Page B - 9
Baxter Black
Baxter Black is an internationally known cowboy poet, humorist, author and song writer. Baxter was reared in New Mexico and educated as a vet. He backed his way into entertaining by telling stories and writing humours poetry about cowboy life. Since 1982, he has made a full-time living as an entertainer. He now lives in Benson, Arizona.
Along the way, Baxter Black has written a dozen books--ranging from cowboy poetry to a novel. He has recorded a dozen or so video and audio tapes. He writes a commentary that is syndicated to many newspapers and magazines. And he is a featured radio commentator on the Public Broadcasting System.
Baxter Black performing at the National Cowboy &
Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in 1993
(Photo by Stan Paregien)
Baxter Black and Jack Hannah (he of the Sons of the San Joaquin) received a Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2000 for their song, "He Just Can't Be Seen From the Road".
Baxter Black's father-in-law is Dr. Guy Logsdon of Tulsa, Ok., himself a noted cowboy poet, singer, musician, author and musicologist. CLICK HERE to go to the official home web page of the one and only Baxter Black. Or you may write to him at Coyote Cowboy Company, P.O. Box 2190, Benson, Arizona 85602
Teresa Black
Teresa Black, historic reenactor and musician, comes from a family that helped found the city of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Her grandmother's family had a band which played at early parties in the Guthrie area, where many of her relatives were raised.Teresa Black plays a fretless gourd banjo (a replica of those seen around 1800), a hide-covered, gut-string banjo (such as those played in the 1930's), and an early tenor banjo. She has performed at the annual Oklahoma Cowboy Poetry Gathering at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.
She has also sung at historic sites including the Battle of New Orleans, the Alamo, the Mexican War, and at various Civil War battle grounds and forts. She enjoys research the history and music of the period between the War of 1812 and the Old West.
Teresa Black works as an Assistant U.S. Attorny in Oklahoma City. She is a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Oklahoma City Traditional Music Association.
Tom Blackburn
(Deceased)
Tom Blackburn wrote the lyrics and George Burns wrote the music to "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" for the TV series, and it sold over 10 million records and was recorded by over 20 artists.Tom Blackburn also wrote two books that were made into movies, Short Grass and Raton Pass. (See his photo and his bio in the Jan., 1956 issue of The Roundup.)
Amanda Blake
(Deceased)
Amanda Blake, actress, was born on February 20, 1927. She starred as "Miss Kitty," Marshal Matt Dillon's love interest, in the TV series "Gunsmoke". He role on "Gunsmoke" lasted for twenty years.
She became infected with the AIDS disease through her husband, a bisexual person who knew he had AIDS himself but did not tell her. She died on August 16, 1989. Her remains were cremated.
Amanda Blake appeared in such films as "Dutchess of Idaho"(1950), "Stars in My Crown"(1950), "Lilli" (1953), "The Glass Slipper" (1955), "Betrayal"(1974), and "Gunsmoke - Return to Dodge" (1992, TV).
Pamela Blake
Pamela Blake, actress, starred in several Western movies during the 1940's.
Jim Bannon with Whip Wilson
and Pamela Blake
Robert Blake
Robert Blake was born as Michael James Vijencio Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933 in Nutley, NJ.Robert Blake first stepped before the movie camera at the age of five. As a child actor, he appeared as Mickey Gubitosi in the "Our Gang" comedies.
In 1940 he changed stage names and became "Bobby Blake" in all but the "Our Gang" comedies, where he used "Mickey Gubitosi" until 1943. As Bobby Blake, he was a featured star in several "Red Ryder" Westerns as the boy "Little Beaver".
Fuzzy Knight with young Bobby Blake in one of the
Red Ryder films.He was in the Army from 1954 to 1956. He drew rave reviews for his role of the sociopathic killer in "In Cold Blood" (1967). And in 1975 starred in his own TV detective series, "Baretta".
However, his inner demons tormented him. He was still bitterly angry about his perceived mistreatment as a child by both the studio executives and his family. Add a dependency on drugs to that situation, and the difficulties on and off screen increased.
Well, as Paul Harvey says, you know the rest of the story. In 2002 Robert Blake was arrested and charged with killing his wife and, as of this writing, is in jail awaiting trial.
Michael Blakely
Michael Blakely is a talented writer, singer and musician. He lives in the hill country of Texas.
Win Blevins
Winfred Blevins was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1938 and grew up in Missouri. He attended the University of Missouri, Columbia University, Purdue and the University of Southern California. At one time he was the entertainment editor and principal film and drama critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.He is the author of Give Your Heart to the Hawks (Nash Publishing, 1973; Ballantine Books, 1974; Futura, 1975--British edition); Avon, 1976), Charbonneau:Man of Two Dreams (Nash, 1975; Avon, 1976; Green Hill, 1985), The Misadventures of Silk and Shakespeare (Jameson Books, 1985), and a historical novel, The Yellowstone (Book One in the "Rivers West" series, Bantam, 1988). He was the editor of a memoir, The River of the West: The Adventures of Joe Meek, by Frances Fuller Victor (Mountain Press, 1983). And he has written non-fiction books, The Roadside History of Yellowstone National Park (Mountain Press, 1989) and Dictionary of the American West (Facts on File, 1993).
Winfred Blevins is the general editor of the series "Classics of the Fur Trade," a series of scholarly reprints from Mountain Press. He has also sold four screenplays. In March, 1987 he began writing "The Real West" column for The Roundup monthly magazine and did so until 1988. His articles have appeared in dozens of magazines ranging from Reader's Digest to Smithsonian.
