Francis Timothy Durgin was a tough hombre. He had been a lumberjack, miner, bronco buster, cowboy, fisherman, truck driver and forester. In his teens, he served three years in a federal reformatory in Oklahoma, for stealing cars. Then in 1943, aged 21, he met movie star Alan Ladd. 'He asked me ''How would you like to be in films?'' It sounded okay, so I went for a screen test.' Francis Durgin (actually born McCown, but he took his stepfather's name) landed a contract with 20th-Century Fox, and became Rory Calhoun, one of the biggest cowboy stars of the 1950s.
The tall, handsome Calhoun, who has died aged 76 of emphysema, had jet-black hair, and grey eyes that earned him the nickname 'Smoky'. He made his screen debut in 1944 in a bit part in the Carmen Miranda musical Something For The Boys, and continued in small roles for five years.
In 1951, he starred opposite Susan Hayward in I'd Climb The Highest Mountain, Betty Grable in Meet Me After The Show, and Hayward again in the biopic With A Song In My Heart (1952). His career went up a gear when he was taken on by the celebrated agent Henry Willson, who realised Calhoun's adventurous past, good looks and hairy chest would be better served in westerns than supporting leading ladies.
Calhoun's breakthrough came in Jacques Tourneur's Way Of A Gaucho (1952). Because Peron was taking protective measures against the US, Fox was forced to make an Argentinian western, in which Calhoun was convincing as a fiery cattleman filmed against splendidly Technicolored pampas locations. This was followed by four movies in 1953 - Powder River, The Silver Whip, Yellow Tomahawk, and How To Marry A Millionaire, with Betty Grable.
In the mid-1950s, Calhoun outwitted blackmailers threatening to expose his criminal record by disclosing his past to newspapers, emphasising how he had changed. He was now respectably married with two daughters. His wife was Latin singer Lita Baron, whom he divorced in 1970. He then married journalist Susan Langley, with whom he had another two daughters. His second marriage was dissolved in 1976.
In the late 1950s, as the big screen western started to decline, Calhoun starred in the TV horse-opera The Texan, which ran for two years. He also made guest appearances in Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Virginian, and Alias Smith And Jones.
When The Texan ended in 1960, Calhoun went to Italy to play the title role in the dullish Marco Polo, and looked uncomfortable in a toga in Sergio Leone's sword 'n sandal spectacle The Colossus Of Rhodes. After a few more late westerns, and Night Of The Lepus (1972), he reinvented himself as a grey-haired patriarch in the TV soap opera Capitol.
He made a reputation in schlock movies in the 1980s, but in his last film, Pure Country (1992), he had fun playing up his image of a cowboy of yesteryear.
Rory Calhoun, film actor, born August 8, 1922; died April 28, 1999