List of Famous Cowboys
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainWilliam Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator from Oklahoma. He was a Cherokee citizen born in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. Known as "Oklahoma's Favorite Son", Rogers was born to a Cherokee family in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma). As an entertainer and humorist, he traveled around the world three times, made 71 films (50 silent films and 21 "talkies"), and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns.By the mid-1930s Rogers was hugely popular in the United States, its leading political wit and the highest paid of Hollywood film stars. He died in 1935 with aviator Wiley Post when their small airplane crashed in northern Alaska.Rogers's vaudeville rope act led to success in the Ziegfeld Follies, which in turn led to the first of his many movie contracts. His 1920s syndicated newspaper column and his radio appearances increased his visibility and popularity. Rogers crusaded for aviation expansion and provided Americans with first-hand accounts of his world travels. His earthy anecdotes and folksy style allowed him to poke fun at gangsters, prohibition, politicians, government programs, and a host of other controversial topics in a way that was appreciated by a national audience, with no one offended. His aphorisms, couched in humorous terms, were widely quoted: "I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat." Rogers even provided an epigram on his most famous epigram: When I die, my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, is going to read: "I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I dident [sic] like." I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved.More Will Rogers
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- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainJohn Wesley Hardin (May 26, 1853 – August 19, 1895) was an American Old West outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk icon. The son of a Methodist preacher, Hardin got into trouble with the law from an early age. He killed his first man at age 14; he claimed it was in self-defense. Pursued by lawmen for most of his life, he was sentenced in 1877 at age 23 to 24 years in prison for murder. When he was sentenced, Hardin claimed to have killed 42 men but contemporary newspaper accounts attributed only 27 deaths to him. While in prison, Hardin studied law and wrote an autobiography. He was well known for wildly exaggerating or completely making up stories about his life. He claimed credit for many murders that cannot be corroborated.Within a year of his release in 1894, Hardin was killed by John Selman in an El Paso saloon.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainBilly the Kid (born Henry McCarty September 17 or November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881, also known as William H. Bonney) was an American Old West outlaw and gunfighter who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at age 21. He took part in New Mexico's Lincoln County War, during which he allegedly committed three murders. McCarty was orphaned at age 14. The owner of a boarding house gave him a room in exchange for work. His first arrest was for stealing food at age 16 in late 1875. Ten days later, he robbed a Chinese laundry and was arrested, but he escaped only two days later. He tried to stay with his stepfather, and then fled from New Mexico Territory into neighboring Arizona Territory, making him both an outlaw and a federal fugitive. In 1877, McCarty began to refer to himself as "William H. Bonney."After murdering a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona Territory and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. He became a well-known figure in the region when he joined the Regulators and took part in the Lincoln County War. In April 1878, the Regulators killed three men, including Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady and one of his deputies. Bonney and two other Regulators were later charged with killing all three men. Bonney's notoriety grew in December 1880 when the Las Vegas Gazette in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and The Sun in New York City carried stories about his crimes. Sheriff Pat Garrett captured Bonney later that month. In April 1881, Bonney was tried and convicted of the murder of Brady, and was sentenced to hang in May of that year. He escaped from jail on April 28, 1881, killing two sheriff's deputies in the process and evading capture for more than two months. Garrett shot and killed Bonney—aged 21—in Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881. During the following decades, legends that Bonney had survived that night grew, and a number of men claimed to be him.More Billy the Kid
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- Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainTom Edward Ketchum (October 31, 1863 – April 26, 1901), known as Black Jack, was a cowboy who later turned to a life of crime. He was executed in 1901 for attempted train robbery.
- Photo: user uploaded imageDon Bendell (born January 8, 1947, in Akron, Ohio) is an American author, rancher, tracker, Producer/Director/Actor and a former Green Beret. He has published 29 books and assisted in exposing former Atlantic City Mayor Bob Levy's claims of serving as a Green Beret as false.Bendell has had his work published in several newspapers and magazines, such as The American Spectator. Bendell is skilled in multiple martial arts, previously owned his own karate schools, and is a 1995 inductee into the International Karate & Kickboxing Hall of Fame.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB)Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955) is an American domestic terrorist who was convicted of being an accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman and ranch hand. He met his future co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, during a brief stint in the U.S. Army, which ended in 1989 when he requested a hardship discharge after less than one year of service. In 1994 and 1995, he conspired with McVeigh in the planning and preparation of the truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995. The bombing claimed the lives of 168 people.After a federal trial in 1997, Nichols was convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter for killing federal law enforcement personnel. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after the jury deadlocked on the death penalty. He was also tried in Oklahoma on state charges of murder in connection with the bombing. He was convicted in 2004 of 161 counts of first degree murder, including one count of fetal homicide; first-degree arson; and conspiracy. As in the federal trial, the state jury deadlocked on imposing the death penalty. He was sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, and is incarcerated at ADX Florence, a super maximum security prison near Florence, Colorado. He shares a cell block that is commonly referred to as "Bombers Row" with Ramzi Yousef, Eric Rudolph, and Ted Kaczynski.
