Russell Simpson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Russell McCaskill Simpson (June 17, 1880, Danville, California – December 12, 1959, Woodland Hills, California) was an American character actor who appeared in over 500 movies. He is best known for his "grizzled old man" appearances. Gaunt, lanky, and rustic-sounding, Simpson was a familiar character actor for almost forty-five years, particularly as a member of the John Ford Stock Company. At age 18 Simpson prospected for gold in Alaska. He began taking acting classes in Seattle, Washington. In 1910 he married Gertrude Alter from New York City. By 1909, he had gone into the theatre. He appeared in at least two plays on Broadway between 1909 and 1912, and made his motion picture debut in Cecil B. DeMille's 1914 original film version of The Virginian in a bit part. By 1923, when the film was remade, Simpson had progressed to playing the lead villain. Throughout his career, Simpson worked for 12 years in road shows, stock companies, and on Broadway. He didn't usually perform lead roles, but he did star in many movies throughout the silent movie era. He performed a lead role as the grandfather in Out of the Dust (1920). Simpson is best known for his work in the films of John Ford and, in particular, for his portrayal of Pa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). His final film was The Horse Soldiers, his tenth film for Ford. Simpson worked up to 1959, the year of his death. He was the president of the Overseas Phonograph Accessories Corporation.
Joan of Arc
as Old Man with Pipe (uncredited)In the 15th Century, France is a defeated and ruined nation after the One Hundred Years War...
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Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
as Fred BixbyIn 1850 Oregon, when a backwoodsman brings a wife home to his farm, his six brothers decide that...
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
as Kenneth Allen (uncredited)Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United...
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The Horse Soldiers
as Henry GoodbodyA Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply...
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My Darling Clementine
as John SimpsonWyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil ride into Tombstone and leave brother James in...
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The Grapes of Wrath
as Pa JoadTom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm...
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Friendly Persuasion
as Brother Griffith - Elder (uncredited)The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly opposed to...
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The Tin Star
as Clem HallAn experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge.
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Lone Star
as Maynard ColeRip-roaring big star, big budget semi-historical story about cattle baron Devereaux Burke, who...
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San Francisco
as 'Red' KellyA beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days...
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Dodge City
as OrthIn this epic Western, Wade Hatton, a wagon master turned sheriff, tames a cow town at the end of...
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Virginia City
as GaylordUnion officer Kerry Bradford escapes from a Confederate prison and races to intercept $5 million...
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Tobacco Road
as Chief of PoliceShiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of sharecroppers live in rural Georgia where their...
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Drums Along the Mohawk
as Dr. PetryAlbany, New York, 1776. After marrying, Gil and Lana travel north to settle on a small farm in...
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Young Mr. Lincoln
as Woolridge (uncredited)In this dramatized account of his early law career in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln is born into a...
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They Were Expendable
as 'Dad' KnowlandShortly after Pearl Harbor, a squadron of PT-boat crews in the Philippines must battle the Navy...
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Santa Fe Trail
as Shubel MorganAs a penalty for fighting fellow classmates days before graduating from West Point, J.E.B....
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The Tall Men
as Emigrant (uncredited)Two brothers discharged from the Confederate Army join a businessman for a cattle drive from...
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Wagon Master
as Adam PerkinsTwo young drifters guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter cutthroats,...
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Broken Lance
as Judge (uncredited)Cattle baron Matt Devereaux raids a copper smelter that is polluting his water, then divides his...
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The Sun Shines Bright
as Lewt LakeWith the election approaching, a judge in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century is...
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Nazi Agent
as 2nd Captain (uncredited)Humble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he...
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Abraham Lincoln
as Lincoln's EmployerA biopic dramatizing Abraham Lincoln's life through a series of vignettes depicting its defining...
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The Spoilers
as FlapjackWhen honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon...
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Gold Is Where You Find It
as MacKenzieColonel Ferris, a wealthy farmer in northern California, is strongly opposed to hydraulic...
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The Eagle
as The Eagle's Lieutenant / Coach Driver (uncredited)Vladimir Dubrouvsky, a lieutenant in the Russian army, catches the eye of Czarina Catherine II....
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Mountain Justice
as Matthew TurnbullStalwart Appalachian woman finds romance as she struggles to better herself and her people amid...
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The Outriders
as Farmer (uncredited)Late in the Civil War, three Confederate soldiers escape from a Union prison camp in Missouri....
