Stan Paregien, Editor
Gilbert Roland
(Deceased)
Gilbert Roland was born Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso on Dec. 11, 1905 in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. His father was a professional bull fighter, and he was trained to follow in his footsteps.
However, after his family moved to the United States in his early teens, he decided that acting would be a far less risky profession. He began as an extra in films at the age of 13. And he chose his screen name in honor of his two favorite movie stars, John Gilbert and Ruth Roland.
Gilbert Roland's began in the silent film era, but successfully crossed over to "talkies" in a career that stretched from1925 to the 1970's. Gilbert Roland appeared in over 100 films, dating from "The Lost World" in 1925 to "Barbarosa" in 1982.
His Western films included "Rose of the Golden West" (1927), "Thunder Trail" (1937), "Beauty and the Bandit" (1946), "Riding the California Trail" (1947), as the Cisco Kid in "King of the Bandits" (1947), "The Dude Goes West" (1948), "Apache War Smoke" (1952), "The Last of the Fast Guns" (1958), "Guns of the Timberland" (1960), "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964), "The Mark of Zorro" (1974, TV), and "The Sacketts" (1979, TV).
Gilbert Roland as "Cisco Kid" with
Chris Pin-Martin. Roland often had a
"cancer stick" in his mouth on camera.Roland also appeared in such TV Western series as "The High Chaparral," "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," "Zorro," "Wagon Train," and "Death Valley Days."
Gilbert Roland died of cancer on May 15, 1994 in Beverly Hills, CA.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Gilbert Roland.
Ole Edvart Rolvaag
(Deceased)
Ole Edvart Rolvaag was born in Norway in 1876. He immigranted to America when he was twenty and worked on a relative's farm in South Dakota. He wrote in his native Norwegian language and others translated it into English. His first novel was GIANTS IN THE EARTH, part of a trilogy about life in the Dakoda Territory. Ole Edvart Rolvaag was inducted into the Western Writers of America Hall of Fame in 1993.
Ruth Roman
(Deceased)
Ruth Roman was born Norma Roman on Dec. 23, 1923 in Lynn, MA. One of her claims to faith was that she once dated a young actor named Ronald Reagan. In 1956, she and her 3-year-old son were among the 760 survivors rescued from the luxury liner Andrea Doria when was hit by another ship and began sinking.
Ruth Roman appeared in more than 60 movies during a career that stretched from 1943 to 1979. Her Western films included "Harmony Trail" (1947), "Belle Starr's Daughter" (1948), "Colt .45" (1950), "The Far Country" (1954), and "The Sacketts" (1979, TV).
Ruth Roman died in her sleep on Sept. 9, 1999 in Laguna Beach, California, USA. (natural causes
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Ruth Roman.
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney, actor and author, was born as Joe Yule, Jr. He was born on Sept. 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, NY. He made his stage debut at the age of 18 months. And he quickly became one of Hollywood's top child stars.
Rooney, bottom right, appears with
cowboy movie stars Tom Mix (center)
and Paul Hurst (left).He became well known for a series of some 50 silent comedies between 1927 and 1933 in which he played Mickey McGuire, a comic-strip character. In 1934 he was signed to MGM.
The Academy voted him an honorary Oscar in 1938, say it was for "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and ... setting a high standard of ability and achievement." Not too bad for an 18-year-old kid.
By 1939, 'Mickey Rooney' was the biggest box-office attraction in the world. He was a close friend to Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn and James Cagney. He hit it big with such movies as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939) and National Velvet (1944) .
His Hollywood career was interupted by his military service during World War II, and his career drifted downward. He made a number of forgetable films over the years.
His Western credits include Out West with the Hardy's (1938), a 10-minute short with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers titled Rodeo Dough (1940), My Outlaw Brother (1951), The Twinkle in God's Eye (1955), Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County (1970), Evil Roy Slade (1971, TV), The Black Stallion (1979), My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991), The Legend of Wolf Mountain (1992), and last but certainly not best, Outlaws: Legend of O.B. Taggart (1994).
My wife and I were present for the world premier of Mickey Rooney's last cowboy film, Outlaws: Legend of O.B. Taggart. That was early in 1994 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Mickey wrote the script and produced it and starred in it. And he got several of his favorite folks to sign up for the project, including Oscar-winner Ben Johnson, singers Larry Gatlin and Randy Travis, and Earnest Borgnine, Olivia DeHaviland and Ned Beatty.
