Buck Jones
(Deceased)
Buck Jones was born Charles Frederick Gebhard on Dec. 12, 1890 (or was it Dec. 4, 1889, as some sources say?).
Charles spent his entire youth on his father's 3,000 acre ranch near Red Rock, Oklahoma. He learned to ride horseback nearly as soon as he learned to walk.
By 1914, at the age of 24, he was already a featured bronc rider and trick roper with the famous "101 Ranch Wild West Show" based on the 101 Ranch near the Gebhart ranch. He traveled throughout most of the United States with that show, and then with the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.
In 1917 he was hired away from the circus by a growing and far more profitable medium: the silent movie industry. Fox Studios hired him to do stunt work for their major cowboy stars such as William S. Hart and Tom Mix and William Farnum. And even though he was a fine athlete, young Charles Gephart found the stunt work to be extremely demanding and dangerous. And he quickly realized that the stars made fabulous incomes.
No wonder, then, that this young man with rugged good looks and solid showmanship soon began getting acting roles in addition to stunt work. In 1918 he acted in True Blue, The Rainbown Trail, Riders of the Purple Sage and Western Blood. In 1919 he acted in The Speed Maniac, The Sheriff's Son, Brother Bill, Desert Rat, The Two Doyles, Uphill Climb, When Pals Fall Out, and The Wilderness Trail.
In the 1920's he acted in The Big Hop (1928), The Branded Sombrero (1928), Blood Will Tell (1927), Black Jack (1927), Chain Lightning (1927), Good As Gold (1927), Hills of Peril (1927), Whispering Sage (1927), The War Horse (1927), Laramie 30 Below Zero (1926), The Flying Horseman (1926), The Gentle Cyclone (1926), Black Paradise (1926), A Man Four-Square (1926), The Fighting Buckaroo (1926), The Cowboy and the Countess (1926), Desert Valley (1926), The Desert's Price (1925), Durand of the Badlands (1925), Timber Wolf (1925), Hearts and Spurs (1925), Gold and the Girl (1925), The Trail Rider (1925), Arizona Romer (1925), and Lazybones (1925).
Also, The Man Who Played Square (1924), Winner Take All (1924), The Desert Outlaw (1924), Against All Odds (1924), Western Luck (1924), The Circus Cowboy (1924), The Vagabond Trail (1924), Not a Drum Was Heard (1924), Cupid's Fireman (1923), Hell's Hole (1923), Second Hand Love (1923), Skid-Proof (1923), The Eleventh Hour (1923), The Footlight Ranger (1923), Big Dan (1923), Snowdrift (1923), The Boss of Camp Four (1922), Bells of San Juan (1922), The Fast Mail (1922), Just Tony (1922), West of Chicago (1922), Trooper O'Neil (1922), Roughshod (1922), Western Speed (1922), Pardon My Nerve! (1922), Riding with Death (1921), Bar Nothin' (1921), To a Finish (1921), Straight from the Shoulder (1921), Get Your Man (1921), The One-Man Trail (1921), The Big Punch (1921), Just Pals (1920), The Last Straw (1920), Firebrand Trevison (1920), Forbidden Trails (1920), The Spirit of Good (1920), Square Shooter (1920), Sunset Sprague (1920), Two Moons (1920).
In the 1930's Buck Jones starred in Unmarried (1939; aka Night Club Hostess), Unusual Occupations (1939), California Frontier (1938), Law of the Texan (1938), Overland Express (1938), The Stranger from Arizona (1938), Boss of Lonely Valley (1937), Sudden Bill Dorn (1937), Hollywood Round-Up (1937), Left-Handed Law (1937), Sandflow (1937), Black Aces (1937), Headin' East (1937), Law for Tombstone (1937), Smoke Tree Range (1937), Boss Rider of Gun Creek (1936), The Phantom Rider (1936), The Cowboy and the Kid (1936), For the Service (1936), Silver Spurs (1936), Sunset of Power (1936), Empty Saddles (1936), Ride 'Em Cowboy (1936), The Throwback (1935), Outlawed Guns (1935), Border Brigands (1935), Stone of Silver Creek (1935), The Crimson Trail (1935), The Ivory-Handled Gun (1935), The Roaring West (1935), When a Man Sees Red (1934), The Man Trailer (1934), and The Fighting Ranger (1934).
