William McLeod Raine
(Deceased)William McLeod Raine was a charter member of Western Writers of America. He was the first of only a handful of WWA members to have been designated "honorary president of WWA". He was elected to that position in June, 1954, in Denver. However, he died just a month later. (That position was later filled by blind author Charles H. Snow, then by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower--a fan of Westerns--and sometime later by S. Omar Barker.)
His books sold over 5 million copies and included the 1920 novel, Oh, You Tex. See his photo in the June, 1955 issue of The Roundup.
Ella Raines
(Deceased)
Ella Raines, actress, was born Ella Wallace Raubes on Aug. 6, 1920 in Snoqualmie Falls, WA.
This movie poster may be purchased
by clicking here: Mini-Lobby PosterShe played opposite John Wayne in "Tall in the Saddle" (1944) and opposite Randolph Scott in "The Walking Hills" (1949). She starred with Vaughn Monroe and Walter Brennan in "Singing Guns" (1950). And she appeared opposite Rod Cameron and Brian Donlevy in "Ride the Man Down" (1953). Her last movie role was in 1956, and then she retired.
Ella Raines died of throat cancer on May 30, 1988, in Sherman Oaks, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Ella Raines.
Buck Rainey
Buck Rainey earned his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma and was for many years the chairman of the Department of Business Education and Office Management at East Central Oklahoma University in Ada. He is a Western film historian, concentrating on the "B" Western films and stars of the 1920's, 30's and 40's. See his article, "Notes from a `B' Western Historian," in the Feb., 1981 issue The Roundup.
Buck Rainey is the author of Saddle Aces of the Cinema (NY: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1980, Saga of Buck Jones, The Fabulous Holts, Shoot-Em Ups, and The Cowboy: Sixshooters, Songs & Sex.
J.J.R. Ramey
J.J.R. Ramey was born in Tennessee and graduated from Austin Peay State University, where he was a pre-med major before changing to theatre. He was also on the basketball squad and track team for two years.
Since 1971, J.J.R. Ramey has done radio and television work throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, New Jersey and New York. He has worked as a disk jockey, program director, operations manager, news and sportscaster, and later in his career as a television reporter for New York TV stations WCBS-TV (Channel 2) and WOR-TV (Channel 9) as a New Jersey correspondent. He has also worked with WCBS Newsradio 88 in New York. Currently, his newscasts are heard daily via satellite by over 30 million Americans over the National Black Network. He is the author of two westerns published by Random House, West of Paradise Run and Shelby's Ghost.
J.J.R. Ramey has appeared in TV commercials and has appeared on the NBC-TV soap opera, "Another World". He has also done background work in over 50 major motion pictures for theatre and TV viewing, including the CBS-TV series, "The Equalizer". He wrote and acted as the host in a video documentary, "Saving the Black Family," produced by Manhattan Cable TV and Interfaith Jewish Medical Center. The program was aired nationally over the C-Span Cable Network. He is a member of AFTRA, Screen Actors Guild, The Writer's Guild of America: East, and of NABET.
Rudy Ramos
Rudy Ramos, actor, has his first TV appearance in an episode of "The Virginian" in 1962.
Rudy Ramos played the character "Wind" in "The High Chaparral" from 1970-71. He came to The High Chaparral in Season Four, not to replace the missing Blue Cannon, but to add another aspect of Arizona life to the ranch. Playing the part of the half-Pawnee and half-white youth "Wind," he managed to stir up controversy in the bunkhouse. He taxed Sam's patience with his hard-headedness, aggravated Buck with his stubbornness, and demonstrated the ethics of his upbringing when sparring with John.
Rudy Ramos went on to taking guest roles in movies and television before he once again took a series role in the highly acclaimed "Hunter" cop show.
Ramo also appeared in Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Movie (1999)
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Rudy Ramos.
Buck Ramsey
(Deceased)
Born in 1938, Kenneth Ramsey was a working cowboy until 1963. Newly married, he was busting rank horses on the Blivins Ranch in the Texas panhandle when one dumped him into a river bank and left him paralized from the waist down. He went on to become a newspaper reporter, author, poety and entertainer.
He researched, performed and recorded scores of old cowboy songs. Lonn Taylor, associate director for public programs at the national Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution said, "I'm impressed by Buck's research. He told me things about songs that I've always heard but never knew. He's a fine historian as well as a fine performer."
