Bill Elliott
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1904-10-16
Day of Death
1965-11-26 (61 years old)
Place of Birth
Pattonsburg, Missouri, USA
Bill Elliott
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wild Bill Elliott (October 16, 1904 – November 26, 1965) was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B Westerns, particularly the Red Ryder series of films. By 1925, he was getting occasional extra work in films. He took classes at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in a few stage roles there. By 1927, he had made his first Western, The Arizona Wildcat, playing his first featured role. Several co-starring roles followed, and he renamed himself Gordon Elliott. But as the studios made the transition to sound films, he slipped back into roles as an extra and bit parts, as in Broadway Scandals, in 1929. For the next eight years, he appeared in over a hundred films for various studios, but almost always in unbilled parts as an extra.
Elliott began to be noticed in some minor B Westerns, enough so that Columbia Pictures offered him the title role in a serial, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938). The serial was so successful, and Elliott so personable, that Columbia promoted him to starring in his own series of Western features, replacing Columbia's number-two cowboy star Robert "Tex" Allen. Henceforth Gordon Elliott would be known as Bill Elliott. Within two years, he was among the Motion Picture Herald's Top Ten Western Stars, where he would remain for the next 15 years.
In 1943, Elliott signed with Republic Pictures, which cast him in a series of Westerns alongside George "Gabby" Hayes. The first of these, Calling Wild Bill Elliott, gave Elliott the name by which he would be best known and by which he would be billed almost exclusively for the rest of his career.
Following several films in which both actor and character shared the name Wild Bill Elliott, he took the role for which he would be best remembered, that of Red Ryder in a series of sixteen movies about the famous comic strip cowboy and his young Indian companion, Little Beaver (played in Elliott's films by Bobby Blake). Elliott played the role for only two years but would forever be associated with it. Elliott's trademark was a pair of six guns worn butt-forward in their holsters.
Elliott's career thrived during and after the Red Ryder films, and he continued making B Westerns into the early 1950s. He also had his own radio show during the late 1940s. His final contract as a Western star was with Monogram Pictures, where budgets declined as the B Western lost its audience to television. When Monogram became Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1953, it phased out its Western productions, and Elliott finished out his contract playing a homicide detective in a series of five modern police dramas, his first non-Westerns since 1938.
Elliott retired from films (except for a couple of TV Western pilots which were not picked up). He worked for a time as a spokesman for Viceroy cigarettes and hosted a local TV program in Las Vegas, Nevada, which featured many of his Western films.
Known For
Acting
(1976)
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
as (archive footage)
(1976)
It's Showtime
as Self (archive footage)
(1975)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
(1957)
Chain of Evidence
as Andy Doyle
(1957)
Footsteps in the Night
as Andy Doyle
(1956)
Calling Homicide
as Andy Doyle
(1955)
Dial Red O
as Andy Flynn / Andy Doyle
(1955)
Sudden Danger
as Andy Doyle
(1954)
The Forty-Niners
as Sam Nelson
(1954)
Bitter Creek
as Clay Tyndall (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1953)
Topeka
as Jim Levering
(1953)
The Homesteaders
as Mace Corbin
(1953)
Rebel City
as Frank Graham
(1953)
Vigilante Terror
as Tack Hamlin
(1952)
The Maverick
as Pete Devlin
(1952)
Waco
as Matt Boone (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1952)
Fargo
as Bill Martin
(1952)
Kansas Territory
as Joe Daniels (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1951)
The Longhorn
as Jim Kirk
(1950)
The Showdown
as Shadrach Jones
(1950)
The Savage Horde
as Ringo
(1950)
The Marshall of Trail City
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1949)
Hellfire
as Zeb Smith
(1949)
The Last Bandit
as Frank Norris / Frank Plummer (as William Elliott)
(1948)
Old Los Angeles
as Bill Stockton (as William Elliott)
(1948)
The Gallant Legion
as Gary Conway
(1947)
Wyoming
as Charles Alderson
(1947)
The Fabulous Texan
as Josie Allen
(1946)
Conquest of Cheyenne
as Red Ryder
(1946)
In Old Sacramento
as Johnny Barrett / Spanish Jack
(1946)
Sun Valley Cyclone
as Red Ryder
(1946)
Sheriff of Redwood Valley
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1946)
