Angie Debo
(Deceased)
The first portrait of a woman to ever be placed in the rotunda of the State Capitol of Oklahoma was that of Angie Debo on April 8,1985. She was born near Beattie, Kansas, on Jan. 30, 1890. The family moved to Marshall, Oklahoma in 1899 and Angie Debo never changed her permanent residence.
She received her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1918, studying under famous historian Edward Everett Dale. In 1924 she earned a master's from the University of Chicago, and in 1933 she received a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.
Known as "Miss Angie", she spent parts of her life as a high school history teacher, a curator of maps at Oklahoma State University, and as a Methodist minister during World War II. She wrote for such publications as The New York Times Book Review, Harper's Magazine, and Encylopedia Americana.
She began writing about Indians when Ken Maynard and Tox Mix were riding high on the silver screen and nobody knew much about the Native Americans. Her books included: Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic (1934), And Still the Waters Run (1940), Prairie City (1944), A History of the Indians of the United States (1970),and Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place (1976). She wrote her last book at the age of 86 and later told one reporter, "If anybody asked me to write another book, I'd set the dogs on them. If I had any dogs."
In 1983 the University of Oklahoma bestowed on Miss Angie its highest award, the Distinguished Service Citation, which read: "Throughout her life, she has sought the truth and written it."
In a 1985 interview she told a reporter for the Sunday Oklahoman, "I am an honest writer and I tell the whole truth. Integrity is a pretty important thing, because a book is just about the most permanent thing there is. It survives longer than the person does, and who wants to leave shoddy work as proof of the shoddiness of his thinking?"
CLICK HERE to go to the Angie Debo web site at Oklahoma State University for detailed information on her life and work.
Yvonne De Carlo
Yvonne De Carlo was born as Peggy Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her father abandoned the family when she was three, so her mother went to work as a waitress. Her mother had other plans for Yvonne, however, and signed her up to study acting and dancing.
They moved to Hollywood in 1940, where Yvonne danced in various club chorus lines. And she managed to get bit parts in a few movies. It was not until 1945 that she finally landed the lead role in "Salome, Where She Danced," a movie that caught the attention of studio executives. And her film career was off and running.
In 1956, Yvonne played the part of the wife of Moses (Charlton Heston) in the high-budget and high-profile movie, "The Ten Commandments".
Yvonne De Carlo's Western credits included "This Gun for Hire" (1942), "Frontier Gal" (1945), "Black Bart" (1948), "The Gal Who Took the West" (1949), "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass" (1949), "The Desert Hawk" (1950), "Tomahawk" (1951), "Border River" (1954), "Shotgun" (1955), "Raw Edge" (1956), "McClintock!" (1963), "Law of the Lawless" (1964), "Hostile Guns" (1967), "Arizona Brushwhackers" (1968) and "The Mask of Zorro" (1974, TV).
In the late 50's and early 60's Yvonne was appearing on such TV programs as BONANZA and THE VIRGINIAN. She also played the role of Lily Munster in the smash series THE MUNSTERS which first aired in 1964.
In 1962 Yvonne De Carlo's husband, stunt man Bob Morgan, was badly injured during the filming of "How the West Was Won". Morgan was doing stunts for George Peppard, and in between shots he was sitting on the edge of a flatbed railroad car loaded with logs (fiberglass ones, actually) as it moved along the tracks . Somehow the load shifted and threw him down on the railroad tracks. Morgan lost one leg and his face was also disfigured in the accident.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Yvonne De Carlo.
Ted De Corsia
Ted De Corsia, cowboy movie actor, was born as Edward Gildea De Corsia on Sept. 29, 1903 in Brooklyn, NY.
De Corsia began his acting career on stage and then into radio before breaking into movies in 1948. He was usually cast as a "heavy" in the early Western movies. He was featured in such Western films as "The Outriders" (1951), "New Mexico" (1951), "Vengeance Valley" (1951), "The Savage" (1942), "Ride Vaquero!" (1953), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957), "Noose For a Gunman" (1960), "Oklahoma Territory" (1960), and "Blood on the Arrow" (1964).