Buck Ramsey was a featured performer at the Elko (Nev.) Cowboy Poetry Gathering from 1989 until his death. One of his epic poems, "And As I Rode Out on the Morning," is 63-pages long and patterned after a 19th century Russian poet named Aleksandr Pushkin.
But his most popular and most requested poem is titled, "Anthem". One of his better known cassettes is titled, "Rolling Uphill from Texas", available from Fiel Publications, 3717 27th St., Lubbock, TX 79410. That collection won a Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the national Cowboy Hall of Fame, given for outstanding traditional Western music.
Buck Ramsey died at his home in Amarillo, Texas, on Jan. 3, 1998, at the age of 59. The Associated Press release regarding his death quoted his brother Charles Ramsey as saying, "Buck loved the English lanuage and what it could do. His passion was both writing and music. He had a deep respect for writers and musicians." The feeling was mutual.
Jack Randall
(Deceased)
Jack Randall, cowboy actor, was born Addison Owen Randall on 1906.Jack Randall died on July 16, 1945 from injuries suffered from falling from his horse during the filming of a cowboy movie. His remains are at Forest Lawn Cemetery ( Gardens of Memory, Garden Crypt 104) in Glendale, CA.
Robert J. Randisi
It was in 1979 when Robert J. Randisi, up to then a mystery writer, was asked to create and write an adult Western series for Charter books (now published by Berkley). The series he created was "The Gunsmith," with Clint Adams as the main character and written under the pseudonymn of J.R. Roberts. That series has now passed the #76 issue.
Robert J. Randisi, writing as Tom Cutter, authored Huntsville Breakout, No. 7 in the Tracker Series(Bantam). He is the author of Eye in the Ring (1982), Full Contact: A Miles Jacoby Mystery (1984), The ham Reporter: Bat Masterson in New York (1986), The Steinway Collection (1983), and Full Contract (1986). He is the editor of Mean Streets (1986) and Private Eye Writers of America (1984).
He is the author of over 400 published novels, 40 short stories, and the editor of 25 anthologies. He has also written under 15 different pseudonyms.
He was also the editor of Writing the Private Eye Novel for Writer's Digest. He founded the Private Eye Writers of America and created the Shamus Award. He co-founded Mystery Scene Magazine and the American Crime Writer's League. In 1993 he was awarded a Life Achievement Award at the Southwest Mystery Convention. He has been nominated four times for the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, in the novel and short story categories.
In the Western genre, Randisi, writing as J.R. Roberts, is the creator and author of "The Gunsmith" series. He is author of seven other western series under seven different names.
Anthony Randles
Anthony "Slim" Randles was born on July 27, 1942 at Los Angeles, Calif. He and his wife, Jean, have a daughter born in 1984. He writes, "Began writing weekly column on rodeo hands for a daily in L.A. at age 15. Was a cowboy, packer and rodeo hand. Then worked as a reporter, editor and hunting guide for the past 24 years. I grew up at the end of the Santa Fe trail, spent 10 years in a cabin 12 miles from a road in Alaska, and believe as Daniel Boone did that when you see smoke from your neighbor's fire, it's time to move on. My writing goal is to earn the Nobel prize for literature. Don't have to win it, just earn it."
Slim Randles worked as a reporter and news director on several newspapers in California, June 1964 to Dec. 1969. He was the editor and publisher of the weekly Susitna Valley (Alaska) Chronicle, from July 1975 to April 1978. And from 1970 to 1978, he also worked seasonally as a licensed big game guide in the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna Mountains. And he was also a columnist and feature writer for the Anchorage Daily News during this same period.
From April, 1978 to May, 1981, Slim Randles was the associate editor of Petersen's Hunting Magazine in Hollywood, Calif. Then he worked as a reporter and feature writer for the Victor Valley (Calif.) Daily Press, from May 1981 to May, 1982. He has been a columnist for the Albuquerque Journal since 1983, and since Sept., 1986 has been an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Mexico, teaching courses on magazine writing.
Anthony Randles' books include Dogsled: A True Tale of the North (Winchester Press, 1977) and a novel, The Long Dark: An Alaska Winter's Tale (Alaska Northwest Publishing, 1986). He also worked as the ghost writer and designer of the book, Hell, I Was There! Life Story of Elmer Keith (Petersen Publishing, 1979).
