Lee Head
(Deceased)
Lee Head was a native of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Head received a degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma, then received her master's degree in English from Oklahoma State University. She taught literature and composition courses at OSU in the 1950's and 60's.
She was the author of four novels, including Horizon, for which she received the Spur Award from Western Writers of America in 1981. He other books were The First of January, The Terrarium, and The Crystal-Clear Case. And she wrote two ballets, "Tapestries" (produced in 1975 by the New York City Ballet) and "White Sun, Blue Moon," about Indian history. She was a speaker at the 1982 WWA convention in Santa Fe.
Lee Head died after a lengthy illness on Aug. 13, 1983, and is buried in Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Santa Fe.
Eileen Heckhart
(Deceased)
Actrress Eileen Heckhart was born on March 29, 1919 in Columbus, OH. She graduated from Ohio State University with a drama degree.
Eileen Heckhart appeared in one Western movie, "Heller in Pink Tights" (1960). She made guest appearances on these TV Westerns: Gunsmoke and Little House on the Prairie.
Eileen Heckhart died of cancer on Dec. 31, 2001 in Norwalk, CT.
Charles N. Heckleman
(Deceased)
Charles N. Heckleman was one of the charter members of WWA. A native of Long Island, New York, he graduated from Notre Dame University with a major in journalism. He went to work as a sports reporter and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle and also wrote special feature articles for the Watkins Feature Syndicate.
Later he became editor of the hardcover juvenile books for Cupples and Leon Company. And he he joined the Ned Pines group, editing several magazines and paperback books--including 500 westerns.In 1958 he and three partners created Monarch Books, with him as President and Editor-in-Chief. He sold his interest in the company in 1965. He then joined David McKay company as Managing Editor.
Charles N. Heckleman also found time to write at least 23 books and many short stories. Still later he became book editor of The National Enquirer. (See his photo on the "Along Publishers' Row" column prior to 1967...and his bio in the Oct. 1967 issue of The Roundup. See photo & partial bio in the Jan., 1976 issue of The Roundup.)Heckleman was president of WWA in 1964-65, and he wrote the "Along Publishers' Row" column in The Roundup for more than ten years.
Buck Helton
Buck "Big Man" Helton was born into a musical family. His mother, Judy Beaver, was a regular on the "Big D Jamboree," and the "Country Picnic" TV and radio shows.
Buck Helton has been performing since the age of five. He is featured regularly on the "Love of the West" TV show. And he can often be seen on the "Texas Country Gospel Hour" seen worldwide on Gospel Music Television.
Buck tours widely throughout Texas and Oklahoma. His music can be heard on radio stations throughout North America and Europe. The Big Man has four albums to his credit.
In addition to his other activities, Buck is in wide demand as a voice over artist, having recorded over 1,500 Radio and TV commercials.
Terry Henderson
Terry Henderson and her husband, Frank, live near Douglas, Wyoming. Terry has been a cowboy poet and columnist for several years. She first began keeping track of her poetry in a spiral notebook, hidden in her bedroom. When she realized it was socially acceptable to be a cowboy poet, she came out rarin' to go.Terry Henderson and her husband run the Wyoming School of Ranching. They offer college college credits for staying a week on their ranch to learn about ranching. She writes a weekly column for the Douglas Budget on rural life and is a regular free-lance contributor to the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. She has participated in several cowboy poetry gatherings and has published three books of cowboy poetry.
Shirl Henke
Shirl Henke was born at St. Louis, Mo. on Aug. 18, 1942. She and her husband have one son. She writes, "I have been married since 1965 to an English professor--a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astoundingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue that hit me as dinner is burning on the stove. We have a teenage son who knows 'never to bother mom when she's writing'."
She attended the University of Missouri at St. Louis, where she completed her B.A. in 1964. She received her M.A. in 1966 from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Both degrees were in history, with an emphasis on the graduate level on church history.Henke is a former newspaper person, having spent three years as an administrative assistant to the director of university publications at the University of Missouri and a year as assistant circulation manager of The Columbia Missourian.
