Page M - 15Stan Paregien, Editor
Cameron Mitchell
(Deceased)
Cameron Mitchell, actor, was born Cameron McDowell Mizell on November 4, 1918 in Dallastown, PA. Actor. "High Chapparel".While in high school, Mitchell became interested in acting. One of his high school teachers lent him the money to go to a New York City dramatic school. But he still had to work long hours at odd jobs to pay for his food and lodging. During this difficult time he wrote hundreds of letters to producers, actors and agents. He never got a single reply.
Well, he did finally get one response. That was to a letter he had written to actor Alfred Lunt, critiquing his performance in the movie, "The Guardsman." Lunt replied and even invited Cameron to an audition. Afterward, Lynn Fontanne told him, "Acting is your life's work, and you're not only going to be a good actor, you're going to be a great actor." She changed his name to Mitchell, and the rest is history.
Cameron Mitchell appeared in more than 150 movies, many made in Spain and in the Spanish language. His American Western film credits include My Brother Talks to Horses (1946), Man in the Saddle (1951), Pony Soldier (1952), The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952), Powder River (1953), The Tall Man (1955), Tension at Table Rock (1956)(, Ride in the Whirlwind (1965), Hombre (1967), Buck and the Preacher (1972).
He made guest appearances in these TV Westerns: Gunsmoke, Alias Smith and Jones, Zane Grey Theater, Bonanza and Colt .45.
Cameron Mitchell is second from right.
With hundreds of film roles behind him, Cameron came to the TV Western series, "The High Chaparral," by accident. He was on a plane on his way home to Madrid, Spain, and sitting in the seat behind him was David Dortort. When Dortort handed him a script to review, he became Buck Cannon, younger brother to John Cannon.
Cameron Mitchell died of lung cancer on July 6, 1994 in Pacific Palisades, California. His remains are at Desert Memorial Park ( A-23, #83 ) in Cathedral City, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Cameron Mitchell.
Waddie Mitchell
Mitchell told a reporter for the Feb., 1991 issue of Country America that, "From the time I was talking, I was reciting poetry, but I was actually 30 before I started writing. I guess a guy has to live a certain amount of life before he can have his own stories to tell."
Stan Paregien, Waddie Mitchell & Jackie Green
Western Heritage Celebration - Abilene, Tx. 1992Waddie Mitchell started working as a cowboy at the age of 16. This native of Nevada's ranch country made frequent appearances on the Tonight Show for NBC-TV and on the Larry King Show. He and singer Don Edwards are often headline entertainers from Los Angeles to the famous Rainbow Room in the heart of New York.He is the author of Cowboy's Night Before Christmas (Peregrine Smith Books, 1992), Waddie's Whole Load and many audio cassettes and videos.
Waddie Mitchell and folklorist Hal Cannon organized the first Elko (Nevada) Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1985. That year nearly 2,000 people showed up. Today, the granddaddy of all other "Gatherings" more than fills every motel room within driving distance. And that is in January when the snow is often on the ground.
Robert Mitchum
(Deceased)
Robert Mitchum was born Robert Charles Durman Mitchum on August 6, 1917 in Bridgeport, CT. He developed problems with authority figures at an early age, so by age 14 he was on the road and on his own. He was arrested in Georgia for vagrancy, sentenced to a road chain gang, and escaped to continue his wandering.
Eventually he wound up trying his hand at acting in a local theater in Long Beach, CA. He worked at odd jobs while taking whatever acting jobs he could get.
He played in a number of Westerns, even as a sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd). He received an Oscar nomination in 1945 as "Best Supporting Actor" in the film, "The Story of G.I. Joe". And by the early 1950's he was a certified superstar--even though he served a brief prison sentence in 1949 for using marijuana.
A man of many talents, he once wrote and composed an oratorio produced at the Hollywood Bowl by none other than fellow actor Orson Welles.