- Photo: flickr / CC0Montie Montana (born Owen Harlen Mickel; June 21, 1910 – May 20, 1998), was a rodeo trick rider and trick roper, actor, stuntman and cowboy inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1994.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Fair useBen "Son" Johnson Jr. (June 13, 1918 – April 8, 1996) was an American stuntman, world champion rodeo cowboy, and Academy Award-winning actor. The son of a rancher, Johnson arrived in Hollywood to deliver a consignment of horses for a film. He did stunt-double work for several years before breaking into acting through the good offices of John Ford. Tall and laconic, Johnson brought further authenticity to many roles in Westerns with his extraordinary expert horsemanship. An elegiac portrayal of a former cowboy theatre owner in the 1950s coming-of-age drama, The Last Picture Show, won Johnson the 1971 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He operated a horse-breeding ranch throughout his career. Although he said he had succeeded by sticking to what he knew, shrewd real estate investments made Johnson worth an estimated $100 million by his latter years.More Ben Johnson
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- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / CC-BY-2.5Hank Worden (born Norton Earl Worden July 23, 1901 – December 6, 1992) was an American cowboy-turned-character actor who appeared in many Westerns, including many John Ford films such as The Searchers and the TV series The Lone Ranger.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / CC-BY-SATy Monroe Murray (born October 11, 1969) is an American nine-time World Champion professional rodeo cowboy. He is an inductee of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the all-around category. He is also one of the co-founders and a board adviser of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), as well as a color commentator on events for the PBR's elite tour, the Unleash the Beast Series (UTB).
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainCharles Hugh "Chuck" Roberson (May 10, 1919 – June 8, 1988) was an American cowboy, actor, and stuntman. He was nicknamed "Bad Chuck" by director John Ford, for whom he worked many times, to distinguish him from "Good Chuck," stuntman Chuck Hayward. Roberson was reportedly the rowdier of the two, thus the nicknames.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainSteven Meigs Ford (born May 19, 1956) is an American actor, and son of former U.S. President Gerald Ford and former First Lady Betty Ford.More Steven Ford
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- Baxter Black (born January 10, 1945) is an American cowboy, poet, philosopher and former large-animal veterinarian. He is also a radio and television commentator. Black grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was trained as a large-animal veterinarian at New Mexico State University and Colorado State University, but began writing and speaking in the early 1980s. Black left his veterinary career and later published more than a dozen books of fiction, poetry and commentary. He is a regular commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition and also hosts a syndicated weekly radio program, Baxter Black on Monday. He writes a syndicated weekly newspaper column, "On the Edge of Common Sense." He currently resides in Benson, Arizona.
- Charles Orbie "Slim" Whitaker (July 29, 1893 – June 27, 1960) was an American film actor. He appeared in 345 films between 1914 and 1949. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and died in Los Angeles, California, from a heart attack.
- Harry Kirby McClintock (October 8, 1882 – April 24, 1957), also known as "Haywire Mac", was an American singer, songwriter, and poet, best known for his song "Big Rock Candy Mountain".
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainGeorge Scarborough (October 2, 1859 – April 5, 1900) was a cowboy and lawman who lived during the time of the Wild West. He is best known for having killed outlaw John Selman, killer of John Wesley Hardin, and for his partnership with lawman Jeff Milton, with the pair bringing down several outlaws during their time together.
Frank H. Maynard
- William Larkin Stiles (September 1871 – December 5, 1908), better known as Billy Stiles or William Larkin, was an American outlaw in the Old West who, with partner Burt Alvord, led a small gang of train robbers while serving as a deputy sheriff in Arizona Territory.
