J. Frank Dobie
(Deceased)
J. Frank Dobie, who died in 1964, was a professor at the University of Texas. He was a folklorist and historian. He was inducted into the Western Writers of America's Western Hall of Fame in 1986.
J.Frank Dobie was born on a ranch in Live Oak County, Texas, on September 26, 1888. In 1906 he went off to college at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where he graduated in 1910. He married Bertha McKee in 1916.
He received his M.A. from Columbia University in New York in 1914, and that same year he began teaching at the University of Texas. He also joined the Texas Folklore Society in 1914.
When World War I broke out in 1917, he served for two years in the field artillery. After being discharged in 1919, he returned to the University of Texas and began having scholarly articles published.
However, he left UT in 1920 to manage his uncle Jim Dobie's ranch. This stint only lasted one year, but it cemented his mission in life: to communicate to others the richness of ranch life in the southwest. And when he returned to UT in 1921, he used the library resources there to mine article after article for The Texas Folklore Society publications. In fact, on April 1, 1922, Dobie became secretary of the society and held that job for 21 years.
Alas, UT in their infinite wisdom refused to give Dobie a promotion because he did not have a Ph.D., so he moved across the Red River and became chairman of the English department at Oklahoma A&M (now OSU), where he stayed from 1923 to 1925.
Both UT and Dobie made some concessions and he returned to the fold in 1925. Dobie focused on telling the tales of old-time Texas through the publications of the society and his other avenues. His Vaquero of the Brush Country (1929) established him as a spokesman of Texas and southwestern culture.
That was followed by On the Open Range (1931) and by Coronado's Children (1931), which won the Literary Guild Award for 1931. That combined with his success as a writer in the popular magazine, "Country Gentleman", made Dobie a nationally known literary figure.
In 1933 became a full professor at UT, the very first person with a Ph.D. to be so honored.
His other books in this early period included Tales of the Mustang (1936), The Flavor of Texas (1936), Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest (1942)"Tales of the Mustang" (1936), "The Flavor of Texas" (1936), Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (1939), The Longhorns (1941) and Tongues of the Monte (1947).
J. Frank Dobie spent the years of World War II (1941-45) teaching American literature in Cambridge. After the war he returned to Europe to teach in England, Germany, and Austria. He recounted that experience in A Texan in England. " In essence, his teaching abroad had instilled in him a more liberal perspective with a vision of an enlightened civilization free of social and political rigidities and with full respect for individuality.
However, that kind of thinking soon got him in hot water. In Texas the University of Texas regents, critical of the university's liberal professors, had fired President Homer P. Rainey in November 1944. Dobie, a liberal Democrat, was mad as hell and voiced his opinions. In return, Governor Coke Stevenson called Dobie a troublemaker and said he should be fired. Dobie's request for a continuation of his leave of absence after his European tour in 1947 was denied by the regents, and he was fired from the UT faculty under what became known as the "Dobie rule"(restricted faculty leaves of absence to two years, except in emergencies).
J. Frank Dobie seized the opportunity to devote all of his time to writing. The next decade saw the publication of The Voice of the Coyote (1949), The Ben Lilly Legend (1950), The Mustangs (1952), Tales of Old Time Texas (1955), Up the Trail From Texas (1955), and I'll Tell You a Tale (1960) and Cow People (1964). He died before finishing Rattlesnakes, but his wife Bertha McKee Dobie later edited it and published it in 1965.
J. Frank Dobie wrote a Sunday newspaper column from 1939 until his death in 1964, and as an outspoken critic of the Texas scene.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, knowing that Dobie was near death, awarded his fellow Texan the nation's highest civilian honor, the "Medal of Freedom," on September 14, 1964. Dobie died four days later, on September 18, 1964. Ironically, his funeral was held in Hogg Auditorium on the University of Texas campus. He was buried in the State Cemetery in Austin.
CLICK HERE to read the entire text of Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest by J. Frank Dobie.
Lavinia G. Dobler
Lavinia G. Dobler is the author of I Didn't Know That (Scholastic, 1978), Customs & Holidays Around the World (Fleet, 1962), National Holidays Around the World (Fleet, 1968), and The Land & People of Uruguay (Lippincott, 1978).
Brian Donlevy
(Deceased)
Brian Donlevy, actor, was born as Waldo Brian Donlevy on Feb. 9, 1901 in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland (NOTE: His birthplace is now Portadown, Craigavon District, Northern Ireland, UK).
Donlevy's family emigrated to America when he was quite young. He joined the U.S. Army in 1916 and was part of General Pershing force which invaded Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa, after Villa invaded Columbus, NM and murdered sixteen people. Then during World War II he joined the French army and was a pilot with Lafayette Escadrille.
He spent two years at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Somewhere along the line, though, he had developed a love of acting and gave up his military career for it. He quickly went from local stage productions to Broadway production in New York City to Hollywood.
Brian Donlevy made his first film in 1926 (a silent film) and his first "talkie" in 1929. He made 98 movies between 1923 and 1969. In 1939 he received an Oscar nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for "Beau Geste".
Brian Donlevy's Western credits included "Barbary Coast" (1935), "Jesse James" (1939), "Union Pacific" (1939), "Destry Rides Again" (1939), "The Virginian" (1946), Cowboy" (1958) and "Waco" (1966). He also made guest appearances on such TV Westerns as "Rawhide," "Wagon Train," and "Zane Grey Theater."
