Bill Elliott
AKA: Wild Bill Elliott
Birthday: 1904-10-16
Died: 1965-11-26
Birthplace: Pattonsburg, Missouri, USA
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.
Filmography
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Shadrach Jones
Character: Kenneth Martin
Character: Norman (uncredited)
Character: Wild Bill Boone
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: James, Clerk at College Club
Character: George Halloway
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: Aggressive Student at Dance
Character: Polo Match Spectator (uncredited)
Character: Tom Collins - Greer's Associate
Character: (archive footage)
Character: Wild Bill Saunders
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Wild Bill Tolliver
Character: Sharp, Board of Directors Member (uncredited)
Character: Andy Flynn / Andy Doyle
Character: Chauncey Courtland
Character: Well-Wishing Villager
Character: Dave Thatcher (as Gordon Elliott)
Character: Wild Bill Saunders
Character: Minor Role (uncredited)
Character: Golfer (uncredited)
Character: Music Store Customer (uncredited)
Character: Hotel Guest on Veranda
Character: Hotel Dining Room Guest
Character: Lulu's Bathing Companion (uncredited)
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: Playboy in 'Playboy of Paree' Number (uncredited)
Character: Ruth's Friend (uncredited)
Character: Night Club Patron
Character: Physical Exam Onlooker
Character: Warren Sherrill
Character: Audience Member / Dexter's Party Guest
Character: Wellman, a Dude
Character: Hotel Dancer (uncredited)
Character: Country Club Guest
Character: Bootlegger (uncredited)
Character: 2nd Radio Announcer
Character: Bank Teller (uncredited)
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Alex Brown (Uncredited)
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: City Attorney Seabrook
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: Jefferson Duane
Character: Governor's Secretary (uncredited)
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: Bicyclist (uncredited)
Character: Maxine's Casino Escort (uncredited)
Character: Marshal Wild Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Night Club Patron (uncredited)
Character: Guest at Polly's Party (uncredited)
Character: Johnny Barrett / Spanish Jack
Character: Larry's Friend
Character: Vincent's Assistant (uncredited)
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: Backstage Actor
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Character: Joaquin Murietta aka The Black Shadow
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: Sergeant Bill Cameron
Character: Matt Boone (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Joe Daniels (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Wild Bill Saunders
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok / Prince Katey
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: 'Wild' Bill Hickok
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: Wild Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: Charles Alderson
Character: Bill Stockton (as William Elliott)
Character: Frank Norris / Frank Plummer (as William Elliott)
Character: Clay Tyndall (as Wild Bill Elliott)
Character: Escort (uncredited)
Character: Wedding Party Guest
Character: Dance Extra / Lobby Extra
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Athlete (uncredited)
Character: New Year's Eve Reveler (Uncredited)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Character: Reporter (uncredited)
Character: Bootlegger Who Gives Eddie the Bottle Outside the Club (uncredited)
Character: Reporter in Courtroom (uncredited)
Character: Gambler (uncredited)
Character: Partygoer (uncredited)
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Character: Hunter - Bank Worker (uncredited)
Character: Pilot (uncredited)
Character: News Commentator (uncredited)
Character: Man Outside Theatre (uncredited)
Character: Dancer (uncredited)
Character: Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
Character: Jackson's Secretary / Dorothy's Dance Partner
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Polo Player (uncredited)
Character: Wild Bill Saunders
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Character: Man at Roulette Table (Uncredited)
Character: Policeman Following Blonde (uncredited)
Character: Roy Schyler (as Gordon Elliott)
Character: Wild Bill Elliott
Character: Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Character: Ship's Passenger / Dance Extra (uncredited)
Character: Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Character: Escort (uncredited)
Character: Backgammon Man (uncredited)
Character: Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
Character: One of Tom's War Buddies