Clint Walker/Cheyenne--real hero

[getitdone1]

See where Clint Walker, star of the old and great TV Western "Cheyenne", will be 85 years old on May 30, 2012.

Wonder if he's a member here?

Be nice if somehow this group as a whole could send him a happy birthday message. And, perhaps, an invitation.

Hobie?

He has a website plus there's a Wikipedia article and other info via search. Believe he has a pretty keen interest in guns.

Don

[Bill in Oregon]

Don: Clint is one of my favorite actors. "Cheyenne" was the best of the Warner Brothers westerns in my opinion. I ordered an autographed photo from him on his Web site.

[Old Savage]

Cheyenne, Cheyenne - where will you be campin tonight? Booger Bill and his wife have met him and maybe a couple of others here.

[junkbug]

Who can forget him in "Killdozer"?

[piller]

Didn't anybody ever tell you, never holster an empty gun. Remember that line? From a movie where he was a former gunman called "More dead than alive."

[gak]

That 92 sure looks small in Clint's hands!

[jeepnik]

Who can forget him in "Killdozer"?

Or "Night of the Grizzly" That bear took a heap of killing!

[COSteve]

Deleted

[Booger Bill]

I posted this before. Clint with my wife. This is about 3 or 4 years ago. I heard he was thinking of moveing to kanob utah but I dont know if he did. He is a first class gentilman.

[sore shoulder]

Not taking anything away from the gentleman, but the title said "real hero". I expected to see a WWII or Korean war record. Am I missing something? How is he a "hero"?

[soon 2 retire]

Clint's real lucky to have reached a ripe old age. In the mid '70's he survived a ski accident where his ski pole had punctured his heart. I remember at the time his survival was attributed to his great physical condition.

Bob in Friday Harbor

[Lastmohecken]

One of my favorites of the old western movies, was Fort Dobbs, with Clint Walker.

[Ray Newman]

Sore Shoulder: BINGO! I 'wuz wonderin' the same thing....

[Jayhawker]

Clint Walker was in the Merchant Marine in WWII. Don't know any specifics.

[Booger Bill]

I have never heard a negative word about his charactor. I knew a few people (mostly other guards) that knew him and discussed him. No, I never heard or read of any situations he found himself in to be tested. I worked as a studio guard a short while at universal studios. I think he was mostly connected with warner brothers. As guards many of us worked various places ( It was kind of like picking grapes) and had time to BS. Clint was a guard several places before becomeing a actor too. He worked a vegas casino, I think the gold nugget and the palomino bar in north hollywood. I had guard friends in both places. He was a little before my time but I liked all his acting stuff.
Probley wasnt accurate to call him "a hero", same as john wayne, I think he was a great role model for kids. He reminded me something of my dad as they were were the same heigth etc. The studios like to stretch actors heigth. I would guess him a honest 6ft 5"s when younger. My dad was too, but dad shrunk with age as clint must have. Both seemed the same size and weight to me. For comparison, my wife in that picture is only 5 ft 10"s tall. I also met james arness and he was a honest 6ft 7"s. I have a nephew 6 ft 8"s and they seemed comparable. I belive clint is now affected with bad eye sight.

[getitdone1]

O.K. Excellent role model would have been more accurate but isn't that getting pretty close to a hero? To avoid all the negative things and remain true to what's right--kinda heroic to me. Really can't think of anything the world needs more of than excellent role models.

I actually get tired of so many people being called heroes these days. One of the greatest heroes is a good parent who raises their kids to be happy and productive. You never hear much about them in terms of being heroic. And...that's not a few minutes of glory or even a few years. That's a lot of years of sticking to it, being responsible and raising responsible kids.

So you put on a uniform and your a hero--well I say don't forget the good parents and their great struggle.

Don

[Sixgun]

Not taking anything away from the gentleman, but the title said "real hero". I expected to see a WWII or Korean war record. Am I missing something? How is he a "hero"?

To many here and in this country, he is a hero in the sense that he portrayed honesty, responsibility and decency to the millions who watched him. Plus, in addition to portraying that on film, he lived it---nothing like the trash that comes out of Hollywood today.---------Sixgun

[sore shoulder]

Not taking anything away from the gentleman, but the title said "real hero". I expected to see a WWII or Korean war record. Am I missing something? How is he a "hero"?

