Acting
Bill Elliott
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.
Filmography
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Film · 1976
It's Showtime
Film · 1976
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Film · 1975
Adam-12
Series · 1968
Chain of Evidence
Film · 1957
Footsteps in the Night
Film · 1957
Calling Homicide
Film · 1956
Sudden Danger
Film · 1955
Dial Red O
Film · 1955
The Forty-Niners
Film · 1954
Bitter Creek
Film · 1954
The Homesteaders
Film · 1953
Rebel City
Film · 1953
Topeka
Film · 1953
Vigilante Terror
Film · 1953
Fargo
Film · 1952
Waco
Film · 1952
Kansas Territory
Film · 1952
The Maverick
Film · 1952
The Longhorn
Film · 1951
The Showdown
Film · 1950
The Savage Horde
Film · 1950
The Marshall of Trail City
Film · 1950
Hellfire
Film · 1949
The Last Bandit
Film · 1949
The Gallant Legion
Film · 1948
Old Los Angeles
Film · 1948
The Fabulous Texan
Film · 1947
Wyoming
Film · 1947
Sheriff of Redwood Valley
Film · 1946
The Plainsman and the Lady
Film · 1946
In Old Sacramento
Film · 1946
California Gold Rush
Film · 1946
Sun Valley Cyclone
Film · 1946
Conquest of Cheyenne
Film · 1946
Phantom of the Plains
Film · 1945
Lone Texas Ranger
Film · 1945
Marshal of Laredo
Film · 1945
Great Stagecoach Robbery
Film · 1945
Colorado Pioneers
Film · 1945
Wagon Wheels Westward
Film · 1945
Bells of Rosarita
Film · 1945
Marshal of Reno
Film · 1944
San Antonio Kid
Film · 1944
Tucson Raiders
Film · 1944
Hidden Valley Outlaws
Film · 1944
Vigilantes of Dodge City
Film · 1944
Sheriff of Las Vegas
Film · 1944
Cheyenne Wildcat
Film · 1944
Mojave Firebrand
Film · 1944
Death Valley Manhunt
Film · 1943
Bordertown Gun Fighters
Film · 1943
Wagon Tracks West
Film · 1943
Calling Wild Bill Elliott
Film · 1943
The Man from Thunder River
Film · 1943
Overland Mail Robbery
Film · 1943
The Valley of Vanishing Men
Film · 1942
Prairie Gunsmoke
Film · 1942
The Devil's Trail
Film · 1942
Vengeance of the West
Film · 1942
North of the Rockies
Film · 1942
The Lone Star Vigilantes
Film · 1942
Bullets for Bandits
Film · 1942
The Return of Daniel Boone
Film · 1941
Hands Across the Rockies
Film · 1941
The Son of Davy Crockett
Film · 1941
Across the Sierras
Film · 1941
North from the Lone Star
Film · 1941
Roaring Frontiers
Film · 1941
King of Dodge City
Film · 1941
Tank Patrol
Film · 1941
The Man from Tumbleweeds
Film · 1940
The Return of Wild Bill
Film · 1940
Pioneers of the Frontier
Film · 1940
The Wildcat of Tucson
Film · 1940
Prairie Schooners
Film · 1940
Beyond the Sacramento
Film · 1940
Overland with Kit Carson
Film · 1939
The Roaring Twenties
Film · 1939
Frontiers of '49
Film · 1939
Taming of the West
Film · 1939
The Law Comes to Texas
Film · 1939
Lone Star Pioneers
Film · 1939
Letter of Introduction
Film · 1938
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Film · 1938
Boy of the Streets
Film · 1938
The Lady in the Morgue
Film · 1938
In Early Arizona
Film · 1938
Boots and Saddles
Film · 1937
Michael O'Halloran
Film · 1937
Melody for Two
Film · 1937
Swing It Professor
Film · 1937
Roll Along, Cowboy
Film · 1937
Love Takes Flight
Film · 1937
You Can't Have Everything
Film · 1937
Midnight Court
Film · 1937
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
Film · 1937
Speed to Spare
Film · 1937
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
