Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens transitioned to acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows. For much of his career, Pickens played mainly cowboy roles. He is perhaps best remembered today for his comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles, and 1941, and his villainous turn in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando.
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.
Kirby Grant, born Kirby Grant Hoon Jr., was a long-time B movie and television actor, mostly remembered for having played the title role in the Western-themed adventure television series Sky King. Between 1949 and 1954, Grant starred in 10 Mounted-Police adventures, usually in the role of Corporal Rod Webb.
John Howard Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered from film noir crime stories and 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC Western television series The Restless Gun.
William Herman Katt, known as Bill Williams, was an American television and film actor. He is best known for his starring role in the early television series The Adventures of Kit Carson, which aired in syndication from 1951 to 1955.
Kicking Bird, also known as Tene-angop'te, "The Kicking Bird", "Eagle Who Strikes with his Talons", or "Striking Eagle" was a High Chief of the Kiowa in the 1870s. It is said that he was given his name for the way he fought his enemies. He was a Kiowa, though his grandfather had been a Crow captive who was adopted by the Kiowa. His mysterious death at Fort Sill on May 3, 1875, is the subject of much debate and speculation. Though he was a great warrior who participated in and led many battles and raids during the 1860s and 1870s, he is mostly known as an advocate for peace and education in his tribe. He enjoyed close relationships with whites, most notably the Quaker teacher Thomas Battey and Indian Agent James M. Haworth. The close relationships he enjoyed with whites engendered animosity among many of the Kiowas, making him a controversial figure. He would become the most prominent peace chief of the Kiowas, following the lead of a previous head chief, Dohasan. Kicking Bird was diplomatically active and signed the Little Arkansas Treaty of 1865 and the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 and was instrumental in moving his people to reservations.
Faith Marie Domergue was an American film and television actress. Discovered at age 16 by media and aircraft mogul Howard Hughes, she was signed to a contract with Hughes's RKO Radio Pictures and cast as the lead in the studio's thriller Vendetta, which had a troubled four-year production before finally being released in 1950.
Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as Dodge City (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and The Comancheros (1961). He was nicknamed "Big Boy" as he was 6' 2" and had a muscular build from years of working on ranches and playing semi-pro and professional baseball, and at the height of his movie career was frequently billed above the title simply as Big Boy Williams or as "Big Boy" Guinn Williams on posters and in the film itself.
Peter Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than 100 movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career between 1925 and 1981. Fix portrayed Marshal Micah Torrance, opposite Chuck Connors's character in The Rifleman from 1958 to 1963. He later appeared with Connors in the 1966 Western film Ride Beyond Vengeance.
Rod Cameron was a Canadian film and television actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many westerns.
Jasper Joseph Inman Kane was an American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter. He is best known for his extensive directorship and focus on Western films.
Edward Russell Hicks was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the California State Guard.
A Thunder of Drums is a 1961 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Joseph Newman and starring Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Luana Patten and Arthur O'Connell. The screenwriter James Warner Bellah adapted it from his 1946 short story "Command".
Herbert Harrison Heyes was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 100 films between 1915 and 1956, including the famed 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, in which he played an ahistorical "Mr. Gimbel," owner of Gimbel's Department Store. He was born in Vader, Washington and died in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Gabriela Böhm is an independent documentary filmmaker from Buenos Aires, Argentina now living in Los Angeles.
The Sacketts is a 1979 American made-for-television Western film directed by Robert Totten and starring Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Jeff Osterhage, and Glenn Ford. Based on the novels The Daybreakers (1960) and Sackett (1961) by Louis L'Amour, the film recounts the story of the Sackett brothers in 1869 who leave their Tennessee home and start a new life together in Santa Fe.
Escort West is a 1959 American Western film directed by Francis D. Lyon, and starring Victor Mature, Faith Domergue, and Elaine Stewart. The movie is set after the U.S. Civil War, when a former Confederate officer, played by Victor Mature, and his daughter help some survivors of an Indian massacre. The film was released by United Artists on January 23, 1959.
George Keymas was an American film and television actor.
John Hugh Elliott was an American actor who appeared on Broadway and in over 300 films during his career. He worked sporadically during the silent film era, but with the advent of sound his career took off, where he worked constantly for 25 years, finding a particular niche in "B" westerns.
National Treasure: Edge of History is an American action-adventure television series developed for and globally released on the streaming service Disney+. It is based on, and a continuation of, the National Treasure film series. It was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, ABC Signature and Disney Branded Television. The series stars Lisette Olivera, with Catherine Zeta-Jones as the apparent lead antagonist, and with Justin Bartha reprising his roles from the films as a recurring character, while Harvey Keitel appears in the beginning, also reprising his film role. Mira Nair directed the pilot episode. The show primarily filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and premiered on December 14, 2022.