To many here and in this country, he is a hero in the sense that he portrayed honesty, responsibility and decency to the millions who watched him. Plus, in addition to portraying that on film, he lived it---nothing like the trash that comes out of Hollywood today.---------Sixgun

If he was able to remain a decent human being after being elevated to tv and movie screen hero/Hollywood star status based primarily on accident of good genetics, then he is certainly worthy of respect as an example and role model. Again, I'm taking nothing away from the gentleman. Like others I'm tired of the "hero" status of anyone in a uniform or professional athletes etc. You are not a hero till you've done something heroic and I hate to see the word in usage eroded away and lose it's value and meaning. It's sad that something like being a good parent or teacher has become so uncommon that those who simply do what should be the norm are now considered hero's.

In any event good thread and good read, I recognize Walker from old war movies, wasn't he in the Dirty Dozen?

[Booger Bill]

Thank God most of us arent thrown in situations where we have to put our lives in jepordy to do some stunt and survive to be labeled a hero. Guess thats being lucky and has no effect to being either a hero, coward or whatever. The trouble with the word "hero" is that there is too many interpitations of the word that we all cant agree with. Maybe I missed something somewhere but I have wondered why people who get a disease like cancer are called "heros" for both either surviveing it or dieing with it.
A unscrupaless criminal skunk can do a "act" that might be termed as heroic. Enemys in every war we ever fought done heroic deeds to protect their fellow comrades and their own skin but none were ever labeled "hero" by our side.
I doubt audie murphy was labeled a hero by his german foes either.
To me a person that has lived honerably his or her`s life without abuseing the welfare system, worked for their money, never been a drag on soceity by being in jail or ran away from child support, paid their dues, hasnt been a bully and lived honestly counts for a lot. I just think the word "hero" is used too loosely.

[gak]

Although he occasionally or maybe often eventually had to resort to violence or brute force--as his character might've called for--to carry out his mission on screen, he always seemed to me to be such a "gentle giant" of a man - in the way he carried himself...that's the image he is to me and was as I was growing up, and apparently is and has been that way "largely" off screen as well. Definitely one of my favorites.

[JohndeFresno]

O.K. Excellent role model would have been more accurate but isn't that getting pretty close to a hero? To avoid all the negative things and remain true to what's right--kinda heroic to me. Really can't think of anything the world needs more of than excellent role models....
Don

Yes. Besides portraying characters that shot straight and played fair:

I grew up around "Hollywood" in Cheviot Hills, next to 20th Century Fox Studios (now Century City). I went to school with the kids of many of those in "the industry" and had occasion to run across or meet many of those in the film and TV industry.

William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) was a long time Hollywood actor who cleaned up his life when he realized what his "Hoppy" image meant to kids. Clayton Moore (Lone Ranger) lived a life as a devoted family man devoid of scandal. Roy Rogers, with his wife Dale Evans, took in troubled kids and changed their lives, two of which I have met.

These TV giants, along with Mr. Walker, avoided the trashy, amoral Hollywood life style and set a good example for my generation. Many, including me, were inspired to enter public service because of the image of one or more of these TV cowboys.

Clint Walker is an American Hero in the truest sense.

[mack]

Sore shoulder, I believe he served as a Merchant Mariner as a 17 year old at the end of WW2. (The service that had the highest per capita losses during the war, and never received official recognition or acknowledgement for many years after). That, and an honorable career that set fine example for all that followed it, sets him as a "hero" in my book. Hero is a term that can be used pretty loosely, but I do think the man's life achievements qualify him.

[jeepnik]

I don't know on which ships this man served. But joining the Merchant Marine during WWII was in effect writing the same blank check for their lives that every service man or woman wrote, regardless of where or when they served.

I grew up in a port town. Most of my uncles served in the US Navy during WWII. The one that didn't, was rejected because he had a heart murmur. So, he joined the Merchant Marine. And, he spent more time in the water "after" his ship was torpedoed than did any of his brothers.

As I said, I live in a port town, one with a strong sense of history. Located on the waterfront is a memorial to the Merchant men that lost their lives during WWII.



On this wall are a list of every merchant ship lost, and the names of those lost on those ships. It also includes the names of ships whose crewman were killed by enemy action, also listed by ship. There are ships listed twice, because before they were sunk, they had lost crewmen in action.

Make no mistake, merchant seamen in WWII were in as much, or possibly even more peril than were their Navy and Coast Guard bretheren.

Sorry, someone pushed one of my buttons.

[sore shoulder]

Sorry, someone pushed one of my buttons.

Where? If you mean me, I did not say anything derogatory or defaming of the Merchant Marine (nor would I) or Mr. Walker and I don't see where anyone else did. I simply asked a question. If that was taken wrong, my apologies, but really if taken wrong that's on you.