Robert Mitchum's Western film credits included The Leather Burners (1943), Hoppy Serves a Writ (1943), Bar 20 (1943), Nevada (1944), Rachel and the Stranger (1948), The Red Pony (1948), Track of the Cat (1954), River of No Return (1954), El Dorado (1967), Villa Rides (1968), Five Card Stud (1968) and Tombstone (1993; the narrator).
Robert Mitchum died of lung cancer on July 1, 1997 at Santa Barbara, CA. He was cremated and his ashes were scatterred at sea.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Robert Mitchum.
Tom Mix
(Deceased)
Tom Mix, actor, was born Thomas Hezikiah Mix on January 6, 1880 in Mix Run, PA. Tom served in a heavy artillery unit during the Spanish-American War. Tom re-enlisted in the Army in April 1901, and married his first wife, Grace Allin, on July 18, 1902. Army life did not seem to suit his new wife, however, and Tom failed to return to duty following a furlough in October, 1902. Tom never received a court martial for that offense or a discharge for his second enlistment. The Veterans’ Administration later stated, “Tom left without saying goodbye to Uncle Sam.”
By the end of 1902 Mix had drifted to Guthrie, Oklahoma. He tended bar at the Blue Bell Saloon (still there and still serving spirits). In 1903 he became a drum major with the Oklahoma Cavalry Band, based in Guthrie, and even played at the St. Louis World's Fair. It was also this year that the first of his five marriages ended. In 1904 he was a bartender and sheriff-marshal in Dewey OK., where today there is a very nice museum dedicated to his memory.
Tom Mix was in a series of Wild West shows from 1906 to 1909, starting with the Miller Brothers 101 Wild West Show based in Ponca City, OK. In 1910 he began working in Hollywood, but not in front of a camera. He was hired to provide horses for the movie studios and to care for them during the filming. That's also how later cowboy stars such as Ben Johnson and Richard Farnsworth got started.
Tom Mix made his first movie, "Ranch Life in the Great Southwest," in 1910. And he was soon not only acting but writing scripts and directing movies. He even did most of his own stunt work, at least in the early days.
In fact, though, one of the most famous stunt scenes in moviedom is the scene in Tom Mix's 1923 film, "Three Jumps Ahead". There it looks as though Tom and his horse Tony jump across a large chasm know as Beale's Cut (or Fremont's Pass). It was part of the unpaved road system through the mountains between Newhall, Calif. (now called Santa Clarita) and Los Angeles.
The facts are these: neither Tom nor Tony ever made that leap. The still photo of Tom and Tony was doctored. The horse and rider are twice as small as they should be, in proper perspective. And the actual movie jump was made by Mix's double, Earl Simpson. Simpson, a horse trainer and stunt man with a ranch in Searchlight, Nevada, made the jump on his stunt horse with the help of a wooden ramp they used to gain altitude.
From 1917 to 1928 he was signed with Fox Studio, where he and his horse "Tony" made five or more films a year. During these years he was making about $10,000 per week. Poor cowboy he wasn't. He was in 306 Western films, directed 109 films and wrote screenplays for 17 moves. But most of his movies have been lost because they were released on combustible nitrate film stock..
During his lifetime Tom earned over six million, but at the time of his death left a modest estate. Tom spent lavishly, dressing and acting as he felt the public expected of a top star.
There was a rumor that when Tony the Wonder Horse died, Tom Mix cut off his tail and made it into a bedside bell pull for his Hollywood mansion. However, the fact is that Tom Mix died two years before Tony.
When "talkies" came on the scene, Tom Mix faded quickly. Both his voice and his style were far better suited for the "silent" era of films, so he only made nine "talking" movies.
The Sells-Floto Ticket Wagon, picture above is of the ticket wagon for the Sells-Floto Circus. In 1929 and 1930, Tom Mix was the featured draw in the Sells-Floto Circus. The ticket wagon was adorned with his famous name and that of his horse "Tony." The wagon itself is now on display at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisc.
