Guy Madison#Filmography

{{short description|American actor (1922–1996)}}

{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Guy Madison

| image = Guy Madison 1957.jpg

| caption = Madison in 1957

| birth_name = Robert Ozell Moseley

| birth_date = {{birth date|1922|01|19}}

| birth_place = Pumpkin Center, Kern County, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1996|02|06|1922|01|19}}

| death_place = Palm Springs, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California

| awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame

| education = Bakersfield College

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1944–1989

| spouse = {{plainlist|

  • {{marriage|Gail Russell|1949|1954|end=divorced}}
  • {{marriage|Sheila Connolly|1954|1964|end=divorced}}

}}

| children = 4

}}

Guy Madison (born Robert Ozell Moseley; January 19, 1922 – February 6, 1996) was an American film, television, and radio actor. He is best known for having played Wild Bill Hickok in the Western television series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok from 1951 to 1958.

During his career, Madison was given a special Golden Globe Award in 1954 and two stars (radio, television) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Early life

Madison was born January 19, 1922, in Pumpkin Center, California.{{cite book|last=Monush|first=Barry|title=The Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the Silent Era to 1965|location=Essex, Conn.|publisher=Applause Theatre & Cinema Books|date=2022|isbn=9781493070800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeB-EAAAQBAJ|page=457}} He attended Bakersfield College, a junior college,{{Cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |date=1996-02-08 |title=Guy Madison, a Movie Actor And TV's Wild Bill, Dies at 74 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/08/nyregion/guy-madison-a-movie-actor-and-tv-s-wild-bill-dies-at-74.html |access-date=2025-02-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Guy Madison, "Wild Bill Hickok' |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/02/08/guy-madison-wild-bill-hickok/ |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}} for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the U.S. Navy in 1942 during World War II. He had three brothers, Wayne, Harold, and David, and a sister, Rosemary. Wayne Moseley was an actor, using the stage name Wayne Mallory.{{cite journal|last1=Barnum|first1=Mike|title=Getting Paid to Play Cowboys and Indians! An Interview with Wayne Mallory|journal=Classic Images|date=March 2016|issue=489|pages=13–15, 66–70}}

Career

=David O. Selznick=

In 1944, Madison was visiting Hollywood on leave when his boyish good looks and physique caught the eye of Henry Willson, the head of talent at David O. Selznick's newly formed Vanguard Pictures. Willson was widely known for his stable of good-looking young actors with unusual names that he had bestowed upon them, and he immediately rechristened Moseley as Madison and cast him in a bit part as a sailor in Selznick's Since You Went Away (1944).

Although Madison was on the screen for only three minutes, the studio received thousands of letters from fans wanting to know more about him.{{cite web |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/guy-madison |title=Walk of Fame | website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |date=October 25, 2019 |access-date=2019-11-20}} He received extensive coverage in the influential fan magazines of the time, including Photoplay where his agent Henry Willson had once worked.{{cite magazine|title=What A Guy! |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjuldec100macf_0/page/n497 |magazine=Photoplay|access-date=2019-11-20 | quote="His is one of the most spectacular successes that has ever been scored on a single performance."}}{{cite magazine|title=Inside Stuff |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjanjun100macf_2/page/n251 |magazine=Photoplay |access-date=2019-11-20}}{{cite magazine|title=Tall and Tawny |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjanjun100macf_1/page/n469 |magazine=Photoplay |access-date=2019-11-20}}{{cite magazine|title=What A Guy! |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjuldec100macf_0/page/n433 |magazine=Photoplay |access-date=2019-11-20}}{{cite magazine|title=Life Story |url=https://archive.org/details/modernscreen3334unse/page/n3117 |magazine=Modern Screen|access-date=2019-11-20}}{{cite magazine|title=Star Light, Star Bright |url=https://archive.org/details/modernscreen3435unse/page/n699 |magazine=Modern Screen |access-date=2019-11-20}}{{cite magazine|title=The Torso |url=https://archive.org/details/modernscreen3132unse/page/n245 |magazine=Modern Screen |access-date=2019-11-20 | quote="Of course, a beautiful brute like Guy Madison will never have to be exactly a John Barrymore to get by. What Guy has is elemental; he's a hunk of young male man-a real, not a phony Apollo."}}

