Bud Osborne Movies
One of the most popular, and recognizable, character actors in B-Western history, pudgy, mustachioed Bud Osborne (real name Leonard Miles Osborne) was one of the many Wild West show performers who parlayed their experiences into lengthy screen careers. Especially noted for his handling of runaway stagecoaches and buckboards, Osborne began as a stunt performer with Thomas Ince's King-Bee company around 1912, and by the 1920s he had become one of the busiest supporting players in the business. Rather rakish-looking in his earlier years, the still slender Osborne even attempted to become a Western star in his own right. Produced by the Bud Osborne Feature Film Company and released by low-budget Truart Pictures, The Prairie Mystery (1922) presented Osborne as a romantic leading man opposite B-movie regular Pauline Curley. Few saw this little clunker, however, and Osborne quickly returned to the ranks of supporting cowboys, often portraying despicable villains with names like Satan Saunders, Piute Sam, or Bull McKee. Playing an escaped convict masquerading as a circuit rider in both the 1923 Leo Maloney short Double Cinched and Shootin' Square, a 1924 Jack Perrin feature Western, Osborne even demonstrated an affinity for comedy. The now veteran Bud Osborne continued his screen career into the sound era and became even busier in the 1930s and 1940s. As he grew older and his waistline expanded, Osborne's roles became somewhat smaller and instead of calling the shots himself, as he often had in the silent era, he now answered to the likes of Roy Barcroft and Charles King. But he seems to pop up in every other B-Western and serial released in those years, appearing in more than 65 productions for Republic Pictures alone. By the 1950s, the now elderly Osborne became one of the many veteran performers courted by maverick filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr., for whom he did Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tucson Kid (1954), an unsold television pilot, Jailbait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955), and Night of the Ghouls (1958). When all is said and done, it was a rather dismal finish to a colorful career. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1912
In his final film for Thomas H. Ince's New York Motion Picture Company, Harold Lockwood played a young man who enlists in the Confederate Army, along with rival Ray Myers. Though mortally wounded during a skirmish, Lockwood manages to heroically save his rival's life. Following this film, Lockwood signed with The Selig Polyscope Company before gaining his greatest popularity opposite blond May Allison for the American Company of Santa Barbara, CA. Lockwood, sadly, became one of the most prominent victims of the 1918 flu epidemic. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Silent screen western hero Harry Carey and his future off-screen wife Olive Fuller Golden starred in this Universal western, in which he takes the blame for a stage robbery to protect her no-good fiance. Interestingly, supporting actor Hoot Gibson, who also doubled both leads, later usurped Carey's position as the company's top western star. Carey and Golden wed in 1920; their son, Harry Carey, Jr., nicknamed "Dobe" because of his adobe-colored hair, became a top Hollywood character actor and, like his father, a favorite of director John Ford. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
Film pioneer Colonel William N. Selig had watched his once-powerful organization, the Selig Polyscope Company, dissolve in 1918 because of his own aversion to multi-reel feature films. The colonel stayed in the business, however, and in the early 1920s produced a series of low-budget westerns starring Franklyn Farnum. The old Selig films were remembered for their fast-paced, no-nonsense style, and Selig had not lost his touch. In The Struggle, Farnum plays a war veteran defending a woman millworker in a fight with a notorious gang leader. Assuming he killed the brute, Farnum's Dick Storm flees out West, hiding out with a gang of outlaws. The gang plans to rob a ranch belonging to lovely Norma Day (Genevieve Bert), and Storm blows his cover to aid the defenseless woman. The gang, as it turns out, is led by the brute from back East, very much alive and ready for revenge. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This romantic adventure was an experiment by Pathe, which offered it as both a nine-reel feature and as a 10-episode serial. When his father is mysteriously murdered, John Cowles (Harold Miller) finds the family finances in a bad state. He travels West to borrow money from his father's partner, Colonel Meriwether. Meriwether has a daughter, Ellen (Allene Ray), and Cowles falls in love with her but he neglects to mention that he is already engaged to marry Grace Sheraton (Kathryn Appleton) Cowles' friend, Gordon Orme (Bud Osborne), shows up, but he turns out to be no friend at all when he tells the Colonel that Cowles has a fiancee back home in Virginia. This angers Meriwether so much that he refuses the loan. Meanwhile. Cowles' mother (Florence Lee), and Grace -- who really loves Orme -- show up. Mrs. Cowles encourages her son to look for gold, and he is successful. Orme, with Grace's help, plans to rob him, but both of them are killed in a fight. It turns out that it was Orme who murdered Cowles's father. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harold Miller, Bud Osborne, (more)
