Hobbies: hunting, fishing . . Strange and his cousin, Taylor Curtis 'Cactus Mack' McPeters, joined the Arizona Wranglers - a group of singing cowboys. In the late 1920s, Glenn and his cousin, Taylor M… He procured his first motion picture role in 1932 and appeared in hundreds of films during his lifetime. One of his first roles was uncredited as a soldier, in tin armor, as part of "Ming's Army", in the science fiction classic serial "Flash Gordon"(1936/I). Oct 3, 2012 - Milburn Stone with Ken Curtis and Glen Campbell Strange was born in Weed, New Mexico Territory, 13 years prior to New Mexico gaining statehood. In his first outing, Karloff coached him … Of … Rex Allen was cousin to my Grandfather actor/ singer Cactus Mack, a... nd Hollywood heavy Glenn Strange. Taylor McPeeters’ own career as a singing cowboy actor may have been eclipsed by his more famous relatives, Rex Allen and Glenn Strange, but fondly known as “Cactus Mack”, he was one of the original cowboy singer/actors. Long before he was an actor, six-foot-five Glenn Strange was not only an honest-to-god cowboy (a rancher, rodeo performer, even a sheriff’s deputy)—he was an honest-to-god singing … He was an eighth generation great grandson of John Rolfe and Pocahontas through his maternal grandfather, but of Cherokee descent through his father. Glenn Strange was born in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899. On September 20, 1973, at age 74, Strange died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, California. Glenn was the perfect replacement for the job and made his monstrous debut with House of Frankenstein (1944), quickly followed by House of Dracula (1945). Here's a collection of some of the attempts by various studios in the 1930s to turn the young John Wayne into a singing cowboy. A New Mexican of Native American extraction, actor Glenn Strange held down several rough-and-tumble jobs, from deputy sheriff to rodeo rider, before settling on a singing career. He was the last of the 'Singing Cowboys'. In 1969, The New York Times mistakenly published Boris Karloff's obituary with Glenn Strange's picture as the Frankenstein monster. BLACK BANDIT (RI duotone) Baker, Marjorie Reynolds, Jack Rockwell, Glenn Strange, Forrest Taylor: BOB BAKER: COURAGE OF THE WEST (RI duotone) Baker, Fuzzy Knight: BOB BAKER: COURAGE OF THE WEST (RI duotone) Baker, Lois January, others (2 diff.) Eventually in the late 30s, his billing improved and he evolved into a full-time bad guy in hundreds of "B" westerns. Strange also appeared in character with Lou Costello in a haunted house skit on The Colgate Comedy Hour as well as making a gag publicity appearance as a masked flagpole-sitter for a local Los Angeles TV show in the 1950s. Strange recounted a personal anecdote in Ted Newsom's documentary, 100 Years of Horror (1996). He learned to play guitar and fiddle. Glenn Strange. Worth a few bucks for THAT, and DOCTOR STRANGELOVES' Slim Pickens at a rodeo... all in the scratchy, black and white[8mm/16mm Castle Films], Canadian and American '30s. Photo gift to the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Porky Johnson, November 2010. Working initially as a rancher, Strange moved to Hollywood in 1930 as part of the radio singing group Arizona Wranglers. That same year of 1956 Strange appeared in an uncredited role as the Sheriff in Silver Rapids in the western movie The Fastest Gun Alive starring Glenn Ford. He was a young rancher, but in 1930, he came to Hollywood as a member of the radio singing group Arizona Wranglers. He played numerous small parts in Paramount's popular Hopalong Cassidy film series, usually cast as a member of an outlaw's gang and occasionally as a local sheriff. The 3 cousins hold quite a distinction at that studio. Among other TV roles, he capped off his career with a steady (12 years) role as Sam the bartender on the classic Gunsmoke (1955) series from 1962 until shortly before his death from lung cancer in 1973. Actor (317) The Forsaken Westerns (TV Series 2018) Jim Blake (1 episode, 2018) Gunsmoke (TV Series 1961-1973) ... Can't Help Singing (1944) Gunman (uncredited) Harmony Trail (1944) Marshal Taylor (as Glen Strange) House of Frankenstein (1944) Monster Alaska (1944) In 1943 he played a badman in the Hopalong Cassidy movie False Colors. SEE Glenn "Frankenstein Monster" Strange WATCH others sing in his western movie persona. His first wife was Flora Hooper of Duncan, Oklahoma. Sign in to like videos, comment, and subscribe. You’ll even see him during his later “Gunsmoke” years playing the fiddle at some Dodge City social. It was he who played the Creature in the cult horror/comedy classic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) as part of the monstrous trio of Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man.As the "B" western started faded off into the sunset in the 1950s, Strange moseyed on over to TV work. Glenn Strange, Actor: Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein. In 1975, two years after Strange's death, his Gunsmoke costar Buck Taylor named his third son Cooper Glenn Taylor after Strange. Glenn was