Facts About Rory Calhoun

He may have been the original Troy Donoghue.

Rory CalhounPhoto byCreative Commons: Film Star Vintage

If you are an old fan of westerns, you probably remember Rory Calhoun. If you’re not, there’s a good chance the name doesn’t ring a bell. I’ve watched a few movies starring, Rory Calhoun, but not in a long time. They used to pop up quite a bit on The Late Show. or the Late, Late Show when I was growing up.

I had read that Rory had some trouble with the law when he was young, but beyond that, I didn’t know much about him. So, here are some things you didn’t know about Rory Calhoun.

1: As a teenager, Rory racked up quite a criminal record. He stole a revolver at the age of 13. He later robbed some jewelry stores and later stole a car and drove it across various state lines.

All that led to Rory doing time in a federal facility in Springfield, MO. He later graduated to San Quentin State Penitentiary in California. He was released from San Quentin just before his 21st birthday. That background prepared him well for Hollywood.

2: His agent sold him out to protect Rock Hudson.

Calhoun and Hudson had the same agent, Henry Wilson. Wilson gave Confidential magazine the scoop on Calhoun’s years in prison in exchange for the magazine not publishing info on Rock Hudson’s homosexual life. In this case, Rory should have had his name changed to Paper Calhoun. After all, Paper covers Rock.

3: Rory’s name at birth was Francis Timothy McCown.

One report said that his agent, the afore mentioned Henry Wilson, had McCown’s named changed to Rory Calhoun. But only initially dubbing him “Troy Donahue.” Of course, Troy Donohue was eventually named Troy Donahue.” I wonder if Troy knew he was getting a used name?

4: His wife underestimated him. When Lita Baron filed for divorce, she accused him of having affairs with 79 women.

Calhoun’s response? “Heck, she didn’t even include half of them”. 79, or 150, at that point does it really matter?

5: After getting out of San Quentin, Calhoun took various jobs.

Included in his resume are cow puncher and lumberjack. It’s almost like he was preparing to be one of the Village People.

6: Calhoun had a daughter with Vitina Marcus.

She’s Athena Marcus Calhoun, who was named “The World’s Most Beautiful Showgirl.” She was also given the Key to the City of Las Vegas in 1987. If she’s the World’s most beautiful showgirl, why did she just get the key to Las Vegas?

7: Rory was considered for the part of James West in The Wild Wild West, but producers weren’t impressed by his screen test.

Maybe his ability to fight in really tight clothes wasn’t as good as that of Robert Conrad.

8: Calhoun’s last film role was in Pure Country.

There were actually two more Pure Country movies, but they were not connected to the original, except for the name. Sounds like Pure Money Grab.

9: Late in his career, Rory did some movies that became cult favorites, including, “Night of the Lepus.”

The story was about allegedly huge, fierce killer rabbits. Unfortunately, the rabbits just looked big and cuddly. I believe the rabbits were killed off by a bunch of positive pregnancy tests. Hold on, being told that’s not true.

10: He played Kit Carson in a couple of the exploitation movies, “Angel” and “Avenging Angel.”

It’s nice that he got to play that America frontiersman. Hold on, being told that Kit Carson was actually an aging movie cowboy. Well, that does make more sense based on the movie ads.