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