California Gold Rush
as Red Ryder
(1946)
The Plainsman and the Lady
as Sam Colton
(1945)
Bells of Rosarita
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1945)
Colorado Pioneers
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1945)
Great Stagecoach Robbery
as Red Ryder
(1945)
Wagon Wheels Westward
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1945)
Marshal of Laredo
as Red Ryder
(1945)
Lone Texas Ranger
as Red Ryder
(1945)
Phantom of the Plains
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1944)
Vigilantes of Dodge City
as Red Ryder
(1944)
Marshal of Reno
as Red Ryder
(1944)
Sheriff of Las Vegas
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1944)
Cheyenne Wildcat
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1944)
Mojave Firebrand
as Wild Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1944)
Hidden Valley Outlaws
as Bill Elliott
(1944)
Tucson Raiders
as Red Ryder
(1944)
San Antonio Kid
as Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1943)
Wagon Tracks West
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1943)
Overland Mail Robbery
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1943)
Calling Wild Bill Elliott
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1943)
Bordertown Gun Fighters
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1943)
The Man from Thunder River
as Wild Bill Elliott
(1943)
Death Valley Manhunt
as Marshal Wild Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Elliott)
(1942)
North of the Rockies
as Sergeant Bill Cameron
(1942)
Bullets for Bandits
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok / Prince Katey
(1942)
The Devil's Trail
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1942)
Vengeance of the West
as Joaquin Murietta aka The Black Shadow
(1942)
The Lone Star Vigilantes
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1942)
The Valley of Vanishing Men
as Wild Bill Tolliver
(1942)
Prairie Gunsmoke
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1941)
King of Dodge City
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1941)
Across the Sierras
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1941)
Tank Patrol
as Bluey
(1941)
North from the Lone Star
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1941)
Hands Across the Rockies
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1941)
The Return of Daniel Boone
as Wild Bill Boone
(1941)
Roaring Frontiers
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1941)
The Son of Davy Crockett
as Dave Crockett
(1940)
The Return of Wild Bill
as Wild Bill Saunders
(1940)
Pioneers of the Frontier
as Wild Bill Saunders
(1940)
Beyond the Sacramento
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1940)
The Man from Tumbleweeds
as Wild Bill Saunders
(1940)
Prairie Schooners
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1940)
The Wildcat of Tucson
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1939)
The Roaring Twenties
as Bootlegger (uncredited)
(1939)
Frontiers of '49
as John Freeman
(1939)
The Taming of the West
as Wild Bill Saunders
(1939)
The Law Comes to Texas
as John Haynes
(1939)
Overland with Kit Carson
as Kit Carson
(1938)
Letter of Introduction
as Backgammon Man (uncredited)
(1938)
In Early Arizona
as Whit Gordon
(1938)
The Lady in the Morgue
as Chauncey Courtland
(1938)
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
as 'Wild' Bill Hickok
(1938)
Boy of the Streets
as Dr. Allan
(1937)
Boots and Saddles
as Jim Neale
(1937)
Swing It Professor
as Randall
(1937)
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
as Bruce Thomas
(1937)
Midnight Court
as City Attorney Seabrook
(1937)
Love Takes Flight
as Bill Parker
(1937)
You Can't Have Everything
as Lulu's Bathing Companion (uncredited)
(1937)
Michael O'Halloran
as Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
(1937)
Roll Along, Cowboy
as Odie Fenton
(1937)
Melody for Two
as Walter Wilson
(1936)
Bullets or Ballots
as Hunter - Bank Worker (uncredited)
(1936)
The Big Noise
as Sharp, Board of Directors Member (uncredited)
(1936)
Two Against the World
as News Commentator (uncredited)
(1936)
Fugitive in the Sky
as Ramon Duval
(1936)
Guns of the Pecos
as Wellman, a Dude
(1936)
The Case of the Black Cat
as Sam Laxter
(1936)
Murder by an Aristocrat
as Dave Thatcher (as Gordon Elliott)
(1936)
The Case of the Velvet Claws
as Carl Griffin
(1936)
Trailin' West
as Jefferson Duane
(1936)
King of Hockey
as 2nd Radio Announcer
(1936)
China Clipper
as Pilot (uncredited)
(1936)
Polo Joe
as Don Trumbeau
(1936)
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
as Kenneth Martin
(1936)
Down the Stretch
as Robert Bates
(1936)
Romance in the Air
as Announcer
(1935)
'G' Men
as Bootlegger Who Gives Eddie the Bottle Outside the Club (uncredited)
(1935)
(1935)
