Elisha Cook, Jr.
(Deceased)
Elisha Cook, Jr., actor, was born on Dec. 26, 1903 in San Francisco, CA. He began his acting career at age 14. He attended St. Albans College and the Chicago Academy of Dramatic Art. Then he toured in vaudeville and with stock companies. He finally made it to Broadway in New York City. Hollywood found him in 1936, and he settled into steady film work as a usually spineless or detestible character. And because he was so small in size, he was labled "the screen's lightest heavy".
Cook appeared in more than 100 movies during his career. His Western movies included Shane (1953; he was the short farmer gunned down in the streets of town), Thunder Over the Plains (1953), Outlaw's Daughter (1954), Timberjack (1955), The Indian Fighter (1955), The Lonely Man (1957), Day of the Outlaw (1959), One-Eyed Jacks (1961), Blood on the Arrow (1964), Welcome to Hard Times (1967), The Great Bank Robbery (1969), El Condor (1970), The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Winterhawk (1976), and Tom Horn (1979).
Elisha Cook, Jr.'s Western TV credits incuded appearances on Bonanza, Cimarron Strip, The Monroes, The Road West, The Wild, Wild West, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Destry, Temple Houston, The Dakotas, Outlaws, Laramie, The Rebel, Tombstone Territory, Johnny Ringo, Bat Masterson, Trackdown, Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, and the Lone Wolf. 
Elisha Cook being hassled
in this 1973 film.Elisha Cook, Jr., lived his later years in the desert near Bishop, California. He had a stroke in 1990 that took his ability to speak. He died of a stroke on May 18, 1995 in Big Pine, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Elisha Cook, Jr.
Cooke, John Byrne
A graduate of Harvard University, John Byrne Cooke is the son of famed historian/writer/TV host Alistair Cook. He is the author of the 3-vol. set, The Snowblind Moon (Simon and Schuster, 1985), for which the WWA awarded him in 1986 both a Spur for "Best Western Historical Novel" and the Medicine Pipe Award for "Best First Novel". His second book, South of the Border, was published in 1989. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post. Stan Paregien did a profile of him: "John Byrne Cooke--Storyteller," in The Roundup (May, 1987).
Spade Cooley
(Deceased)
Spade Cooley was born Donnel C. Cooley on Dec. 17, 1910 in Pack Saddle Creek, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oregon when he was just four. He took training in classical violin and cello. In 1930 the family moved again, this time to Modesto, CA. And soon he was playing "fiddle" at dances in the area.Somewhere along the way someone noticed that Donnel Cooley looked an awful lot like Roy Rogers, at least with a hat on and from a distance. So in 1934 he was hired stand-in for Roy Rogers.
Now living in the Los Angeles area, Donnel earned his nickname "Spade" from his prowess at poker. And about the same time he started his own band. He soon became a star at the Venice Pier Ballroom near Los Angeles.
Then he landed a recording contract. His first hit was the song, “Shame, Shame on You,” recorded in the early 1940’s. It would become his theme song.
His star was still on the rise. He and his band achieved headliner status at the prestigious Santa Monica Ballroom. And he was beginning to challenge Western swing king Bob Wills.
Spade Cooley appeared in numerous movies, including “Chatterbox,” “The Singing Bandit,” “The Singing Sheriff,” “Outlaws of the Rockies” and “Texas Panhandle”
Spade Cooley and his band. Lead singer
Tex Williams is at the far right.
In 1947 Cooley got his own TV show on KTLA, “The Hoffman Hayride”( named for a sponsoring TV manufacturer). The shows was so popular that it attracted 75 percent of the viewing audience in its time slot throughout the late 1940's. Spade was wearing $500 handmade western suits, white Stetson hats and expensive boots. He was doing quite well, thank you.
However, times and tastes were changing. And in the early 1950's his TV show was cancelled. Still, he continued to tour widely. But tough times were just ahead.
Spade Cooley had an idea for starting an all-girl hillbilly-western band. The girl band didn't work out, though. So he used some of his considerable wealth to invest in large tracts of land in the southern California. He took his wife, Ella Mae (whom he had married when she was 20) and his daughter Melody to live in a plush ranch estate near Mohave, CA. And he threw himself into the Real Estate business.
Somewhere along the way things went downhill fast. He soon filed for a divorce from Ella Mae. He charged incompatibility, and he won custody of their two children : Melody (14) and Donnell (12 ).