a talented songwriter and singer and a close pal to singin' cowboy Eddie Dean. Family tree of Glenn STRANGE. Strange was married from 1937 to his death in 1973 to his second wife, Minnie Thompson (1911–2004). Publicity Listings Strange was cast in House of Frankenstein in the role created by Boris Karloff in the 1931 version of Frankenstein, coached by Karloff personally after hours. Strange joined the singers after having appeared at a … In the late 1920s, Glenn and his cousin, Taylor McPeters, better known later as the western character actor Cactus Mack, joined a radio singing group known as the "Arizona Wranglers" that toured throughout the country.They both started providing singing fillers in film westerns in the early 1930s. Biography: A New Mexican of Native American extraction, actor Glenn Strange held down several rough-and-tumble jobs, from deputy sheriff to rodeo rider, before settling on a singing career. Strange appeared in six episodes of The Rifleman playing the same role in different variations: Cole, the stagecoach driver, in "Duel of Honor" (episode 7); a stagecoach shotgun guard in "The Dead-eye Kid" (episode 20); Joey, a stagecoach driver, in "The Woman" (episode 32); as well as an unnamed stagecoach driver in "The Blowout" (episode 43), "The Spiked Rifle" (episode 49) and "Miss Bertie" (episode 90).[3]. In 1959, he appeared in another western syndicated series, Mackenzie's Raiders, in the episode entitled "Apache Boy". Strange appeared six times in 1956 in multiple roles on Edgar Buchanan's syndicated Judge Roy Bean. Strange grew up in the West Texas town of Cross Cut. At various times in his life a rancher, deputy sheriff and rodeo performer, this huge, towering (6' 5") beast of a man was born George Glenn Strange in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899, but grew up a real-life cowboy in Cross Cut, Texas. Strange is interred at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery. Of Irish and Cherokee Indian descent, he taught himself (by ear) the fiddle and guitar at a young age and started performing at local functions as a teen. [1] Strange joined the singers after having appeared at a rodeo in Prescott, Arizona. He was a young rancher, but in 1930, he came to Hollywood as a member of the radio singing group Arizona Wranglers. In 1942, he appeared in The Mad Monster for PRC, a poverty row studio. [5], Strange was 6 ft 5 in tall and weighed 220 lbs. Strange was cast in five episodes of the ABC western The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and three segments of the syndicated Annie Oakley. Lawless Range is a 1935 American Western film released by Republic Pictures, directed by Robert N. Bradbury and starring John Wayne.He appears as a "singing cowboy" in the film, with his singing voice dubbed by Glenn Strange, who later found lasting film fame himself as Frankenstein's Monster. THE SINGING COWBOYS: Hard-ridin' buckaroos provide a series of musical numbers... amidst much clowning and lasso-spinning. He was the last of the 'Singing Cowboys'. With his solo career fading, Glenn Frey got serious on his fourth album, but many of the album's sentiments sounded strange coming from him. Before becoming an actor, he had various jobs, including singer, professional boxer (he once fought heavyweight, Was bed-ridden with lung cancer when his good friend. Strange also played a monster in the Bowery Boys horror-comedy Master Minds in 1949, mimicking the brain-transplanted Huntz Hall's frantic comedy movements, with Hall providing his own dubbed voice. Profiled in "Character Actors in Horror and Science Fiction Films, 1930-1960" by Laurence Raw (2012). They both started providing singing fillers in film westerns in the early 1930s. He was raised in Texas. Strange was cast in 1944 film House of Frankenstein in the role created by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931), coached by Karloff personally after hours. He is best remembered for playing Frankenstein's monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series. Horror star Boris Karloff had grown weary and fearful of his Frankenstein Creature typecast and abandoned the role. He made his radio bow on Los Angeles station KNX (the CBS-owned affiliate) as a member of the Arizona Wranglers singing group. [6] In addition, Strange was an eighth generation great grandson of John Rolfe and Pocahontas through his maternal grandfather.[7]. Strange learned by ear how to play the fiddle and guitar. Glenn Strange did the singing in Lawless Range. He taught himself (by ear) the fiddle and guitar at a young age and started performing at local functions as a teen. It was his massive build that helped him break into the Universal horror picture genre of the 1940s. . [8] Singer Eddie Dean, with whom Strange had collaborated on various songs and opening themes for films, sang at Strange's funeral service as a final tribute. Sadly though, at the age of 74, Strange passed away from lung cancer, just two years before the show came to an end. Hathorn, Billy (2013). As Glenn began to get a serious chill, Chaney recommended that alcohol would keep Strange warm. He first appeared on Gunsmoke in 1959 and assumed several roles on the long-running program before he was permanently cast as the stolid bartender, Sam Noonan, and role he played from 1961 until 1974.