=RKO=

File:Guy Madison and Diana Lynn in "Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven".jpg in Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven, 1948]]

Madison returned to military service. When he got out, Selznick assigned his contract to RKO Pictures. RKO gave him a starring role in Till the End of Time, a drama about veterans returning after World War II (1946). The film was a big hit, although it was overshadowed by The Best Years of Our Lives, a film on a similar theme. However, Madison's acting was criticized as wooden.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaryguy-madison-1317901.html |title=OBITUARY:Guy Madison | website=Independent |date=February 8, 1996 |access-date=2019-11-20}}

Madison's second starring role paired him with fellow Selznick contract player Shirley Temple in Honeymoon (1947), which was a huge flop.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p. 220 His career began to suffer, in part because of his limited acting ability.{{cite magazine|title=Choose Your Star |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjuldec100macf_3/page/n231 |magazine=Photoplay|access-date=2019-11-20 | quote="You can be wrong. Behind-the-scenes factors as in the case of Guy Madison, are bound to affect eventual results. Headlines, too, will play their part."}}{{cite magazine |title=Here's Hollywood |url=https://archive.org/details/screenland5025unse/page/n67 |magazine=Screenland |access-date=2019-11-20 |quote="Guy Madison, not his fault because his part is much too big and important for a newcomer, just couldn't give his lines the proper meaning. Over and over they took the scene. Franchot [Tone] couldn't have been more patient and understanding."}}{{cite magazine |title=Dear Editor |url=https://archive.org/details/photoplayjanjun100macf_2/page/n119 |magazine=Photoplay|access-date=2019-11-20 }}

Madison was borrowed by William Castle for Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948). He also appeared in Massacre River (1949) and Drums in the Deep South (1951).

=''The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok''=

File:Guy Madison by Don Ornitz, 1954.jpg, 1954]]

Madison was eventually dropped by Selznick, along with most of Selznick's contract-players. In 1951 he was cast as the title character in the television series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951–58), co-starring Andy Devine as his pal, Pete "Jingles" Jones. During the run of the show, between 1952 and 1955, sixteen feature films were released by Monogram Pictures consisting of episodes combined into a continuous story.{{cite web |url=http://www.westernclippings.com/westernsof/guymadison_westernsof.shtml |title = Guy Madison Westerns by Boyd Magers}}

During its run, Madison also continued to make features: Red Snow (1952), a war movie for Columbia; The Charge at Feather River (1953), a Warner Brothers Western for Fox in 3-D and a huge hit; The Command (1954), another popular Western for Warner; 5 Against the House (1955), for Columbia; The Last Frontier (1955), supporting Victor Mature; On the Threshold of Space (1955), a science fiction film for Fox; Hilda Crane (1956), a melodrama for Fox; The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1957), shot in Mexico; The Hard Man (1957), a Western; and Bullwhip (1958), another Western.

=Europe=

Madison went to Britain for Jet Over the Atlantic (1959) then went to Europe, where he found greater success in sword-and-sandal, spaghetti Western and macaroni combat films. He went to Italy for Slave of Rome (1961), Sword of the Conqueror (1961), Women of Devil's Island (1962), and The Executioner of Venice (1963).

Madison went to Germany for Old Shatterhand (1964) then made a spaghetti Western, Desafío en Río Bravo (1964). He did Kidnapped to Mystery Island (1964), Gentlemen of the Night (1964), The Adventurer of Tortuga (1964), Legacy of the Incas (1965), Renegade Riders (1967), and Son of Django (1967).

He made Bang Bang Kid (1967), The Devil's Man (1967), Superargo and the Faceless Giants (1968), Long Days of Hate (1968), Hell in Normandy (1968), Battle of the Last Panzer (1969), and Reverend's Colt (1970).