Tom Mix thought he could run that kind of operation himself, and make more money at it. So he formed and ran the Tom Mix Circus from 1931 to 1938.
Yakima Canutt, the greatest stuntman in movie history, says in his autobiography, Stuntman (University of Oklahoma Press, 1979) that Tom Mix's fans expected him to be entertaining. And good ol' Tom didn't disappoint the crowds. Mix turned on the charm, told them how he used to be a gunfighting sheriff or some wild adventurer, and was a big hit. As long as no one was hurt, Mix saw no harm in telling lies. Until one caused him some public embarrassment. A studio publicist sent that story about Mix being a gunfighting sheriff to every magazine and newspaper in the country.
The "Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters" national radio show debuted in 1933, with Ralston cereals as the sponsor. Tom Mix himself had little to do with it, other than to draw royalties for the use of his name. The first actor to play him was Artells Dickson. He was followed by Jack Holden, then Russell Thorson, and finally by Joseph "Curley" Bradley.
Curley Bradley had actually been one of the stuntmen who had worked in the movies on the real Tom Mix movies. He sang with a group called "The Ranch Boys Trio". Curley initially played the part of "Pecos" on the Tom Mix radio show and sang often. He had a nice light, baritone voice and it stood him in good stead when he took over the part of Tom Mix after Russell Thorson left the show. Curley sang out for Ralston Cereal at the beginning of the show to the tune of "When It's Round-up Time In Texas". The Tom Mix radio show ended in 1950, a full decade after the star's death.
Mix made his last appearance at the RKO Theatre in Phoenix, AZ. He greeted a throng of fans, then he made the rounds of a few downtown bars. By nightfall he was drunk. And, for reasons that are not clear, he decided to drive toward Tucson on the Florence Highway in his 1937 Cadillac roadster. (Cadillac Wash, at mile 102, commemorates this vehicle.)
Even today, the highway is a narrow, roller-coaster affair that twists and turns its way across a landscape of steep-banked stream beds and low granite hills. Tom Mix died when he ignored warning signs that a bridge was out up ahead and his car crashed into a clump of Mesquite trees. That happenened on October 12, 1940 some 17 miles south of Florence, AZ.
The roadside memorial itself isn't much: a stack of mortared cobbles topped by a statue of Tony the Wonder Horse with an empty saddle. The horse is just a couple of feet high, and tilts its head sadly to the ground, trailing its reins. The simple plaque below reads "Tom Mix / Jan. 6, 1880-Oct. 12, 1940." Vandals have pockmarked with bullet holes both the horse and the plaque.
That dry creek bed was renamed Tom Mix Wash (Tom Mix Death Site: SE of Phoenix. On Hwy. 79 S., after signs noting "Ironwood Tree" and "Saguaro Cactus" - may be marked US 89 between Florence and Oracle Junction). He might have survived the crash except that a suitcase that he had placed on the top of the trunk of his convertible roadster flew forward and crushed his skull. That suitcase and many other items are on display in the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, OK.
Hundreds of people attended Tom Mix's funeral back in Los Angeles. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery ( Whispering Pines, lot 986, at the top of the hill ) in Glendale, CA.
FOR YOUR READING:
King Cowboy : Tom Mix and the Movies by Robert S. Birchard. Paperback (October 1993)Tom Mix Highlights by Andy Woytowich. Paperback (May 1989)
Tom Mix : A Heavily Illustrated Biography of the Western Star, With a Filmography by Paul E. Mix. Hardcover (February 1995)
Tom Mix Book by Merle G. Norris. Paperback (December 1989)
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Tom Mix.
CLICK HERE to go to the web site of The Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, Oklahoma.
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors. Therefore, all Western writers and/or their agents are requested to submit recommended changes by contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address.
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us;
may your ways be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
--- Bible: Psalm 67:1-2
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
