Cowboy Way Jubilee!
See us in 2022
Celebrating EVERYTHING COWBOY!
It’s a Modern Day Wild West Show Experience!
Celebrities
All Celebrities & Dignitaries are scheduled to be on-site daily 11am to 5pm (Friday through Sunday). They may make an appearance at the Thursday Evening sing-a-long and most will be attending the Sunday Sure Shot Awards Banquet.
Cindy Mitchum Azbill
Niece of actor Robert Mitchum and daughter of actor/poet John Mitchum. Raised among the Hollywood Stars, she calls Ernest Borgnine, “Uncle Ernie”, among others!
Cindy has complied an amazing CD of her Father’s & Robert’s poetry read by Hollywood greats such as James Drury, and Robert Duvall
Lisa Belcher, Director
Shelby Bond 
(based on availability)
Shelby Bond (Cowboy Max) grew up in West Texas, riding and roping from a young age. He has been cracking jokes and whips for decades and has performed live for over 700,000 people worldwide. He’s entertained at events like The LA County Fair, The Imagine Festival London, The World Busker Festival in New Zealand, UK’s Camp Bestival, Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe and rodeos across Australia. He also voiced a character in “Red Dead Redemption 2” bringing Texas spirit to the video game.
Shelby says, “I love doing cowboy shows because it evokes an era gone by and the tricks and comedy are enjoyed as much by the adults as they are the kids.” He is also known as “Cowboy Max.”
Randy Boone
Born January 17, 1942, Clyde Randall Boone is an actor and country music singer. He is most well known for appearing in recurring episodes of all three 90 minute western television shows that aired during the 1960s: Wagon Train, The Virginian, and Cimarron Strip.”
At age twenty, Boone co-starred in his first acting role as Vern Hodges in the 1962–1963 NBC comedy-drama It’s a Man’s World, based on the activities of four young men living on a houseboat on the Ohio River. After It’s a Man’s World, Boone’s career skyrocketed. He guest starred on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour thereafter came his three Wagon Train episodes. Boone also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone. In 1963, Boone also
The Virginian cast in its second season appearing in 46 episodes over three seasons as the singing cowboy Randy Benton, a romantic interest for a time for Betsy Garth, played by Roberta Shore. Boone composed original songs that were featured in the series. For example, in a season four episode, “The Inchworm’s Got No Wings At All”, he sang and played his song during the opening credits, and the song’s melody continued throughout the episode, adding dimension and continuity to the story.
He won the Bronze Wrangler award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1966 for his acting in the episode titled “The Horse Fighter”.
While on The Virginian, he guest starred on David Janssen‘s ABC series The Fugitive. He also starred in the film Country Boy as Link Byrd, Jr., a country singer. After The Virginian, Boone guest starred on episodes of Combat!, Bonanza, and Hondo. From 1967 to 1968, Boone co-starred in the western series Cimarron Strip in the role of 25-year-old photographer Francis Wilde, who is also a part-time deputy to Marshal Jim Crown, portrayed by series star Stuart Whitman. Boone made several television appearances, including Emergency!, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and the cult movie Terminal Island in 1973. The following year, he appeared as Deputy Dickie Haycroft in the television movie Savages, and starred in Dr. Minx in 1975. His last role was as Farkas in the 1987 film The Wild Pair (also known as The Devil’s Odds), about a narcotics officer and an FBI agent.
Michael Boyd 
Michael Boyd, Motion Picture Costume Designer, was raised in Northern California and spent most weekends and summers on his Grandfather’s cattle ranch in the Lodi area. This environment of being around real Cowboys was the foundation for his lifelong love of the Westerns on TV. In 1972, Boyd graduated from high school and literally the next day, he headed with the family to Texas. In 1976 he graduated from Texas A and I University (now Texas A & M) in Kingsville, Texas, home of the famous King Ranch. Having married his college sweetheart that same year, he settled into teaching school in Victoria, Texas. In 1982 an opportunity arose to be an extra in a 25-minute segment on a show called “Texas and Tennessee: A Musical Affair”. The segment wasfilmed at Alamo Village (the old John Wayne Alamo set) in Bracketville, Texas was a recreation of the Alamo story. Bitten by the movie bug, over the next couple of years he did extra work and even got a few speaking parts in movies. In 1987, an opportunity would present itself that would change everything. He was offered the costume design job on the IMAX movie “Alamo: The Price of Freedom.” Filming was, again, at Alamo Village. From there Boyd began work in earnest in costuming movies. In 1991, he won an Emmy Award for Best Achievement in Costuming for a Miniseries or Special for the Custer miniseries “Son of the Morning Star.” In 1993 he was accepted into the Costume Designers Guild, Local 892 in Los Angeles. For over 30 years Boyd has been blessed with a very active career in wardrobe design with a variety of different projects; 43 projects, to be exact. Many costume design projects were Westerns, including the remake of “Monte Walsh” starring Tom Selleck; and, Spielberg’s 12-hour miniseries “Into the West.” Michael garnered another Emmy nomination and Designers Guild nomination in 2006). Boyd’s most recent Western was an episode of the anthology series on Netflix, “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings”(Episode: JJ Sneed).
