Favorite western TV show?

[Highlander]

Those names... I get the chills just thinking about some of their work... 

[SKATE RAT]

One of the things I enjoy about watching old westerns - both movie and TV - is how many actors got their start playing bit parts in them.  Dennis Hopper did a lot of "B" western movies and TV westerns (Bonanza, Cheyenne, Rifleman), and some memorable movies - like a role in the Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas Gunfight At OK Corral (with that memorable Frankie Laine theme song) and a similar role in the John Wayne movie The Sons of Katie Elder.  

Then of course, there were the career character actors like Jack Elam, Paul Fix, Strother Martin, Dub Taylor, Slim Pickens, Chill Wills, Bruce Cabot, L.Q. Jones, Gabby Hayes, Pat Buttram, Arthur Hunnicutt, Andy Devine, Jay Silverheels, Will Sampson, Ben Johnson, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Farnsworth and of course, Walter Brennan.  

Some of the character actors either became leading actors or became so well-known they might as well have been.  Ben Johnson, Jack Elam and Walter Brennan come to mind

Dennis Hopper was also in Rebel without a cause.

[Pilgrim]

Dennis Hopper was also in Rebel without a cause.

Yes! In fact, if you check a filmography of Hopper's, you would wonder how many films he was NOT in.  The guy has done an incredible range of work.  Even in his early days, he got into an amazing number of films.

Another actor I just thought of who became a near-lead was Harry Morgan.  He did a ton of westerns before being cast in Dragnet.  At the end of his career, he really put his stamp on the M.A.S.H. series.

[Dave W]

I loved watching Jack Elam. Anybody remember the F-Troop episode where he played the notorious gunfighter Sam Urp?  

L.Q. Jones... man, he's been in so many westerns, TV shows and movies, very few know him by name. He was a bad guy in Hang 'Em High, one of my favorites.

And speaking of Hang 'Em High, another bad guy was Bob Steele, who also played Trooper Duffy on F Troop. He was in dozens of TV westerns and was in B movie westerns all the way back to the silent era.

Strother Martin was another great bad guy.

[rahock]

Dennis Hopper, Henry Silva, Harry Morgan, Richard Jaekle.....You see these guys in so many movies that date back to the beginning of freakin' time and they only age a few years every three or four decades WTF. Are these guys androids or something???
When I hear that one of these suspected androids dies I'm still suspicious. I think they just go back to the factory and get rebuilt into someone else .
I think the Weekly World News should investigate this and quit wasting so much time with Batboy and Batbama
Rick

[Pilgrim]

I loved Jack Elam in Support Your Local Gunfighter.  He pretty much parodied his own history.

You're right about some of these guys seeming to live forever.  Ben Johnson started out doing potboiler westerns, became one of John Ford's stable in 1948, and I think he appeared in just about every movie Ford made. His Sgt.Tyree in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was just great.  His filmography is incredible - he appeared in more movies and TV shows than I can count. Ben Johnson filmography.

Ever notice how many of these guys you can spot even in a crowd scene by their VOICES?  In some cases, you can spot them when they were so young that you'd never recognize them.  It's that "wait, I've heard THAT voice before..." phenomenon. The "voice" crowd I've noticed includes:

Ben Johnson
Harry Morgan
Dub Taylor
Strother Martin
Harry Carey, Jr.
Ken Curtis
Andy Devine
Pat Buttram
Denver Pyle
Walter Brennan
Slim Pickens

Isn't it interesting that we got to know those voices so well?

[rahock]

Yep, I forgot about Ben Johnson....another android. Slim Pickens too.
Rick

[Highlander]

For me, Slim Pickens will always be the B.U.F.F. pilot...!



sorry, not a western on the small screen, but it's his Texan drawl that makes it for me... 

[Dave W]

Slim Pickens played an apparently daft old private investigator named Henry Beige in the movie Rancho Deluxe, from the mid 70s. Worth renting if it's available.

Pat Buttram may have been the king of bawdy comedians. No, don't link to any of it if you find it.

[lowend1]

Slim Pickens too.
Rick

"Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!"

[gweimer]

Rancho Deluxe was pretty cool.

[Pilgrim]

I always wanted Clint Eastwood's hair.  Thought that short-upright hair looked great on TV, and he has kept it.

But - I've kept mine too, and at age 59 that ain't bad!!

[TBird1958]

"Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!"

LMFAO!

This is quoted regularly at my work.

[Dave W]

"Whut in the wide wide world of sports is a-goin' on here."

"Goldurn it Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a $20 whore."

[Highlander]

"Phew..! Ah think you boys have had enuf beans..."