Film · 1936
The Case of the Velvet Claws
Film · 1936
Polo Joe
Film · 1936
Murder by an Aristocrat
Film · 1936
Fugitive in the Sky
Film · 1936
The Case of the Black Cat
Film · 1936
The Big Noise
Film · 1936
Guns of the Pecos
Film · 1936
King of Hockey
Film · 1936
Trailin' West
Film · 1936
Down the Stretch
Film · 1936
Bullets or Ballots
Film · 1936
Two Against the World
Film · 1936
China Clipper
Film · 1936
Romance in the Air
Film · 1936
The Walking Dead
Film · 1936
The Goose and the Gander
Film · 1935
The Girl from 10th Avenue
Film · 1935
Dr. Socrates
Film · 1935
Broadway Gondolier
Film · 1935
The Right to Live
Film · 1935
Broadway Hostess
Film · 1935
Dangerous
Film · 1935
Personal Maid's Secret
Film · 1935
Stars Over Broadway
Film · 1935
While the Patient Slept
Film · 1935
Traveling Saleslady
Film · 1935
Man of Iron
Film · 1935
The Woman in Red
Film · 1935
Moonlight on the Prairie
Film · 1935
The Payoff
Film · 1935
A Night at the Ritz
Film · 1935
Bright Lights
Film · 1935
'G' Men
Film · 1935
Page Miss Glory
Film · 1935
Go Into Your Dance
Film · 1935
Wonder Bar
Film · 1934
A Lost Lady
Film · 1934
Registered Nurse
Film · 1934
Desirable
Film · 1934
The Secret Bride
Film · 1934
Murder in the Clouds
Film · 1934
The Case of the Howling Dog
Film · 1934
The Merry Frinks
Film · 1934
Smarty
Film · 1934
Upperworld
Film · 1934
Midnight Mary
Film · 1933
Stage Mother
Film · 1933
Handlebars
Film · 1933
The Little Giant
Film · 1933
Gold Diggers of 1933
Film · 1933
Only Yesterday
Film · 1933
The Keyhole
Film · 1933
Private Detective 62
Film · 1933
Cocktail Hour
Film · 1933
Made on Broadway
Film · 1933
Jewel Robbery
Film · 1932
One Hour with You
Film · 1932
Night After Night
Film · 1932
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
Film · 1932
Bachelor's Affairs
Film · 1932
Lady with a Past
Film · 1932
The Mummy
Film · 1932
Vanity Fair
Film · 1932
The Rich Are Always with Us
Film · 1932
Scarface
Film · 1932
Merrily We Go to Hell
Film · 1932
A Successful Calamity
Film · 1932
Five and Ten
Film · 1931
God's Gift to Women
Film · 1931
Let's Do Things
Film · 1931
Broadminded
Film · 1931
Traveling Husbands
Film · 1931
Sweepstakes
Film · 1931
The Public Defender
Film · 1931
Born to Love
Film · 1931
Delicious
Film · 1931
The Road to Reno
Film · 1931
Left Over Ladies
Film · 1931
Working Girls
Film · 1931
Party Husband
Film · 1931
Blonde Crazy
Film · 1931
Platinum Blonde
Film · 1931
West of Broadway
Film · 1931
The Girl Said No
Film · 1930
Lord Byron of Broadway
Film · 1930
Part Time Wife
Film · 1930
Sunny
Film · 1930
Going Wild
Film · 1930
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Film · 1930
The Truth About Youth
Film · 1930
She Who Gets Slapped
Film · 1930
What Men Want
Film · 1930
She Couldn't Say No
Film · 1930
Born Reckless
Film · 1930
Double Cross Roads
Film · 1930
Broadway Scandals
Film · 1929
The Great Divide
Film · 1929
Night Parade
Film · 1929
The Boy Friend
Film · 1928
Restless Youth
Film · 1928
Beyond London Lights
Film · 1928
The Arizona Wildcat
Film · 1927
The Drop Kick
Film · 1927
The Private Life of Helen of Troy
Film · 1927
Children of Divorce
Film · 1927
The Shamrock Handicap
Film · 1926
Napoleon, Jr.
Film · 1926
The Plastic Age
Film · 1925
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Film · 1925