Ted De Coria died on April 11, 1973 in, Encino, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Ted De Corsia.
Guy Deel
Guy Deel was born in Tuxedo, Texas in 1933. His father was a cowboy and for some years, his mother was a cook for the ranch hands. His grandparents ranched in Texas back in the 1880's.
He received a scholarship at the age of 17 to attend the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He later returned as an instructor, after having done graduate work with the noted illustrator, Pruitt Carter. He also studied sculpture at the Otis Art Institute.
He spent two years in the U.S. Army, where he created recruiting posters in New York City. He stayed in New York to do record album covers for such folks as Frank Sinatra. He and his wife, Lynne, have two daughters. He has three children by a previous marriage.
Guy Deel's home studio is decorated with the gear of the Western gunfighter, and books abound on the art of Remington, Russell, Wyeth and Howard Pyle. He has done illustrations for such magazines as Ladies Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, and Redbook. And a story about him appears in the May, 1988 issue of Southwest Art.
Deel has painted more than 200 book covers for such Western writers as Elmer Kelton ("Horsehead Crossing," "Eye of the Hawk"), Luke Short, Ernest Haycox, Clay Fisher, Lewis Patton, Gary McCarthy ("Derby Man" series), Will Henry, Louis L'Amour ("The Lonesome Gods") and more than 80 covers for J.T. Edson (all of the Berkley Press covers, through 1988). And he has also illustrated several books for Reader's Digest. He works primarily with quick-drying acrylics.
He painted the above mural for the theme court of the new Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, Calif. That mural is 130 feet long and 14 feet high. It chronicles the history of the West from prehistoric times to the present.
Deal painted five large scenes of the American Revolution for the famous EPCOT Center at Disney World in Sarasota, Florida. And, in addition, he has also done some production designs for such Disney Studios animated movies as "Oliver and Company", "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo," "The Shaggy D.A.," "The Black Cauldron," "Pete's Dragon," and "The Rescuers".
Olivia De Havilland
Olivia De Havilland, movie actress, was born Olivia Mary de Havilland in Tokyo, Japan on July 1, 1916. Her father was a British patent attorney and her mother was, surprize, an actress. And her younger sister, Joanne Beauvoir de Havilland, became known as movie actress Joan Fontaine.
Olivia was discovered by Hollywood executives while she was still in high school, performing in a production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Soon she was under contract to Warner Brothers movie studio.
Early on, of course, she achieved lasting fame as Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With the Wind". She was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Supporting Actress," but that award went to fellow cast member Hattie McDaniel.
She got into a legal battle with Warner Brothers. She had refused to do a certain part, so Warner Brothers tried to add her "down time" to the length of her contract. She won her fight and the ruling became known as "the De Havilland Law". But she didn't work at all from 1943 to 1946.
She won an Oscar for her role in "To Each His Own," and a second Oscar for "The Heiress". And she won a Golden Globe for her role in "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna" (1986).
Olivia De Havilland's Western credits included "Gold Is Where You Find It" (1938), "Dodge City" (1939), "Santa Fe Trail" (1940), "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) and "The Proud Rebel" (1958).
CLICK HERE to visit a web site featuring a biography, filmography and photo gallery of Olivia De Havilland.
Harriet T. DeLong
Harriet T. DeLong is the author of Pacific Schooner: Wawona (University of Washington Press, 1985).
Dolores del Rio
(Deceased)
Dolores del Rio, movie actress, was born as Dolores Martínez Asúnsolo y López Negrete on Aug. 3, 1905 in Durango, Mexico. Her family was a wealthy, aristocratic clan in Mexico -- prior to the big revolution led by Pancho Villa. Ah, comes the Revolution, and they were not so well off.
Dolores moved to Mexico City, where she managed to break into the high society crowd. And in 1921 she married a wealthy Mexican would-be screenwriter Jaime Del Río. Hence the name, Dolores del Rio. They decided they needed to move to Hollywood, so she could try to get into the movies and where he could do screenwriting. She made her first film in 1925 and the couple divorced soon afterward.