Also, The Red Rider (1934), Rocky Rhodes (1934), The Fighting Code (1933), Unknown Valley (1933), The Thrill Hunter (1933), The California Trail (1933), Treason (1933), Child of Manhattan (1933), Gordon of Ghost City), The Sundown Rider (1932), Forbidden Trail (1932), White Eagle (1932), McKenna of the Mounted (1932), Hello Trouble (1932), South of the Rio Grande (1932), One Man Law (1932), Ridin' for Justice (1932), High Speed (1932), Range Feud (1931), The Deadline (1931), Border Law (1931), The Fighting Sheriff (1931), The Texas Ranger (1931), The Avenger (1931), The Dawn Trail (1930), Men Without Law (1930), Shadow Ranch (1930), The Lone Rider (1930).
His filmography as an actor included these films in the 1940's: Dawn on the Great Divide (1942), Riders of the West (1942), Down Texas Way (1942), Ghost Town Law (1942), Below the Border (1942), West of the Law (1942), Forbidden Trails (1941), The Gunman from Bodie (1941), Arizona Bound (1941), Riders of Death Valley (1941), White Eagle (1941), Wagons Westward (1940).
Besides acting, Buck Jones also functioned as a producer. The films he personally produced included The Big Hop (1928), Boss of Lonely Valley (1937), Sudden Bill Dorn (1937), Left-Handed Law (1937), Sandflow (1937), Black Aces (1937), Law for Tombsone (1937), Smoke Tree Range (1937), Boss Rider of Gun Creek (1936), The Cowboy and the Kid (1936), Silver Spurs (1936), Sunset of Power (1936), Empty Saddles (1936), Ride 'Em Cowboy (1936), The Throwback (1935), Outlawed Guns (1935), Border Brigands (1935), Stone of Silver Creek (1935), The Crimson Trail (1935), The Ivory-Handled Gun (1935), When a Man Sees Red (1934), and Rocky Rhodes (1934).
Buck Jones also tried his hand at directing and received directing credits for these movies: For the Service (1936), Black Aces (1937) and Law for Tombstone (1936).
And as if that were not enough of a display of his many talents, he also wrote the stories for three movies: The War Horse (1927), The Cowboy and the Kid (1936), and Ride 'Em Cowboy (1936).
Buck Jones' films were characterized by excellent acting on his part. And he was allowed to demonstrate his folksy humor ( sort of Will Rogers style ) in his films. Plus, unlike other cowboy stars who only kissed their horses, Buck Jones had several on-screen romantic scenes.
He was one of the few silent screen movie stars who successfully made the transition to "talkies". At one time there were more than two-million kids enrolled in his "Buck Jones Rangers" club. Buck Jones was the Number One Western movie star in 1936, 3rd in 1937 and 1938, and 8th in 1939. He fell from the list in 1940.
He co-starred with Raymond Hatton and Tim McCoy in a series of "Rough Riders" Westerns. Their trademark ending was when they said goodby to each other and rode off their separate ways.
On Nov. 28, 1942 the popular star was on a tour to sell War Bonds and to drum up recruits for service during World War II. On this night he was in Boston, so he stopped in at the famous Cocoanut Grove night club. The place was jumping with activity and was extremely crowded. While he was there, the building caught fire and he and 491 other people died. Whatever remained of his body was cremated and his ashes were spread near Catalina Island off the Southern California coast.
CLICK HERE to read about the details of that horific fire which took the life of Buck Jones and the controvery surrounding him.
For the full story of his life, see: Buck Rainey, The Life and Times of Buck Jones (World of Yesterday, 1991).
Dick Jones
Dick Jones was born as Dickie Jones on Feb. 25, 1927 in Snyder, TX. His father was a newspaper editor, but young Dickie had other interests very early in his life. He grew up around horses and at the age of four was touted as the "World's Youngest Trick Rider and Trick Roper".
Cowboy movie star Hoot Gibson saw young Dickie Jones perform and hired him -- at the age of six -- to do rope tricks and riding tricks in his rodeo. Soon the aging star persuaded Jones' parents to give him at shot at making it in Hollywood.
So, while his father stayed in Texas, Jones and his mother moved to Hollywood to give it a shot. Hoot Gibson make some connections for him and before long he was working steadily.
And in 1940, at the age of 12, the Jones boy became none other than the voice of Pinocchio in the classic animated movie by the same title. Meanwhile he was attending school at Hollywood High. And at age 15 he landed a coveted role as Henry Aldrich on the popular radio show, "The Aldrich Family."
Soon after that another legendary Hollywood cowboy took a liking to him. That was Gene Autry. Now a young man, the maturing and handsome Dick Jones in 1951 became the co-star with Jock Mahoney in the Western TV series, "Range Rider." He played the part of Dick West in this series produced by Autry.