The Great Hall of the Museum was filled with guests, however Mickey and most of the actors couldn't make it because of a very bad fog blanketing the area airports. The lights dimmed and the movie came on and what followed was one of the worst movies ever made. The photography looked like it had been done by some 5th grader with his first video camera. The casting was simply unbelievable -- Randy Travis (at over 6'2") and Larry Gatlin as sons of Mickey Rooney?? And it got worse.
Ben Johnson was there, however, and I got to visit with him at intermission. That was the best part of the whole evening. In fact, we . . . along with at least half of the other guests left at intermission or shortly thereafter. We were all embarassed for Ben Johnson. Later that year, The Sunday Oklahoma published their annual list of "Worst Movies". And Legend of O.B. Taggart was listed as the worst movie of 1994. And as much as I like each of the actors, individually, I had to agree.
You don't make 214 movies in your career, however, without doing something right. And back in 1983 Mickey Roony received the 'Lifetime Achievment Oscar' for sixty years in the entertainment field. And along the way he also picked up a Tony Award and an Emmy.
Mickey Rooney's autobiography, Life is Too Short, is a story of how one boy grew to manhood in front of the world, via the movie camera. Rooney talks about the greed, the glitter, and the hard work. He tells how it felt to be the most famous child star in the world. He also tells about his many failed marriages, his visits to Hollywood brothels, and his extravagant spending. It is the ultimate portrait of a survivor.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Mickey Rooney.
Joseph G. Rosa
Joseph G. Rosa wrote, They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok (1964), Alias Jack McCall (1967), The Gunfighter: Man or Myth (1969), The Pleasure of Guns (1974), Colonel Colt London (1976), Gunsmoke: A Study of Violence in the Wild West (1977), Cowboy: The Man and the Myth (1980), The Est of Wild Bill Hickok (1982).
Katharine Ross
Katharine Ross, actress, was born Jan. 29, 1942.
She married actor Sam Elliott in 1984. They have been in a half-dozen movies together, including The Legacy (1979), Murder in Texas (1981), and Conagher (1991; they co-wrote the screenplay)
She played the love interest in two of the biggest films in the 1960's: The Graduate (1967) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). She was also featured in a half-dozen other '60s flicks (Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, '69) and lots of Western TV shows ("The Wild, Wild West," "The Virginian," "The Big Valley").
Katharine Ross won an Oscar nomination for playing Elaine in The Graduate, and she won the 1968 "Golden Globe" as the Most Promising Newcomer. And she won a Golden Globe in 1977 as Best Supporting Actress in Voyage of the Damned.
Paul Newman, Katharine Ross and Robert Redford
in one of the most popular Westerns of the 20th century.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Katharine Ross.
Zola Ross
(Deceased)
Helen Girdey "Zola" Ross was born in 1912. She was an associate professor of Creative Writing at the University of Washington from 1948 to 1955. Then she worked for many years as an adult eduction teacher in the Lake Washington Schools in Kirkland, Wash.
Zola Ross's writing covers a broad spectrum of interests, from children's fiction to Westerns, adventure, mystery, crime and suspense. Her mystery books were written under the names of Z.H. Ross, Helen Arre, and Bert Lles. She is the author of Bonanza Queen: A Novel of the Comstock Lode (1949), Tonapah Lady (1950), Reno Cresent (1951), The Green Land (1952), Cassy Scandal (1954), The Golden Witch (1955), A Land to Tame (1956), Spokane Saga (1957).
Zola Ross and Lucile McDonald wrote several juvenile novels, including The Mystery of Catesby Island (1950), Stormy year (1952), Friday's Child (1954), Mystery of the Long House (1956), Pigtail Pioneer (1956), Wing Harbor (1957), The Courting of Ann Maria (1958), Assignment in Ankar (1959), Winter's Answer (1961), The Sunken Forest (1968), For Glory and the King (1969). Under the name of Helen Arre, Ross wrote The Corpse by the River (1953), No Tears at the Funeral (1954), and Write It Murder (1956). Using the name Z.H. Ross, she wrote Three Down Vulnerable (1946), Overdue for Death (1947),and One Corpse Missing (1948). (See also, Jan., 1970 issue of The Roundup for more books)
James E. Rosscup
James E. Rosscup is a professor at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. He was selected for inclusion in the publication Outstanding Young Men of America (1968) and in Two Thousand Men of Distinction (1969). He is the author of Treachery at Cimarron, Ambush at Vermejo, and Longhorns North (all with Tyndale House).
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.
The entire law is summed up in a single command:
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
--- Bible: Galatians 5:14
© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
