Bill Elliott

[ERROL23]

Any Wild Bill Elliott fans?

[fredbaetz]

I liked him well enough, he was the best Red Ryder of the lot, I think. But I was a bigger fan of Roy Rogers and Tim Holt, of the "B" Western stars. Elliot was a fan of William S. Hart and made several "goodman/badman westerns.He was a spokesman for Viceroy cigarettes for a while. Sadly, he died of lung cancer at age 61....

 

Edited by: fredbaetz on Dec 20, 2013 3:08 AM

[wouldbestar]

Where were you back in March, 2010 when I tried to start a thread on him? This was my post:

 

I couldn't find a thread on William "Wild Bill" Elliott and I'm watching one of his films now. Unlike many of the formula stars such as Johnny Mack Brown or Whip Wilson, he made some very good movies that usually get three or four star ratings. One is *The Longhorn* from 1949 with Phyllis Coates and Myron Healy who almost gets to be a good guy in this one. The one I just saw is *The Showdown* from 1950 with Marie Windsor and Walter Brennan. There is a remake of *The Longhorn* with George Montgomery and Peter Graves that's

in color but not as good as the b/w and probably smaller budgeted original. Do you think this novel idea would be lost on the current crop of producers?

 

I'm not picking on any of the fellows above as I grew up on those Brown/Wilson/Rex Allen/ Rocky Lane et/al movies. We got them on TV and Saturday mornings at the movies. I'm also sorry that Healy was not as fortunate as the other villains of the era (Borgnine, Marvin, Elam, Akins) to get some stardom later on. I think he got shot in so many movies and shows if they'd been for real there'd have been nothing left of him but lead. The last thing I remember seeing him in was as Rooster's deputy in *True Grit* on the right side of the law for a change. (Yes, I?ve checked his bio, thanks).