Boyd continues to reside in Victoria, Texas with his wife of 45 years. They have 2 children and 6 grandchildren, all of them raised with a deep respect and appreciation for the Westerns both in history and film.
John Buttram 
Nephew of well-known actor and side kick to Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, John Buttram has made a name for himself as he tries to carry on his uncles legacy. John has emceed the Gathering of the Guns festival for many years, starting out with them in Olive Branch Mississippi and trailing along when the event moved to Tunica Mississippi.
John is proud of the way he can imitate his uncle Pat voice to the letter. He has been asked to be the voice in two films:Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen (TV Movie documentary) , Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen in 2007. And his voice can be heard in The Trail of Tears:Cherokee Legacy in 2006. Come visit with John and listen to the tales he can tell about Uncle Pat.
Robert “Bobby” Carradine
Known to Western fans for his roles in The Cowboys and Long Riders, Robert Carradine is a consummate actor who comes by his talent honestly. He is the son of John Carradine, Robert is the younger brother of Keith Carradine and Chris Carradine as well as the younger half-brother of David Carradine, Bruce Carradine and Michael Bowen. In addition to working in modern Westerns, Robert thrilled a generation with his most memorable performance in Revenge of the Nerds becoming the icon for ‘nerds’ worldwide. His role as of the “Sam McGuire” on the television series, Lizzie McGuire, “Lizzie’s father,” introducing Carradine to another generation of fans. With a wide range of film and television roles, from Westerns to sci-fi and about everything inbetween, some speculate he is the best amongst a great family of actors.
Gary Clarke
Being and performing in front of people has always been paramount in Gary’s life except for the time that his father embarrassed him so badly that he peed his pants. That incident lead to the early discovery that making people laugh would create many positive opportunities and open many doors to contributing to people around the world. It soon became clear, however, that one could not simply joke his way through life. Life, he discovered, is much more than “This rabbi walks into a bar…”
He followed fate’s fickle finger when it pointed to acting. As a result, his first professional job was the starring role in a full-length movie. Over the next 12 years, scores of plays, numerous television appearances and several movies led to starring roles in three television series: “Michael Shayne,” “Hondo” and “The Virginian.” Photoplay Magazine voted him “The Most Promising Newcomer.” We don’t know if the results of that poll would repeat itself today given that Gary’s late mother is no longer on Photoplay’s board of directors. But, we digress.
Gary’s penchant for writing, though given a back seat years before, ultimately burst forth in a blaze. An idea for a story for a new series being developed by NBC (something about a bumbling spy) caught the eye of the show’s co-creators, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Gary was hired to write several segments based on the character that he’d created especially for the show, which was, by the way, called “Get Smart.” The character he created was “Hymie, the robot.”
Writing screenplays and plays are his passion (aside from his lovely wife, Jerrene, and his two beautiful daughters, Ava, 23, and Natalie, 16). Along the way he has made major dramatic contributions to his church by writing and producing their radio and TV commercials, and their in-church dramas for the past eleven years. Also, along those same lines, he has won an Emmy and a Telly.
James Drury (Rest in Peace Sir!)
The 2021 Memorial has been Cancelled.
Starting his film career in small roles at M-G-M, it was at 20th Century Fox that Jim started to be noticed by fans in films like, Forbidden Planet and The Last Wagon. In his next film, Love Me Tender, he played one of the Reno brothers alongside Richard Egan and Elvis Presley, in his first film role. On television he guest starred on many westerns such as, Broken Arrow, The Texan, Bronco, Have Gun Will Travel, Cheyenne, The Rebel, The Rifleman, and Lawman, just to name a few. During this time Disney Studios took noticed and cast him in several projects including, The Nine Live of Elfago Baca, Toby Tyler, Pollyanna, and Ten Who Dared.
In 1962 Jim appeared in the film classic Ride the High Country alongside western legends Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea. That same year would bring fame and great appreciation of fans all over the world when Jim was cast as The Virginian, which ran for ine seasons and 249 episodes ending its run under the name, The Men from Shiloh in 1971.
In 1991 he was recognized for his contributions by being inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers,
at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, in Oklahoma City. His website is www.TheViriginian.net.
Ken Farmer
Named to the Hall of Fame for Western Writers
“Ken Farmer’s dialogue flows like a beautiful western river…it’s the gold standard.” — Carole Beers
Ken Farmer didn’t write his first full novel until he was sixty-nine years of age. He often wonders what the hell took him so long. At age seventy-nine, he released novel #37 on Sept. 19th…Three Creeks. it just may be his opus. He has released #38, book two in the Three Creeks series…Red Hill Road, followed by #39, book #3 in the series…The Pond. The Three Creeks series is late 1940s Southern Noir Mysteries in the vein of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Rock Hole by Reavis Wortham.