Ten days later, shortly before midnight, on April 3, 1961, Mojave ambulance driver Richard Stickel got a call. The erratic voice identified himself as Spade Cooley. Stickel said Cooley told him his Ella Mae was "bad hurt" and to come at once. When the ambulance arrived at The Cooley ranch, Stickel said Cooley appeared to be in shock. Two girls met him at the door and led him inside to Ella Mae, wrapped in a blanket. She was bloody and unconscious. At the nearby Tehachapi Valley hospital, Ella Mae Cooley was pronounced dead on arrival.
The hospital notified the sheriff's department and Western swing legend Spade Cooley was picked up and held for questioning. At first, Spade told the authorities the various bruises on Ella Mae's body were caused when she fell from a car several days before. They decided to keep him in jail pending further investigation.
Strangely enough, during this time in jail he wrote a song called "Cold Gray Bars". And Capitol Records announced that it had been recorded for national distribution."
The State of California charged Cooley with murder in the first degree. The State charged that Spade "did willfully, on the night of April 3rd, kick, beat, and strangle Ella Mae Cooley, his wife."
Spade entered a plea of ''not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity."
As the investigation progressed, Spade's daughter Melody, and his daughter-in-law Dorothy Lee, told the police a different story from the one Spade recounted. The sensational trial took place in Bakersfield at the Kern County Court House. Melody told the jury she was "called" to the ranch from a nearby home where she had been staying since her parents separated.
"When I entered, he (Spade) was on the phone. He was talking to his business partner and he said, 'Don't call the police.' He was real sweaty and he had blood spots on his pants. "He put down the phone and said, 'Come in here. I want you to see your mother. She's going to tell you something.'"
Melody continued: "He took hold of my arm and took me into the den. The shower was running in the bathroom. Mother was in the shower. He opened the door and said, 'Get up. Melody's here. . . talk to her.' He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the den with both hands. She was undressed. He banged her head on the floor twice. He called her a slut. She couldn't move. She seemed unconscious. He turned back to Mother and said, 'We'll see if you're dead.' Then he stomped her in the stomach with his left foot. He took a cigarette which he had been smoking and burned her twice."
Melody said at this point the telephone began ringing, and when her father went to answer it, she tried desperately to revive her mother with cold water. She couldn't. She said Spade came back into the room and told her not to "say anything to the police or I might have to kill you."
Then she shuddered, and said: "He told me, 'You're going to watch me kill her, Melody. If you don't, I'll kill you too. I'll kill us all." When he walked out of the room again, the girl said she slipped out a side door and ran for her life.
Spade's daughter-in-law, Dorothy Lee, told the jury she went to the ranch later in the evening, and found Cooley wearing bloodstained clothing. She said she left to call her husband in Los Angeles.
When the state rested its case, it was Spade's turn at the plate. He said that he had killed Ella Mae in a fit of rage after she had revealed her involvement in a sex cult. He refused to name the cult itself, but his descriptions of acts of sodomy was a lurid, graphic one. But this story was not convincing to the Jury.
On August 19, 1961, Cooley was found guilty of murder one. Superior Judge William L. Bradshaw sentenced him to life imprisonment. Spade's defense attorney announced that he would appeal the conviction, however the appeal was unsuccessful. He was sent to the California state prison in Vacaville.
• Cooley was still in prison eight years later. However, his prospects for parole look favorable. And in November 1969, thanks to his record of good behavior, Spade was granted a brief leave from Vacaville prison to participate in a benefit concert in Oakland. After a well-received performance, Cooley went to a dressing room. And there he had a fatal heart attack. The date was Nov. 23, 1969. The fallen prince of Western swing was dead at age 59.
Two collections of Cooley's music that are still available are:
(1) SPADE COOLEY & TEX WILLIAMS: Western Swing Jamboree ( Bronco Buster 9029). Contains 12 tracks by Cooley and 6 by Tex Williams from rare singles and transcriptions from the mid/late 1940's.
(2) SPADE COOLEY : Spadella! The Essential Spade Cooley (Columbia-Legacy CK 57392), 20 tracks, 55 mins. Cooley's local L.A. variety show made him the Ed Sullivan of the West Coast. Though his later RCA work was corny and heavy on the Lawrence Welkisms, the Columbias epitomized the difference between California and Texas Western swing. 20 of the 21 Cooley Columbias appear here. After Cooley fired vocalist Tex Williams in 1946, most of these musicians became Tex's band, the Western Caravan.
