Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American musician, singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades.
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.
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 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 and out of ammunition.
Dean Jagger was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's Twelve O'Clock High (1949).
Dixie Wanda Hendrix was an American film and television actress.
Ride a Crooked Trail is a 1958 American Western film shot in CinemaScope and Eastman Color, with former World War II hero Audie Murphy and future Academy Award-winning actor Walter Matthau heading a strong if not well-known cast.
Night Passage is a 1957 American Western film directed by James Neilson and starring James Stewart and Audie Murphy.
The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Money raised at the award banquet was used to help finance various services offered by the Fund to those in the entertainment industry.
Whispering Smith is an American Western television series that originally aired on NBC. It has the same ultimate source material as the 1948 film of the same name, but differs in some significant respects.
The Proud Rebel is a 1958 American Technicolor Western film directed by Michael Curtiz, with a screenplay by Joseph Petracca and Lillie Hayward that was based on a story by James Edward Grant. It is the story of a widowed Confederate veteran and his mute son who struggle to make a new life among sometimes hostile neighbors in the Midwest. Despite the implications of the title, the main character in "The Proud Rebel" does not dwell much on his Southern past, but finds his life complicated by sectional prejudice. Many of the Yankee male town folk refer to him disdainfully, however, as 'Reb', while noting his proud refusal to compromise his values for any price.
The Wild and the Innocent is a 1959 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Jack Sher and starring Audie Murphy and Sandra Dee, two inexperienced young people who get into trouble when they visit a town for the very first time. The film was the final Universal-International film shot in CinemaScope.
Posse from Hell is a 1961 American Western film directed by Herbert Coleman and starring Audie Murphy and John Saxon.
Seven Ways from Sundown is a 1960 American Western film directed by Harry Keller and starring Audie Murphy and Barry Sullivan. It is based on the novel of the same name by Clair Huffaker, who also wrote the script.
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.
Six Black Horses is a 1962 American Western film directed by Harry Keller and starring Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea and Joan O'Brien.
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.
Bullet for a Badman is a 1964 American Western film directed by R. G. Springsteen and starring Audie Murphy and Darren McGavin. The film is based on the 1958 novel Renegade Posse by Marvin H. Albert. The film was shot between October and November 1963 in Zion National Park and Snow Canyon State Park in Utah.
Gunpoint is a 1966 American Western film directed by Earl Bellamy and starring Audie Murphy. It was Murphy's final film for Universal Pictures.
Smoky is a 1946 American Western film directed by Louis King and starring Fred MacMurray, Anne Baxter and Bruce Cabot. The film was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the second of three film adaptations of the 1926 novel Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James; others were made in 1933 and 1966.
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.
