Opinion: Top 10 Western Character Actors

You might not know their names but you've probably seen their faces.

Jack ElamPhoto byCreative Commons: Goosefriend

As I’ve said before, I like westerns. Mostly old westerns. If you watch a lot of old westerns like I do, you see a lot of the same guys crop up over and over again. And after a while, you have you favorites. Whenever a list like this is put together, it’s subjective. So, when I say top ten character actors, I mean the ones I like the best. Your list would no doubt vary.

10: Ken Curtis: This name you may recognize due to his playing Festus on “Gunsmoke.” But if you pay attention, he shows up in a lot of other stuff. He did a memorable to turn as the oaf, Charlie McCorry, who was beating Jeffrey Hunter’s time in ‘The Searchers,” as well as a bumpkin in “Two Rode Together.”

9: Chief Dan George: The Chief was particularly memorable in a couple of westerns. He was great as Clint Eastwood’s sidekick in “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” As a member of one of the five civilized tribes, he gave a great definition of what civilized meant. “Easy to sneak up on.” In “Little Big Man,” he was great as “Old Lodge Skins.” Old Lodge Skins decided it was “a good day to die” and proceeded to go and lie down face up to the skin and die. When it started raining on him, he said, “I was afraid that would happen.” That’s still a catch phrase at my house. Just some great performances.

8: Buck Taylor: Buck scores extra credit for his portrayal of Newly O’Brien on Gunsmoke, but he’s done memorable work in movies as well. He did a notable turn in “Tombstone” as Turkey Creek Jack Johnson. He also showed up in “The Sacketts” as Reed Carney. As a side point, Buck is the son of great character actor, Dub Taylor. Buck is also an outstanding artist and has been inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

7: Denver Pyle: In addition to playing Uncle Jessie in the “Dukes of Hazzard,” he also shows up in a ton of old TV westerns. Highlights include appearing in 37 episodes of “Grizzly Adams as Mad Jack and 14 times on “Gunsmoke,” playing assorted characters.

6: Strother Martin: ‘What we have here, is a failure to communicate.” That’s probably Strother’s most famous line. You probably recall it from the Paul Newman classic, “Cool Hand Luke.” He also shows up in another Newman classic, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” He played a payroll guard who had gotten, “colorful” by virtue of all his years spent in Bolivia. Strother played a ton of diverse characters, almost all of whom were interesting.

5: Walter Brennan. Brennan did some of his best work in John Wayne movies. “Red River” and “Rio Bravo” are particular favorites of mine, but he did an absolute ton of other work. As a sleeper project, I liked his work as Will Sonnett in the TV series, “The Guns of Will Sonnett.”

4: Slim Pickens: When Slim wasn’t riding an atomic bomb all the way down to the ground, he could often be found playing memorable supporting roles in westerns. His portrayal as of Taggert in ‘Blazing Saddles” is perhaps his most memorable. While we generally think of Slim as affable, he could play some seriously menacing heavies. If you’ve seen his work in “One-Eyed Jacks” and “Rough Night in Jericho” you know what I mean.

3: Jack Elam: One of Jack’s most memorable scenes was in the classic western, “Once Upon a Time in the West” where Jack was sharing a scene with a fly.The closest thing I’ve seen to that was when a fly landed on Mike Pence’s head during the vice-presidential debate. I loved his work in the great James Garner vehicle, “Support Your Local Gunfighter.” Like Slim Pickens, Jack could be humorous, or menacing.

2: Noah Beery Jr.: Ok, Noah gets preferential treatment from me because I loved him as James Garner’s dad in “The Rockford Files.” But Beery did play in a ton of westerns. One of my favorite Noah Beery roles is Buster McGee in the classic, “Red River.”

1: Ben Johnson: To me, Ben was the consummate western character actor. I loved him as Cap Roundtree in “The Sacketts.” He was also memorable in the wonderful Alan Ladd movie, “Shane.” Johnson was an actual cowboy who was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979. Johnson also seemed to have the traits we like to ascribe to heroic cowboys in real life. He seemed like the quintessential cowboy character actor.

That’s my top ten, who’s on your list?