Cooper, Gary
(Deceased)
Gary Cooper, actor, was born in Helena, Montana as Frank James on. May 7, 1901. His parents were proper Englishmen and so young Frank was sent to Great Britain for school. Meanwhile, his parents moved to Los Angeles. And when he joined them, he wanted to work as a cartoonist. He couldn't find a job in that field. But, with his Montana background of riding horses, he soon found jobs in several Westerns movies--silent Westerns in the 1920's.Gary Cooper's first role in a "talking" movie was in "The Virginian"(1929). It propelled him to stardom. And whenever his career started to sag, he would return to Westerns and perk it up.
In 1941 Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his portrayal of Sergeant York in the movie by the same name. In 1949, Cooper starred with Patricia Neal in "The Fountainhead". Neal and Cooper began a much publicized affair, that lasted over three years.
In 1952, Gary Cooper starred in High Noon, which was a box office smash and garnered him his second "Best Actor" Oscar. But even during the filming of this movie he was suffering from an injured hip and a bleeding ulcer.
Gary Cooper's best-known Western role was with
Gracy Kelley in "High Noon" (1952)
In 1961, his dear friend James Stewart accepted on his behalf an honorary career-achievement Oscar "for his many memorable screen performances," as he was by then far too ill with cancer to attend the ceremony.
Gary Cooper of lung cancer on May 13, 1961. His remains are in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Southampton, Long Island, New York.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Gary Cooper.
Paul W. Cooper
Paul W. Cooper writes TV scripts, and has worked on "Little House on the Prairie," "Grizzly Adams" and "Father Murphy".
Glenn Corbett
(Deceased)
Glenn Corbett, actor, was born Glenn Rothenburg on Aug. 17, 1930 in El Monte, CA.
He acted in the "Route 66" TV series for one year (1963-64), "The Road West" 1966), "The Doctors" (1976-81) and in "Dallas" (1983-84 and 1986-88).
He also appeared in Shenandoah (1965), This Savage Land (TV, 1969), Chisum (1970), Big Jake (1971) and Law of the Land (TV, 1976).
Glenn Corbett died of lung cancer on Jan. 16, 1993 in San Antonio, Texas.
Barry Corbin
Barry Corbin has made a successful living out of playing supporting roles in films, made-for-TV movies, and TV series.Born on Oct. 16, 1940 in Lamesa, Texas, Corbin played the eccentric retired astronaut in the smash hit TV series "Northern Exposure". And he was in one of the most-watched TV film in TV history: "Lonesome Dove". His very first movie, back in 1980, was the smash hit "Urban Cowboy" with John Travolta. He also appeared in "Conagher" (TV, 1991) and "Crossfire Trail" (TV, 2001).
Stan Paregien with Barry Corbin in 1997 at the
National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock.He performs a one-man show on the life of famed cattleman Charlie Goodnight, a show written by Goodnight's great-nephew Andy Wilkerson.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Barry Corbin.
Jim W. Corder
Professor Jim W. Corder is the author of a number of textbooks, including A College Rhetoric (Random House, 1961), Rhetoric: A Reader (Random House, 1965), Handbook of Current English (Scott Foresman, 1968; four subsequent editions), Uses of Rhetoric (Lippincott, 1971), and Contemporary Writing (Scott, Foresman, 1978). He has written diverse articles and poems on western subjects in New Mexico Humanities Review and Concho Review.
Corder is the author of two books on western subjects: Lost in West Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 1988) and A Small Town Chronicle (Texas A&M, 1989).
Jim W. Corder received the Braddock Prize in 1975, given by the national Council of Teachers of English. And he twice received the Boswell Poetry Prize.
Edwin Corle
(Deceased)
Edwin Corle was born in Wildwood, N.J. on May 7, 1906. He received the A.B. degree from the University of California in 1928, and did some graduate work at Yale. In 12941 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for creative writing and traveled in Mexico. His short story, "Amethyst," was published in the Atlantic Monthly shortly after he graduated from Yale. And Edward J. O'Brien chose the story for his Best Short Stories of 1934. His books included Billy the Kid, The Gila, People on the Earth, Listen, Bright Angel and Burro Alley.
