Who has played in most westerns?
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lowenand — 9 years ago(November 10, 2016 10:19 AM)
I've tried to check IMDB, sort by genre, and only counted named roles, not extra parts.
John Wayne 87 (although he did have three other western credits, making it a round 90)
Randolph Scott about 60
Lee Van Cleef about 50
Audie Murphy 33
Joel McCrea 33
Gary Cooper about 30
Robert Mitcum about 30 (some in minor parts)
Glenn Ford about 25
James Stewart about 20
Charles Bronson about 20
Terence Hill about 20
Henry Fonda about 20 (+ the series The Deputy)
Lee Marvin 20
Kirk Douglas 18
Robert Ryan 18
Clint Eastwood about 15 (+ the series Rawhide)
Burt Lancaster 15
Robert Taylor 14
Sam Elliott 12 (mostly tv movies and a few classics)
Alan Ladd 12
Gregory Peck 11
William Holden 11
Kurt Russell 10 (+ a lot of tv work)
Paul Newman 7
Jeff Bridges 7
Kevin Costner 4 -
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lowenand — 9 years ago(November 10, 2016 01:22 PM)
I made this list:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls063446900/
I would recommend the first thirty. After that it's not up to the same standard, although there might be a few where our opinion just differ. -
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