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Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)
as DoctorA young woman runs away from an abusive home and pre-arranged marriage only to be frustrated in...
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Comin' Round the Mountain
as JudgeAl Stewart and Wilbert are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert's cousin,...
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Maid of Salem
as Village Marshal (Uncredited)When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes...
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The Last Command
as The ParsonDuring the Texas War of Independence of 1836 American frontiersman and pioneer Jim Bowie pleads...
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Along Came Jones
as Pop de LongpreAn easy-going cowboy is mistaken by the townsfolk for a notorious gunman. The cowboy decides it...
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Ramona
as ScroggsHalf-Indian girl brought up in a wealthy household is loved by the son of the house against his...
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Three Faces West
as MinisterViennese surgeon Dr. Braun and his daughter Leni come to a small town in North Dakota as...
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Valley of the Giants
as McKenzieA lumberman takes on a sleezy corporate giant wanting to move in and do whatever it takes to...
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Green Light
as Sheep ManA brilliant young surgeon takes the blame for a colleague when a botched surgery causes a...
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Way Down East
as Squire Amasa BartlettA family living on a farm in Maine takes in a young woman to stay with them, not knowing that...
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Billy the Kid
as Angus McSweenBilly, after shooting down land baron William Donovan's henchmen for killing Billy's boss, is...
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Tap Roots
as Big Sam DabneySet at the beginning of the Civil War, Tap Roots is all about a county in Mississippi which...
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The Woman of the Town
as SimeBat Masterson, who after failing to secure a job as a newspaper reporter becomes marshal of...
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The Famous Ferguson Case
as Banker CraigA foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by...
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Heart of the North
as Dave MacMillanA two-fisted Canadian Mountie leads lawmen in pursuit of the thieves who stole an Edmonton-bound...
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Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
as Clem JohnsonMa and Pa are trying to raise enough money at the county fair to send their daughter Rosie to...
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The Lonely Man
as uncreditedAging gunslinger Jacob Wade hopes to settle down with his estranged son, but his old enemies...
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Coroner Creek
as Walt HardisonA man is bent on taking revenge on those responsible for his fiancée's death.
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Silver Dollar
as HamlinA farmer strikes it rich out West, then leaves his wife for a young beauty.
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Feudin' Fools
as Grandpa SmithSach learns that he has inherited a farm in rural hillbilly country, and when he and the Boys...
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Geronimo
as ScoutThe army's effort to capture Apache chief Geronimo, who is leading a band of warriors on a...
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Call Her Savage
as Old Man in Wagon TrainA high-spirited, short-tempered, young woman hates her father and loves to rebel against him....
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The Untamed Breed
as MinisterA cowboy sets out to capture an escaped Brahma bull that is terrorizing local ranchers. Based on...
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Bad Men of Missouri
as Hank YoungerThe Younger brothers return to Missouri after the Civil War with intent to avenge the misdeeds...
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Shut My Big Mouth
as Mayor PotterA shy horticulturist becomes involved with a local criminal in the old west.
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Free For All
as FarmerThe discovery of a way of turning petrol into water makes a fortune and romance for the young...
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Roughly Speaking
as The Colonel - Drill Instructor (uncredited)In the 1920s, enterprising Louise Randall is determined to succeed in a man's world. Despite...
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Swamp Water
as Marty McCordA hunter happens upon a fugitive and his daughter living in a Georgia swamp. He falls in love...
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Alexander Hamilton
as Harvey Taylor - First Ex-SoldierThe founding father has an extramarital affair and meets with the likes of Thomas Jefferson.
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The Brass Legend
as Deputy 'Pop' JacksonDuring a ride with his new pony Sinoya, the young Clay Gibson by chance finds the secret housing...
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Thunder Mountain
as Si PaceSam Martin grows up in the Kentucky hills with a preacher as his closest friend and father...
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My Dog Shep
as Mathew HodgkinsAn orphan boy on his way to live with his uncle picks up a stray dog, and the two become fast...
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Bowery Buckaroos
as Luke BarlowThe Bowery Boys head west to clear Louie of an old murder charge that he had killed his...
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Brigham Young
as U.S. Army MajorBased on the story of the famous Mormon leader, it follows Brigham Young and his challenge to...
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Roaring Guns
as Farmer MacKenzieFarmers take up arms against miners whose high water pressure mining operations are destroying...
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The Fabulous Texan
as Wade ClaytonA couple of Confederate soldiers, returning home from the Civil War, find Texas transformed into...
