Who has played in most westerns?
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Reminisce_PartOne — 9 years ago(January 03, 2017 06:42 AM)
It's amazing that Clint Eastwood is one two people who have basically become the most universally famous faces of the genre, the other being John Wayne, when John Wayne starred in almost 100 and Clint less than 20. He's that hugely associated with westerns but he was not actually in that many.. however the Clint westerns are generally amongst my very favourite.
I'd expect Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, Harry Carey Jr to have starred in a fairly decent amount too. -
drunkbear — 9 years ago(November 11, 2016 09:03 AM)
It's gotta be some old character actor that you're so used to seeing that you don't even NOTICE him. Gabby Hayes is a good guess, so are James Best, Denver Pyle, and Harry Morgan.
- Oh, SOMEbody asides me is gonna RUE this here particular day
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PygmyLion — 4 months ago(November 08, 2025 04:54 PM)
Errol Flynn looks like he has 8 westerns according to IMDB.
There was this period around 1940, where Westerns really stepped up to being 'A' movies and Flynn really contributed to that with:
Dodge City (1939)
Virginia City (1940)
Santa Fe Trail (1940)
They Died with Their Boots On (1941) -
MikeF-6 — 9 years ago(December 29, 2016 01:49 PM)
What was said about supporting players is the truth. George "Gabby" Hayes has 190 movie credits and if there are more than a dozen of his earliest uncredited roles that are not westerns, I would be very surprised.
mf
Trust me. Im The Doctor. -
phantomparticle — 3 years ago(September 29, 2022 11:56 AM)
Did some checking on William S. Hart and Tom Mix of the silent era.
Hart is credited with 75 films on IMDb between 1907 and 1928. Although it is hard to determine how many are westerns by the title alone, it can be safe to assume the bulk were in that genre.
Mix has 283 credits on the IMDB, but other sources say as many as 336 between 1909 and 1940. It appears that he worked almost exclusively in the western genre, and it is probable that his output was over 200.
Hart and Mix were gigantic western stars in the silent and early sound movies, their popularity may have surpassed Wayne, Cooper and Eastwood combined.
And This, Too, Shall Pass Away -
Paul P. Powell — 4 months ago(November 08, 2025 03:28 AM)
None of the A listers would win any blue ribbon for this question.
The actors who appeared in the most westerns were always the supporting stars, the bit players, the 'walk-on' parts.
These (mostly) unknown faces were the real workhorses of the industry.
I know some of them that have at least 400 film credits to their name. In any given year they might be seen in 8-12 different movies.
They were always just members of the outlaw gang, or maybe the town blacksmith, or the town drunk, one of the deputies in the posse, or even just one of the boys holding the horses while the bank was being robbed.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
Paul P. Powell — 4 months ago(November 14, 2025 03:57 AM)
Western actor Hank Bell is one I was thinking of.
Take a look at his filmography. And take a look at that moustache.
Heinie Conklin is another typical bit player of the same era, with a similar list of credits over 400 titles long.
But he didn't specialize in westerns, I'm just mentioning him to illustrate what I mean about these minor co-stars. Hollywood couldn't have functioned without 'em.
Of A-list western stars, Tom Mix was tops for a long time, of course, –but few filmbuffs today remember who was the second-biggest box office draw: a cowpoke named
Hoot Gibson
Hoot boasted 224 westerns. That's probably more than everyone from more modern times, combined.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
jarrodmcdonald-1 — 4 months ago(November 17, 2025 08:03 PM)
Dub Taylor began appearing in western films in 1939. Between 1939 and 1949, he was in 54 western flicks.
He was in another 28 western films between 1950 and 1994.
So that's 82 total.
And I am not even counting all the western TV movies he did over the years. Or the western TV shows…some of those shows he was invited back many times to play additional roles. For example, he's in six different episodes of Bonanza and in seven different episodes of Gunsmoke. Also nine episodes of Death Valley Days, three episodes of Lawman and 2 episodes of The Virginian. -
Paul P. Powell — 3 months ago(December 09, 2025 12:57 PM)
I just read somewhere that either William Ince or Fred Balshofer directed over 800 westerns.
These were two pioneers from the early studios which produced nickelodon featurettes and one-reelers.
"One reel a week!"
was the famous tag line to their Bison Studios, if memory serves
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player -
kevinnnx93 — 3 months ago(December 15, 2025 07:20 PM)
Marilyn?
once
https://kevinprudente.forumotion.com/