[4]. Glenn Strange as the bartender, Sam Noonan in CBS Television's series Gunsmoke. Strange played the Monster a third time in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), with Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man and Bela Lugosi in his second screen appearance as Count Dracula. A New Mexican of Native American extraction, actor Glenn Strange held down several rough-and-tumble jobs, from deputy sheriff to rodeo rider, before settling on a singing career. In the late 1920s, Glenn and his cousin, Taylor McPeters, better known later as the western character actor Cactus Mack, joined a radio singing group known as the "Arizona Wranglers" that toured throughout the country. Strange could barely walk straight after the day's shooting. His father was a bartender and later a rancher. He made his radio bow on Los Angeles station KNX (the CBS-owned affiliate) as a member of the Arizona Wranglers singing group. Actor. . On … Glenn Strange Celebrity Profile - Check out the latest Glenn Strange photo gallery, biography, pics, pictures, interviews, news, forums and blogs at Rotten Tomatoes! Born George Glenn STRANGE. and cooking. And there's more on Glenn Strange's involvement with the singing groups the Arizona Wranglers, Range Riders, Radio Buckaroos, and others in the Singers-Musicians-Groups section on the Old Corral. Watch later Glenn would play extra or bit roles for a number of years B Western and serials. In the scene in which the Monster is discovered in a cave, Strange lay immersed for hours in "faked quicksand" (actually cold mud) waiting for the cameras to roll. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Rex Allen was cousin to my Grandfather actor/ singer Cactus Mack, a... nd Hollywood heavy Glenn Strange. During the wave of monster-related merchandising in the late 1950s and 1960s, it was often Glenn Strange's iconic image used for the Monster on toys, games and paraphernalia, most often from his appearance in the Abbott & Costello film. I'm six foot four to start with, and with the makeup and padding, I'd wear a size 70 coat, the boots had six-inch soles, and by the time I was ready to film, I was just about seven feet tall. In 1968, she was the third person and the first female inductee into the Gallery of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in … A singing/songwriting cowboy by trade, he collaborated on various tunes with western actor. [2], Strange appeared twice as Jim Wade on Bill Williams's syndicated western series geared to juvenile audiences The Adventures of Kit Carson. This product is made-on-demand by the manufacturer using DVD-R recordable media. Sign in. In 1952, he was cast in the role of Chief Black Cloud in the episode "Indian War Party" of the syndicated The Range Rider. On the set of, Working on a film at Universal, he noticed that the makeup man, department head. Below are crops/blowups showing the faces in more detail. Strange was cast twice on Kirby Grant's western aviation adventure series, Sky King, as Rip Owen in Stage Coach Robbers (1952) and as Link in Dead Giveaway (1958). Child by his third wife, Minnie Thompson: Janine Laraine Strange. A New Mexican of Native American extraction, actor Glenn Strange held down several rough-and-tumble jobs, from deputy sheriff to rodeo rider, before settling on a singing career. He would perform as a cowhand, rustler, accomplice, sidekick, or plain old warbling, harmonica-blowing cowboy. By 1928, he was on radio in El Paso, Texas. In 1935, Strange provided John Wayne’s singing voice when Republic tried to make Wayne a singing cowboy. He made his radio bow on Los Angeles station KNX (the CBS-owned affiliate) as a … Strange was born in Weed, New Mexico Territory,[1] 13 years prior to New Mexico gaining statehood. Official Sites, He was one of the first actors to be asked to play The Creature in, He was known to love children. The actual singer, who was singing as this film and Lawless Range were being made, was Bill Bradbury, son of director Robert N. Bradbury and brother of Robert A. Bradbury a.k.a. After weeks of the station teasing the public about the sitter's identity, Strange removed his mask and revealed himself as Frankenstein's monster (actually, yet another mask.) Glenn can be spotted playing fiddle with Kirk, Mack, Charles Baldra, Charley Sargent and other musicians in such ‘30s B-westerns as “Lawless Range”, “Stormy”, “Westward Ho” and “Cyclone of the Saddle”. Strange recounted a personal anecdote in Ted Newsom's documentary, 100 Years of Horror (1996). On the set of House of Dracula (1945), Lon Chaney, Jr. got him extremely inebriated. Also in the late ‘30s, Strange was singing fillers for “B” Westerns. His father William Russell Strange was of Irish ancestry, but his mother Sarah Eliza Strange (née Byrd) was of British ancestry. In 1944, while Glenn was being made up for an action film at