Have you seen Slim Pickens?
Jun 29, 2019 9:23:23 GMT
wickedkittiesmom, mattgarth, and 2 more like this
Post by teleadm on Jun 29, 2019 9:23:23 GMT
Riding in the rodeo for 20 years, he was seen, and got a role in an Errol Flynn movie, became a sidekick to the last singing cowboy, and later found a niche for himself in both comic and villainious roles and was in demand until a brian tumour took him away. After riding the H-Bomb he was amazed what a single movie can do, he went from "you!" on sets to "Mr. Pickens", and "the roles, the dressing rooms and the checks all started gettin' bigger".
Louis Burton Lindley Jr. was born 110 years ago to Texas-born dairy farmers in Kingsburg, California.
Young Lindley was an excellent horse rider from an early age. Known as "Burt" to his family and friends, he grew bored with dairy farming and began to make a few dollars by riding broncos and roping steers in his early teens.
His father found out and forbade this activity but he took no notice, went to compete in a rodeo, and was told by the doubtful rodeo manager that there would be "slim pickin's" for him. (slim pickings is an economy term, that would take too long to explain, but you can look it up if you like).
To prevent his father from discovering that he had competed, he entered his name as Slim Pickens and won $400 that afternoon. Lindley graduated from Hanford High School, Hanford, California, and was a member of the Future Farmers of America. He joined the rodeo, billed as Slim Pickens, and eventually became a well-known rodeo clown.
During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army. Reportedly when the recruiter asked him his profession, he responded "Rodeo". This was misread as radio and he spent his entire enlistment at a radio station in the American Midwest.
After nearly 20 years of rodeo work, his distinctive country drawl, his wide eyes, moon face, and strong physical presence gained him a role in the Western film, Rocky Mountain 1950 starring Errol Flynn. He appeared in many more Westerns, playing both villains and comic sidekicks to the likes of Rex Allen.
He had been in a movie before, Smoky 1946, as an uncredited extra as a rodeo rider.
Hollywood made good use of Pickens' rodeo background. He did not need a stand-in for horseback scenes, and he was able to gallop his own Appaloosa horses across the desert, or drive a stagecoach pulled by a six-horse team. In a large number of films and TV shows, he wore his own hats and boots, and rode his own horses and mules.
Some examples from his career:
Phantom Stallion 1954 lobby card, Pickens made around 10 singing cowboy movies with Rex Allen, usually playing a character named "Slim".
This specific movie has been called "The Last Singing Cowboy Movie" by some. This specific genre had moved over to television.
Santa Fe Passage 1956 lobby card
Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks 1961
Disney's Savage Sam 1963
Dr Strangelove 1964 as Major "King" Kong.
Stanley Kubrick cast Pickens after Peter Sellers, who played three other roles in the film, sprained his ankle and was unable to perform in the role due to having to work in the cramped cockpit set. Pickens was chosen because his accent and comic sense were perfect for the role of Kong, a cartoonishly patriotic and gung-ho B-52 commander. He was not given the script for the entire film, but only those portions in which he played a part.
Pickens credited Dr. Strangelove as a turning point in his career.
Pickens later said that working with Stanley Kubrick proved too difficult due to Kubrick's perfectionist style of directing with multiple takes for nearly every shot, especially with the climactic H-bomb riding scene, which was done in just over 100 takes.
In the late 1970s, Pickens was offered the part of Dick Hallorann in Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, but Pickens stipulated that he would appear in the film only if Kubrick was required to shoot Pickens' scenes in fewer than 100 takes, the role went to Scatman Crothers instead.
Pickens has also been credited to single-handedly selling this movie in America by appearing in lots of talk shows at the time.
The main villain in the second episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode The Iowa-Scuba Affair 1964.
Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee 1965
Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue 1970
The Cowboys 1972, with John Wayne
Peckinpah's The Getaway 1972, with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.
Knockin' on Heavens Door, in Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 1973
Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles 1974, with Harvey Korman. Successfully playing a comedy version of all the bad guys he had played in the past.
Mr Billion 1977, with Terence Hill
In 1977 he also recorded an album for Blue Canyon Records.
Prisoner on the Japanese submarine in Speilberg's 1941 1979.
The Howling 1981, with Margie Impert and Dee Wallace.
Late in life Slim became a semi-regular on Hee Haw TV-series, here with Oscar the Grouch and Bruno the Trashman in a 1981 episode.
Slim Pickens acted in over 170 movies and television productions.