- 1921
The rugged Franklyn Farnum stars in this tale of Northwest bootleggers. Two revenuers, Fitzgerald (Farnum) and Herrick (Bud Osborne), are on the trail of a gang of whiskey smugglers who are led by Hank Nelson (John Hatfield) and his son. Before he heads off to track down Nelson, Herrick says good-bye to his sweetheart, Honey Moore (Claire Windsor), whose father (Frederick Soult) owns the Medicine Creek Ranch. Herrick mentions to Honey that he thinks this new assignment may be his last. The conversation is overheard by Bob Thiele (Vester Pegg), who also loves Honey, and who decides to make Herrick's premonition come true. Shortly afterwards, Herrick is found shot to death. It is up to Fitzgerald to track down the smugglers, and he also becomes determined to find Herrick's killer. He discovers it is Thiele, and traces him to a cabin, where he has imprisoned Honey. Fitzgerald rescues the girl, and Thiele is struck by lightning and killed. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
This minor silent Western was one in a series of oaters produced independently by the founder of the pioneering Selig Company, Colonel William N. Selig, and starring veteran screen cowboy Franklyn Farnum. Based on Bertha "Muzzy" Sinclair's The Happy Family, the film featured Farnum as a ranch hand battling an evil sheep man (Bud Osborne). Osborne doesn't take the interference lying down, however, but kidnaps the interloper and takes him to a deserted cabin in the mountains. Although tied to a powder keg, Farnum manages to escape and bring the entire gang to justice. As a reward, he marries his pretty boss, Genevieve Bert. Comedy is provided by five-year-old Joseph Chatterton as the son of a ranch hand (Vester Pegg). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franklin Farnum, Genevieve Bert, (more)
- 1923
Real-life siblings Bob Burns and Fred Burns play brothers in this rare surviving two-reel Western, part of Pathé's Range Rider series. The former is a ranger captain who assigns a new recruit, Gene Miller (Leo Maloney), to investigate a series of cattle rustlings. Going undercover as a cowboy at Fred's ranch, Gene rescues the owner's daughter (Pauline Curley) from lustful foreman Tom Barnes (Bud Osborne), whose proposal of marriage she had turned down. Is Barnes the secret leader of the rustlers? Anyone who has ever seen a B-Western will know the answer to that question. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, Bobby Burns, (more)
- 1923
In Double Cinched, an entry in the two-reel Range Rider series, cowpoke Leo Maloney turns himself into a countrified dandy -- complete with clip-on tie and a starched collar that has a mind of its own. The reason for this grand overhaul is an upcoming wedding to the neighbor's daughter, Pauline Curley. But the circuit rider who arrives to perform the blessed ceremony is actually an escaped convict played by that dyed-in-the-wool blackguard Bud Osborne. Suddenly, Maloney and Curley aren't married after all. There is a happy ending, of course. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, Pauline Curley, (more)
- 1924
A well-made entry in Leo Maloney's Range Rider series, Smoke Out stars the veteran cowboy hero as a drifter who rescues a wounded man in the wilderness, the victim of a robbery. Although he is badly hurt, Bob Graham (W. Ray Meyers) is determined to be at the bedside of his dying mother (Minna Ferry Redman), whose ranch he had left as a youngster. Since Bob is in no condition to face the bedridden woman, Watt Rogers (Maloney) pretends to be the returning son. Meanwhile, robbers Stiles (Bud Osborne) and Gus (Pat Rooney) have discovered that their victim is a long-lost heir and Stiles determines to call at the Graham ranch masquerading as Bob. Suddenly there are no less than three Bob Grahams around and fists are flying. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, W. Ray Meyers, (more)
- 1924
Minor (in status if not physique) western hero Leo Maloney produced, directed and starred in this slipshod silent western melodrama about a drifter who helps a pretty ranch owner Josephine Hill defeat a nasty land speculator (Milton Fahrney). But, in a plot twist all too common to pulp fiction like this, the villain proves to be the girl's long-lost father. Well-known western character Tom London appears as one of the ranch hands under his real name, Leonard Clapham. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, Josephine Hill, (more)
- 1924
Lower-echelon cowboy star Leo Maloney produced and directed this inexpensive silent western, released through independent Hollywood entrepreneur William Steiner. This time Maloney plays a Texas Ranger on the trail of a gang of opium smugglers operating on the border to Mexico. Soon, he is falsely accused of being a smuggler himself but manages to clear his name, apprehend the crooks, and win the girl (Josephine Hill. As always, Maloney was well assisted by the blond Hill and a clever canine named Bullet, but an above-average supporting cast -- including Whitehorse as the girl's father and the always watchable Bud Osborne as one of the villains -- made The Loser's End one of his better efforts. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Watson, Tom London, (more)
- 1924