Personal life

File:Gail Russell & Guy Madison, 1946.jpg (left), future wife of Guy Madison (right) April 1946]]

Madison married the actress Gail Russell in 1949. They separated in 1953 and divorced in October 1954.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wA0rAAAAIBAJ&pg=2075,2824969&dq=guy+madison+gail+russell&hl=en|title=Guy Madison Divorces Gail Russell|date=October 7, 1954|work=Reading Eagle|page=26|access-date=January 9, 2013}}

Later that month, Madison married actress Sheila Connolly in Juarez, Mexico. They had three daughters: Bridget, Erin, and Dolly. They separated in November 1960 and divorced in April 1963. He had an affair with Gia Scala and, before her death, she made him the beneficiary to her portion of the Screen Actors Pension Fund.Gia Scala: The First Gia{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d4BPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6867,5276230&dq=guy+madison+sheila&hl=en|title=Guy Madison's Second Wife Sues for Divorce|date=January 27, 1961|work=Ocala Star-Banner|access-date=January 9, 2013}}{{cite news|title=Wife Divorces Guy Madison, Cites Neglect|date=April 4, 1963|work=The Los Angeles Times|page=34}} He had a son, Robert Madison, who also became an actor.

He was a Republican who supported Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 34, Ideal Publishers

Death

Following his retirement, Madison built a large ranch home in Morongo Valley, California.{{cite book|last1=Meeks|first1=Eric G.|title=The Best Guide Ever to Palm Springs Celebrity Homes|date=2014|orig-year=2012|publisher=Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe|isbn=978-14 79328598|page=379}} He died of emphysema at the Desert Hospital Hospice in Palm Springs, California, on February 6, 1996, at the age of 74.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=As0yAAAAIBAJ&pg=4987,1305149&dq=guy+madison+emphysema&hl=en|title=Guy Madison dies; played Bill Hickok|date=February 8, 1996|work=Tuscaloosa News|page=2A|access-date=January 9, 2013}} He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.{{Cite web |url=http://cinememorial.com/acteur_GUY_MADISON_910.html |title=CineMemorial |access-date=October 21, 2018 |archive-date=October 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021190749/http://cinememorial.com/acteur_GUY_MADISON_910.html |url-status=dead }} His friend, actor turned stockbroker Don Burnett, spoke at his funeral.

Recognition

For his contribution to the radio and television industries, Madison has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star for his contributions to radio is located at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard; the star for his television contributions is located at 6333 Hollywood Boulevard

In 1996, a Golden Palm Star was dedicated to Madison on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.{{cite web |url=http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf |title=Palm Springs Walk of Stars by Date Dedicated |access-date=August 8, 2012 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013165655/http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf |archive-date=October 13, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Film

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1944

| Since You Went Away

| Sailor Harold E. Smith

|

1946

| Till the End of Time

| Cliff W. Harper

|

1947

| Honeymoon

| Corporal Phil Vaughn

|

1948

| Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven

| Eddie Tayloe

| Alternative title: The Girl from Texas

1949

| Massacre River

| Lieutenant Larry Knight

|

1951

| Drums in the Deep South

| Major Will Denning

|

rowspan=2 | 1952

| Smoky Canyon

| Henchman

| Uncredited

Red Snow

| Lieutenant Phil Johnson

|

1953

| The Charge at Feather River

| Miles Archer

|

1954

| The Command

| Captain Robert MacClaw

|

rowspan=2 | 1955

| 5 Against the House

| Al Mercer

|

The Last Frontier

| Capt. Glenn Riordan

| Alternative title: Savage Wilderness

rowspan=4 | 1956

| On the Threshold of Space

| Capt. Jim Hollenbeck

|

Hilda Crane

| Russell Burns

|

The Beast of Hollow Mountain

| Jimmy Ryan

|

Reprisal!