While the Patient Slept
as Bank Teller (uncredited)
(1935)
Moonlight on the Prairie
as Jeff Holt
(1935)
Dr. Socrates
as Tom Collins - Greer's Associate
(1935)
The Goose and the Gander
as Teddy
(1935)
The Right to Live
as Wedding Guest
(1935)
Traveling Saleslady
as Freddie
(1935)
Broadway Hostess
as Playboy in 'Playboy of Paree' Number (uncredited)
(1935)
The Woman in Red
as Stuart Wyatt
(1935)
Broadway Gondolier
as Reporter
(1935)
The Girl from 10th Avenue
as James, Clerk at College Club
(1935)
Man of Iron
as Charlie Fagan
(1935)
Personal Maid's Secret
as Warren Sherrill
(1935)
A Night at the Ritz
as Vincent's Assistant (uncredited)
(1935)
Stars Over Broadway
as Minor Role
(1935)
Page Miss Glory
as Reporter (uncredited)
(1935)
Go Into Your Dance
as Jackson's Secretary / Dorothy's Dance Partner
(1935)
The Payoff
as Maxine's Casino Escort (uncredited)
(1935)
Bright Lights
as Backstage Actor
(1934)
The Secret Bride
as Governor's Secretary (uncredited)
(1934)
Smarty
as Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
(1934)
Wonder Bar
as Norman (uncredited)
(1934)
Murder in the Clouds
as Lt. Saunders
(1934)
The Case of the Howling Dog
as Reporter in Courtroom (uncredited)
(1934)
Desirable
as Party Guest
(1934)
The Merry Frinks
as Dancer (uncredited)
(1934)
Registered Nurse
as Male Nurse
(1934)
A Lost Lady
as Polo Match Spectator (uncredited)
(1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933
as Night Club Patron (uncredited)
(1933)
Only Yesterday
as New Year's Eve Reveler (Uncredited)
(1933)
Stage Mother
as Audience Member / Dexter's Party Guest (uncredited)
(1933)
Private Detective 62
as Man at Roulette Table (Uncredited)
(1933)
Made on Broadway
as Night Club Patron
(1933)
The Little Giant
as Guest at Polly's Party (uncredited)
(1933)
The Keyhole
as Partygoer (uncredited)
(1933)
Midnight Mary
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1933)
Cocktail Hour
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1933)
Handlebars
as Bicyclist (uncredited)
(1932)
Scarface
as Man Outside Theatre (uncredited)
(1932)
The Mummy
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1932)
Jewel Robbery
as Policeman Following Blonde (uncredited)
(1932)
Merrily We Go to Hell
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1932)
The Greeks Had a Word for Them
as Wedding Guest (uncredited)
(1932)
A Successful Calamity
as Polo Player (uncredited)
(1932)
One Hour with You
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1932)
The Rich Are Always with Us
as Gambler (uncredited)
(1932)
Lady with a Past
as Alex Brown (Uncredited)
(1932)
Vanity Fair
as Bit Role
(1932)
Night After Night
as Escort (uncredited)
(1932)
Bachelor's Affairs
as Ship's Passenger / Dance Extra (uncredited)
(1931)
Born to Love
as Hotel Dancer (uncredited)
(1931)
Blonde Crazy
as Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
(1931)
Broadminded
as Hotel Guest on Veranda
(1931)
The Road to Reno
as Party Boy
(1931)
Platinum Blonde
as Ann's Beau (uncredited)
(1931)
The Public Defender
as Country Club Guest
(1931)
Left Over Ladies
as Escort (uncredited)
(1931)
Let's Do Things
as Music Store Customer (uncredited)
(1931)
Traveling Husbands
as Hotel Dining Room Guest
(1931)
Party Husband
as Wedding Party Guest
(1931)
West of Broadway
as Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
(1931)
Sweepstakes
as Night Club Patron
(1931)
God's Gift to Women
as Minor Role (uncredited)
(1931)
Five and Ten
as Wedding Guest (uncredited)
(1931)
Working Girls
as Dance Extra / Lobby Extra (uncredited)
(1931)
Delicious
as Larry's Friend
(1930)
The Girl Said No
as Wedding Guest
(1930)
Born Reckless
as Customer at Beretti's
(1930)
Double Cross Roads
as Party Guest
(1930)
What Men Want
as Party Boy
(1930)
Lord Byron of Broadway
as Party-Goer
(1930)
Part Time Wife
as Golfer (uncredited)
(1930)
Going Wild
as Physical Exam Onlooker
(1930)
She Couldn't Say No
as Gangster
(1930)
Sunny
as One of Tom's War Buddies
(1930)
(1930)
The Truth About Youth
as Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
(1930)
She Who Gets Slapped
as Poker Player
(1929)
Broadway Scandals
as George Halloway
(1929)
The Great Divide
as Ruth's Friend (uncredited)
(1929)
Night Parade
as Party Guest
(1928)
Restless Youth
as George Baxter
(1928)
The Boy Friend
as Gordon Elliot
(1927)
The Private Life of Helen of Troy
as Telemachus
(1927)
Children of Divorce
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1927)
The Arizona Wildcat
as Roy Schyler (as Gordon Elliott)
(1927)
The Drop Kick
as Aggressive Student at Dance
(1926)
The Shamrock Handicap
as Well-Wishing Villager
(1926)
Napoleon, Jr.
as Flora's Father
(1925)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
as Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
(1925)
The Plastic Age
as Athlete (uncredited)