From 1966-69, Shirl Henke was a public welfare caseworker in King County, Washington. She taught western civilization and American history courses at Youngstown (Ohio) State University from 1969 to 1974. And from then until 1976 she was director of the Senior Information and Referral Center of Mahoning County.From 1976 to 1979, she was an instructor in the sociology and continuing education departments at Youngstown State University, teaching sociology, gerontology, and a course on how to write proposals for federal grants. She spent the next four years teaching freshman level writing courses.
The year 1985 was when Shirl Henke decided to become a full-time novelist. And she and her research associate, Carol J. Reynard, have done quite well. The team's agents, John and Sylvie Sommerfield, sold Golden Lady (Warner Books, 1986), a Western historical romance set in California in the 1850's. That book resulted in winning the "Reviewer's Choice Award" from Romantic Times as the "Best New Western Author" in 1986. The book was a Golden Medallion finalist in the "Best Historical" category from Romance Writers of America.
Their next book, Love Unwilling (Warner Books, 1987), was also a Golden Medallion finalist in the "Best Historical Romance" division of the Romance Writers of America competition. And Henke and Reynard were named "Best Romance Writing Team" by RWA. Henke and Reynard changed the setting of their next Western historical romance, Capture the Sun (Warner Books, 1988), and used the background of Cheyenne Indians and cattle barons in the Montana Territory in the 1880's. It soon made the Waldenbooks bestseller list.Then they signed a three-book contract with Warner Books. And the first of that trilogy, Cactus Flower, was published in 1988. It is set in the Texas Republic in 1842.
Pat Henry
Pat Henry, cowboy poet and singer, lives in Amarillo, Texas.
Pat Henry has performed his poetry and music at cowboy gatherings all around the Southwest. He is a regular at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas each September.
Pat is a member of the Texas Cowboy Poets Association.
And, when he is not singing cowboy songs or reciting poetry, he deals in real estate.
CLICK HERE to go to Pat Henry's business web site.
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn, actress, was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Conn. It was while attending Bryn Mawr College that she got involved in the drama productions and decided to become an actress. She soon found her way to Broadway in New York City and was a star by 1932.
Hepburn made her first movie in 1932. And she won the first of her four (4) Oscars in 1933 in only her third movie role, that in the film "Morning Glory." But her reputation for unconventional behavior caught up with her in 1934 and from then to 1938 she only had two successful films. Still, she received her second Oscar nomination for "Alice Adams" (1935).
In 1940 Katharine Hepburn received her third Oscar nomination for "The Philadelphia Story." In 1942 she met Spencer Tracy on the set of "Woman of the Year," and that sparked a romance with the married man that lasted for some twenty-five years. She received her fourth Oscar nomination for that film.
In 1951 Hepburn received her fifth Oscar nomination for "The African Queen". She also received Oscar nominations for her roles in "Summertime" (1955), "The Rainmaker" (1956), "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959), and "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1962).
In 1967 Katharine Hepburn teamed with Spency Tracy on film, again, in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and was nominated for her 10th Oscar. And she won it, making that her second. In 1968 she received another Oscar nomination, and her third win, for "The Lion in Winter". In 1975 she performed in her first Western film, "Rooster Cogburn," with John Wayne.
Hepburn with John Wayne
in "Rooster Cogburn" (1975).In 1981 Hepburn received her twelfth Oscar nomination, and her fourth win, for her role opposite Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond". Katharine Hepburn still holds the record of having the most Oscar nominations (12) and the most Oscar wins (4).
In 1991 Katharine Hepburn published her autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life.
Katharine Hepburn died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Connecticut on Sunday, June 29, 2003. She had suffered from Parkinson's disease for many years.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Katharine Hepburn.
Pamela Staley Herr
Pamela Herr, a former editor at American West magazine, is the author of Jessie Benton Fremont: American Woman of the Nineteenth Century (New York: Franklin Watts, 1987).
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.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
--- Bible: Psalm 33:17-18
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