| Frank Madden aka Neola

| Executive producer

1957

| The Hard Man

| Steve Burden

|

1958

| Bullwhip

| Steve Daley

|

1959

| Jet Over the Atlantic

| Brett Murphy

|

rowspan=2 | 1961

| Slave of Rome

| Marco Valerio

| Alternative titles: La schiava di Roma, Slave Warrior

Sword of the Conqueror

| Amalchi

| Alternative title: Rosmunda e Alboino

1962

| Women of Devil's Island

| Henri Vallière

| Alternative title: Le prigioniere dell'isola del diavolo

1963

| The Executioner of Venice

| Rodrigo Zeno

| Alternative titles: Il boia di Venezia
Blood of the Executioner

rowspan=6 | 1964

| Old Shatterhand

| Capt. Bradley

| Alternative titles: Shatterhand
Apaches' Last Battle

Sandokan to the Rescue

| Yanez

|

Sandokan Against the Leopard of Sarawak

| Yanez

| Alternative title: Throne of Vengeance

Gunmen of the Rio Grande

| Wyatt Earp / Laramie

|

Kidnapped to Mystery Island

| Souyadhana

| Alternative title: I misteri della giungla nera

Gentlemen of the Night

| Massimo Tiepolo

| Alternative title: Il vendicatore mascherato

rowspan=2 | 1965

| The Adventurer of Tortuga

| Alfonso di Montélimar

| Alternative title: L'avventuriero della tortuga

Legacy of the Incas

| Jaguar / Karl Hansen

| Alternative titles: Das Vermächtnis des Inka
Viva Gringo

1966

| Five for Revenge

| Tex

| Alternative title: I cinque della vendetta

rowspan=4 | 1967

| LSD Flesh of Devil

| Rex Miller

| Alternative title: LSD – Inferno per pochi dollari

Renegade Riders

| Col. Thomas Blake

| Alternative title: Sette winchester per un massacro

Son of Django

| Father Fleming

| Alternative titles: Il figlio di Django
Return of Django

Bang Bang Kid

| Bear Bullock

| Alternative titles: The Bang-Bang Kid
Bang, Bang

rowspan=3 | 1968

| Superargo and the Faceless Giants

| Prof. Wendland Wond

|Alternative title: The King of Criminals

Long Days of Hate

| Martin Benson

| Alternative title: I lunghi giorni dell'odio

Hell in Normandy

| Capt. Jack Murphy

|Alternative title: Testa di sbarco per otto implacabili

rowspan=5 | 1969

| Battle of the Last Panzer

| Lofty

| Alternative title: La Battaglia dell'ultimo panzer

Un posto all'inferno

| Major Mac Graves

| Alternative title: Raiders of the Bloody Beach

Hell Commandos

| Major Carter

| Alternative title: Comando al infierno

The Devil's Man

| Mike

| Alternative title: Devilman Story

I diavoli della guerra

| Capt. George Vincent

|

1971

| Reverend's Colt

| Reverend Miller

| Alternative title: Reverendo Colt

1973

| The Silkworm

| Robert

| Alternative title: The Silk Worm

1975

| The Pacific Connection

| The Old Man

|

1976

| Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood

| Star at screening

|

1978

| Where's Willie?

| Tony Flore

| Alternative titles: Computer Kid
Computer Wizard

1979

| The Hughes Mystery

|

|

1989

| Crossbow: The Movie

| Gerrish

| Direct-to-video release

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Television

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1951–1958

| The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

| U.S. Marshal James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok

| 112 episodes

1955–1956

| The Ford Television Theatre

| Various roles

| 2 episodes

1955–1957

| Climax!

|

| 2 episodes

1957

| Wagon Train

| Riley Gratton

| Episode: "The Riley Gratton Story"

1958

| General Electric Theater

| Adam Tenney

| Episode: "Bold Loser"

1959

| Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

|

| Episode: "You Can't Win 'Em All"

1959

| The Ann Sothern Show

|

| Episode: "Katy and the Cowboy"

1959

| The Red Skelton Show

| Prospector

| Episode: "San Fernando's Treasure Hunt"

1960

| Death Valley Days

| Luke Short

| Episode: "Extra Guns"

1961

| Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater

| Jericho

| Episode: "Jericho"

1979

| Fantasy Island

| Brick Howard

| Episode: "Yesterday's Love/Fountain of Youth"

1979

| The Rebels

| Lieutenant Mayo

| Television film

1987–1988

| Crossbow

| Gerrish

| 3 episodes

1988

| Red River

| Bill Meeker, rancher

| Television film, (final film role)

Awards

class="wikitable sortable"
Year

! Award

! Category

1954

| Golden Globe Award

| Special Award (Best Western Star)

1986

| Golden Boot Awards

| Golden Boot

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Wise, James. Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997. {{ISBN|1557509379}}. {{OCLC|36824724}}.