Slim was married to Margret from 1950, a marriage that lasted until Slim's death in 1983, at the age of 64, a victim of a brian tumor.
The marriage produced thee children.
In 1986, Pickens was honored by the Rodeo Historical Society during his posthumous induction into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Thanks for watching!
Thoughts, ideas and everything Slim, is as always very, very welcome!
Louis Burton Lindley Jr. was born 110 years ago to Texas-born dairy farmers in Kingsburg, California.
Young Lindley was an excellent horse rider from an early age. Known as "Burt" to his family and friends, he grew bored with dairy farming and began to make a few dollars by riding broncos and roping steers in his early teens.
His father found out and forbade this activity but he took no notice, went to compete in a rodeo, and was told by the doubtful rodeo manager that there would be "slim pickin's" for him. (slim pickings is an economy term, that would take too long to explain, but you can look it up if you like).
To prevent his father from discovering that he had competed, he entered his name as Slim Pickens and won $400 that afternoon. Lindley graduated from Hanford High School, Hanford, California, and was a member of the Future Farmers of America. He joined the rodeo, billed as Slim Pickens, and eventually became a well-known rodeo clown.
During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army. Reportedly when the recruiter asked him his profession, he responded "Rodeo". This was misread as radio and he spent his entire enlistment at a radio station in the American Midwest.
After nearly 20 years of rodeo work, his distinctive country drawl, his wide eyes, moon face, and strong physical presence gained him a role in the Western film, Rocky Mountain 1950 starring Errol Flynn. He appeared in many more Westerns, playing both villains and comic sidekicks to the likes of Rex Allen.
He had been in a movie before, Smoky 1946, as an uncredited extra as a rodeo rider.
Hollywood made good use of Pickens' rodeo background. He did not need a stand-in for horseback scenes, and he was able to gallop his own Appaloosa horses across the desert, or drive a stagecoach pulled by a six-horse team. In a large number of films and TV shows, he wore his own hats and boots, and rode his own horses and mules.
Some examples from his career:
Phantom Stallion 1954 lobby card, Pickens made around 10 singing cowboy movies with Rex Allen, usually playing a character named "Slim".
This specific movie has been called "The Last Singing Cowboy Movie" by some. This specific genre had moved over to television.
Santa Fe Passage 1956 lobby card
Marlon Brando's One-Eyed Jacks 1961
Disney's Savage Sam 1963
Dr Strangelove 1964 as Major "King" Kong.
Stanley Kubrick cast Pickens after Peter Sellers, who played three other roles in the film, sprained his ankle and was unable to perform in the role due to having to work in the cramped cockpit set. Pickens was chosen because his accent and comic sense were perfect for the role of Kong, a cartoonishly patriotic and gung-ho B-52 commander. He was not given the script for the entire film, but only those portions in which he played a part.
Pickens credited Dr. Strangelove as a turning point in his career.
Pickens later said that working with Stanley Kubrick proved too difficult due to Kubrick's perfectionist style of directing with multiple takes for nearly every shot, especially with the climactic H-bomb riding scene, which was done in just over 100 takes.
In the late 1970s, Pickens was offered the part of Dick Hallorann in Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, but Pickens stipulated that he would appear in the film only if Kubrick was required to shoot Pickens' scenes in fewer than 100 takes, the role went to Scatman Crothers instead.
Pickens has also been credited to single-handedly selling this movie in America by appearing in lots of talk shows at the time.
The main villain in the second episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode The Iowa-Scuba Affair 1964.
Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee 1965
Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue 1970
The Cowboys 1972, with John Wayne
Peckinpah's The Getaway 1972, with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.
Knockin' on Heavens Door, in Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 1973
Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles 1974, with Harvey Korman. Successfully playing a comedy version of all the bad guys he had played in the past.
Mr Billion 1977, with Terence Hill
In 1977 he also recorded an album for Blue Canyon Records.
Prisoner on the Japanese submarine in Speilberg's 1941 1979.
The Howling 1981, with Margie Impert and Dee Wallace.
Late in life Slim became a semi-regular on Hee Haw TV-series, here with Oscar the Grouch and Bruno the Trashman in a 1981 episode.
Slim Pickens acted in over 170 movies and television productions.
Slim was married to Margret from 1950, a marriage that lasted until Slim's death in 1983, at the age of 64, a victim of a brian tumor.
The marriage produced thee children.
In 1986, Pickens was honored by the Rodeo Historical Society during his posthumous induction into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Thanks for watching!
Thoughts, ideas and everything Slim, is as always very, very welcome!