Then Gene Autry gave Dick Jones his own series, '"Buffalo Bill Jr ." (1953). That Western show ran for 40 episodes. Dick Jones continued working in films during the 1950's. But he then retired and turned his attention to the business world.
I got to meet Dick West in about 1996 or 1997 when he was a guest at the Singing Cowboys Festival at Gene Autry, Oklahoma.
Douglas C. Jones
Douglas C. Jones won a Spur Award in 1977 for The Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer (Scribners, 1976). The book was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie in 1978.
Douglas C. Jones' novels include Arrest Sitting Bull, A Creek Called Wounded Knee, Winding Stair (Holt, 1979), Season of Yellow Leaf (Holt, 1983), The Barefoot Brigade (Holt, 1984), and Elkhorn Tavern (Holt, 1984).
Douglas C. Jones won a second Spur at the 1985 WWA convention for Gone the Dreams and Dancing ( Holt, 1984). His book, Roman (Henry Holt & Company, 1986), captured a third Spur for Jones at the 1987 WWA Convention. He has also written Hickory Cured (Holt, 1987). (See more bio. info. in the July, 1977 issue of The Roundup.)
Jack P. Jones
Jack P. Jones was born Nov 20, 1928, at Jones Crossroads near Timmonsville, SC His childhood years were spent on family farms in North Carolina.
Jones received the Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL.B) in 1948. He served as an Intelligence Specialist in the USAF during the Korean War. As a civilian, he was employed by the AF in various positions such as Chief of Investigations and Chief of Police at a large Air Force Base.
Jack P. Jones has also owned his own construction company in which he kept busy designing, building, and remodeling houses.
He became a full-time writer in 1982 and has produced ten technical books on construction and ten novels. Before writing a historical or Western novel, he travels to the story's locale and does a thorough research on the subject.
Jack P. Jones is the author of Three Across Texas (Walker, 1984) and Three Across Kansas (Walker, 1986), Three Across Montana, Three Across the Northern Plains, Iron Spur, and Under a Long Sky: Women Drovers on the Chisholm Trail.
Jack P. Jones lives with his wife of 47 years in a log house he built on their tree farm in Georgia. He and his wife have four children and eight grandchildren.
CLICK HERE to go to the official Jack P. Jones web site.
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones, actress, was born as Phylis Lee Isley on March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, OK. Acting came fairly naturally for her, as her parents actually owned and operated a small acting group called the Isley Stock Company. They would tour small towns just outside of Tulsa.
Young Phylis Isley went off and attended Northwestern University in Illinois for a time. But she somehow decided that she wanted to attend the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts in New York. So in the fall of 1937 her parents took her to New York and got her a room at the Barbizon Hotel For Women (NOTE: This was the first hotel I ever stayed at in New York City. That was in about 1972, when I worked for the Macmillan Publishing Company. But it was a general hotel, then, not just for women.--SP).
Phylis did well in New York City, and had soon found the first real love of her life in a young man named Robert Walker. Neither could really afford the tuition or lifestyle in NYC, so that accepted her father's offer of jobs performing on his radio show back home in Tulsa, OK. The new job would be a 13 week stint radio program called "The Phylis Isley Radio Theater".
One thing led to another and she and Robert Walker were married on January 2, 1939. Her father gave them a new car and pointed them toward Hollywood and pushed them out of his nest. She found work at the low budget Republic Studios and was given her first film role in a John Wayne "Three Mesquiteer" western called "New Frontier".
But roles were few and far between for the couple, so they returned to New York City. Times were still tough there. Their first child, Robert Walker, Jr. was born on April 15, 1940. She was soon pregnant again and a second son (Michael Ross) was born on March 13, 1941.
Movie mogul David O. Selznick was smitten by her and spent a great many years nudging her career along. Selznick in 1942 renamed her, "Jennifer Jones." She was given the lead in "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), which made her a major star.
All was not well at home, and she and Robert were divorced in March of 1944. He became (or perhaps already was) an alcoholic. He died suddenly in 1951 when doctors gave him sedatives following an emotional outburst.
Meanwhile, David Selznick and Jennifer Jones were married in Italy on July 13, 1949. On August 12, 1954, Jennifer gave birth to their first child, Mary Jennifer.
Jennifer Jones' career went way south during the 1940's, but she shot to the top again in the 1950's with "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing." David Selznick died of heart problems on June 22, 1965. And, when she learned that her close friend Charles Bickford had died, she took an overdose of pills and was found unconscious on Malibu Beach. She later claimed that the incident had been an accident.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Jennifer Jones.
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.
Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.
--- Bible: Psalm 37:1-2
© 2007 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
