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 Big Clint Walker
at six feet, six inches tall, almost single handedly put Warner
Bros. on the tv map. His popular series, Cheyenne, ranks as one
of best in the western genre. Yet Clint Walker's credits go far
beyond the hit series which bestowed lasting fame on the big
actor. As a result of Cheyenne, he became a sought after and
popular leading man, starring in such films as Baker's Hawk,
with Burl Ives and Diane Baker; The Bounty Man with Richard Basehart
and Margot Kidder; Send Me No Flowers with Doris Day and Rock
Hudson; None But The Brave with (and directed by) Frank Sinatra;
and Yellowstone Kelly.
He was also one of the infamous twelve in The Dirty Dozen
with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine and gave his best and most
lasting performance in The Night of the Grizzly, the no frills
1966 family western written by Warren Douglas. Yet never during
his youth in Alton, Illinois, where he was born in 1927, did
Clint Walker think about an acting career. But growing up under
financial duress made him a serious person with a strong sense
of professionalism he has never lost. By the age of nine he was
working odd jobs in a carnival. In high school he worked in a
foundry. He caddied in the summers and shoveled snow in the winter.
He joined the Merchant Marine when he was 18, going to Catalina
Island for maritime training. This was his first taste of the
Golden State. At the end of the War he tried his hand at carpentry,
and when those aspirations faded, he began working in law enforcement,
and moonlighting as a bouncer. While working security at the
Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, people began telling him that a big,
strong, good looking man like him would do well in movies.
With the help of Henry Wilcoxon, one of the industry's venerable
character actors, he made his screen debut in The Ten Commandments,
Cecil B. DeMille's grand 1956 Biblical epic. From here it was
a short leap to a Warner Bros. contract and the role of Cheyenne
Bodie. Suddenly Clint Walker was a star.
For Clint Walker integrity was more than a word. "Clint
won't stand for any dishonesty or moral lack," the late
Warren Douglas once told me. "Clint's a real straight shooter,
a simple guy and a deep thinking guy. It's the caliber of the
thing he is doing which means so much to Clint." In 1997,
Clint Walker was awarded a well deserved Golden Boot for his
contribution to the West and Western filmmaking.
- Clint Walker is currently working on a western novel entitled
Yaqui Gold, with best selling western author Kirby
Jonas.
Biography provided by: www.classicimages.com
Click on the above link to read a
great interview with Clint Walker where he talks about his career
in Hollywood and some of his experiences. |
