Bill Elliott
from Pattonsburg, Missouri, USA
from Pattonsburg, Missouri, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wild Bill Elliott (October 16, 1904 – November 26, 1965) was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B Westerns, particularly the Red Ryder series of films. By 1925, he was getting occasional extra work in films. He took classes at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in a few stage roles there. By 1927, he had made his first Western, The Arizona Wildcat, playing his first featured role. Several co-starring roles followed, and he renamed himself Gordon Elliott. But as the studios made the transition to sound films, he slipped back into roles as an extra and bit parts, as in Broadway Scandals, in 1929. For the next eight years, he appeared in over a hundred films for various studios, but almost always in unbilled parts as an extra.
Elliott began to be noticed in some minor B Westerns, enough so that Columbia Pictures offered him the title role in a serial, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938). The serial was so successful, and Elliott so personable, that Columbia promoted him to starring in his own series of Western features, replacing Columbia's number-two cowboy star Robert "Tex" Allen. Henceforth Gordon Elliott would be known as Bill Elliott. Within two years, he was among the Motion Picture Herald's Top Ten Western Stars, where he would remain for the next 15 years.
In 1943, Elliott signed with Republic Pictures, which cast him in a series of Westerns alongside George "Gabby" Hayes. The first of these, Calling Wild Bill Elliott, gave Elliott the name by which he would be best known and by which he would be billed almost exclusively for the rest of his career.
Following several films in which both actor and character shared the name Wild Bill Elliott, he took the role for which he would be best remembered, that of Red Ryder in a series of sixteen movies about the famous comic strip cowboy and his young Indian companion, Little Beaver (played in Elliott's films by Bobby Blake). Elliott played the role for only two years but would forever be associated with it. Elliott's trademark was a pair of six guns worn butt-forward in their holsters.
Elliott's career thrived during and after the Red Ryder films, and he continued making B Westerns into the early 1950s. He also had his own radio show during the late 1940s. His final contract as a Western star was with Monogram Pictures, where budgets declined as the B Western lost its audience to television. When Monogram became Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1953, it phased out its Western productions, and Elliott finished out his contract playing a homicide detective in a series of five modern police dramas, his first non-Westerns since 1938.
Elliott retired from films (except for a couple of TV Western pilots which were not picked up). He worked for a time as a spokesman for Viceroy cigarettes and hosted a local TV program in Las Vegas, Nevada, which featured many of his Western films.
Self (archive footage)
(archive footage)
Self (archive footage)
Andy Doyle
Andy Doyle
Andy Doyle
Andy Flynn / Andy Doyle
Andy Doyle
Clay Tyndall
Sam Nelson
Mace Corbin
Frank Graham
Jim Levering
Tack Hamlin
Matt Boone
Joe Daniels
Bill Martin
Pete Devlin
Jim Kirk
Wild Bill Elliott
Ringo
Shadrach Jones
Frank Norris / Frank Plummer
Zeb Smith
Bill Stockton
Gary Conway
Charles Alderson
Josie Allen
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Johnny Barrett / Spanish Jack
Red Ryder
Sam Colton
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Wild Bill Elliott
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Wild Bill Elliott
Bill Elliott
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Red Ryder
Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
'Wild' Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok / Prince Katey
Sergeant Bill Cameron
'Wild' Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Joaquin Murietta aka The Black Shadow
Wild Bill Tolliver
'Wild' Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Boone
Tank Patrol
Bluey
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Dave Crockett
'Wild' Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Saunders
Wild Bill Saunders
Wild Bill Saunders
'Wild' Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok
John Freeman
Pat Barret
John Haynes
Kit Carson
Bootlegger (uncredited)
Wild Bill Saunders
Dr. Allan
Chauncey Courtland
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Backgammon Man (uncredited)
Whit Gordon
City Attorney Seabrook
Swing It Professor
Randall
Walter Wilson
Steve Fellows
Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
Lulu's Bathing Companion (uncredited)
Bruce Thomas
Jim Neale
Odie Fenton
Bill Parker
Kenneth Martin
(Unknown)
Announcer
Hunter - Bank Worker (uncredited)
Dave Thatcher
Sharp, Board of Directors Member (uncredited)
Carl Griffin
News Commentator (uncredited)
Pilot (uncredited)
Jefferson Duane
Robert Bates
Sam Laxter
Don Trumbeau
Ramon Duval
2nd Radio Announcer
Wellman, a Dude
Maxine's Casino Escort (uncredited)
Wedding Guest
Stuart Wyatt
Bank Teller (uncredited)
Vincent's Assistant (uncredited)
Freddie
Jackson's Secretary / Dorothy's Dance Partner
Bootlegger Who Gives Eddie the Bottle Outside the Club (uncredited)
James, Clerk at College Club
Reporter
Backstage Actor
Reporter (uncredited)
Teddy
Tom Collins - Greer's Associate
Warren Sherrill
Jeff Holt
Minor Role
Playboy in 'Playboy of Paree' Number (uncredited)
Charlie Fagan
(Unknown)
Norman (uncredited)
Male Nurse
Police Photographer (uncredited)
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Dancer (uncredited)
Party Guest
Reporter in Courtroom (uncredited)
Polo Match Spectator (uncredited)
Lt. Saunders (uncredited)
Governor's Secretary (uncredited)
Partygoer (uncredited)
Night Club Patron
Guest at Polly's Party (uncredited)
Night Club Patron (uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Man at Roulette Table (Uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Bicyclist (uncredited)
Audience Member / Dexter's Party Guest (uncredited)
New Year's Eve Reveler (Uncredited)
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Alex Brown (Uncredited)
Bit Role
Party Guest (uncredited)
Man Outside Theatre (uncredited)
Gambler (uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Ship's Passenger / Dance Extra (uncredited)
Policeman Following Blonde (uncredited)
Polo Player (uncredited)
Escort (uncredited)
Party Guest (uncredited)
Minor Role (uncredited)
Hotel Dancer (uncredited)
Music Store Customer (uncredited)
Wedding Party Guest
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Night Club Patron
Hotel Guest on Veranda
Country Club Guest
Hotel Dining Room Guest
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Party Boy
Escort (uncredited)
Ann's Beau (uncredited)
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Dance Extra / Lobby Extra (uncredited)
Larry's Friend
Gangster
Party-Goer
Wedding Guest
Party Guest
(Unknown)
Customer at Beretti's
Poker Player
Party Boy
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
One of Tom's War Buddies
Golfer (uncredited)
Physical Exam Onlooker
Ruth's Friend (uncredited)
Party Guest
George Halloway
Colin Drummond
Gordon Elliot
George Baxter
Party Guest (uncredited)
Aggressive Student at Dance
Roy Schyler
Telemachus
Well-Wishing Villager
Napoleon, Jr.
Flora's Father
Athlete (uncredited)
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)