Clint Walker - # 183

Clint Walker, who starred as TV cowboy ‘Cheyenne,’ dead at 90

He was number 183 on the list.

Clint Walker -- best known for playing a TV cowboy on the hit western series "Cheyenne" -- has died ... TMZ has learned.
Clint died suddenly Monday in the company of his wife and daughter ... according to a source close to the family. It's still unclear what caused his death, but a family member says they believed it was a heart issue.

Walker broke into the Hollywood scene after landing a role in the classic film "The Ten Commandments." With his good looks and imposing physique -- Clint stood 6'6" -- he was cast as the roaming cowboy hero, Cheyenne Bodie, in 1955. The show aired for 7 seasons.

After "Cheyenne" ended, Clint starred in the only movie ever directed by Frank Sinatra, "None But the Brave," and "The Dirty Dozen." He also returned to the Western genre with films like "More Dead Than Alive" and "The Great Bank Robbery." Other films he had roles in include
Yellowstone Kelly, Gold of the Seven Saints, The Night of the Grizzly and The Ten Commandments.

Walker continued working in showbiz until the late '90s, when he voiced a character in "Small Soldiers."

He was 90.

Clint Walker was born Norman Eugene Walker in Hartford, Illinois, on May 30, 1927; the son of Gladys Huldah (née Schwanda) and Paul Arnold Walker. His mother was Czech. He had a twin sister named Lucy (1927–2000).

Walker left school to work at a factory and on a riverboat, then joined the United States Merchant Marine at the age of 17 in the last months of World War II.

After leaving the Merchant Marines, he worked doing odd jobs in Brownwood, Texas, Long Beach, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked as a doorman at the Sands Hotel.[1] Walker was also employed as a sheet metal worker and a nightclub bouncer.

Walker became a client of Henry Willson, who renamed him "Jett Norman" and cast him to appear in a Bowery Boys film (Jungle Gents) as a Tarzan-type character. In Los Angeles, he was hired by Cecil B. DeMille to appear in The Ten Commandments.

A friend in the film industry helped get him a few bit parts that brought him to the attention of Warner Bros., which was developing a western style television series.

Walker's good looks and imposing physique (he stood 6 feet, 6 inches tall with a 48-inch chest and a 32-inch waist) helped him land an audition where he won the lead role in the TV series Cheyenne.

Billed as "Clint Walker", he was cast as Cheyenne Bodie, a roaming cowboy hero in the post-American Civil War era. His casting was announced in June 1955.

Cheyenne originally appeared as part of Warner Bros. Presents rotating with adaptations of Kings Row and Casablanca. Cheyenne turned out to be the breakout hit.

While the series regularly capitalized on Walker's rugged frame with frequent bare-chested scenes, it was also well written and acted. It proved hugely popular for eight seasons. Walker's pleasant baritone singing voice was also occasionally utilized on the series and led Warner Brothers to produce an album of Walker doing traditional songs and ballads.

Early in the series run, Warners announced they would star Walker in a feature, The Story of Sam Houston. It was not made.

In April 1956 Walker said "I don't think I'd want any other roles ... Westerns keep me outdoors and active."

Warners cast Walker in the lead of a Western feature film, Fort Dobbs (1958), directed by Gordon Douglas. Howard Thompson described the actor as "the biggest, finest-looking Western hero ever to sag a horse, with a pair of shoulders rivaling King Kong's".

Box office returns were modest. Warners tried him in another Douglas-directed Western, Yellowstone Kelly (1959), co-starring Edd Byrnes from another Warners TV show, 77 Sunset Strip. It was a minor success.

A number of Cheyenne episodes were cut into feature films and released theatrically in some markets and Walker guest starred as Bodie in an episode of Maverick. (He also guest starred on an episode of 77 Sunset Strip.) Warners tried Walker in a third Western feature directed by Douglas, Gold of the Seven Saints (1961), this time co-starring Roger Moore, who was also under contract to Warners.

Walker had a role in Kraft Suspense Theatre (episode "Portrait of an Unknown Man", alongside Robert Duvall). He had a supporting role in the Rock Hudson-Doris Day comedy, Send Me No Flowers (1964).