Corrigan, Ray "Crash"
(Deceased)
Ray Corrigan, actor and entertainer, was born as Raymond Benard on February 14, 1902, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By early adulthood he was living in Denver, Colorado. He was running his own health club (called a "physical culture school" back then). And he was in such good condition, personally, that he won numerous awards for muscle building, physique, etc.While in Denver, he took his first acting lessons. He performed in local theater productions, then headed for Los Angeles in the 1920's. He worked at various jobs, but always stayed close to his physical conditioning interests. And it was in that context that a studio executive with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saw him and signed him to a five-year contract. He had many small parts in a number of films, and he was also doing stunt work for such stars as Clark Gable and Johnny Weissmuller.
In 1935 he changed studios, signing with Republic Pictures. They made him a Western star. His nickname of "Crash" apparently stemmed from his days as a stunt man, when he was injured several times doing various tricks.
In 1936, Republic Pictures began a successful Western series titled, "The Three Mesquiteers ". Corrigan was in the first 24 of those low budget movies, from 1936 to 1939.
Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Rita Hayworth in
"Hit the Saddle" (Republic, 1937).In 1937 Ray Corrigan bought his own ranch property in the Simi Valley. He was not interested in raising cattle on it, though. He set up a group of makeshift cowboy-era buildings and began leasing it to the studios for a filming location. Not surprisingly, he named it the "Ray Corrigan Movie Ranch".
In 1940, Monogram Pictures began "The Range Busters" Western series. Corrigan was in the first 16 (1940-1942), as well as the last 4 in 1943. His acting career was fading fast.
In 1949, Corrigan made the decision to open his movie ranch to the public on the weekends. He renamed it, "Corriganville." And it became a big tourist hit. In fact, my parents took my sister and me there several times during the early 1950's. And we always enjoyed walking down the main street of the town and to the "Fort" a short distance away. We got to meet Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune, and probably others whom I cannot remember.
Corrigan was married several times, and had quite a reputation for his womanizing activities.
Oddly enough, in his latter years Ray Corrigan's acting was mostly limited to work inside a gorilla suit. He designed the suit and performed in several movies ("The Killer Ape," 1953), as well as at special events.
Ray "Crash" Corrigan died on August 10, 1976, at Brookings, Oregon. He was 73 years old.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Ray Corrigan.
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner, actor and director, was born on Jan. 18, 1955. He studied marketing at California State University in Fullerton, but also tried his hand at acting with a community theatre.
In 1978, with his degree in his hand, Costner took regular job for 30 long days and gave it up to become an actor. His big break came as a gunfighter in the Western "Silverado" (1985). That was following by roles in highly profitable films such as "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams".
That is how he suddenly was granted both starring and directing status in a relatively low-budget production filmed in the hills of South Dakota. His Western epic, "Dances With Wolves," was a tremendous hit and another highly profitable film. Costner won the "Best Director" Oscar for his work, and the movie itself won an Oscar for "Best Picture".
CLICK HERE to see Kevin Costner's complete filmography.
Cotten, Joseph
(Deceased)
Joseph Cotten, actor, was born Joseph Cheshire Cotten on May 15, 1905 in Petersburg, VA. He first worked as an advertiser, then as an actor at a theatre and also as a theatre critic.Cotten got his chance at acting in the movies because of his friendship with Orson Welles. They had known each other since working together at the Federal Theatre in 1936. He appeared with Welles in 1941 in the classic film, "Citizen Kane".
Joseph Cotten's Western credits include appearances on such TV shows as "The Virginian," "Cimarron Strip," "Wagon Train," and "Zane Grey Theater". And he appeared in these Western films: "Duel in the Sun" (1946), "Two Flags West" (1950), "Untamed Frontier" (1952), "The Great Sious Massacre" (1965) and "Comanche Blanco" (1968).
Joseph Cotten died of pneumonia on February 6, 1994 at Westwood, CA. His remains are buried in the Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.
CLICK HERE to view the complete filmography of Joseph Cotten.
Cowboy Celtic
Cowboy Celtic is a Western music group based in Turner Valley, Alberta, British Columbia. The Cowboy Celtic, led by Dave Wilkie, performs cowboy ballads and traditional Celtic tunes with a touch of the Old West. Their album, "Cowboy Celidh," won a Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Cox, William R.
