Stan Paregien, Editor
Douglas B. Green
Lead singer for "Riders in the Sky". See "Ranger Doug" and "Riders in the Sky".
Walon Green
Walon Green was born on Dec. 15, 1936 in Baltimore, MD.Walon Green received a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America in 1999 for his screenplay, "The Hi-Lo Country," an adaptation of the novel by Max Evans. The screenplay won in the category of "Best Western Drama".
It was Walon Green and Roy N. Sickner who wrote the screenplay for Sam Peckinpah's ground-breaking film, "The Wild Bunch" (1969).
Graham Greene
Graham Greene, actor, was born June 22, 1952 on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada.
Graham Greene's Western movie credits include Dances With Wolves (1990), Lost in the Barrens (1990), The Last of His Tribe (1992), Spirit Rider (1993, TV), Medicine River (1993), Savage Land (1994), Maverick (1994), The Education of Little Tree (1997), and Grey Owl (1999).
Greene's TV Western credits incude appearances on "Lonesome Dove: The Series".
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Graham Greene.
Lorne Greene
(Deceased)
Lorne Green, actor, was born on Feb. 12, 1915 in Canada. He attended Queen's University in Canada, where he studied acting. He was blessed with a deep, rich bass voice. His first job after graduating was as a news broadcaster on radio. And he soon became Canada's top newscaster.However, Greene still had acting asperations so he moved to Hollywood in the early 1950's. His voice and bearing soon resulted in regular work on California radio stations, on TV and in movies.
Lorne Greene hit the mother lode in 1959, at age 44, when he won the part of Ben Cartwright, patriach of the Cartwright clan and owner of the Ponderosa Ranch on the NBC-TV Western series, "Bonanza". That show was one of the most popular shows in the world and ran through 1973.
In the 1960s he turned to recording, with his best known hit, "Ringo" (about a gunfighter), charting "number one" on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1964.
The original TV Cartwright family cut an album.
Front: Lorne Greene. Back, L to R: Dan Blocker,
Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts.Lorne Greene underwent surgery for an ulcer, developed pnuemonia and died on Sept. 11, 1987. He was buried at Hillside Memorial Park in, Culver City, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Lorne Greene.
Dabbs Greer
(Deceased)Dabbs Greer, actor and writer and director, was born William Greer on April 2, 1917 in Fairview, Missouri. He attended Drury University.
If you were to look up "working actor" in a dictionary, you might just find Dabbs Greer's photo. He has been in more than 100 movies and has more than 600 TV credits.
Dabbs Greer was a regular performer on such TV shows as Big Town, Gunsmoke, Hank, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Little House on the Praire (as Reverend Robert Alden), and Picket Fences (as Reverend Henry Novotny). He played "Wilbur Jonas," the storekeeper on "Gunsmoke" from 1955 to 1963.
And he has made appearances in such TV Westerns series as Bonanza, The Wild, Wild West, The Big Valley, The Virginian, Laredo, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Destry, Temple Houston, Stoney Burke, Laramie, The Rifleman, Death Valley Days, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Law of the Plainsman, Bat Masterson, Man Without a Gun, The Rough Riders, The Restless Gun, Texas John Slaughter, Tombstone Territory, Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, and The Lone Ranger.
Dabbs Greer's credits in Wester movies include California Passage (1950), Bitter Creek (1954), The Desperado (1954), At Gunpoint (1955), Pawnee (1957), Lone Texan (1959), Day of the Outlaw (1959), Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), Showdown (1963), and The Cheyenne Social Club.
In addition to all of the above, he also acted in 74 plays and directed an additional 50 plays. He was with the famous Pasadena Playhouse for some eight years, going from an actor to a director and then to an instructor and, finally to Dean of Academic Studies.
Dabbs Greer, who never married, died on April 28, 2007 at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Calif. He had a history of kidney and heart disease.CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Dabbs Greer.
Gene Gressley
A college professor, Gene Gressley is the author of The Twentieth-Century American West: A Potpourri (University of Missouri Press, 1977), West by East: The American West in the Gilded Age (C. Redd Center, 1972). He is also the editor of Voltaire & The Cowbody: The Letters of Thurman Arnold (Colorado Association, 1977).
Romer Zane Grey
Romer Zane Grey was the elder son of one of the most famous Western novelists of all time, the legendary Zane Grey. Romer was born Oct. 1, 1909 at Lackawaxen, Penn. It was Romer who suggested to his father the idea for the novel Western Union, and it was Romer who did much of the research that went into the book.
In addition, it was Romer who wrote the so-called "Big Little Books," although they bore his father's name. And it was he who developed the hero "Tex Thorne". The WWA dedicated the Jan., 1972 issue of The Roundup as a "Zane Grey Centennial Issue" and printed an article by Romer Grey about his dad's methods of research and writing.
