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90?
I liked the guy, from dirty dozen to sam whiskey. Rip
"Stopppppp pushing!!!!"
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Posted: |
May 22, 2018 - 8:17 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The television series "Cheyenne" began in September 1955 as a part of "Warner Brothers Presents," a program that alternated three different series in rotation. Clint Walker starred as "Cheyenne Bodie," a laconic drifter of mixed descent. In its first year, "Cheyenne" traded broadcast weeks with "Casablanca" and "Kings Row. When Cheyenne was the only one of the three series to be renewed, it was overhauled by new producer Roy Huggins. During its second season it alternated with "Conflict," an anthology series.
In its third season, (1957-58), "Cheyenne" alternated with "Sugarfoot," a new Warner Bros. western starring Will Hutchins. In 1958, Clint Walker walked out of the series for better terms; among other demands, the actor wanted increased residuals, a reduction of the 50-percent cut of personal appearance payments that had to be turned over to Warner Bros., and a release from the restriction of recording music only for the company's own label.
Clint Walker and Dennis Hopper
In the interim, the show introduced a virtual Bodie-clone called "Bronco Layne," played by Ty Hardin. Hardin was featured as "Cheyenne"'s quasi-main character during Bodie's absence. When Warners renegotiated Walker's contract and the actor returned to the show in 1959, "Bronco" was spun off as a show in its own right and became independently successful.
During the 1960-61 season, "Cheyenne," "Sugarfoot," and "Bronco" all were shown under the "Cheyenne" title, and during the 1961-62 season "Cheyenne" and "Bronco" were both aired under the "Cheyenne" banner. "Cheyenne" alone continued on for another season, ending in early 1963.
Even after returning to the program — having been prohibited from seeking other work during the long contract negotiation — Walker was unhappy playing a role which he felt he had already exhausted. He told reporters that he felt like "a caged animal." Though "Cheyenne" aired for seven years, the series made only 108 episodes because it was in repeated alternation with other programs and was technically out of production during Clint Walker's contract dispute. (The "Cheyenne" episodes featuring Ty Hardin are now shown under the "Bronco" title.)
Clint Walker and Grant Withers
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Posted: |
May 22, 2018 - 8:34 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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During the hiatus at the end of "Cheyenne"'s second season, during the summer of 1957, Clint Walker starred in his first feature film, FORT DOBBS. In this western, released in early 1958, Walker played "Gar Davis," a wanted man who eludes a posse, rescues a woman (Virginia Mayo) and her young son from a Comanche attack, then escorts them to the presumed safety of a U.S. Cavalry fort.
Gordon Douglas directed the film, which has an unreleased score by Max Steiner.
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Posted: |
May 22, 2018 - 9:55 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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YELLOWSTONE KELLY was supposed to be directed by John Ford with John Wayne in the title role, but the pair chose to work on the independent production THE HORSE SOLDIERS instead. So Warner Bros. turned the property into a vehicle for three of its top television stars. Clint Walker starred as Luther "Yellowstone" Kelly, a real-life trapper and Indian scout in Wyoming. Edd Byrnes, who played "Kookie" on "77 Sunset Strip," played "Anse Harper," a young man Kelly meets on a steamship bound for Fort Buford. And John Russell, the star of "Lawman," plays "Gall," chief of the Seven Nations and a hater of whites.
The horse ridden by Kelly in the film is the same one that Clint Walker rode most of the time in his television series, "Cheyenne." The horse, named Brandy, can be identified by the large white blaze and the white spot on its right hip. Clint Walker did some of his own stunt work in the film. There's an scene about 20 minutes in when Edd Byrnes has fallen from his horse. Walker wheels his horse around, gallops back, dismounts in reverse, hits the ground running into the foreground of the frame, takes his mark next to Byrnes and begins firing. All this is done in one shot, and it's clear there was no stunt double.
Edd Byrnes and Clint Walker in YELLOWSTONE KELLY
Reviewers noted that this film would test whether stars of television would attract viewers to movie theaters. Variety commented, "Box office response to this picture will provide more data on the question of whether stars developed in teleseries can draw paying customers on the strength of their names rather than TV characters they portray. It's a good bet that they will, especially in this combination." Motion Picture Daily predicted that the stars' "names may well bring out to theaters that part of the so-called 'lost' audience which has been lost because of TV westerns and action dramas." Variety praised the film's "craftsmanship in every department" which, it suggested, "displayed the three TV heroes in a production framework not approachable in telefilming." The Los Angeles Mirror-News called the film "a throwback to those Technicolored cavalry versus Indian days before the movie western went somberly psychological, tense and black-and-white."
Gordon Douglas returned to direct Walker for a second time in this 1959 film. Howard Jackson conducted library music from Max Steiner and others for the film's score.
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Walker's best screen work, in my opinion, is in Sinatra's directorial debut, NONE BUT THE BRAVE. Walker is the solid, dependable center of this under-rated WWII film. (I give him a lot of credit for his performance as Sinatra's son-in-law, Tommy Sands, was allowed to chew the scenery unmercifully.)
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Posted: |
May 24, 2018 - 12:09 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore’s stage play SEND ME NO FLOWERS debuted 5 December 1960 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway, where it ran until 7 January 1965. Despite its short time on Broadway, the show enjoyed success at local playhouses around the country, and on 6 May 1963, producer Harry Keller acquired rights for a screen adaptation. The project was the third and final collaboration of Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall for Universal Pictures following the popularity of PILLOW TALK (1959) and LOVER COME BACK (1961).
Norman Jewison stepped down from his position as executive producer of "The Judy Garland Show" to direct the 1964 picture. Jewison discussed a possible “cameo” appearance by actor James Arness, but the role of "Bert Power," a college friend of Doris Day's "Judy Kimball," who is now an oil magnate, eventually went to Clint Walker. Frank DeVol provided the unreleased score.
Tony Randall, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Clint Walker in SEND ME NO FLOWERS
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