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The Power and the Glory
as Professor (uncredited)A man's life is retold just after his funeral. Beginning as a track walker, Tom Garner rose...
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The Gal Who Took the West
as Bartender (as old Timer)In order to gain passage to the West, a woman poses as an opera singer, and causes a feud...
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Riding High
as Frenchy McGuireNo relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding...
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Man Hunt
as Jeff ParkingtonA bored small-town teacher gets mixed up with an escaped bank robber.
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Desert Gold
as LaddIn this adaptation of Zane Grey's novel, adventurer Dick Gale (E.K. Lincoln) is traveling...
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Albuquerque
as Abner HugginsCole Armin comes to Albuquerque to work for his uncle, John Armin, a despotic and hard-hearted...
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The Romance of Rosy Ridge
as Dan YearyA mysterious Civil War veteran courts a Missouri farmer's daughter amid postwar unrest.
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Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge
as Bayliss BaynumThe old west range war story transported to Georgia, with Autry as the hero.
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Border Patrol
as Orestes KrebsWhen three Texas Rangers try to investigate kidnapped Mexicans being used as forced labor in the...
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Saddle Tramp
as PopCarefree Chuck Connor is on his way west and stops off to see an old friend and his four lads....
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That I May Live
as Bish PlivensCrooks use a man's safe-cracking skills then involve him in more crime after he spends three...
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Tennessee Johnson
as KirbyThe tumultuous presidency of 19th-president Andrew Johnson is chronicled in this biopic. The...
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The World Moves On
as Notary (1825)Two families, cotton merchants in England and America, with branches in France and Prussia swear...
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Lena Rivers
as Grandfather NicholsYoung Lena Rivers, who was born out of wedlock, goes to live with a rich uncle. Unfortunately,...
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The Cabin in the Cotton
as Uncle JoeSharecropper's son Marvin tries to help his community overcome poverty and ignorance.
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The Sap
as The BankerA small town dimwit takes the blame for his brother-in-law's crime.
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Wild Geese
as Caleb GareSilent romantic melodrama about a wife and mother who is desperate to keep a secret from the...
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The Big Bonanza
as Adam ParkerHaving been falsely court marshaled for cowardice and sentenced to prison by the Army, Jed...
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Bad Bascomb
as Elijah WalkerA western bandit is reformed by his love for a little girl.
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Call of the Klondike
as Andy McKayA brother and sister are running a phony gold mine scam in the Klondike, which leads to murder....
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The Girl of the Golden West
as Fred - Outrider in PrologueMary Robbins is a moderately educated, beautiful, young woman who owns the saloon called "The...
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Paddy O'Day
as BentonA wealthy, eccentric collector of stuffed birds and a beautiful Russian singer provide refuge to...
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The Great Meadow
as Thomas HallPioneers and a family man leave Virginia for Kentucky during the Revolutionary War.
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The Virginian
as TrampasMolly Wood arrives in a small western town to be the new schoolmarm. The Virginian, foreman on a...
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Back to Nature
as SheriffThe Jones family goes to a convention traveling in a trailer. The oldest daughter gets involved...
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Wild Bill Hickok Rides
as Ned NolanThe Western hero takes on a ruthless land baron whose henchmen killed his best friend.
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Last of the Duanes
as Tom DuaneBased on Zane Grey's tale of a man who gains an unfair reputation as a gunfighter while out to...
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Meet Me at the Fair
as Sheriff EvansIn 1904, Doc Tilbee, medicine show huckster and champion tall-tale teller, gives a ride to a...
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Wild Geese Calling
as Marshal Len BakerIn the 1890s lumberjack John leaves Seattle for Alaska to look for gold. After he marries...
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The Honor of the Press
as Dan PerkinsCub reporter Daniel Greely gets a job on a big city newspaper. A string of robberies occur and...
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Carolina
as RichardsDuring Civil War Reconstruction, the Connelly family is romantically restored to their former...
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Sixteen Fathoms Deep
as A.B. CrockettA sponge diver hopes to make enough money to buy his own boat and marry his girlfriend. A rival...
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After the Fog
as Joshua BarkerMillionaire Joshua Barker insists that his daughter, Faith, must marry Phil Langhorne, a man...
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Texas Masquerade
as J.K. TrimbleA young Eastern lawyer, seriously injured in a stage holdup, secures the help of Hoppy,...
