Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun
Handsome leading man Rory Calhoun's successful film and television career spanned well over 50 years. In the mid-1940s,after a difficult childhood and adolescence, Calhoun found work as a lumberjack in Santa Cruz, California. It was while there employed that Calhoun was discovered by actor Alan Ladd, who suggested that the rugged young man give movies a try. Billed as "Frank McCown," Calhoun was signed to a brief contract at 20th Century-Fox, but most of his earliest movie scenes (including a sizeable supporting role in the Laurel and Hardy vehicle The Bullfighters) ended up on the cutting room floor. Free-lancing in the late 1940s, Calhoun first attracted a fan-following with his supporting role as a high-school lothario in 1948's The Red House. He returned to Fox in 1950, enjoying major roles in such films as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and River of No Return (1955). Established as a western player by the late 1950s, Calhoun starred on the popular TV western The Texan from 1958 through 1960. He spent his spare time writing, publishing at least one novel, The Man From Padeira. From 1949 through 1970, Calhoun was married to actress Lita Baron. Perpetuating his career into the 1990s, a more weather-beaten Rory Calhoun was seen in the lead of the satirical horror film Motel Hell (1980), was quite funny as a washed-up macho movie star in Avenging Angel (1985), and stole the show from ostensible leading-man George Strait in Pure Country (1992). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography of Rory Calhoun:
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood with Bruce Dern , Madeline Kahn , Art Carney , Phil Silvers , Ron Leibman , Teri Garr , Edward Ashley , Billy Barty , William Benedict , Edgar Bergen , Janet Blair , Joan Blondell , John Carradine , Jack Carter , Cyd Charisse , Jackie Coogan , Broderick Crawford , Yvonne DeCarlo , Gloria DeHaven , William Demarest , Andy Devine , Alice Faye , Fritz Feld , Stepin Fetchit , Rhonda Fleming , Eddie Jr. Foy , Shecky Greene , Huntz Hall , Dick Haymes , Sterling Holloway , Dorothy Lamour , Peter Lawford , Keye Luke , Guy Madison , Victor Mature , Virginia Mayo , Mike Mazurki , Ethel Merman , Ann Miller , Ricardo Montalban , Dennis Morgan , Patricia Morison , Louis Nye , Walter Pidgeon , Aldo Ray , Ann Rutherford , Dean Stockwell , Regis Toomey , Rudy Vallee , Doodles Weaver , Jesse White , Henny Youngman , Milton Berle , Tab Hunter , George Jessel , Fernando Lamas , Ken Murray , Henry Wilcoxon
Rory Calhoun Trivia