He married Marjorie Lane in 1936, and had one daughter, Judy. That marriage ended in divorce in 1947. His second marriage, in 1966, was to Lillian Lugosi, the widow of actor Bela Lugosi. He retired in 1969 and moved to Palm Springs, CA. They were married until his death in 1972.
Off stage, Brian Donlevy had two unusual passions: writing poetry and mining for gold. And when he retired in 1969, he received income from a tungsten mine of his in California.
He sufferred from throat cancer and had surgery late in 1971 at the Motion Picture County Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. He was released, but returned for more treatment in March of 1972. And he died on April 6, 1972.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Brian Donlevy.
CLICK HERE to go to a web site dedicated to Brian Donlevy.
Ray Dorr
Ray Dorr spent much of his life as a cowboy, prospector, treasure hunter, and as a wilderness survival advisor in the Sierra Madres of Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. His articles have appeared in True West, Mountain Man, Frontier Times, Argosy, Black Powder Report, and Western Horseman. He owns a construction company.
Warren Douglas
Warren Douglas was born on July 29, 1911 in Minneapolis, MN. He died on Nov. 15, 1997 at Jackson, California. He and his wife had operated an antique store there for several years before his death.Douglas was an actor with numerous stage and screen credits. He won "New York Critics Award" honors in "It Happened in Springfield," "Devil Boats," and "Mountain Fighters".
He appeared with Errol Flynn in "Northern Pursuit (Warner Brothers, 1943); in "God Is My Co-Pilot (Warner Brothers, 1945); "The Inner Circle" (1946), "Lightnin' In the Forest" (1948), "Laws of the Badlands" (with Robert Shayne), and "The Great Jewel Robber" (1950). Click here for his complete filmography .
Warren Douglas was also a writer. Besides his poetry, he also wrote scripts for movies, plays and TV shows (see "filmography, above, for a complete listing). He wrote scripts for such TV shows as "Gunsmoke" (one of note was "Hard Luck Henry," a script for the Oct. 23, 1967 show), "Bat Masterson," "Bronco," "Cheyene," "The Files of Jeffery Jones," "The High Chaparrall, "Laramie," "McCloud," "77 Sunset Strip," "Sugarfoot," and "This Is Your Life" .
Douglas's own poem, below, was read at his funeral service:
If Earth Can Be So Beautiful,
What Can Heaven Be Like?
by Warren DouglasI stood out by my garden
On the soft and life-filled sod
And raised my eyes to Heaven
And paid a visit to my God.
His sky was drowned in color
And the sunset kissed a cloud
As I paid a visit with my God
And spoke to him aloud.
If earth can be so beautiful,
What can heaven be like?
And the answer quickley came to me
Just like a lightning's strike.
Heaven and earth are one, my son
It all depends on you
If you look with your heart
My inquiring son
My glories you will view.
And Heaven and earth
And light and truth
Will come alive as you.
I felt so humble
And yet so tall
Filled with glory
And yet so small.
Then quietly in the glory
Of that slowly sinking sun
I knew that years and years
Of doubt were over, finished--done.
In the glory of the sunset
As the night came across the land
Heaven and earth were truly one
As I held my father's hand.Editor's note: My sister, Roberta P. Fournier, knew Warren Douglas quite well. She operated a store just a few yards from his. I, too, was priviledged to have visited with this dignified and charming man. Though he had more than his share of "Hollywood" stories to tell, he seemed more concerned about making his visitors feel comfortable in sharing insights about their own lives. He was a kind and gentle soul.
Sybile S. Downing.
With Jane V. Barker, Sybile S. Downing is the author of Florence Rena Sabin (Pruett, 1981) and of Martha Maxwell: Pioneer Naturalist (Pruett, 1982). 
Davis Dresser
(Deceased)
Davis Dresser, writer, worked as a farm hand, mule skinner, grave digger, oil tanker deckhand and as a short order cook before turning to writing in 1930. He wrote his first "Michael Shayne" detective novel in 1935, and it was rejected by 22 publishers before it was finally published. Besides the successful string of 50 "Shayne" novels, written under the name of Brett Halliday, he also wrote many Westerns. His books sold over 65 million copies.
His first Western was published in 1939, under his own name. Then he did a series of "Rio Kid" novels under the name "Don Davis." He also did twenty "Powder Valley" Westerns for Morrow & Company. He was an active member of WWA. Dresser died in February, 1977, at the age of 72. He was survived by his wife, Mary Savage (also a novelist), and by a son and a daughter. (See obituary notice in the March, 1977 issue of The Roundup. See his photo and bio in the Oct., 1965 issue of The Roundup.)
James Drury
James Drury, actor, was born on April 18, 1934 in New York City.
His Western credits include "The Virginian" (2000, TV); "The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw" (1991, TV), "The Man from Virginia"(1971, TV), "Alias Smith and Jones "(1970, TV) , "Backtrack!" (1969), "Eagle Warriors" (1967), "The Meanest Men in the West"(1967, TV), "Ride the High Country" (1962), "The Virginian" TV series (1962), "Good Day for a Hanging (1958), "Love Me Tender" (1956), and "The Last Wagon" (1956).
James Drury & Stan Paregien in Sept. 2002
The National Cowboy Symposium - Lubbock, TXCLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of James Drury.
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.
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
---- Jesus the Christ (Bible: Luke 12:25-26)
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