Dan Blocker
(Deceased)
Dan Blocker was born to Shack and Mary Blocker on December 10, 1928 in O'Connell (Bowie County), Texas. He weighed in at 14 pounds, at that time the largest baby every born in that county.By the time he turned 13, Blocker weighed 200 lbs. and was rough as a cob. The local "good ol' boys" even went so far as arranging regular fist-fights between Blocker and anybody with nerve enough to go up against "the big 'un".
He finally stopped growing at 6' 3" and about 300 lbs., give or take 25 lbs. He often would laugh about his size and say, "My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch a wagon. No good for a damn thing."
Big Dan Blocker Sul Ross State College in Alpine, TX. And it was there that he found he had an interest in and a knack for acting. So he became a drama major. And, though professional football scouts came calling, he went off to act in summer stock in Boston, MA.Uncle Sam soon came calling and he couldn't turn him down. He was drafted and fought in Korea.
After he was discharged from the military, Dan Blocker earned a Master's degree back at Sul Ross State University. He married and began work as a high school teacher. Before long, though, a friend told him about Hollywood casting for someone to play the role of "Hoss Cartwright" in a proposed new TV Western show to be called "Bonanza" or something like that. He auditioned and got the job, and his life changed forever.
Dan Blocker with Lorene Greene & Michael Landon
on the set of "Bonanza".Dan Blocker also appeared in these TV Westerns: "Gunsmoke," "Cheyenne," "Colt.45," "The Restless Gun," "Zane Grey Theater," "Wagon Train," "The Rifleman" and "The Rebel".
In 1972, just before filming for the new fall TV season was to start, Dan Blocker got sick. His doctor put him in the hospital in Los Angeles for a simple gall bladder operation. There was nothing unusual about the surgery, but he soon developed a blood clot in his lung and died on May 13, 1971. And soon Bonanza died, too, as it could not keep up the ratings without ol' Hoss.
There is a "Dan Blocker Museum" in his hometown of O'Donnell, Texas, some 40 miles south of Lubbock. Dan Blocker's remains are buried in the DeKalb Cemetery in DeKalb, Texas.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Dan Blocker.
Martha Blue
Martha Blue is a member of Western Writers of America and the Author's Guild. In 1987, she won a Soroptomist Award for WOMEN HELPING WOMEN.She is the author of Making It Legal (McGraw Hill, 1979; revised and expanded, Northland Press, 1988), The Witch Purge of 1878 (Navajo Community College Press, 1989), By the Book: Legal ABC's for the Printed Word (1989) and a monograph, By the Book: A Legal Primer (Northland Press, 1989). Her articles have appeared in The Writer, The Craft Report, Ceramic Monthly, Romance Writers of America Newsletters, Coin Magazine, Plateu, and Southwest Art. Each semester Martha Blue teaches a graduate level course at Northern Arizona University on, "Law for the Creative Person".
Stephen A. Bly
Stephen A. Bly, minister and author, lives in Idaho. He is the pastor of Winchester Community Church, and serves as mayor of Winchester, Idaho.
Bly has spoken on numerous television and radio programs, including Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family. He is an Active Member of the Western Writers of America.
Steve graduated summa cum laude in Philosophy from Fresno State University and received a M.Div from Fuller Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Janet (who is also a writer) live at 4,000 ft. elevation in the mountains of north-central Idaho, in the pine trees, next to a lake on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation.
Steve Bly spent his early years working on ranches and farms. In his spare time, he pursues the 3 R's of ridin', ropin', and rodeo... and construction of Broken Arrow Crossing, a false front western village near his home.
He has written hundreds of articles in major Christian publications and some 70 books. His Western books include The Land Tambers (1987), Hard Winter at Broken Arrow Crossing, False Claims at the Little Stephen Mine, Last Hanging at Paradise Meadow, and Standoff at Sunrise Creek.
Stephen Bly's latest westerns include The Fortunes of the Black Hills Series, The Skinners of Goldfield Series, The Belles of Lordsburg Series, The Homestead Series, The Retta Barre Oregon Trail Series.
His book, THE LONG TRAIL HOME, was the winner of the 2002 Christy Award in the Westerns Division. And his book, Picture Rock, was a finalist for the 2002 Christy Award in the Westerns Division.
CLICK HERE to take a look at his own web site and to order his books.
Barbara Bockelman
Barbara Bockelman, cowboy poet, has been living on the same ranch in Beaver County, Oklahoma for more than 60 years. She began writing as a teen in the 1940's. And she began writing cowboy poetry in 1989. She has appeared at the Oklahoma Cowboy Poetry Gathering at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma on a regular basis, as well as at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, TX. Barbara Bockelman is the author of the book, Kiowa Creek.
Debra Bokur
Debra Bokur, editor and screenwriter, was reared in New England. She lived in Florida for several years, where she trained horses for competition. While in Florida, she was the editor of Delicious! magazine and, also, a travel bimonthly called North Florida Events.
Then Debra Bokur moved to Nederland, Colorado. She is the poetry editor of Many Mountains Moving, a literary journal. She is a frequent contributor to American Cowboy magazine. Her other Western credits include articles in Spur, Equus, Horse & Horseman, and HorsePlay.
Debra Bokur was also a newspaper editor and a journalist.
This listing is far from complete and may
contain errors. Therefore, all Western entertainers and/or
their agents are requested to submit recommended changes
by contacting Stan Paregien
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