This otherwise fairly average silent western contains a sequence as racist in its own seemingly innocuous way as anything D.W. Griffith ever committed. But unlike the treatment of African-Americans in Birth of a Nation, which at least had the excuse of being a period piece, the offensive elements of the modern-dress Shootin' Square are played as natural and understanding behavior. Ranch foreman Jack Perrin's upcoming nuptials with his boss' daughter (Peggy O'Day) hits a snag when the minister (Martin Turner) proves to be black. "How could you do this to me?" O'Day cries (via an inter title of course). "I'll never see you again!" Poor Parson Turner apologizes for the color of his skin, Perrin explains that it was all a misunderstanding, O'Day forgives him, and they return to the altar. This time the minister is actually an escaped outlaw in disguise (Bud Osborne), a fact which proves slightly less traumatic for the bride than the earlier "mishap." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Perrin, Peggy O'Day, (more)
- 1925
A millionaire's son once again toughens up on a western ranch in this low-budget silent western produced by veteran director Harry S. Webb. Jack Perrin plays the wastrel turned hero this time and is soon on the trail of the villains who absconded with the payroll. In between the fast riding, Perrin has to dodge the amorous advances of widow Eva Thatcher. Like many Perrin westerns, this one was played mostly for comedy. Unfortunately, Perrin was no Hoot Gibson or Tom Mix and everything appeared a bit strained. African-American actor Martin Turner offered yet another of his stereotypical sidekick turns, this time as a character "humorously" referred to as "Snowball." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1925
Poverty row producer-director Leo Maloney and his usual screenwriter Ford Beebe fashioned a fanciful tale of a cowboy masquerading as the heir to a valuable ranch in this obscure silent Western released by William Steiner. Nasty foreman Bud Osborne has taken over the ranch from the rightful owners, who then hire Maloney to scare him off. In the end, Maloney is revealed to actually be the heir! Maloney's frequent leading lady, Josephine Hill, is once again along for the bumpy ride. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, Josephine Hill, (more)
- 1925
A minor Hatfield and McCoy melodrama set in the wild and woolly West, Across the Deadline features Leo Maloney as an unlikely prairie Romeo and Josephine Hill as his sweet Juliet. Their families are engaged in a long-standing feud about water rights, but when Maloney saves Hill's weakling brother (Rulon Slaughter) from a lynch mob, the star-crossed youngsters are pronounced free to marry. Maloney directed as usual, and the screenplay was concocted by future serial specialist Ford Beebe. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Florence Lee
- 1925
After crashing his plane in the wilderness, a young airborne forest ranger is nursed back to health by a mountain man and his pretty daughter in this 18-chapter serial from Universal. The Marshalls, father William Welsh and daughter Eileen Sedgwick, have been hiding out in the hills for years following a killing. As ranger Terence O'Rourke (Jack Daugherty) discovers, the Marshalls were framed by their erstwhile foreman, "Topaz" Taggart (Bud Osborne), who is now stealing them blind. Released in May of 1925, The Fighting Ranger was yet another attempt by Universal to turn handsome Jack Daugherty into a viable action star, the studio counting on the actor's much publicized marriage to Metro star Barbara La Marr. Rumors of drug abuse, however, got in the way and Daugherty never quite made the grade. The Fighting Ranger should not be confused with an ultra low-budget Al Hoxie oater of the same title and release year. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
Produced and directed by poverty row maven Benjamin F. Wilson (the "F" stood for Franklin!), this minor silent Western featured stunt-rider Yakima Canutt as a cowpoke hired by an obsessed rancher (Leonard Trainor) to catch and tame a wild mustang. Canutt's equine co-star was Boy the Wonder Horse while Wilson associate Neva Gerber supplied the obligatory romantic interest as the rancher's daughter. There were a couple of villains as well, of course, and both Al Ferguson and Bud Osborne, fine stunt-riders in their own right, made the most of their stereotypical assignments. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yakima Canutt, Neva Gerber, (more)
- 1926
Cowboy star Jack Hoxie spends an inordinate amount of time away from his horse in Looking for Trouble. In this one, he's preoccupied with bringing a gang of diamond smugglers to justice. Of courses, he's not too busy to spend a bit of quality time with the heroine, the gloriously yclept Tulip Hellier (Marceline Day). In the final reels, however, he mounts his faithful steed Scout and brings the villains' perfidious activities to a sudden end. Looking for Trouble contains far too little action to suit the fans of Jack Hoxie -- or Hoxie's critics, who delighted in complaining about the actor's constitutional inability to convey a believable emotion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Hoxie
- 1926
