Guy Madison as:

WILD BILL HICKOK


GUY MADISON & HORSE 'BUCKSHOT'



One of the legendary true life names of the old west was Wild Bill Hickok. In the hayday of the TV westerns a handsome young actor by the name of Guy Madison brought this legend to life. Across America children tuned in daily to watch Hickok and his sidekick 'Jingles' thunder across the tube in another western adventure episode. Just who was this cowboy actor and how did he capture the imagination of a whole generation of cowboy kids?




Guy Madison, a native Californian was born Robert Moseley on January 19, 1922. Madison was working as a telephone lineman when World War II started. Deciding to serve his country he went into the Coast Guard and while on leave in 1943 he was attending a broadcast of a popular radio program when one of David O. Selznick's talent scouts spotted him in the audience. The result of this was a small role in the wartime drama, that Madison completed during a 48-hour pass, and then went back on duty. When the movie was released Selznick's studio was overwhelmed with fan mail for the handsome 22-year-old. So RKO Studios signed him to a contract upon his return from active duty.

Guy Madison's second film and first starring role was the 1946 drama "TILL THE END OF TIME" With the support of Robert Mitchum, Bill Williams, and Dorothy McGuire, Madison carried the weight of the film and it became one of his most popular.

In 1949, Madison married actress Gail Russell; however the unpleasant publicity surronding their stormy marriage and her legendary alcohol abuse very nearly ended his career. Salvation came in the form of an offer to do a syndicated TV series, 'The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok'; which he accepted and began filming in 1951.

With Madison starring as Hickok, and Andy Devine as his sidekick, Jingles, the series produced 113 episodes from 1951 to 1956. The show soon became a big hit and made Guy Madison a household name, earning him many fans, especially among children. Soon, Madison's image began appearing on cereal boxes, toys, and other promotional items. The studios also released to theaters a total of 17 Wild Bill Hickok films between 1952 and 1955, which were merely edited episodes of the TV program.

Madison made few films during his stint on the show, and in 1956 when the Wild Bill Hickok series was cancelled he found that he had been typecast as a TV western hero and other roles had all but dried up overnight. Nonetheless, he made a dozen or so films in America between 1956 and 1959, but without a great deal of box office success. In 1959, Madison left Hollywood for a lucrative film career in Europe where he enjoyed a ten-year run as a popular actor in German and Italian films. He retired and returned to the U.S. in 1970, but a variety of health problems limited his activity in Hollywood. Madison passed away at the age of 74 in 1996 from complications arising from emphysema.






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