Romer Zane Grey was a pilot in the Pacific during World War II, and was president of Zane Grey, Inc., a business which he operated out of his home on El Nido St. in Pasadena, Calif. He was the author of two books on fishing (his father's favorite sport), and he wrote numerous short stories and articles. His article, "From Purple Ink to Purple Sage," was a highlight of a special "Zane Grey Centennial Issue" of The Roundup in January, 1972.
An article in the Sept., 1976 issue of The Roundup relates the findings of a story in the Pasadena News that Romer Grey was a virtual recluse and that he always found it hard to live in the shadow of his famous father. Even after Romer's death, the family declined to release pictures of him.
Romer Zane Grey suffered a stroke on Feb. 23rd and was admitted to the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., where he died on March 8, 1976, at the age of 65. He was survived by a younger brother, Loren Grey, a professor of psychology at Valley State College in California; and by a sister, Betty Zane Grosso. (See the article about Romer Zane Grey by G.M. Farley in the June, 1976 issue of The Roundup.)
Zane Grey
(Deceased)
Zane Grey, author, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on January 31, 1872. In his youth Zane Grey was a semi-professional baseball player. Soon he settled down, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and became a dentist.
However, he had no passion for the dentistry profession. He wanted to be a writer and, fortunately, he had a natural talent for storytelling. That still did not get publishers rushing to his door. He wrote stories, got rejection slips, rewrote and resubmitted.
In 1905 he married Lina Roth and they moved to a place along the Delaware River near Lackawaxen, PA. And "Dolly," as he called her, gave his constant encouragement to pursue his dream. Along the way his wife became his editor and his negotiater with the publishing world. And that arrangement worked well.
His big break-through came in 1910 with the hugh success of Heritage of the Desert. When his other manuscripts began to sell, he kept up an amazing production schedule. He had best-selling Western novels in the first three decades of the 20th century. And many of his books are still on the shelves of bookstores today.
Of course, with the success of his books, Hollywood came knocking at his door. And he added to his considerable wealth by selling the screen rights to his books.
The wealthy author was to move his family West to a beautiful home in Altadena, California. He also bought a hunting lodge on the Mogollon Rim near Payson, Arizona. And he bought his own yacht and spent at least a good part of each year roaming around the world. He was an avid fisherman and held several deep-sea angling records for decades.
It would be a serious mistake to conclude that Zane Grey was loafing on those excursions. Wherever he went, he gathered ideas and experiences. Then he sat down and wrote about them. And sold what he wrote as magazine articles or as books.
Zane and Dolly had three children: Romer, Betty, and Loren. Romer and Betty were born in New York City while Loren was born in Middleton, NY.
Zane Grey died of heart failure on October 23, 1939. He left many unpublished manuscripts behind. And, when all the posthumous works were finally published many years after his death, he had nearly 90 books in print (some 60 Westerns).
Western author Frank Gruber wrote a biography of Zane Grey in 1989.
Theodore Grivas
Theodore Grivas was born July 11, 1922 at Cambridge, Mass. He earned his A.B., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California, graduating magna cum laude.
From 1957-62, he taught at Fresno State University (Fresno, Calif.). And since 1962 he has taught at Sonoma State University, where he serves as chairman of the Social Science Division and as head of the history department. He has been listed in Who's Who in America since 1982.
Dr. Theodore Grivas has had articles published in Arizona and the West, California Historical Quarterly, Journal of American History, Pacific Historical Review, and an article about California in the Encyclopedia Britanica (1963).
His published books include History of the Los Angeles YMCA (1957), California's Military Governments,_1846-50 in Arthur H. Clark's Western Civilization Handbook (1958).
Theodore Grivas is a member of the American Historical Association, Western History Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi. He enjoys fishing, hiking and bookbinding.
Mike Gross
It was the old 1930's and 1940's Singing Cowboy movies featuring Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Eddie Dean and the Sons of the Pioneers that led Mike Gross into Western Music. Eventually it led him to start his "Swingin' West" radio broadcast on WVOF, 88.5 FM, Fairfield, CT. It can be heard via the internet every Friday night from 9 pm - 12 midnight, as he spins his Western Swing favorites along with those requested by his listening audience.
In addition, Mike's love for the swinging sounds of hot fiddles and steel guitars has allowed him to review Western Swing albums and books for niche publications and earned him the appreciation award from the prestigious Pedal Steel Guitar Association in 1992, the first non-guitar player to be so honored. In addition, he has also been the M.C. for the Pedal Steel Guitar Association's annual concerts since 1989. In addition, Mike has written liner notes for Western Swing CDs and has been used as a source of reference for many magazines, periodicals, etc. in Western Swing and Western Music.
Although Western Swing is his musical passion and forte, he is also the M.C. and announcer for the Fairfield Counts, an 18 piece Glenn Miller/Duke Ellington type band for all of their summer outdoor concert events. His musical knowledge and interest are in all forms of Swing. Mike Gross feels that "Swing is Swing" no matter if it is Wills, Miller or Manhattan Transfer. He loves it all and wishes that most people would ignore labels and appreciate music as opposed to equating it with social plateaus.
