March 22 Birthday Wishes

Herbert Rudley [1910 - 2006]

James Brown [1920 - 1992]

William Shatner [1931 - ]

Scott Wilson [1942 - ]

Had the pleasure to know three of these folks having their birthday today....Herbert Rudley, James Brown & Scott Wilson. All really great people. Scott is still working, the other two have both passed on. Scott's year is the same as mine, he just beat me to #70 by nine months. If you want to see him in a really good part in a good western, I recommend "The Tracker" with Kris Kristofferson. Think maybe later this eve I just might watch "The Fabulous Texan" in which James Brown has a part. He told us of an event with horses in the making of this film. Herbert Rudley played a character who thought he could do a better job than Matt Dillon as sheriff of Dodge, and when Matt gives him a chance he learns he isn't up to the task. Although William Shatner will probably always be remembered as Captain Kirk on Star Trek, he did a really good job in The Andersonville Trial, directed by George C. Scott; also a couple of Twilight Zones.

Howdy Pards!!

Herbert Rudley is another of those wonderful supporting actors, whose face you immediately recognize, but can never remember the name. He appeared as a regular on 2 tv. series, The 50's, The Californians and Border Patrol. He showed up on just about every western t.v. series, including Boots And Saddles and Laramie. He was always the good towns person, who stirred up the townsfolk to lynch somebody and the star of the show had to save the victim.


James Brown was a supporting actor in the 40's and 50's with films like Wake Island and Sands Of Iwo Jima to his credit. He actually starred in a couple of westerns like Five Guns To Tombstone and Gunfight (I think) before taking on the role he would be best remembered for, that of .Lt Rip Masters In the t.v. series Rin Tin Tin.

Who doesn't know who William Shatner is????? I think I first saw him in a Twilight Zone episode, where he saw some creature on the wing of an aircraft, he was a passenger on and everybody thought he was paranoid. This role led to his being cast as Capt. James.T.Kirk on the original t.v. series Star Trek, which has become a cult classic and spun off innumerable Star Trek series like The Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise etc. He has had several other t.v. series like T.J.Hooker, Boston Legal. He also co-starred on the western series Barbary Coast. He started doing commercials for Priceline.com for shares of their stock. Although I'm sure he was already wealthy, it is said that when the stock reached it's peak, he sold it and became fabulously rich.

Like Tom, I also remember Scott Wilson as the sneaky villain with the derringer in his boot, who killed Kris Kristofferson in The Tracker. I've seen him in supporting roles in westerns since and he is an excellent actor.

Ed

As always, I've probably seen Rudley, Brown, and Wilson in a number of things without knowing who they are (that's the educational benefit of logging on to this forum).

As for William Shatner, one thing I saw him in that really liked was an episode of How the West Was Won, in which he played a former Army officer who was married to an old flame of Zeb Macahan's...who happened to be blind.

BTW, it's hard to believe Shatner is 81 years old! sure, he's put on some weight over the last few years, but he doesn't look that old.

Also born on March 22: Karl Malden, who appeared in several Westerns. I've always found his screaming fit at the end of Nevada Smith especially unforgettable.