(Deceased)
William Cox was a writer who cut a wide literary swath. His works included works of suspense, crime, mystery, Westerns, adventure, children's fiction, physical fitness, biography and sports. He was a long-time WWA member and former two-term president of WWA in 1965-66 and 1971-72. He died in his home on Aug. 7, 1988, with a half-completed page of a half-completed Western novel standing in his typewriter.
Born in Peapack, N.J. on April 14, 1901, Cox was a professional football player in the days when each player was lucky to get $5 per game. He began his writing career by turning in reports to the newspaper of the games in which he played. He eventually became a sports writer, first for newspapers and then for the pulp magazines. He moved from that into crime stores and Westerns, as he once explained: "To be honest, my work in westerns started in the pulp magazines in 1939 or 40, only because I had glutted the market with sports, crime, adventure stories. However, such was my instant interest that I first visited, then moved to the western country, departing New Jersey and Florida forever." That was in 1948.
Cox wrote as Mike Frederic, Joel Reeve and Jonas Ward. He wrote more than 1,000 articles for such magazines as Collier's, Cosmopolitan, Argosy, and Saturday Evening Post. He said of those days, "For fourteen happy years I published 600,000 words per annum. Then came the demise, first of Colliers and American, then the pulps, then the Post. I hired myself to Hollywood. I never quite liked it but worked on salary at Universal-International in the early 50's, at Columbia, Hal Roach and other studios. Television reared its tousled little head and I managed over a hundred of those until the going got so heavy and unnerving that I quit and went back to the place where I belonged." That was in 1963.
His first book sale had been Make My Coffin Strong to Fawcett in 1954. His Western novels include The Lusty Men (1956), Comanche Moon (1959), The Duke (1959), The Outlawed (1961; republished as Navajo Blood, in 1973), Bigger Than Texas (1962; 4th ed., 1976), The Tall Texan: Big Man from Brazos (as "Roger G. Spellman," 1965), The Gunsharp (1965), Black Silver (1967), Day of the Gun (1967), Firecreek (1967, 1978), Moon of Cobre (1969), Law Comes to Razor Edge (1970), The Sixth Horseman (1971), Jack O' Diamonds (1972).
He was the author of the Jonas Ward Buchanan series for Fawcett and those titles include Trap for Buchanan (1971), Buchanan's Gamble (1972), Buchanan's Siege (1972), Buchanan on the Run (1973), Get Buchanan (1973), Buchanan Takes Over (1974), Buchanan Calls the Shots (1975), Buchanan's Big Showdown (1975), Buchanan's Texas Treasure (1976), Buchanan's Stolen Railway (1977), Buchanan's Manhunt (1978), Buchanan's Range War (1979), Buchanan's Big Fight (1980).
Cox also wrote a biography, Luke Short and His Era (1962), and a nonfiction book, The Mets Will Win the Pennant (1964).. And he edited the WWA anthology, Rivers to Cross.
In addition, he was a member of the Writers Guild of America (West) and had written hundreds of scripts for such TV programs as "Wells Fargo," "Fireside Theater," "Wagon Train," "Adam 12," "Zane Grey Theater," "Route 66," "The Virginian," "Broken Arrow," "Rawhide," "G.E. Theatre," "Alcoa Theater," and "Bonanza."
Cox wrote the screenplay for two movies: "Veils of Bagdad" (Universal, 1953, starring Victor Mature) and "Tanganyika" (Universal, 1954, starring Van Heflin).
Cox was interred beside his parents in a cemetery in Peapack, N.J. He had been married five times, and had one stepson. (See Thomas Thompson's tribute to one of his wives, Lee (died on Oct. 18, 1975), in the Dec., 1975 issue of The Roundup. She was a script writer and worked on the movie "Marty".)
At the age of 80, Cox told an interviewer from Armchair Detective, "I do not believe in `writing courses.' I believe a writer is born with imagination and curiosity and the egotistical ambition to be read. Not heard. I have no message; I just tell the story. Remember what Dr. Samuel Johnson said: Anybody who doesn't write for money is a fool. I never pretended to be an author. I'm a writer; I just tell a story."
(See Brian Garfield's article, "William R. Cox: A Profile," in The Roundup Quarterly (Dec., 1988), p.7-11, for more about him.
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.
As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord is flawless.
He is a shield for all those who
take refuge in him. --- Bible: Psalm 18:6
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