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Stolen by Gypsies or Beer and Bicycles
as SpeakerWhen the fiendish Sinclair Sable arranges the kidnapping of the beautiful Benecia Beamish, only...
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Godless Men
as 'Black' PawlOn board his trading schooner in the South Pacific, tough sea captain Black Pawl confronts his...
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Death Valley
as Old Silas BagleyA dance hall girl is murdered and her body robbed of a quantity of gold obtained illegally. The...
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Law and Order
as Judge R.W. WilliamsA legendary lawman and his cohorts set out to restore order to the dangerous streets of...
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Face in the Sky
as Pa Nathan BrownJoe and Lucky travel around New England painting barns in exchange for an advertisement on one...
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Across the Dead-Line
as Enoch KidderGilead is a lumber town that is dominated by two branches of the Kidder family: the puritanical,...
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The Brand
as Dan McGillA dancehall girl struggles to make a life for herself in the mining camps of Alaska, despite the...
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Tropical Nights
as Singapore JoePatsy Ruth Miller stars as the romantic bone of contention between pearl divers Malcolm McGregor...
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Peg o' My Heart
as Jim O'ConnellPEG O MY HEART (Metro Studios, 1922), directed by King Vidor, under the supervision of J....
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The Splendid Road
as Capt. LightfootYoung Sandra De Hault arrives by ship in Sacramento, California, during the 1849 Gold Rush....
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The Lone Star Ranger
as Colonel John AldridgeAfter shooting a man in self-defense, Buck Duane finds himself accused of many crimes, none of...
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Paradise Isle
as BaxterStranded on an island, a blind artist (Warren Hull) falls in love with a native (Movita).
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Annie Laurie
as SandyThe story of the famous battle between the Scots clans of Macdonald and Campbell, and the young...
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The Virginian
as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)A good-natured but chivalrous cowboy romances the local schoolmarm and leads the posse that...
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Wyoming
as Mr. BronsonWith the army after him and his partner deserting, Reb decides that a change of scenery would be...
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Lone Star Ranger
as Tom DuaneTexas Ranger Buck Dunne is assigned to round up a gang of bank robbers. The leader of the gang...
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Moonlight in Vermont
as Uncle RufusA poor country girl from Vermont travels to New York City to attend a theatrical school.
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Sundown in Santa Fe
as Sheriff Jim WyattSundown in Santa Fe is an adventure film directed by R.G. Springsteen in 60. A dagger has been...
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The Hoosier Schoolmaster
as Doc SmallRight after the Civil War, an ex-Union soldier sets out to become a schoolmaster in his small...
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Girl of the Ozarks
as uncreditedA sweet little country girl has issues with school. Her mother is ill. The school threatens to...
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All Faces West
as Gunner BillOutlaw trio joins wagon train, planning to rob it.
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Ever Since Eve
as Jim WoodNeil Rogers, a young man who owns a substantial share of a Western gold mine, comes East and...
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Wild West Days
as Matt KeelerRetired lawman Kentucky Wade and his three buddies, Mike Morales, "Dude" Hanford and "Trigger"...
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The First Auto
as Hank ArmstrongThe transition from horses to automobiles at the turn of the century causes problems between a...
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Rags to Riches
as The SheriffA rich young boy has to prove his worth to the gang he has just joined by during all sorts of...
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Human Hearts
as Paul LoganInnocent country boy Tom Logan is taken in by the scheming Barbara Kay, a city woman who knows...
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Tuna Clipper
as Capt. Fergus MacLennanHoping to become a lawyer, Alec (Roddy McDowall) becomes a tuna fisherman in order to pay a...
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Colt Comrades
as SheriffHoppy, California and Johnny partner up with brother and sister ranch owners, two of several who...
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Circus Days
as Eben Holt10-year-old Toby runs away from his abusive uncle to join the Big Top.
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Motive for Revenge
as McAllisterBank teller Barry Webster is driven to stealing bank funds by his mother-in-law who continually...
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Ridin' for Justice
as Marshal Joseph SlydeMore a romantic melodrama than a true Western, this Buck Jones vehicle from Columbia starred...
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The Branding Iron
as John CarverPierre Landis is insanely jealous of his beautiful young wife Joan, and his jealousy makes him...
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Frontier Marshal
as Editor PickettEarp agrees to become marshal and establish order in Tombstone
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Blue Jeans
as Jacob TutwilerJune, a young orphan, is befriended by Perry Bascom when he shares his lunch with her on the...
