Bill Elliott
Acting
Born: October 16, 1904 · Pattonsburg, Missouri, USA
Died: November 26, 1965 (aged 61)
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Photos (1)
Movies (200)
Scarface
Man Outside Theatre (uncredited)
The Mummy
Party Guest (uncredited)
Gold Diggers of 1933
Night Club Patron (uncredited)
The Roaring Twenties
Bootlegger (uncredited)
'G' Men
Bootlegger Who Gives Eddie the Bottle Outside the Club (uncredited)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
Sweepstakes
Night Club Patron
Bullets or Ballots
Hunter - Bank Worker (uncredited)
Go Into Your Dance
Jackson's Secretary / Dorothy's Dance Partner
Working Girls
Dance Extra / Lobby Extra (uncredited)
The Secret Bride
Governor's Secretary (uncredited)
The Walking Dead
1936
China Clipper
Pilot (uncredited)
Party Husband
Wedding Party Guest
A Successful Calamity
Polo Player (uncredited)
Vanity Fair
Bit Role
Death Valley Manhunt
Wild Bill Elliott
Bright Lights
Backstage Actor
Merrily We Go to Hell
Party Guest (uncredited)
Midnight Mary
Party Guest (uncredited)
Sun Valley Cyclone
Red Ryder
The Plastic Age
Athlete (uncredited)
Platinum Blonde
Ann's Beau (uncredited)
One Hour with You
Party Guest (uncredited)
Wonder Bar
Norman (uncredited)
Jewel Robbery
Policeman Following Blonde (uncredited)
Sheriff of Redwood Valley
Red Ryder
Five and Ten
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
The Savage Horde
Ringo
The Son of Davy Crockett
Dave Crockett
Stage Mother
Audience Member / Dexter's Party Guest (uncredited)
In Old Sacramento
Johnny Barrett / Spanish Jack
Sheriff of Las Vegas
Red Ryder
Boots and Saddles
Jim Neale
Two Against the World
News Commentator (uncredited)
West of Broadway
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Old Los Angeles
Bill Stockton
Only Yesterday
New Year's Eve Reveler (Uncredited)
Private Detective 62
Man at Roulette Table (Uncredited)
Hellfire
Zeb Smith
Dangerous
1935
Mojave Firebrand
Wild Bill Elliott
The Forty-Niners
Sam Nelson
Upperworld
Police Photographer (uncredited)
Broadway Gondolier
Reporter
The Woman in Red
Stuart Wyatt
Desirable
Party Guest
Letter of Introduction
Backgammon Man (uncredited)
Blonde Crazy
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
The Gallant Legion
Gary Conway
The Showdown
Shadrach Jones
Dr. Socrates
Tom Collins - Greer's Associate
Lone Star Pioneers
Pat Barret
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
1930
Cocktail Hour
Party Guest (uncredited)
Lord Byron of Broadway
Party-Goer
The Girl from 10th Avenue
James, Clerk at College Club
Lady with a Past
Alex Brown (Uncredited)
Born Reckless
Customer at Beretti's
Love Takes Flight
Bill Parker
The Case of the Howling Dog
Reporter in Courtroom (uncredited)
Personal Maid's Secret
Warren Sherrill
Roaring Frontiers
'Wild' Bill Hickok
The Little Giant
Guest at Polly's Party (uncredited)
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
Kenneth Martin
A Lost Lady
Polo Match Spectator (uncredited)
What Men Want
Party Boy
The Payoff
Maxine's Casino Escort (uncredited)
The Truth About Youth
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
The Plainsman and the Lady
Sam Colton
San Antonio Kid
Red Ryder
The Rich Are Always with Us
Gambler (uncredited)
Vigilante Terror
Tack Hamlin
The Longhorn
Jim Kirk
Page Miss Glory
Reporter (uncredited)
Made on Broadway
Night Club Patron
Bells of Rosarita
Wild Bill Elliott
Broadway Hostess
Playboy in 'Playboy of Paree' Number (uncredited)
Part Time Wife
Golfer (uncredited)
The Last Bandit
Frank Norris / Frank Plummer
Tucson Raiders
Red Ryder
Children of Divorce
Party Guest (uncredited)
Stars Over Broadway
Minor Role
Footsteps in the Night
Andy Doyle
Fugitive in the Sky
Ramon Duval
King of Hockey
2nd Radio Announcer
North from the Lone Star
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Hands Across the Rockies
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Moonlight on the Prairie
Jeff Holt
Speed to Spare
Steve Fellows
Broadminded
Hotel Guest on Veranda
The Merry Frinks
Dancer (uncredited)
Bullets for Bandits
'Wild' Bill Hickok / Prince Katey
Broadway Scandals
George Halloway
