William elliott actor biography

His father was a commissioner at the Kansas City Stockyards. He made his first movie in A steady stream of movies followed, first silents and then talkies, in which he played too great a variety of roles to be "typed. He even began to adopt the names "Bill" or "Wild Bill. Elliott reached his peak of popularity at Columbia when he was teamed with Tex Ritter for a series of films.

William elliott actor biography

In he left Columbia for Republic, where his westerns had somewhat larger budgets. This was followed by a move to Monogram later Allied Artists in He was now back in low-budget B-westerns, the last one appearing in There followed five other B pictures in which he played a Los Angeles william elliott actor biography detective. Byhe was getting occasional extra work in films.

He took classes at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in a few stage roles there. Byhe had made his first Western, The Arizona Wildcatplaying 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 Scandalsin For the next eight years, he appeared in over films for various studios, but almost always in unbilled parts as an extra.

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 was known as Bill Elliott. Within two years, he was among the Motion Picture Herald' s top Western stars, where he would remain for the next 15 years.

The first of these, Calling Wild Bill Elliottgave 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 16 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 s. He also had his own radio show during the late s. Bill didn't just learn to ride a horse but asked Ben many questions about style and technique.

According to Ben, Bill become a very good horseman in his own right while the others "looked like a sack of walnuts on a horse. His final contract as a Western star was with Monogram Pictureswhere budgets declined as the B Western lost its audience to television. Her father knew of Elliott's reputation as a ladies' man and, Warwick has stated, happened to be cleaning his gun then in preparation for a hunting trip.

They divorced for a second time in An early appearance on television was in the series Dragnet. Simpson in a minor role. He had an early uncredited role as a revolutionary in the Jules Dassin -directed Uptight which was released in The film, released inalso starred Percy Rodrigues and Martin Balsam. It was about an old man who witnessed a murder but nobody believed him.

Wilke and Ed Asner. Elliott played the part of Deputy Bob Terry. Because Warner Bros. It failed at the box office and attracted a fair amount of criticism. While at the home of Warwick's parents to ask permission to marry Dionne, Elliott was invited by her father to have a talk in the living room. Her father knew of Elliott's reputation as being a ladies man and happened to be cleaning his gun in preparation for a hunting trip.

They had two sons together, David and Damon. They divorced in but soon remarried. They divorced again in An early appearance on television was in the series Dragnet. Simpson in a minor role. He had an early uncredited role as a revolutionary in the Jules Dassin -directed Uptight which was released in He then played the part of Robbie in the Elvis Presley film Change of Habit which was released in