Bill Elliott
Acting
🎂 1904-10-16
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wild Bill Elliott (October 16, 1904 – November 26, 1965) was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B Westerns, particularly the Red Ryder series of films. By 1925, he was getting occasional extra work in films. He took classes at the Pasadena Playhouse and appeared in a few stage roles there. By 1927, he had made his first Western, The Arizona Wildcat, playing his first featured role. Several co-starring roles followed, and he renamed himself Gordon Elliott. But as the studios made the transition to sound films, he slipped back into roles as an extra and bit parts, as in Broadway Scandals, in 1929. For the next eight years, he appeared in over a hundred films for various studios, but almost always in unbilled parts as an extra. Elliott began to be noticed in some minor B Westerns, enough so that Columbia Pictures offered him the title role in a serial, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938). The serial was so successful, and Elliott so personable, that Columbia promoted him to starring in his own series of Western features, replacing Columbia's number-two cowboy star Robert "Tex" Allen. Henceforth Gordon Elliott would be known as Bill Elliott. Within two years, he was among the Motion Picture Herald's Top Ten Western Stars, where he would remain for the next 15 years. In 1943, Elliott signed with Republic Pictures, which cast him in a series of Westerns alongside George "Gabby" Hayes. The first of these, Calling Wild Bill Elliott, gave Elliott the name by which he would be best known and by which he would be billed almost exclusively for the rest of his career. Following several films in which both actor and character shared the name Wild Bill Elliott, he took the role for which he would be best remembered, that of Red Ryder in a series of sixteen movies about the famous comic strip cowboy and his young Indian companion, Little Beaver (played in Elliott's films by Bobby Blake). Elliott played the role for only two years but would forever be associated with it. Elliott's trademark was a pair of six guns worn butt-forward in their holsters. Elliott's career thrived during and after the Red Ryder films, and he continued making B Westerns into the early 1950s. He also had his own radio show during the late 1940s. His final contract as a Western star was with Monogram Pictures, where budgets declined as the B Western lost its audience to television. When Monogram became Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1953, it phased out its Western productions, and Elliott finished out his contract playing a homicide detective in a series of five modern police dramas, his first non-Westerns since 1938. Elliott retired from films (except for a couple of TV Western pilots which were not picked up). He worked for a time as a spokesman for Viceroy cigarettes and hosted a local TV program in Las Vegas, Nevada, which featured many of his Western films.
Cast credits(203)
Officer Grant
1968
Bruce Thomas
1937
Man Outside Theatre (uncredited)
1932
Chariot Race Spectator (uncredited)
1925
Party Guest (uncredited)
1932
Self (archive footage)
1975
Bootlegger (uncredited)
1939
Night Club Patron (uncredited)
1933
Bootlegger Who Gives Eddie the Bottle Outside the Club (uncredited)
1935
Man at Roulette Table (Uncredited)
1933
Zeb Smith
1949
Ann's Beau (uncredited)
1931
Ruth's Friend (uncredited)
1929
Sergeant Bill Cameron
1942
Party Guest (uncredited)
1932
Night Club Patron
1931
1935
Hunter - Bank Worker (uncredited)
1936
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1931
Kenneth Martin
1936
Pilot (uncredited)
1936
Reporter in Courtroom (uncredited)
1934
Policeman Following Blonde (uncredited)
1932
Pete Devlin
1952
Sam Laxter
1936
New Year's Eve Reveler (Uncredited)
1933
Governor's Secretary (uncredited)
1934
Tom Collins - Greer's Associate
1935
Andy Flynn / Andy Doyle
1955
Norman (uncredited)
1934
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
1931
Backgammon Man (uncredited)
1938
Bank Teller (uncredited)
1935
Party Guest (uncredited)
1932
Customer at Beretti's
1930
Gambler (uncredited)
1932
Ringo
1950
Shadrach Jones
1950
Walter Wilson
1937
Wild Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1944
Gary Conway
1948
Lt. Saunders
1934
Self (archive footage)
1976
Male Nurse
1934
Audience Member / Dexter's Party Guest (uncredited)
1933
Party Guest (uncredited)
1933
Clay Tyndall (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1954
Frank Graham
1953
Reporter
1935