This exploitationer isn't quite as lurid as its title, but it's not from lack of trying. Heroine Carol Wines is in love with handsome highway patrolman William Barrymore, but she's also partial to slick roadhouse proprietor Carl Silvers. Certain that Silvers is a bad influence, Barrymore enlists a battalion of motorcycle cops to "rescue" the girl. Trouble is, she doesn't want to be rescued, though she changes her mind by the time Barrymore has bundled her off to the justice of the peace. The reviewer for the trade magazine Variety was so unimpressed by the film that he resorted to critiquing the rowdy behavior of an audience member! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Barrymore, Carol Wines, (more)
- 1926
This minor oater was the penultimate silent western starring the strapping Tom Tyler. Produced by poverty-row company Syndicate, the film came complete with a synchronized music score and sound effects but was mainly shown in rural theaters not yet wired for sound. Having fallen in love with the pretty Inez (Sheila LeGay), rustler Dave Brandon (Tyler) decides to lead a law-abiding life. The leader of the rustlers, Slug Slagel (Bud Osborne), abducts both Inez and her pa (Tom Forman) in order to persuade Brandon not to defect. The reformed outlaw, however, has been arrested for his previous crimes but manages to escape to the gang's hidden canyon. With the posse right behind him to pick up fleeing bad guys, the hero saves the girl and her father from the nasty Slagel. Having thus redeemed himself, the former outlaw is placed in the custody of his girlfriend. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Tyler
- 1927
Having learned the tricks of the trade appearing in the action series The Hazards of Helen back in the mid-1910s, Leo Maloney later eked out a comfortable living producing, directing, and starring in scores of low-budget silent Westerns. In Don Desperado, Maloney plays the deputy sheriff in a small Western town terrorized by a masked stage robber known only as the Black Bandit. Leo arrests a vagrant, Frenchy (Bud Osborne), who matches the description of the outlaw. But when the citizenry, headed by Nathan Jessup (Frederick Dana), the father of Maloney's girlfriend (Eugenia Gilbert), favor a quick lynching instead of a trial, the law-abiding Maloney escapes with his prisoner. A lawyer, Blaisdell (Charles Bartlett), agrees to help, but Frenchy manages to disappear. There is another stage robbery and this time the townsfolk turn against Jessup's son (Morgan Davis). Luckily, Maloney proves that the real bandit is in reality Blaisdell, who has been paying Frenchy to attack the stagecoach line. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Maloney, Eugenia Gilbert, (more)
- 1927
As a foreword to this low-budget silent western intones, "Perhaps the most important step in the early stages of the settlement of the Far West was the establishment of the historic Pony Express in 1859." One of the bravest of the riders, "Pony Bob" Haslam (Dick Carter) gets in trouble with the Piutes, whose chief, Black Eagle (Olin Francis), has come under the influence of a greedy white renegade, Aleck Harvey (Bud Osborne). The latter is not only after a shipment of gold but also Bright Feather (Dorothy Earle), a white girl abducted in childhood by the Indians. Much to the consternation of the chief's previous favorite, the scheming Moonlight (Gene Crosby), Black Eagle wants to make Bright Feather his squaw but the girl has fallen in love with "Pony Bob," "the only real man of her race she has ever seen," as a title explains. When forced to pick either Black Eagle or Harvey, Bright Feather chooses a third option: to take her own life. Will Bob be in time to rescue the distressed damsel? Produced in the late 1910s-very early 1920s but not released until 1927, this independently made Western bears no resemblance to the 1929 oater of the same title. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Carter, Dorothy Earle, (more)
- 1927
Filmed in 1927, the silent western King of the Herd wasn't shown in New York until 1929. Although the film's official star is Raymond McKee, most of the footage is devoted to the exploits of the title character, played by White Star the "wonder" horse. As a novelty, polo-playing hero, McKee is something of a wimp, easily beaten up by the villains. Inspired by the love of heroine Nola Luxford, McKee proves his manhood by capturing rogue stallion White Star. Astride the magnificent steed, our hero easily defeats his principal rival Bud Osborne on the polo field then turns his attentions -- and his fists -- towards his other tormentors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond McKee, Nola Luxford, (more)
- 1927
Billed as a "Universal Thrill Feature," this airborne action melodrama featured real-life aviator Al Wilson playing identical flying twins. "Sky High" Saunders is searching for his twin brother, Michael, whom he suspects has joined a gang of smugglers. After saving pert schoolmarm Helen Leland (Elsie Tarron) from gang leader Delatour (Bud Osborne), Sky High goes after the gang but accidentally shoots down his brother Michael's plane, killings the occupants. Pretending to be Michael, Sky High keeps a rendezvous with the gang and manages to dynamite their mountain stronghold. Leading lady Elsie Tarron was a former Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty and the wife of slapstick comic Andy Clyde. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Wilson, Bud Osborne, (more)
