Gabby Hayes - the eternal sidekick

Who can forget the grizzled bewhiskered face, that throaty voice or those wonderful 'yer durn tootin' and 'young whipper snapper' expressions of Gabby Hayes.

He became famous in the early years of Talkies during the 1930's and 1940's as sidekick to stars like Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. He became so popular that he was consistently featured in the top ten polls of favorite actors.

Movie acting was his second main career. After working as a circus performer as a young man he began performing in vaudeville with his wife, Olive Ireland after they married in 1914. They were extremely successful and became very well known, making a great deal of  money, so much so that Hayes was able to retire in the late 1920's when he was still in his mid 40's. It was only after losing his fortune in the Great Wall Street Crash of 1929 that he was forced to seek work and found it in California in the movie industry.
          

1934, Randy Rides Alone

He began his movie career as a regular fixture in the many Westerns of the 1930's, first as a bad guy, and often starring opposite the young John Wayne.Eventually he ended up playing the same character in all his films - the eternal sidekick to the western hero, whether that hero be Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Randolph Scott, or Wayne himself. He firt took the name "Windy" Halliday in many Hopalong Cassidy films but afterleaving due to a salary dispute he was prohibited from using that name again and so the name "Gabby" was chosen.

With Roy Rogers

 From 1950 to 1954 he had his own TV Western series, 'The Gabby Hayes Show', aimed largely at children, after which he retired for good and devoted the rest of his life to his wife and his investments. He appeared in almost 200 movies and TV episodes during his career.

Gabby and wife, Olivia

Away from the cameras Hayes was completely different to his screen persona. He was serious and sophisticated. He died in February, 1969 of  cardiovascular disease in Burbank, California. He was 83.

For a complete biography and filmography of Gabby Hayes visit Hollywood's Golden Age

The Night of the Hunter, A Robert Mitchum Masterclass

Made in 1955 and the only film to be directed by Charles Laughton, 'The Night of the Hunter' is a masterpiece of a movie, a haunting and frightening Biblical tale of greed, corruption, seduction and innocence.

It stars Robert Mitchum, a vastly underrated actor, as one of Hollywood's most unforgettable villains, "Reverend" Harry Powell, dressed in clerical black and white  and with the words "love" and "hate" tattooed on his knuckles.

His decepively sleepy-eyed presence dominates the whole film whether playing emotionally powerful scenes with Shelley Winters as the doomed widow or pretending to play with the children whom he later seeks to kill. Even when he is not on screen we feel his malevolence.  His performance in 'The Night of the Hunter' abounds with examples of under­statement and subtle awareness of the needs of the part. It is a massive tribute to his skill as an actor.


Read more about Robert Mitchum
Read more about The Night of the Hunter
Read more about Charles Laughton