- Reg Kesler (October 16, 1919 – May 16, 2001) began his rodeo career at the age of 14 at the Raymond Stampede, competing in the boys steer riding. At the time, it was common for cowboys to compete in many or even all the rodeo events, and Kesler was no exception as he grew into his rodeo career. He participated in all five major rodeo events of the time: saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, tie-down roping and steer decorating, a precursor to steer wrestling. Kesler especially excelled in the roughstock events, namely saddle bronc riding and bareback riding, appearing in the top four in the Canadian standings in those events six times. He was also a successful competitor in the wild cow milking and wild horse racing, an outrider in the chuckwagon racing, and a well-known pick-up man. Kesler was a ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee. Kesler's first appearance in the record books was in 1948 when he was named Canadian All-Around Champion, winning a total of $1,960 and the first trophy saddle awarded by the Cowboys' Protective Association C.P.A., the organization that eventually evolved into today's Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA). He earned the Canadian All-Around title again in both 1951 and 1953. He was crowned All-Around champion at the Calgary Stampede in 1949 and 1950, and won the wild cow milking championship at "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth" three times. Although Kesler had started his own ranching operation in 1943, where he raised cattle, his journeys along the rodeo trail inspired the next stage of his career, and what he would ultimately be best known for. In the 1950s, due to the growing demand for bucking horses, Kesler set up a string of rough stock and became a stock contractor and rodeo producer. He supplied stock to rodeos and events across Canada, including the 1967 World Exposition in Montreal, the same year he officially retired from competition, and a number of rodeos across the United States. Kesler has been recognized a number of times for the contributions he made to the sport of rodeo during his lifetime. Of them, the highest honor is the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which inducted Kesler in 1992 for his contribution as a stock contractor. In 1989, Kesler was inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
- Casey Duane Tibbs (March 5, 1929–January 28, 1990) was an American cowboy, rodeo performer, and actor. In 1979, he was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
- Photo: user uploaded imageDean Smith (1931–2015) was an American college basketball coach. Dean Smith may also refer to:
Ab Saunders
Ab Saunders (October 14, 1851 — February 5, 1883) was an American cowboy, and at times gunman, best known for his association with Billy the Kid, Charlie Bowdre, Frank McNab, Doc Scurlock, and Saunders's cousins Frank and George Coe, when he was a member of the Lincoln County Regulators, a deputized posse, during the 1878 Lincoln County War in the New Mexico Territory (New Mexico did not become a U.S. state until 1912.)- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domain
Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood (c. 1676 – 6 June 1740) was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first colonial iron works, and his negotiating the Treaty of Albany with the Iroquois Nations of New York. - Roy Emerton (9 October 1893 – 30 November 1944) was a British film actor.Earlier in his life, he was a sailor, stoker, docker, railway worker, miner and served in the First World War. He played in a great number of popular London stage plays and shows, including Shakespeare as well as film work.
Ray Hunt
Ray Hunt may refer to: Ray Hunt (horse trainer) (1929–2009), American horse trainer and clinician Ray Lee Hunt (born 1943), American heir and businessman Ray Hunt (footballer) (born 1918), Australian rules footballer Ray C. Hunt (born 1920), staff sergeant in the United States Army Air Corps Raymond Hunt (1921-1994), New Zealand cricketerJohnny Seay
Johnny Sea, Johnny Seay is an American country singer. His first hits came in the late 1950s, and his career saw a resurgence in the mid-1960s, particularly with the release of his spoken word single "Day For Decision".Jerry Ambler
Jerry Ambler was an actor and cowboy.Scott Shepherd
Scott Shepherd is an actor and film producer.- Henry Noel Bentinck, 11th Earl of Portland, Count Bentinck und Waldeck Limpurg (2 October 1919 – 30 January 1997) was a British Army officer, peer, and intellectual.
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Donald "Shorty" Shea
Donald Jerome Shea also known as "Shorty" (September 18, 1933 – August 26, 1969) was a Hollywood stuntman, actor, and victim of the Charles Manson murders. The location of his body was discovered in 1977, 8 years after his death. Manson family leader Charles Manson and family members Steve "Clem" Grogan and Bruce M. Davis were eventually convicted of murdering Shea. Tex Watson, Bill Vance, and Larry Bailey (alias Larry Giddings) were possible participants in the murder but were never charged.