Night After Night
Escort (uncredited)
Dial Red O
Andy Flynn / Andy Doyle
The Keyhole
Partygoer (uncredited)
Calling Homicide
Andy Doyle
Bachelor's Affairs
Ship's Passenger / Dance Extra (uncredited)
Colorado Pioneers
Red Ryder
You Can't Have Everything
Lulu's Bathing Companion (uncredited)
Kansas Territory
Joe Daniels
Murder in the Clouds
Lt. Saunders (uncredited)
Wagon Tracks West
Wild Bill Elliott
Smarty
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Polo Joe
Don Trumbeau
The Maverick
Pete Devlin
The Big Noise
Sharp, Board of Directors Member (uncredited)
Sudden Danger
Andy Doyle
Restless Youth
George Baxter
While the Patient Slept
Bank Teller (uncredited)
Michael O'Halloran
Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
The Girl Said No
Wedding Guest
Bordertown Gun Fighters
Wild Bill Elliott
Marshal of Reno
Red Ryder
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
The Boy Friend
Gordon Elliot
The Goose and the Gander
Teddy
The Public Defender
Country Club Guest
The Shamrock Handicap
Well-Wishing Villager
God's Gift to Women
Minor Role (uncredited)
Traveling Husbands
Hotel Dining Room Guest
Bitter Creek
Clay Tyndall
Man of Iron
Charlie Fagan
The Man from Tumbleweeds
Wild Bill Saunders
A Night at the Ritz
Vincent's Assistant (uncredited)
Beyond the Sacramento
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Wagon Wheels Westward
Red Ryder
Midnight Court
City Attorney Seabrook
Prairie Schooners
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Roll Along, Cowboy
Odie Fenton
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
Bruce Thomas
The Case of the Black Cat
Sam Laxter
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
(archive footage)
The Homesteaders
Mace Corbin
Born to Love
Hotel Dancer (uncredited)
Fargo
Bill Martin
The Great Divide
Ruth's Friend (uncredited)
Beyond London Lights
Colin Drummond
The Lone Star Vigilantes
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Guns of the Pecos
Wellman, a Dude
Rebel City
Frank Graham
Great Stagecoach Robbery
Red Ryder
The Man from Thunder River
Wild Bill Elliott
Taming of the West
Wild Bill Saunders
Phantom of the Plains
Red Ryder
Registered Nurse
Male Nurse
Pioneers of the Frontier
Wild Bill Saunders
The Return of Wild Bill
Wild Bill Saunders
The Valley of Vanishing Men
Wild Bill Tolliver
The Fabulous Texan
Josie Allen
Across the Sierras
'Wild' Bill Hickok
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Traveling Saleslady
Freddie
The Arizona Wildcat
Roy Schyler
North of the Rockies
Sergeant Bill Cameron
Frontiers of '49
John Freeman
Murder by an Aristocrat
Dave Thatcher
The Return of Daniel Boone
Wild Bill Boone
The Road to Reno
Party Boy
The Case of the Velvet Claws
Carl Griffin
Calling Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
Sunny
One of Tom's War Buddies
Wyoming
Charles Alderson
Vigilantes of Dodge City
Red Ryder
The Wildcat of Tucson
'Wild' Bill Hickok
The Drop Kick
Aggressive Student at Dance
Melody for Two
Walter Wilson
Vengeance of the West
Joaquin Murietta aka The Black Shadow
King of Dodge City
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Chain of Evidence
Andy Doyle
Trailin' West
Jefferson Duane
The Right to Live
Wedding Guest
Double Cross Roads
Party Guest
Down the Stretch
Robert Bates
Going Wild
Physical Exam Onlooker
The Lady in the Morgue
Chauncey Courtland
Marshal of Laredo
Red Ryder
She Couldn't Say No
Gangster
The Devil's Trail
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Cheyenne Wildcat
Red Ryder
Hidden Valley Outlaws
Bill Elliott
In Early Arizona
Whit Gordon
Boy of the Streets
Dr. Allan
Night Parade
Party Guest
Overland with Kit Carson
Kit Carson
California Gold Rush
Red Ryder
The Private Life of Helen of Troy
Telemachus
Conquest of Cheyenne
Red Ryder
Lone Texas Ranger
Red Ryder
Let's Do Things
Music Store Customer (uncredited)
Romance in the Air
Announcer
Topeka
Jim Levering
Prairie Gunsmoke
'Wild' Bill Hickok
Waco
Matt Boone
Handlebars
Bicyclist (uncredited)
Left Over Ladies
Escort (uncredited)
Delicious
Larry's Friend
Overland Mail Robbery
Wild Bill Elliott
She Who Gets Slapped
Poker Player
