Gerald B. Higgs
Gerald B. Higgs is the author of Lost Legends of the Silver State (Nevada Publications).
Jeff Hildebrandt
Jeff Hildebrandt is currently the managing producer of The Westerns Movie Channel. He has appeared at the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration in Lubbock, Texas, the Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Arvada, Colorado, the Western Stars Extravaganza in Laughlin, Nevada, and at a number of Western Film Festivals. Although Jeff doesn't spend his work day in the saddle, he has great respect for those who do. Jeff Hildebrandt has shown great talent for writing cowboy poetry with a religious rhyme.
Albert Hill
Albert Hill, a native of England, was born on Oct. 28, 1922. Hill spent five years in the British Royal Armoured Corps during World War II, mostly in India and Burma. He worked as an outdoor foreman for Mills & Allen Outdoor Advertising for 49 years.He is a founding member and past chairman of the Darlington Writers' Circle.
He has written a number of short stories and novels.His first two Westerns were written over 20 years ago, and were rejected by everyone to whom they were submitted. Hill wisely withdrew them, reworked them and then sold them to Robert Hale of Clerkenwell House in London in their "Black Horse Western" series of hardbacks, using the pen name of "Elliot Conway". The first novel, The Man From Shiloh, was published in October, 1987, on Hill's 65th birthday. Other books he has had published in that series includes The Last of the Marauders (1988), The Buffalo Soldier (1988), The Owlhooter (1988), The Cattlelifters (1989), The Maverick (1989), and The Dude (1990).
Albert Hill says, "My interest in this particular era of American history stretches way back to the early 1930's and the Western pulp magazines. Naturally I have been influenced, indeed inspired, by writers of the calibre of Alan Lemay, Kerney Allen and Charles O. Locke."
Debra Coppinger Hill
Debra Coppinger Hill lives in rural Rogers County, Oklahoma, just north of the town of Chelsea. She and her husband run the 4DH farm/ranch and raise children, Doc O'lena cutting horses, hay and cattle.
She does Native American bead art. Her beadwork is of both traditional and contemporary design. And she even does repair work for others.
As a full-time ranch-wife, she draws from her experiences. That gives her writings a "been there, done that" quality with which people identify. Debra's writing includes cowboy poetry, Western song lyrics for various performers, family histories, and several regular columns for different publications. She performs at public and private functions across several states. Debra's extensive travels have convinced her that most people will respond to a piece of writing if it reminds them of home or family. Her audio table, "Cattle Call, was nominated by the Academy of Western Artists in 1998 for "Best Cowboy Poetry Cassette" (made the top five list).
Her love of Western literature and writing was fostered by her grandfathers and great-grandfathers. From them she heard the tales of Texas and of the cowboy's life, as well as the stories of the Cherokees. She also attributes her love of stories of the past to the rest of her family. They all love to tell and re-tell family and Indian lore.
Debra Coppinger Hill is a member of the Academy of Western Artists, the Western Music Association, the Charley Russell Western heritage Association and the Texas Cowboy Poets Association.
Debra Coppinger Hill on July 9, 2002 received the Academy of Western Artists Will Rogers Award for "Female Western Poet of the Year". Joel Nelson presented Debra with the award in Fort Worth July 9. This is the fifth year that Debra has been placed in the Top Five and Ten in various categories of Western Poets, Poetry and Western Music. "Yellow Slicker" (lyrics by Debra and music by Kevin Davis) was placed on the AWA list of Top Ten Western Songs for 2002.
In addition to her own award, Debra has the good fortune to have her work included on the AWA Western Album of the Year. "An Inspirational Tapestry of the West", by Jean Prescott includes the songs "Yellow Slicker" and "Through the Dust" (by Jean Prescott and Debra Hill). Her poetry also appears in the AWA Cowboy Poetry Book of the Year. "The Big Roundup", edited by Margo Metegrano, contains poetry by the top poets in the field of Cowboy Poetry from Omar West’s Bar-D.
