Bill Elliott
Acting
🎂 1904-10-16
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.
Cast credits(203)
Officer Grant
1968
Man Outside Theatre (uncredited)
1932
Gary Conway
1948
Kit Carson
1939
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Party Guest (uncredited)
1932
Bootlegger (uncredited)
1939
Customer at Beretti's
1930
Self (archive footage)
1975
Party Guest (uncredited)
1932
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Vincent's Assistant (uncredited)
1935
Ringo
1950
Tack Hamlin
1953
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Bluey
1941
Backgammon Man (uncredited)
1938
Andy Doyle
1955
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
1925
Wild Bill Elliott
1944
Hunter - Bank Worker (uncredited)
1936
Wild Bill Elliott
1945
Playboy in 'Playboy of Paree' Number (uncredited)
1935
Chauncey Courtland
1938
Party Guest (uncredited)
1927
Charles Alderson
1947
Andy Doyle
1957
Charlie Fagan
1935
Jim Levering
1953
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1938
Governor's Secretary (uncredited)
1934
Sharp, Board of Directors Member (uncredited)
1936
Night Club Patron
1931
Self (archive footage)
1976
Party Guest (uncredited)
1932
1930
Ship's Passenger / Dance Extra (uncredited)
1932
Aggressive Student at Dance
1927
Night Club Patron (uncredited)
1933
Bootlegger Who Gives Eddie the Bottle Outside the Club (uncredited)
1935
Frank Norris / Frank Plummer
1949
Red Ryder
1944
Jim Kirk
1951
Red Ryder
1946
Escort (uncredited)
1932
Stuart Wyatt
1935
Clay Tyndall
1954
Escort (uncredited)
1931
Bruce Thomas
1937
Josie Allen
1947
Joaquin Murietta aka The Black Shadow
1942
Polo Match Spectator (uncredited)
1934
Reporter in Courtroom (uncredited)
1934
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1931
Dave Crockett
1941
Jackson's Secretary / Dorothy's Dance Partner
1935
Reporter (uncredited)
1935
Physical Exam Onlooker
1930
Reporter
1935
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
2nd Radio Announcer
1936
Audience Member / Dexter's Party Guest (uncredited)
1933
Bank Teller (uncredited)
1935
Red Ryder
1945
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
1935
Ramon Duval
1936
Robert Bates
1936
Bill Elliott
1944
Dancer (uncredited)
1934
Man at Roulette Table (Uncredited)
1933
Pilot (uncredited)
1936
Bit Role
1932
New Year's Eve Reveler (Uncredited)
1933
Backstage Actor
1935
Andy Doyle
1956
Hotel Dining Room Guest
1931
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
1932
Country Club Guest
1931
Zeb Smith
1949
One of Tom's War Buddies
1930
Party-Goer
1930
Partygoer (uncredited)
1933
Gambler (uncredited)
1932
Warren Sherrill
1935
Bill Martin
1952
(archive footage)
1976
Bill Stockton
1948
Shadrach Jones
1950
Red Ryder
1946
Teddy
1935
Guest at Polly's Party (uncredited)
1933
Pete Devlin
1952
Don Trumbeau
1936
Johnny Barrett / Spanish Jack
1946
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Ruth's Friend (uncredited)
1929
'Wild' Bill Hickok / Prince Katey
1942
Hotel Dancer (uncredited)
1931
Party Guest
1930
Walter Wilson
1937
Minor Role
1935
Jeff Holt
1935
Dave Thatcher
1936
Lulu's Bathing Companion (uncredited)
1937
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1931
Wild Bill Saunders
1940
Wedding Guest
1930
Tom Collins - Greer's Associate
1935
Jefferson Duane
1936
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1934
Ann's Beau (uncredited)
1931
Andy Flynn / Andy Doyle
1955
Policeman Following Blonde (uncredited)
1932
Red Ryder
1946
Red Ryder
1946
Sam Colton
1946
Dance Extra / Lobby Extra (uncredited)
1931
Sam Laxter
1936
Party Boy
1931
City Attorney Seabrook
1937
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
John Haynes
1939
Party Guest
1929
James, Clerk at College Club
1935
Athlete (uncredited)
1925
Party Guest (uncredited)
1933
Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
1937
Party Boy
1930
Wellman, a Dude
1936
Red Ryder
1945
Party Guest (uncredited)
1933
Night Club Patron
1933
Carl Griffin
1936
Red Ryder
1944
Alex Brown (Uncredited)
1932
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1930
News Commentator (uncredited)
1936
Announcer
1936
Freddie
1935
Sergeant Bill Cameron
1942
Roy Schyler
1927
Bill Parker
1937
Wild Bill Saunders
1940
Maxine's Casino Escort (uncredited)
1935
Jim Neale
1937
Party Guest
1934
Wedding Party Guest
1931
Golfer (uncredited)
1930
Dr. Allan
1938
Mace Corbin
1953
Norman (uncredited)
1934
Wild Bill Saunders
1939
Frank Graham
1953
Red Ryder
1944
Wild Bill Boone
1941
Kenneth Martin
1936
Music Store Customer (uncredited)
1931
Minor Role (uncredited)
1931
John Freeman
1939
Hotel Guest on Veranda
1931
Andy Doyle
1957
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1942
Odie Fenton
1937
Larry's Friend
1931
Wild Bill Saunders
1940
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Wedding Guest
1935
Poker Player
1930
Polo Player (uncredited)
1932
Well-Wishing Villager
1926
Joe Daniels
1952
Telemachus
1927
Red Ryder
1944
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1940
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1940
Sam Nelson
1954
Red Ryder
1945
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1940
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Red Ryder
1945
George Baxter
1928
Lt. Saunders
1934
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
1931
Red Ryder
1944
Red Ryder
1945
Bicyclist (uncredited)
1933
Red Ryder
1944
Matt Boone
1952
Gangster
1930
Wild Bill Elliott
1950
Male Nurse
1934
Gordon Elliot
1928
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1942
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1942
Red Ryder
1945
Randall
1937
Wild Bill Tolliver
1942
George Halloway
1929
Flora's Father
1926
Whit Gordon
1938