Besides his newspaper work, Slim Randles has written some 200 magazine articles on horses, rodeo, hunting, fishing and camping. Honors that have come his way include "Best Feature Story" Award in 1965 and in 1968 from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, "Best Column" in 1972 and 1975 from the Alaska Press Club, and "Best Feature Story" from the California and Nevada division of United Press International in 1982. He also won awards for "Best Use of Photography" in 1983 from the Texas Press Association, and "Best Editorial" award the same year from the TPA.
Boots Randolph
(Deceased)Boots Randolph, a saxophone player best known for the 1963 hit "Yakety Sax," died Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He had entered the hospital for treatment of a brain hemmorhage. Randolph had been born on June 3, 1927 in Paducka, Kentucky, so he was 80 years of age at his death.
Randolph played his tenor sax with style and flair. And that made him a hot item on TV shows and festivals, as well as in the recording studio.
A native of Paducah, Kentucky, Homer Louis Randolph grew up in the rural community of Cadiz. He was nicknamed “Boots” to avoid confusion with his father, also named Homer.
He was around music virtually all of his life. The Randolph family band initially provided Boots with his musical foundation. He learned to play a variety of instruments, but settled on the sax, at age 16. He went into the U.S. Army and performed with the Army band. After his discharge in 1946, Boots Randolph began to work professionally.
However, it wasn't until 1961 that he moved to Nashville. Two years later he had a smash hit with “Yakety Sax”. Boots often told interviewers, “That song is what took me out of the hills of Kentucky and put me in the hills of Tennessee!"
Almost instantly, the Sax Man was seriously being sought after as a studio musician. Boots Randolph was the first to ever play sax on recordings with Elvis, and the only one to ever play solo with him. Boots also played his sax on the recordings of the soundtracks for eight of Elvis Presley's movies.
He played his sax on such recordings as Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman", Al Hirt's "Java", REO Speedwagon's "Little Queenie", and Brenda Lee's "Rockin' 'Round The Christmas Tree". In fact, he has a 30-year history of playing on records with Brenda Lee, including "I Want To Be Wanted" and "I'm Sorry".
An array of other artists who have added the Yakety Sax touch to their recordings include Chet Atkins, Buddy Holly, Floyd Cramer, Alabama, Johnny Cash, Richie Cole, and Pete Fountain.
Randolph spent 15 years touring with “The Master's Festival of Music,” which teamed him with fellow instrumentalists Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer.
Boots Randolph and Chet Atkins on stage
Another version of that group, called “The Million Dollar Band,” played for eight years on the Hee Haw Show. Members were Randolph, Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, Danny Davis, Roy Clark, Jethro Burns, Johnny Gimble, and Charlie McCoy.
Boots Randolph also played on numerous network TV shows, including the Ed Sullivan Show, Kraft Music Hall, Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin Show, Mike Douglas Show, Joey Bishop Show, Steve Lawrence Show, and the Boston Pops. He appeared 10 times on the Jimmy Dean Show.
Ranger Doug
See "Riders in the Sky" entry for information on "Ranger Doug" Green.
Leon Rausch
Leon Rausch, musician and singer, was born in Springfield, MO., on Oct. 2, 1927.
Rausch sang and performed with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, from 1960 to 1966. In recent years, he has been active in appearing with the remaining Bob Wills band members in Texas Playboy Reunions held all over the U.S.
Rausch is the subject of a 270 page book, Leon Rausch: The Voice of the Texas Playboys, written by John E. Perkins, Jr. It contains more than 60 photographs depicting his colorful stage career, together with a complete discography of his recordings. It was published by Swing Publishing Company.
Leon Rausch's one movie credit was in the Western movie, The Hi Lo Country (1998; book by Max Evans). He played, of all things, a singer in a saloon.
Jack Ravage
Jack Ravage holds a Ph.D from Purdue University. He is head of the journalism and telecommunication department at the University of Wyoming. His credits include "Singletree," a western movie script, and several articles concerning the movies and the West. He is on the board of directors of the Native American Satellite Assocation in Montana, as well as the Black American West Museums.
Lorraine Rawls
Lorraine Rawls was chosen as the "Female Vocalist of the Year" in 1998 by the Academy of Western Artists. She lives in Oregon and travels the country playing her guitar and singing cowboy songs.
Lorraine Rawls is a freqent guest performer at the Spring Round-Up the first weekend in May in Visalia, Calif.
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.
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come befoe him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
--- Bible: Psalm 95:1-2
© 2007 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