You can e-mail Debra at: 4dhranch@quik.com
Debra Hill and Gerry Allen, a cowboy poet and balladeer, have formed a cooperative group called "The Outriders". They provide family-style entertainment that has as its core the preservation of the spirit of the American West. The group includes comedians, musicians, cowboy poets, baladeers and puppeteers. They fulfill program requests by providing one or more entertainers. The Outriders may be booked by contacting: Teresa Robison, Outriders Personal Manager, at 616 W. 19th St. South, Claremore, Oklahoma. 918-341-8520.
A partial list of Debra Copppinger Hill's performances includes The Oklahoma Cowboy Gathering (Pawnee, OK), State Fair of Texas, Michael Martin Murphey's Wild West Weekend (Stillwater, Oklahoma), Gateway to the West Farm & Ranch Show & Cowboy Gathering ( Neosho, Mo), 89'er Days (Guthrie, Okla.), Great Heartland Trails Festival (Lenexa, Kansas), and Michael Martin Murphy's Cowboy Christmas Ball (Springfield, Mo.).
"Common Sense, Men and Horses" is a collection of Western poetry and songs by Debra. Recorded at Bethel Sound in Graham, Alabama, it includes performances by Debra, as well as Doc Stovall (co-writer on two songs), Jerry Warren, Jean Prescott (Western Singer of the State of Texas) and Devon Dawson (the singing voice of Cowgirl Jesse of Disney's Toy Story II music CD). With background music by Daniel Addison, Doc Stovall and the Cowtown Opry Buckaroos, this pleasant mix of music and poetry has already captured the attention of radio stations in Canada, Italy and the United States. With liner notes by Dan Roberts, Margo Metegrano, G. Casey Allen and Brian Woodrome, this album comes highly recommended by the best in Western Poetry and Music.
The album is available online at Silver Creek Music ( ) and through Old Yellow Slicker Productions at 25552 E. 320 Road, Chelsea, Oklahoma 74016, 918-789-5288 ( ) CDs retail for $15.00 and cassettes for $10, with wholesale pricing available to retail outlets. Also available is Debra’s AWA Top Five album "Cattle Calls...", which has been re-mastered of CD and features music by Tim Graham and Gina DeLaune ( www.timgrahamcowboymusic.com ), Cowboys Forever and yodeling by Devon Dawson.
CLICK HERE to read a selection of her cowboy poetry.
Tex Hill
Tex Hill, actor and musician and singer, is a native of Del Rio, Texas. Tex grew up on the family ranch, where he learned to be a real cowboy. He has entertained audiences around the world on radio, in films/TV, as a recording artist, on stage, and in live concerts. He has also performed in circuses, rodeos, wild West shows, benefits, and film festivals both here and abroad.
Tex Hill appeared in numerous motion pictures and television shows as an actor and stuntman. He starred in seven low-budget films as a singing cowboy. Tex also portrayed the Lone Ranger in a pilot film, "The Lone Ranger Rides Again!" and in a series of "Loan Arranger" commercials.
Tex Hill's standard concert performance features his singing and guitar playing, as well as his fast and fancy six-gun work. He wear's and expertly uses twin colt .45’s. Tex shoots targets from the hands and mouth of his lovely assistant. He is also an expert knife and tomahawk thrower. And he ain't too shabby at handling a bullwhip, either.
Tex currently has 3 albums available on CD and cassette tape: "How the West was Sung!" "Songs of the Saddle" and"Tumbleweed Trails." And he bought the rights to two of his films, "Blood on the Badge" and "Code of the Rangers," which he offers for sale on video cassette.
Tex Hill is semi-retired now. He raises Quarter Horses on his ranch near Wickenburg, Arizona. You can reach him via email at: azcowboysingr@yahoo.com
Tony Hillerman
Tony Hillerman was born on May 25, 1925 at Sacred Heart, Oklahoma. It was a small village which surrounded the schools established by the Benedictines and Sisters of Mercy to educate the Potawatomie Indians. His father ran the crossroads general store and a farm, and Hillerman got his grade school education by attending a boarding school for Indian girls (St. Mary's Academy). He joined the Army at the age of 18, and he won a Silver Star and a Bronze Star before a German grenade temporarily blinded him and left him with "a limp, a bad eye and enough sense to know I would never be an engineer". He received his B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and his M.A. from the University of New Mexico. His major was journalism.
