure films. In the 1970s he returned to the U.S., but appeared mainly in cameo roles. Physical ailments limited his work in later years, and he died from emphysema in 1996. His first wife was actress Gail Russell.
Date of Birth 19 January 1922, Pumpkin Center, California
Date of Death 6 February 1996, Palm Springs, California (emphysema)
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Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine (October 7, 1905 – February 18, 1977) was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films.
He is probably best remembered for his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in ten feature films. He also appeared alongside John Wayne in films like Stagecoach (1939), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and How the West Was Won (both 1962). He is also remembered as Jingles on the TV series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok from 1951 to 1958, as Danny McGuire in A Star Is Born (1937), and as the voice of Friar Tuck in the Disney Animation film Robin Hood (1973).
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Steve Pendleton (September 16, 1908 – October 3, 1984) was an American film and television actor, often cast in the role of law-enforcement officers.
Pendleton was cast in eight episodes in different roles from 1952 to 1957 on The Roy Rogers Show. In 1955, he played the role of Baumer in "Gold of Haunted Mountain" of the CBS drama, Brave Eagle. In another 1955 appearance, he was cast as Captain Kenneth McNabb in "The Fight for Texas" of the syndicated western series, Buffalo Bill, Jr. In 1956, he was cast as Bill Mathison in the episode "The Long Weekend" of the then CBS military drama, Navy Log. In 1957, he appeared on two episodes of William Bendix's NBC situation comedy, The Life of Riley. In 1958, he played Marshal Purvis in "Star Witness" of another syndicated western series, Casey Jones, with Alan Hale, Jr., in the title role. In 1959 he portrayed Sheriff Anderson in "The Louisiana Dude" of the CBS western series Yancy Derringer.
Pendleton was cast in two roles in a total of twelve episodes broadcast between 1956 and 1961 of the ABC/Desilu western television series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O'Brian in the title role of deputy marshal Wyatt Earp. He played a United States Army mayor, Benteen, in five segments, including "Dull Knife Strikes for Freedom" (May 7, 1957). In this segment, the actor Ian MacDonald is cast as Dull Knife, a Cheyenne chief, who leads his tribe from its reservation in Oklahoma Territory to their homeland in Montana, which they claim the U.S. government had promised them. Benteen has orders to prevent the Indians from passing through. Pendleton also appeared in seven other series episodes as the character Thacker.
In 1960, Pendleton was cast as Marshal McCoy in "The Town That Wasn't There" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Maverick. That same year, he played deputy Kelsey, with Lee Van Cleef as deputy Clyde Wilson, in the episode "Man on a Mountain" of another ABC/WB western, Lawman. In 1961, he portrayed deputy marshal Ben Johnson in the episode "Death Trap" of the ABC western series, The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors.
In 1967, he played Mr. Hutchins in the episode "Howard and Millie" of the CBS sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show. From 1968 to 1970, he had a recurring role as Mr. Bennett in six episodes of the NBC sitcom, Julia, starring Diahann Carroll.
His last role was as a businessman on the 1976 episode "The Reformer" of William Conrad's CBS crime drama, Cannon. Pendleton died at the age of seventy-six in Pasadena, California.
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Emory Parnell (December 29, 1892 – June 22, 1979) was an American vaudeville performer and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36-year career. He was nicknamed "The Big Swede" and was sometimes credited as "Emery" or "Parnel".
Seeking better opportunities in Hollywood, Parnell and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California, where, helped by his red-faced Irish look of frustration, he immediately began to appear in films in a variety of role, such as policemen, doormen, landlords, and small town businessmen. One of his first films was Doctor Rhythm (1938).
Although his appearances were often in "B" films, such as the Ma and Pa Kettle series, he also made credible showings in "A" films as well. One notable part was as a Paramount studio executive who sang about avoiding libel suits to open 1941's Louisiana Purchase. Parnell was also part of writer-director Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors in the 1940s, appearing in five of Sturges' films, including The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, where he played the crooked banker, "Mr. Tuerck", the chief antagonist of William Demarest's "Constable Kockenlocker". He also made a memorable appearance as grumpy socialite Ajax Bullion in the Three Stooges short subject All the World's a Stooge.
Sam Flint was born on October 19, 1882 in Gwinnett County, Georgia, USA as Samuel A. Ethridge. He was an actor, known for The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), Winds of the Wasteland (1936) and Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat (1944). He died on October 17, 1980 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Robert Livingston (December 9, 1904 – March 7, 1988) was an American film actor. He appeared in 135 films between 1921 and 1975.
Often billed as "Bob Livingston," he was the original "Stony Brooke" in the "Three Mesquiteers" Western B-movie series, a role later played by John Wayne for eight films. He also portrayed the Lone Ranger in a mysterious 1939 serial directed by William Witney and co-starring Chief Thundercloud as Tonto, most of which is currently believed to be lost.
Livingston was born in Quincy, Illinois and died in Tarzana, California from emphysema. He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
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