Reel Cowboys …

My Heroes have always been Cowboys
– Waylon Jennings

From https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2425

Tom Mix Died Here

Tom Mix was the greatest of the silent-era movie cowboys, and a cowboy in real-life as well. He reportedly could knock a button off of a shirt with a rifle shot, and jump a horse into a railroad box car. He was married seven times to six different women. (MFW: Don’t try this at home folks. This is only for REAL Cowboys.)

But Tom was 60 years old on October 12, 1940, and behind the wheel of a V8 convertible, not in a saddle, when he decided to race north across the Arizona desert to visit his son-in-law. No one knows how fast he was going when he saw the road repair crew, but some say that he was standing straight up on the brakes, trying to stop, when his car flew into the washed-out gully. Tom’s aluminum suitcase was thrown out of the back seat and into the back of Tom’s head (He was wearing his trademark 10-gallon white Stetson at the time). Mix emerged apparently unscathed from the car — which was not badly damaged — took one step, and crumpled, dead of a broken neck.

Tom Mix Memorial Picnic Area.

The gully was renamed Tom Mix Wash as a makeshift memorial. Seven years later the Pinal County Historical Society erected a monument at the remote site. It’s a mortared, cobblestone pile topped with a two-foot-tall black iron silhouette of a saddled but riderless horse, its head bowed. The horse has several holes in it. At first you may think it’s rust — but then you remember that you’re in a desert, and there is no rust, and the holes are in fact bullet holes.

The monument was restored in 1990 when the horse, which had been stolen ten years earlier, was returned and had its first batch of bullet holes repaired. In the early 21st century a single, sheltered picnic bench was built just behind the monument, for those who want to eat lunch in the middle of a desert where Tom Mix died.

I didn’t just randomly pick this Tom Mix image for my Blog Icon.
I genuinely admire Mix as a real Cowboy who became a Film Star.
He really was an amazing character who did many of his own stunts.
The were a few Western Stars in those days – the 20’s –
who were genuine Cowboys.
This kind of Casting stopped after a while – possibly the reason being demonstrated by this famous quote from the
Great Western Film Director John Ford:

It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy
than to get a cowboy to be an actor.
– John Ford

Yet later on we still found a few Cowboys that became BIG Stars:

See the source image

Ben Johnson the 1971 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie
The Last Picture Show.
The great irony here is that Johnson’s career was started
by John Ford who had originally hired him as a wrangler
to manage the horses for his Movies.

Also Slim Pickens who had an astounding film career

See the source image

started as rodeo cowboy.
Then appeared in nearly 90 Films
and 60 TV appearances
over 40 years.

Go figure!?

One-Eyed Jacks / 1961 / Part 6 / The Cast / Slim Pickens

Pickens and Johnson

“Pickens and Johnson“? Sounds like a Law Firm or something. Well, Slim Pickens and Ben Johnson ARE indeed members of a unique and small fraternity: Real Cowboys who became Westerns Movie Stars. There would definitely be a small group around that campfire. And both of them had major parts in One-Eyed Jacks.

And they had yet another distinction: they’ve both been in so many Westerns that it would be pretty well impossible to list them all here.

Slim Pickens

Wikipedia: “Born, Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is (possibly) best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles.

Pickens was an excellent rider from age 4. After graduating from High School he joined the rodeo. He was told that working in the rodeo would be “slim pickings” (very little money), giving him his name, but he did well and eventually became a well-known rodeo clown.

After twenty years on the rodeo circuit, his distinctive Oklahoma-Texas drawl (even though he was a lifelong Californian), his wide eyes and moon face and strong physical presence gained him a role in the western film, Rocky Mountain (1950) starring Errol Flynn. He appeared in many more Westerns, playing both villains and comic sidekicks to the likes of Rex Allen, John Wayne, Steve McQueen, … many many other Stars.”

Slim and Trim

Yee Haw!!

10 of Slim’s Best

Ben Johnson

A Small Fraternity … Part 2 Ben Johnson

Roy Rogers & Sons Of The Pioneers – Tumbling Tumbleweeds

Stunts to Stars / A Small Fraternity:

Ben Johnson

Wikipedia: “Ben “Son” Johnson, Jr. (June 13, 1918 – April 8, 1996) was an American stuntman, world champion rodeo cowboy and actor. The son of a rancher, Johnson arrived in Hollywood to deliver a consignment of horses for a film. He did stunt double work for several years before breaking into acting through the good offices of John Ford. Tall and laconic, Johnson brought further authenticity to many roles in Westerns with his extraordinary horsemanship. An elegiac portrayal of a former cowboy theatre owner in the 50’s coming of age drama, The Last Picture Show, won Johnson the 1971 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He operated a horse breeding farm throughout his career. Although he said he had succeeded by sticking to what he knew, shrewd real estate investments made Johnson worth an estimated 100 million dollars by his latter years.

Johnson was born in Foraker, Oklahoma, on the Osage Indian Reservation, of Irish and Cherokee ancestry, the son of Ollie Susan (née Workmon) and Ben Johnson, Sr. His father was a rancher and rodeo champion in Osage County. Throughout his life Johnson was drawn to the rodeos and horse breeding of his early years. In 1953 he took a break from well paid film work to compete in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, becoming Team Roping World Champion although he only broke even financially that year. Johnson was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1973.

Johnson’s 1941 marriage to Carol Elaine Jones lasted until her death on March 27, 1994, they had no children. Jones was the daughter of noted Hollywood horse wrangler Clarence “Fat” Jones.

“I grew up on a ranch and I know livestock, so I like working in Westerns. All my life I’ve been afraid of failure. To avoid it, I’ve stuck with doing things I know how to do, and it’s made me a good living.”

You done good Ben.

Ben Johnson 6 — **A drink with Brando / “One Eyed Jacks” 1961**

Ben Johnson 7 — **“One Eyed Jacks” 1961**

Ben Johnson 10 — **“The Sacketts” Tom Selleck, Ben Johnson, Glenn Ford. 1979**

Ben Johnson 13 — **“The Wild Bunch” 1969 / Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, William Holden, Ernest Borgnine**

Ben Johnson 12 — **“The Wild Bunch” Ben Johnson**

Ben Johnson 14 — **Not photogenic at all …**

Ben Johnson 15 — **15 movies with ‘The Duke’ including “The Train Robbers” 1973**

Ben Johnson 17 — **Ben Johnson / Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1973**

Tom Selleck Westerns: The Sacketts

The made-for-television western The Sacketts combines the plotlines from two seperate Louis L’Amour novels, The Daybreakers and The Sacketts. In this film, the three Tennessee-raised Sackett brothers migrate to the West following the conclusion of the Civil War. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide.

Made ten years before Lonesome Dove, The Sacketts (1979) may well have been the first great Western Mini Series – and in looking at the cast, it’s easy to understand why some Western fans may hold it with similar esteem, with Western Greats like Glenn Ford, Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Slim Pickens, Jack Elam, Ben Johnson, L.Q. Jones, and some notable support players including John Vernon, Gilbert Roland, Buck Taylor … and on. Pretty impressive. So although The Sacketts does show itself to be a little shy in production values compared to modern fair, it still shines with notable Star Power.