In his nearly three hour Archive interview, actor Clint Walker talks about the many odd jobs he held before embarking on a film and television career. He tells how he ventured out to Hollywood and landed a role in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”, and how the role led to other film projects and eventually a contract with Warner Brothers. Walker then details the series for which he’s best know, Cheyenne, in which he played the title character, “Cheyenne Bodie.” He describes auditioning for the role, how he kept in shape, and the many stunts he performed on the program. He outlines the show’s production schedule, speaks about his co-stars and famous guest-stars, and explains the importance of Cheyenne as television’s first hour-long Western. He explains why he believes Westerns were so popular in the 1950s…. He talks about other film and television appearances, including those in “The Night of the Grizzly,” the made-for-television movie Yuma, and the series Kodiak. Stephen J. Abramson conducted the interview in Beverly Hills, CA on September 21, 2012. (source)
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AVln-CAmUc]Clint Walker Interview Part 1 of 3 – EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG
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W.L. Schaefer
Mr. Walker Is the Real article. This three part interview on Clint Walker is the best I’ve seen so far.
Now 71, admittedly I’ve been a fan, and a student of the Western genre all my life. Hoppy, Roy Rogers (the Republic years), Matt Dillon (James Arness), Clint Walker, and the wonderful Western classic starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall ‘Lonesome Dove’…. well it don’t get any better then that.
I believe it was Robert Duvall that said (paraphrasing) “the French have Molierre,
the Italians have Fillini, and we have the Western”…. or something like that.
I’m still waiting for the moviemakers to do a great Western using the magnificent ‘Hign Sierra’s’ as one of the main characters. The west doesn’t get any more beautiful than up there.
Mr. Walker, James Arness, the men of the Ponderosa, and those that rode with them, on the TV screen, as well as those buckaroo’s watching at home, then and now, have done for the modern era of the Western what Bill Hart, Tom Mix, Bob Steele and ‘the Hooter’ did in the silent and talkie film era’s.
Trust me, the Western will never die; it might on occasion ‘fade to black’, but look to tomorrow, when with the rising of the sun offering a new day of adventure, if you look out there, not thirty feet from the bunk house, you might spot old Gus McCrea lifting the lid on the dutch oven, peering in, then announcing, “Biscuits are ready Girls”!
Will ‘High Country Rider’ Schaefer
William Schaefer
Please just send comments for folks responding to Clint Walker interview and those related only to folks involved in making Westerns. Thank you.