Don Kay Reynolds

Don Kay Reynolds

The son of famed horse trainer Fez Reynolds and a champion trick and fancy rider from early childhood, Don Kay Reynolds replaced Bobby Blake (later Robert Blake as the hero's Native American sidekick in the last four films of the long-running Red Ryder series. Blake, the former Mickey Gubitosi of Our Gang fame, played Little Beaver at Republic Pictures opposite both William Elliott and his replacement Allan Lane, but when the series was sold to low-budget Eagle Lion in 1948, that studio cast Reynolds, along with Jim Bannon -- the new Red Ryder -- and veteran silent-screen actress Marin Sais, who replaced Martha Wentworth as the Duchess. Nicknamed "Little Brown Jug," Reynolds became a great favorite with the series' mostly juvenile audience. Alas, only four films were actually produced -- albeit in garish Cinecolor -- and Reynolds left Hollywood soon after to tour with various circuses. He later owned a restaurant in Northern California, but retained the nickname of "Jug." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide