CLINT WALKER

'Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker' (born May 30, 1927) is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, ''Cheyenne''.
Walker was born in Hartford, Illinois. He left school to work at a factory and on a river boat, then joined the United States Merchant Marine at 17 during the tail end of World War II. After leaving the Merchant Marines, he worked at odd jobs in Brownwood, Texas, Long Beach, California, and Las Vegas, where he worked as a doorman at the Sands Hotel.
In Los Angeles, he was hired by Cecil B. DeMille to appear in ''The Ten Commandments''. A friend in the film business helped get him a few bit parts that brought him to the attention of Warner Bros. who were in the process of developing a western style television series.
Walker's good looks and physique—he was one-quarter Cherokee descent, stood 6ft 6in (198 cm), with a 48in chest and a 32in waist.^[2] —landed him an audition and he won the lead role. Billed as "Clint" Walker, he was cast as Cheyenne Bodie, a cowboy hero set in the post American Civil War era. Although the series regularly capitalized on Walker's rugged frame with frequent bare-chested scenes, it was well written and acted; it proved hugely popular for eight seasons on the ABC television network.
Walker then played roles in several big screen films including a trio of westerns for Gordon Douglas: ''Fort Dobbs'' in 1958, ''Yellowstone Kelly'' in 1959, and ''Gold of the Seven Saints'' in 1961, as well as ''The Night of the Grizzly'' in 1966 and in 1967, the very successful war drama, ''The Dirty Dozen''.
During the 1970s he returned to television, starring in a number of made-for-TV western films as well as a short-lived series in 1974 called ''Kodiak''.
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Contents

21st century

Honors

References

External links

21st century

Walker met western author Kirby Jonas through James Drury, a mutual friend. Jonas and Walker subsequently spent two years collaborating on a story idea suggested by Walker involving gold and the Yaqui, a partnership that led to the publication of the 2003 Western novel ''Yaqui Gold'' (ISBN 1891423088).

Honors

Walker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1505 Vine Street, near its intersection with Sunset Boulevard (approximate coordinates: ).
In 2004, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

References

1. Walker's biography from his official website
2. Cowboy actor inspires local Western writer, a December 2003 review transcribed from an ''Idaho State Journal'' article

External links

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