Wedding Guest (uncredited)
1932
Reporter (uncredited)
1935
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1944
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1934
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Jim Levering
1953
Escort (uncredited)
1932
Sam Nelson
1954
Frank Norris / Frank Plummer (as William Elliott)
1949
Stuart Wyatt
1935
Bill Martin
1952
Bill Parker
1937
Minor Role (uncredited)
1931
Sam Colton
1946
Andy Doyle
1956
Wedding Guest
1930
Partygoer (uncredited)
1933
Playboy in 'Playboy of Paree' Number (uncredited)
1935
Bit Role
1932
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1930
Josie Allen
1947
(archive footage)
1976
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Bill Stockton (as William Elliott)
1948
Minor Role
1935
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1942
Party Guest (uncredited)
1933
Joaquin Murietta aka The Black Shadow
1942
Johnny Barrett / Spanish Jack
1946
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1940
Matt Boone (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1952
Dance Extra / Lobby Extra (uncredited)
1931
Chauncey Courtland
1938
Telemachus
1927
Mace Corbin
1953
Charles Alderson
1947
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1945
Guest at Polly's Party (uncredited)
1933
Wellman, a Dude
1936
Polo Match Spectator (uncredited)
1934
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Dave Crockett
1941
Jim Neale
1937
Marshal Wild Bill Elliott (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1943
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Jim Kirk
1951
Tack Hamlin
1953
Charlie Fagan
1935
Jackson's Secretary / Dorothy's Dance Partner
1935
Night Club Patron
1933
Party Guest (uncredited)
1927
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1940
Party Guest
1929
Physical Exam Onlooker
1930
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1942
Wild Bill Boone
1941
Party Guest
1934
Sharp, Board of Directors Member (uncredited)
1936
Wild Bill Saunders
1940
Party Boy
1931
Escort (uncredited)
1931
Party Boy
1930
Red Ryder
1944
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1945
Gordon Elliot
1928
Carl Griffin
1936
Polo Player (uncredited)
1932
Wedding Guest
1935
Bill Elliott
1944
Hotel Dining Room Guest
1931
Lulu's Bathing Companion (uncredited)
1937
James, Clerk at College Club
1935
Wild Bill Elliott
1945
Joe Daniels (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1952
Jeff Holt
1935
News Commentator (uncredited)
1936
Dave Thatcher (as Gordon Elliott)
1936
Warren Sherrill
1935
Andy Doyle
1957
Jefferson Duane
1936
Hotel Dancer (uncredited)
1931
Andy Doyle
1957
Teddy
1935
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1938
'Wild' Bill Hickok / Prince Katey
1942
Red Ryder
1946
Party-Goer
1930
Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
1931
Maxine's Casino Escort (uncredited)
1935
Country Club Guest
1931
Athlete (uncredited)
1925
Well-Wishing Villager
1926
Red Ryder
1945
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1942
Party Guest
1930
Red Ryder
1944
Dr. Allan
1938
Alex Brown (Uncredited)
1932
George Halloway
1929
Wild Bill Saunders
1940
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
John Haynes
1939
Ramon Duval
1936
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Freddie
1935
Vincent's Assistant (uncredited)
1935
Wild Bill Saunders
1939
Larry's Friend
1931
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Don Trumbeau
1936
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1940
Kit Carson
1939
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1944
Andy Doyle
1955
City Attorney Seabrook
1937
One of Tom's War Buddies
1930
Red Ryder
1946
Backstage Actor
1935
Golfer (uncredited)
1930
Announcer
1936
John Freeman
1939
Aggressive Student at Dance
1927
'Wild' Bill Hickok
1941
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1945
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1944
Wild Bill Elliott
1943
Wedding Party Guest
1931
Music Store Customer (uncredited)
1931
Poker Player
1930
Wild Bill Tolliver
1942
Red Ryder (as Wild Bill Elliott)
1946
Dancer (uncredited)
1934
Odie Fenton
1937
Little Lord Fauntleroy (uncredited)
1937
Robert Bates
1936
Red Ryder
1945
George Baxter
1928
Red Ryder
1944
1930
Bicyclist (uncredited)
1933
Ship's Passenger / Dance Extra (uncredited)
1932
Red Ryder
1946
2nd Radio Announcer
1936
Randall
1937
Wild Bill Saunders
1940
Wild Bill Elliott
1950
Red Ryder
1945
Gangster
1930
Hotel Guest on Veranda
1931
Whit Gordon
1938
Bluey
1941
Roy Schyler (as Gordon Elliott)
1927
Flora's Father
1926