Frank Sinatra cast him in the leading role in the war drama None but the Brave (1965), the only film Sinatra directed. After doing some guest appearances in The Lucy Show he fought a grizzly bear in Paramount's Western, The Night of the Grizzly (1966). He starred in a family adventure movie shot in India, Maya (1966).

Walker had his biggest hit to date when he played the meek convict Samson Posey in the war drama The Dirty Dozen (1967).

Walker returned to Westerns with More Dead Than Alive (1969). The New York Times described the actor as "a big, fine-looking chap and about as live-looking as any man could be. And there is something winning about his taciturn earnestness as an actor, although real emotion seldom breaks through".

Walker had support roles in two comic Westerns, Sam Whiskey (1969) and The Great Bank Robbery (1969).

Walker was one of many names in The Phynx (1970) and returned to TV with the leads in some TV movies, Yuma (1971), Hardcase (1972), and The Bounty Man (1972).

In May 1971 he was seriously injured in a skiing accident on Mammoth Mountain but he recovered.

Walker supported Telly Savalas in the biopic Pancho Villa (1972) and starred a short-lived series in 1974 called Kodiak, playing an Alaskan patrolman. He starred in the made-for-television cult film Killdozer! the same year as well as Scream of the Wolf (1974).


Walker starred in Baker's Hawk (1976) and had support parts in Snowbeast (1977), and The White Buffalo (1977). He starred in the Canadian Deadly Harvest (1977) and had a small role in Centennial and Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women (1979).

Walker met western author Kirby Jonas through James Drury, a mutual friend. Jonas and Walker subsequently spent two years collaborating on a storyline by Walker involving gold and the Yaqui. The partnership led to the publication of the 2003 Western novel Yaqui Gold.

In 2004, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Filmography

1954: Jungle Gents as Tarzan Type (uncredited)

1955–1963: Cheyenne (TV Series) as Cheyenne Bodie / Ace Black / Jim Thornton Merritt

1956: The Ten Commandments as Sardinian Captain

1957: The Travellers as Cheyenne Bodie

1958: Fort Dobbs as Gar Davis

1959: Yellowstone Kelly as Luther 'Yellowstone' Kelly

1960: Requiem to Massacre as Cheyenne Bodie

1961: Gold of the Seven Saints as Jim Rainbolt

1963: The Jack Benny Program

1964: Send Me No Flowers as Bert Power

1965: None but the Brave as Capt. Dennis Bourke

1965–1966: The Lucy Show (TV Series, 2 episodes) as Frank / Frank Wilson

1966: The Night of the Grizzly as Jim Cole

1966: Maya as Hugh Bowen

1967: The Dirty Dozen as Samson Posey

1969: More Dead Than Alive as Cain

1969: Sam Whiskey as O. W. Bandy

1969: The Great Bank Robbery as Ranger Ben Quick

1970: The Phynx as Cheyenne

1971: Yuma (TV) as Marshal Dave Harmon

1972: Hardcase (TV) as Jack Rutherford

1972: The Bounty Man (TV) as Kinkaid

1972: Pancho Villa as Scotty

1974: Kodiak (13 episodes) as Cal "Kodiak" McKay

1974: Scream of the Wolf (TV) as Byron Douglas

1974: Killdozer! (TV Movie) as Lloyd Kelly

1976: Baker's Hawk as Dan Baker

1977: The White Buffalo as Whistling Jack Kileen

1977: Snowbeast (TV) as Sheriff Paraday

1977: Deadly Harvest as Grant Franklin

1978: Centennial (TV mini-series) as Joe Bean

1979: Mysterious Island of Beautiful Women (TV) as Wendell

1983: Hysterical as Sheriff

1983: The Love Boat — episode, "Friend of the Family/Affair on Demand/Just Another Pretty Face" as Bill

1985: The Serpent Warriors as Morgan Bates

1985: All American Cowboy (TV)

1991: The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (TV movie) as Cheyenne Bodie

1993: Tropical Heat (TV) — episode "The Last of the Magnificent"

1994: Maverick (cameo appearance)

1995: Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (TV) as Cheyenne Bodie, episode "Gunfighters"

1998: Small Soldiers as Nick Nitro (Voice)