Universal, make-up artist Jack Pierce noticed Strange's face and size would be appropriate for the role of the Monster. In 1942, he appeared in The Mad Monster for Producers Releasing Corporation. "He Took Advantage" was subtitled "Blues for Ronald Reagan," but it came more than three years after Reagan's retirement, and Frey's 1984 song "Better in the U.S.A." could have served as Reagan's campaign song. He is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery, Hollywood, CA. In some scenes of Gunsmoke, he is seen to play the fiddle. |  He played the nemesis "Butch Cavendish" and later reprised the role, after a prison escape, on "The Lone Ranger" (1949). Bob Steele. Strange joined the singers after having appeared at a rodeo in Prescott, Arizona. That same year he played the rancher Pat Cafferty, who faces the threat of anthrax, in the episode "Queen of the Cimarron" of the syndicated western series, Frontier Doctor. These "guys in black shirts" did double duty as singers as well as members of the "Singing Riders" who rode white horses and assisted Wayne. In 1949 Republic Pictures in Hollywood gave him a screen test and put him under contract. They had two daughters, Wynema and Juanita. Apart from Boris Karloff, Glenn Strange was the only actor who got to play the Monster three times. He made his radio bow on Los Angeles station KNX (the CBS-owned affiliate) as a member of the Arizona Wranglers singing group. He also appeared twice as Blake in the syndicated western The Cisco Kid. In 1949 Republic Pictures in Hollywood gave him a screen test and put him under contract. At various times in his life a rancher, deputy sheriff and rodeo performer, this huge, towering (6' 5\") beast of a man was born George Glenn Strange in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899, but grew up a real-life cowboy in Cross Cut, Texas. The couple had one child, Janine Laraine Strange (born 1939). In 1954, Strange played Sheriff Billy Rowland in Jim Davis's syndicated western series Stories of the Century. There was no denying that Glenn Strange, who was an actual cowboy-turned-actor, had a huge impact on his co-stars. Among them is veteran Western bad guy (and future Frankenstein Monster) Glenn Strange! |  George Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who mostly appeared in Western films and was billed as Glenn Strange. Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net, Other Works In the film's opening titles, Glenn Strange is credited and "the Singing Riders" is listed under Strange's name. She also missed her friend Glenn Strange, who played the part of Sam the bartender, who had passed away in 1973. They ended up in Hollywood. At various times in his life a rancher, deputy sheriff and rodeo performer, this huge, towering (6' 5") beast of a man was born George Glenn Strange in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899, but grew up a real-life cowboy in Cross Cut, Texas. In 1958, he had a minor part in an episode of John Payne's The Restless Gun and had an important role in the 1958 episode "Chain Gang" of the western series 26 Men, true stories about the Arizona Rangers. The 3 cousins hold quite a distinction at that studio. Beginning in 1949, he portrayed Butch Cavendish, the villain responsible for killing all of the Texas Rangers except one in the long-running television series The Lone Ranger. By the time he was 12, young Strange was performing at cowboy dances. He was seen (or glimpsed) in many of the popular serials of the day, including The Hurricane Express (1932), Law of the Wild (1934),The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939), and Riders of Death Valley (1941). Geneanet; Geneastar . "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", "Secrets Of TV's The Rifleman: More Than Just Guns And Good Times: Stagecoach Driver (Glenn Strange)", http://www.westernclippings.com/heavies/glennstrange_charactersheavies.shtml, https://boblitton.wordpress.com/tag/pocahontas-descendants/, "Glenn Strange, Actor, Dies; Was 'Gunsmoke' Bartender", https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JT41-TQ9, Glenn Strange appears on Abbott and Costello's television program, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glenn_Strange&oldid=1013643684, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 22 March 2021, at 18:27. He had Irish and Cherokee descent through his father. He was a young rancher, but in 1930, he came to Hollywood as a member of the radio singing group Arizona Wranglers. In 1932, Strange had a minor role as part of the Wrecker's gang in a 12-part serial, The Hurricane Express, starring John Wayne. By 1928, he was on radio in El Paso, Texas. In 1944, while Strange was being made up for an action film at Universal, make-up artist Jack Pierce noticed that Strange's facial features and 6'5" height would be appropriate for the role of Frankenstein's monster. American actor. View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Memorial Park. By the time he was 12, he was performing at cowboy dances. Cactus Mack’s last co-starring role was on a 1961 Gunsmoke episode.