Audie Leon Murphy was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, and has been described as the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in U.S. history. He received every military combat award for valor available from the United States Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at age 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, before leading a successful counterattack while wounded.
Walter Andrew Brennan was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938) and The Westerner (1940), making him one of only six actors to win three Academy Awards, and the only male or female actor to win three awards in the supporting actor category. Brennan was also nominated for his performance in Sergeant York (1941). Other noteworthy performances were in To Have and Have Not (1944), My Darling Clementine (1946), Red River (1948) and Rio Bravo (1959). On television, he starred in the sitcom The Real McCoys (1957-1963).
To Hell and Back is a Technicolor and CinemaScope war film released in 1955. It was directed by Jesse Hibbs and stars Audie Murphy as himself. It is based on the 1949 autobiography of the same name and is an account of Murphy's World War II experiences as a soldier in the U.S. Army. The book was ghostwritten by his friend, David "Spec" McClure, who served in the U.S. Army's Signal Corps during World War II.
Carnival Story is a 1954 drama film directed by Kurt Neumann, produced by Frank King and Maurice King, starring Anne Baxter and Steve Cochran, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was made as a co-production between West Germany and the United States.
Ride a Crooked Trail is a 1958 American Western film shot in CinemaScope and Eastman Color, with Audie Murphy and future Academy Award-winning actor Walter Matthau heading a strong if not well-known cast.
Lyle Stathem Bettger was an American character actor who had roles in Hollywood films and television from the 1950s onward, often portraying villains. One such role was the wrathfully jealous elephant handler Klaus from the Oscar-winning film The Greatest Show on Earth (1952).
Naftuli Hertz "Nathan" Juran was an Austro-Hungarian-born film art director, and later film and television director. As an art director, he won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 for How Green Was My Valley, along with Richard Day and Thomas Little. His work on The Razor's Edge in 1946 also received an Academy nomination. In the 1950s, he began to direct, and was known for science fiction and fantasy films such as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. He was also the brother of quality guru Joseph M. Juran.
Charles Randolph "Chubby" Johnson was an American film and television supporting character actor with a genial demeanor and warm, country-accented voice.
The Gun Runners is a 1958 American film noir crime film directed by Don Siegel, is the third adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel To Have and Have Not, and starring Audie Murphy. Everett Sloane essays the part of the alcoholic sidekick originally played by Walter Brennan in the film's first adaptation, although Sloane's interpretation is less overtly comic. Eddie Albert delivers a bravura performance as a charismatic villain; other cast members include Jack Elam and Richard Jaeckel. Gita Hall, "Miss Stockholm of 1953", made her Hollywood film debut as Albert's girlfriend Eva.
Gunsmoke is a 1953 American Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Susan Cabot, and Paul Kelly. The film has no connection to the contemporary radio and later TV series of the same name. The film was based on the 1951 novel Roughshod by Norman A. Fox.
Tumbleweed is a 1953 American Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Lori Nelson, and Chill Wills. The film is based on the story "Three Were Renegades" by Kenneth Perkins, originally published in the December 1938 issue of Blue Book. IMDb and other sources mistakenly call the film a remake of the 1948 film Relentless, which was based on a similarly named story, "Three Were Thoroughbreds," by Perkins. The later story, "Three Were Renegades," was published as a sort-of sequel to the earlier story, "Three Were Thoroughbreds," and the plotlines of the two films mirror the plotlines of their respective source stories.
Destry is a 1954 American western film directed by George Marshall and starring Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Lyle Bettger and Thomas Mitchell.
The Great Sioux Uprising is a 1953 American Technicolor western film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Jeff Chandler, Faith Domergue and Lyle Bettger. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.
The Lone Ranger is a 1956 Western film based on The Lone Ranger television series starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. The Lone Ranger was the first of two theatrical features based on the series; it was followed by The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold in 1958.
The Guns of Fort Petticoat is a 1957 American Western film produced by Harry Joe Brown and Audie Murphy for Brown-Murphy Pictures. It was based on the 1955 short story "Petticoat Brigade" by Chester William Harrison (1913–1994) that he expanded into a novelization for the film's release. It was directed by George Marshall, distributed by Columbia Pictures and filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch and at Old Tucson.
The Texican is a 1966 American Techniscope Western film produced and written by John C. Champion and directed by Lesley Selander. It is a paella western remake of their 1948 film Panhandle adapted for the persona of Audie Murphy that featured Broderick Crawford as the heavy. The film was re-titled Ringo il Texano in Italy to coincide with the popularity of the Ringo Spaghetti Western film series.
The Cimarron Kid is a 1952 American western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Audie Murphy, Beverly Tyler and Yvette Duguay. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Sierra is a 1950 American Western film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Wanda Hendrix, Audie Murphy and Burl Ives. The film was based on the 1937 novel The Mountains Are My Kingdom by Stuart Hardy.
The Quick Gun is a 1964 American Techniscope Western film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Audie Murphy. It was the second of four films produced by Grant Whytock and Edward Small's Admiral Pictures in the 1960s.
Audie Murphy was a highly decorated American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient who turned actor. He portrayed himself in the film To Hell and Back, the account of his World War II experiences. During the 1950s and 1960s he was cast primarily in westerns. While often the hero, he proved his ability to portray a cold-blooded hired gun in No Name on the Bullet. A notable exception to the westerns was The Quiet American in which he co-starred with Michael Redgrave. Murphy made over 40 feature films and often worked with directors more than once. Jesse Hibbs who directed To Hell and Back worked with the star on six films, only half of which were westerns. When promoting his 1949 book To Hell and Back he appeared on the radio version of This Is Your Life. To promote the 1955 film of the same name, he appeared on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. He was a celebrity guest on television shows such as What's My Line? and appeared in a handful of television dramas. Murphy's only television series Whispering Smith had a brief run in 1961. For his cooperation in appearing in the United States Army's Broken Bridge episode of The Big Picture television series he was awarded the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.