Dolores del Rio snuggles up to Joel McCrea
Dolores then married Cedric Gibbons, an art director and production designer at MGM. That marriage ended when she had a fling with actor Orson Welles, and she returned to Mexico in 1942.
One year later she made her first Spanish language film and she became a big-time star in Mexico and Latin America. And in Mexico she won the right to a percentage of the profits of her films. She invested that money, mainly in real estate, and became very rich. Her career in Mexico also included film, theater and television. And in her last years she became an advocate for better care of orphan children.
She sometimes returned to Hollywood for brief stints. She even played the part of the mother of Elvis Presley in "Flaming Star" (1960). Her credits in other American Western movies included "The Man from Dakota" (1939), "Cheyenne Autumn" (1965) and "Rio Blanco" (1967). She completely retired from acting in 1978.
THE "DOLORES DEL RIO" MURAL
on Hudson Avenue, north of Hollywood Blvd.,
Hollywood, CA., by artist Alfredo de Batuc.
Dolores del Rio died of liver failure on April 11, 1983 in Newport Beach, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Dolores del Rio.
John A. Demattos
John A. Demattos writes for such magazines as True West and Real West. Did a series of illustrations for True West on "Gunfighters of the Real West," numbering nearly 50. He is the author of Famous Gunfighters of the Western Frontier (Weatherford Press), Roosevelt & Garrett (Creative Texas, 1986) and Masterson and Roosevelt (Creative Texas, 1984). He served on the editorial board of National Outlaws and Lawmen Association (NOLA) from 1975-80. He coaches Little League baseball and collects baseball cards.
Harre W. Demoro
Harre W. Demoro is a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. His writing is often focused on the western railroads and trolley systems. He has written articles for Oakland Tribune, The Western Railroader, and Trains. Demoro's book credits include California's Electric Railways, The Silver Short Line, Southern Pacific Bay Area Steam, The Evergreen Fleet and The Key Route, Books I and II (Interubran, 1985). With Seymour Kashin he wrote An American Original: The PCC Car (Interurban, 1986).
Al Dempsey
Dempsey worked as a journalist from 1958 to 1970. And since 1970 he has concentrated on writing novels, as well as a couple of non-fiction books. His non-fiction books include Treasure Hunter (Prentice-Hall, 1974) and Six States Super Centennial Celebration (TOR Books, 1989).
His novels include London Switch (Pinnacle, 1973), Phase of Darkness (hardback by Third Press, 1974; paper, Ballentine, 1975), Italian Connection (Pinnacle, 1974), Red Falcons (Pinnacle, 1976), Pearl Harbor Cover-Up (Pinnacle, 1976), Terminal Connection (Ace/Grossett, 1976), Dog Kill (hardback by Prentice-Hall, 1976; paper, TOR, 1987), Miss Finney Kills Now and Then (TOR, 1982), and Stendal Raid (TOR, 1985).
Lyn DeNaeyer-Messersmith
Lyn DeNaeyer-Messersmith and her husband, Bruce Messersmith, live outside of Alliance, Nebraska. Lyn is a third generation rancher, having lived on her grandparent's homestead. She learned to ride and think like a cow by the age of two and never outgrew it.
Lyn DeNaeyer-Messersmith works as a newspaper columnist, freelance writer, and member of the Nebraska Humanities Council Speaker's Bureau. She and her trail partner, Deb Carpenter, recently released The Heart's Compass, a CD and book based on diaries of pioneer women.
Marianna Dengler
Marianna Dengler received "The Storyteller Award" from WWA for best children's picture book in 1996. Her book, The Worry Stone, was illustrated by Sibl Graber Gerig and published by Northland Publishing. The award was presented at the WWA Convention in Cheyenne, Wyoming in June, 1997.
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 through his e-mail address.
Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;
a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his
possessions.
---- Jesus the Christ (Bible: Luke 12:15)
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