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Hello Trouble
as Jonathan KenyonAfter killing a friend in a gunfight, Jeff Douglas quits the Texas Rangers. He arrives at the...
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Man to Man
as Uncle CalA young man attempts to overcome the memory of his father, who was sent to jail for committing a...
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Bunty Pulls the Strings
as Tammas BiggarA woman named Bunty Bigger struggles to keep her family in line in a small Scottish village. For...
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Western Caravans
as Winchester ThompsonA caravan of settlers is arriving and the ranchers intend to keep them out. It looks like a...
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The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon
as Sam StantonTwo episodes of the TV series "Wild Bill Hickok" edited together and released as a feature.
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The Deadlier Sex
as Jim WillisThe Deadlier Sex features Blanche Sweet playing the daughter of a railroad magnate (Winter Hall)...
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Three on a Honeymoon
as Ezra MacDuffThis romantic comedy takes place on an ocean liner. One of the few unattached passengers is...
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The Bill of Rights
as FrontiersmanThis short subject is a lavish costumed color production which dramatizes the birth of the...
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Breakers Ahead
as Captain ScudderAfter young Ruth Bowman's mother dies, the child is raised by Agatha Pixley, and in time, the...
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Innocents of Paris
as Emile LevalA Parisian junk dealer has to choose between love and fame after he rescues a boy.
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The Narrow Street
as GarveySimon Haldane works in the office of the Faulkner Iron Works, but he has been raised by his two...
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The Frontiersman
as Andrew JacksonJohn Dale and Abner Hawkins are members of Andrew Jackson's Tennessee Militia, assigned to make...
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The Earth Woman
as Ezra TildenThe story is set in the hills of Tennessee, where practically everybody gets smashed on rotgut...
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The Border Legion
as Overland BradleyCowhand Jim Cleve is wrongly accused of murder and rescued by Jack Kells, leader of a band of...
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West of the Pecos
as Roy NealRichard Dix stars as Pecos Smith, a strong, silent Westerner suspected of cattle rustling.
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California Gold Rush
as Colonel ParkerCalifornia Gold Rush is set in 1849. Ryder heads to Sutter's Mill, where he must contend with...
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Desperate Trails
as Sheriff Big Bill TannerA young man helps a marshal in his battle against outlaws.
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Flames
as JakeBrown is a confident young firefighter. He and his buddy become interested in two girls, after...
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Now We're in the Air
as Lord Abercrombie McTavishWally and Ray are cousins intent upon getting the fortune of their Scots grandad, an aviation...
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The Riding Tornado
as SheriffNewcomer Torrent wins $500 from Olcott and $500 and a wild horse, by riding the horse, from...
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A Weaver of Dreams
as Martin ChandlerA Weaver of Dreams is a lost silent film directed by Edison's John H. Collins
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Paint and Powder
as RileyElaine Hammerstein stars in this independently produced drama. She plays Mary Dolan, a dancer at...
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Bill Apperson's Boy
as Bill AppersonJack Pickford got his own production company when his sister Mary signed a huge contract with...
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Painted People
as Fred LaneA 1924 film directed by Clarence G. Badger.
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Riders of the Night
as Sally's GrandfatherAnother of a successful string of Metro features directed by the vastly underrated John H....
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The Huntress
as Big Jack SkinnerBela, reared by Indians, learns that she is a white orphan and runs away from the Indian village...
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Snowblind
as Hugh GarthHugh Garth hides from the law in the frozen Canadian northwest along with his young brother Pete...
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Under the Lash
as Simeon KrilletThe wife of a tyrannical Boer husband discovers what life could be like when a handsome...
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The 20th Century Fox Hour
as Old ManThe 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States...
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The Lone Ranger
as Jack BrewsterThe Lone Ranger is an American western television series that ran from 1949 to 1957, starring...
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The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
as SamThe Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is an American Western television series which ran for eight...
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Cavalcade of America
as QuatermasterCavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company,...
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Cavalcade of America
as uncreditedCavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company,...
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Cavalcade of America
as Judge GrantCavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company,...
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Wagon Train
as Mr. CarrThe series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later...
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Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
as uncreditedCanadian Mountie Sgt. Preston patrols the wilds of the Yukon with his horse Rex and his faithful...
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The Texan
as Zeb WatersThe Texan was a Western television series starring popular B movie actor Rory Calhoun, which...
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Public Defender
as LundquistThe Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as...
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