CLICK HERE to go to Mike Gross's web site, Swingin West.
Fred Grove
Frederick Herridge Grove was born in Hominy, OK. on July 4, 1913, the son of a real cowboy and a mother who was Osage-Sioux Indian. He received his B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1937, where he studied under Foster Harris and Walter Campbell, and where he wrote extensively for the student newspaper. He got married the next year.
Fred Grove is a former newspaper reporter, having worked with newspapers in Cushing, OK (1937-40), Shawnee, Ok (1940-42), Harlingen, TX (1942-45), and Oklahoma City, OK (1946-47). He then served in the University of Oklahoma's public relations office from 1947-63. He was director of public information for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority from 1969 to 1974.
It was while living in Shawnee and doing interviews of many Oklahoma pioneers that Grove first became interested in writing westerns. His first effort was a short story, "The Hangrope Ghost," which appeared in the Sept., 1951 issue of .44 Western magazine. He also sold stories to Boy's Life, Texas Rangers, Dime Western, Max Brand's Western, Western Story, Ranch Romances, New Western and West.
Fred Grove's books include Flame of the Osage (1958), Sun Dance (1958), No Bugles, No Glory (1959), Comanche Captives (1961), The Land Seekers (1963), Buffalo Spring (1967), War Journey (1971), The Child Stealers (1973), Warrior Road (1974), Drums Without Warriors (1976), The Great Horse Race (Doubleday, 1977; Ace, 1982), Bush Track (1978), The Running Horses (1980), Phantom Warrior (Doubleday, 1981), Match Race (1982), The Far Trumpet (Doubleday, 1985), Search for the Breed (Doubleday, 1986) and Deception Trail.
His awards for writing include a Wrangler in 1962 from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his short story, "Comanche Son," and another Wranger in 1969 for his novel, The Buffalo Runners (1968).
The Western Writers of America awarded Fred Grove five--count 'em, five--Spurs. One in 1963 for his short story "Comanche Woman" and another that same year for his novel, Comanche Captives. The WWA gave him a third Spur in 1969 for a short story, "When the Caballos Came". And he got a Spur in 1977 for The Great Horse Race and his fifth in 1982 for Match Race.
In her profile of Grove, Jean Mead wrote: "Now living in Silver City, New Mexico, with his wife Lucile in the foothills of the Gila Forest, he spends his limited free time reading Western and Civil War history, growing apples,pears and peaches on dwarf trees and keeping up with the current news and sports" (The Roundup, May, 1984).
In answer to the question as to why we write western novels, Grove said: "I've often wondered. At best I can barely answer for myself, but I know that nostalgia is a factor, a feeling, perhaps a mistaken one, that times were better then; that life was less complicated, though more physically difficult; that there were many good stories back there and we want to tell them and share them and capture again the qualities of early America, both good and bad. And life does come full circle, you know, back to our beginnings, if we have the patience to wait and rediscover ourselves" (The Roundup, Jan., 1979).
Fred Grove moved to Tucson, Arizona to spend his last days. And, at the age of 84, he was named to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. That induction ceremony took place at the University of Central Oklahoma, in Edmond, on Friday, April 10, 1998.
Frank Gruber
(Deceased)
Frank Gruber was born in 1904. He grew up and worked in the midwest. He sold his first story, "The Two Dollar Raise," to Boy's Friend when he was 23, and received $3.50 for it. Gruber said that incident ruined his life, for he "quit whatever silly job I had at the time and got one of a farm paper. Was editor of various farm and trade journals from 1927 to 1934, when I found myself editor of a salesman's magazine and earning the fine, weekly salary of $30.00. Decided if I had to starve I might as well starve as a writer and taking my life's savings of $65.00 went to New York" (The Roundup, Jan., 1955; see his photo there).
There he worked for the pulp magazines. He regularly sold stories to Black Mask, Zane Grey Magazine and dozens more. Between 1934 and 1941 he sold over 350 stories--and never had a rejection slip from 1936 to 1941. Then in 1939 he started writing Western novels, and gave up magazine writing in 1941. He wrote some 50 of them, including his "Johnny Fletcher" series. He sold his book, Peace Marshall, to the movies in early 1942. And more than a dozen of his novels eventually were filmed.
When TV started taking over, he moved to Hollywood and was involved in the production of 50 movies. He also inaugurated the original "Wells Fargo" half-hour TV show and co-owned it. He often employed WWA writers such as Dwight Newton, T.T. Flynn, Sam Peeples, D.D. Beauchamp, Bill Fay and William R. Cox as script writers for his TV show.
Gruber was personally associated with both of his writing "idols"--Frederick Faust ("Max Brand") and Zane Grey. He wrote a biography of Zane Grey which was published by World Publishing just a few months after Gruber's death.
Frank Gruber died on Dec. 9, 1969. (See William R. Cox's tribute to him in the Feb., 1970 issue of The Roundup.)
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.
If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him.
--- Jesus the Christ (Bible: Gospel of John 7:37-38)
© 2007 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
