(April 10, 1921-September 17, 2003)
Birth name was Shelby
Acted in 'Distant Drums (1951),' 'High Noon (1952),' 'Cattle Town (1952),' 'Texas Bad Man (1953),' 'The Boy from Oklahoma (1954),' 'Man Without a Star (1955),' 'The Second Greatest Sex (1955),' 'Giant (1956),' 'Ride a Violent Mile (1957),' 'The War Wagon (1967),' 'The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976),' 'Silverado (1985),' 'Uphill All the Way (1986)' and 'Hoosiers (1986)'
Portrayed Pete Nolan in the TV series 'Rawhide' (1959-1962, 1965)
Recorded 'Purple People Eater'
Wrote the TV theme song for 'Hee Haw'
Died of leukemia at age 82

He was turned down for service duty during World War II because of rodeo injuries.
His wife acted as his business manager.
He recorded mostly novelty songs with 'Purple People Eater' the only one making an impact.
He portrayed a drunken cowboy character on 'Hee Haw,' Ben Colder, and recorded some songs under the pseudo ID.
His last movie was 'Purple People Eater (1988),' a little seen sci-fi comedy loosely based on his novelty song.

He was a real life cowboy turned actor and singer.
He quoted about his acting career, 'I came out to Hollywood to become a singing cowboy but when I got here in 1950 they didn't want any singing cowboys, even if you had your own guitar. So I got into the other end of the cowboy business and played mostly heavies.'
'Purple People Eater' spent six weeks at #1 on Billboard's Singles chart in 1958 and sold over 3 million copies.
His voice is generally acknowledged as the one second pre-recorded film scream sound effect known in movies as the Wilhelm Scream.
The scream has been used in over 100 films, including all 'Star Wars' movies.

Credit: Scar Tactics

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