Hillerman worked briefly writing Purina Pig Chow commercials, and then as a police reporter and political writer in Texas and Oklahoma. United Press International made him its New Mexico news manager in 1952. He later moved to Santa Fe and became editor of The New Mexican newspaper. In 1963 Hillerman went to the University of New Mexico as a graduate student and as an assistant to the President. He then became a journalism professor and, eventually, head of the department. He left teaching in 1985 to write full time.
Tony Hillerman's articles have appeared in Century, National Geographic Traveller, Reader's Digest, Popular Psychology, Arizona Highways, New Mexico Magazine, Book Week, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Impact, Almanac, Southwest Review, New Mexico Quarterly, Spirit, and many others.
Hillerman's books include the following mystery novels (all by Harper & Row, with paperback editions by Dell, Avon or Harper & Row): The Blessing Way (1970), a book which received honorable mention as Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America and a listing by the American Library Association in their "Best Books of the Year"; The Fly on the Wall (1972), honorable mention for Best Novel from the MWA; The Dance Hall of the Dead (1973), winner of the Edgar Allen Poe award of the MWA as the best mystery novel of 1973.
And Listening Woman (1977), a Book of the Month Club alternative selection and a finalist in the MWA "Best Novel" competition; People of Darkness (1980); The Dark Wind (1983), Book of the Month Club alternate and in the American Library Association's "Best Books of the Year" listing; The Ghostway (1986), a Book of the Month Club alternative selection.
And Skinwalkers (1987), winner of the Spur Award of the Western Writers of America and a Book of the Month Club alternative selection and on the New York Times National best seller list; and A Thief of Time (1988), a Book of the Month alternative selection and on the New York Times national best seller list. His Navajo Tribal Police mysteries have been published in Great Britain, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, The Netherlands, and Japan. The Navajo Tribe bestowed its "Special Friend Award" on him.
Hillerman's one venture into children's literature was The Boy Who Made Dragonfly (1972; reprinted by the University of New Mexico in 1986), a book which received an honorable mention for children's literature from the Western Writers of America and which won the Junior Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association.
Tony Hillerman's non-fiction books include The Great Taos Bank Robbery (1971), New Mexico (1975, with David Muench, photographer), Rio Grande (1976, with Charles Reynolds, photographer), The Spell of New Mexico (1976), Indian Country (1987, with Bela Kalman, photographer), and Canyon De Chelly (1988, with Laura Gilpin, photographer).
On Nov. 20, 1997, Tony Hillerman was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He is a past president and grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America.
Charlotte Hinger
Charlotte Hinger's first novel, Come Spring (Simon and Schuster, 1986), was included in the Reader's Digest Condensed Books (Vol. II, 1986) series and it won the WWA's Medicine Pipe Bearer's Award and a $500 cash prize at the 1987 convention for "Best First Novel of 1986". It has also been published in Norway and England, and it is available on Talking Books for the Blind.
That book actually grew out of the work which Charlotte Hinger did as the editor of A History of Sheridan County, a two-volume set which furnished many of the historical details which drew praise from reviewers of Come Spring.She has published several short stories and a number of historical articles. She wrote a column on regional history for the local newspaper, the Hoxie (Kansas)Sentinel, during the time she was editing the history books.
Pat Hingle
Pat Hingle, actor, was born on July 19, 1923 in Denver, CO. He studied acting at the
Actors Studio in New York. His first movie was in Elia Kazan's classic "On the Waterfront." He has appeared in more than twenty different Broadway plays, including such hits as "J.B.," "The Odd Couple," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Strange Interlude" and "That Championship Season." He received a Tony nomination for his work in "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" Hingle has also given command performances for the White House and the Library of Congress.
Pat Hingle's Western credits include "Invitation to a Gunfighter," "Hang 'em High," and "One Little Indian." He is probably best known as the Police Commissioner in three Batman movies -- "Batman," "Batman Returns" and "Batman Forever."
When actor Milburn Stone had a heart attack, Pat Hingle stepped in and replaced him for several episodes as the doctor in Dodge City in the famous "Gunsmoke" TV series.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Pat Hingle.
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.
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
--- Jesus the Christ (Bible: Gospel of John 11:25-26)
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