The first in the series, Three Creeks just won the Firebird Award for Best Mystery of 2020. Book #2 Red Hill Road has won the Firebird Award for Best Mystery of 2021 and Best Southern Noir — 2021. Novel #36 was Skinwalker Justice, a Western Supernatural thriller, book #5 in the Silke Justice series. Steeldust, started the Bone & Lorranie spin-off with modern day detectives, Bone and Loraine being accidentally transported back in time to 1898. Current WIP are #39, Dalia Marrh, book # 6 in the Silke Justice series.
Ken spent thirty years raising cattle and quarter horses in Texas and forty-five years as a professional actor (after a stint in the Marine Corps), Ken spent thirty years raising Beefmaster cattle and Quarter horses in Texas and forty-five years as a professional actor (after a stint in the Marine Corps).
Those years gave him a background for storytelling…or as he has been known to say, “I’ve always been a bit of a bull—t artist, so writing novels kind of came naturally once it occurred to me I could put my stories down on paper. I don’t write about outlaws and peace officers…I write about people. Plus he did such movies as Silverado, Uncommon Valor, The Newton Boys, and Friday Night Lights. He also performed in over fifty TV shows like, Dallas, Walker, Texas Ranger, and General Hospital. He quit counting commercials at 260. His most famous was as spokesman for Wolf Brand Chili® which ran for eight years.
Ken’s writing style has been likened to a combination of Louis L’Amour and Terry C. Johnston with an occasional Hitchcockian twist. In addition to his love for writing fiction, he likes to teach acting, voice-over and writing workshops. His favorite expression is: “Just tell the damn story.”
Writing has become Ken’s second life: he has been a Marine, played collegiate football, been a Texas wildcatter, cattle and horse rancher, professional film and TV actor and now…a novelist. Who knew?
“I’ve read many Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour novels, but I enjoy Ken Farmer’s the best!” — Dr. Ernest Martin, DDS.
Contact Ken: pagact@yahoo.com or Ken Farmer on Facebook
Web site: www.kenfarmer-author.net
Blog: www.kenfarmer-author.net/blog.html
https://www.facebook.com/KenFarmerAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pagact
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/Ken-Farmer/e/B0057OT3YI
Kathy Garver
Born in Long Beach, California, Kathy Garver is most fondly remembered for her starring role as “Cissy” in the long running television hit, “Family Affair”. She is the ultimate actress with film, stage, and radio experience. Ms. Garver has also done voice-over animation, audio book narration, songwriting, and is an energetic motivational speaker.
At age 15, Kathy entered UCLA as a speech major. It was there that she began her professional career in radio and stage productions. Her breakthrough role was as a slave girl in Cecil DeMille’s “Ten Commandments.” He was impressed enough to have a scene written especially for Garver. While still a freshman, Kathy won the role of “Cissy” and the next five years was busy! The Family Affair cast would film up to six episodes at a time. It was cancelled at it’s peak due to the ‘rural purge’ in 1970s Hollywood.
After “Family Affair,” Kathy continued her studies at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She returned to UCLA to earn a Master’s Degree in Theater Arts. Ms. Garver has won Best Actress from the Family Television Awards as well as a Golden Halo Award, an Audie Award (for voice work), and the Emerald Award for her lifetime achievement in the entertainment world.
Ms. Garver produced, narrated and wrote lyrics and original music for eight audio Beatrix Potter tales and eight Mother Goose based audiotapes for Smarty Pants, Inc., which have sold over two million copies and have won numerous awards.
Most recently her work includes appearing in “The Princess Diaries,” “Sweet November,” and Kathy is starring in a new television series, “Aunt Cissy” premiering in January of 2020 based on her role as “Cissy” in “Family Affair” but now all grown up. You may follow “Aunt Cissy” on Facebook.
Kathy met her husband of 33 years, business executive David Travis, on a tennis court in Palm Springs – truly a love match. Their son, Reid Garver Travis, continues the tradition of show business by appearing in national commercials, TV, movies and by doing voice overs. Her website is www.KathyGarver.com.
Burton Gilliam 
Best known (and beloved) for his role in Blazing Saddles, Burton Gilliam is a consummate character actor. A native Texan and Dallasite, he appeared in the role of “Floyd”, the desk clerk in the movie Paper Moon. Gilliam has also appeared in popular motion pictures such as Back to the Future Part III as well as roles in several other motion pictures such as Honeymoon in Vegas, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Farewell, My Lovely, Fletch, Gator, Telefon, and The Terror Within II.
His television appearances include Alice, Charlie’s Angels, The A-Team,The Dukes Of Hazzard, The Fall Guy, and he appeared as a regular on Evening Shade.
Gilliam is married to Susan Gilliam. They have two children together. His granddaughter his gymnast Hollie Vise.
Clu Gulager 
(Mr. Gulager no longer travels.)
Clu appeared in many early TV western classics including, Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun – Will Travel, Laramie, and Audie Murphy’s TV series, Whispering Smith. In 1961, he played Billy the Kid for The Tall Man. In 1966, Clu was added to the cast of The Virginian, as Deputy Sheriff Emmett Ryker, where he rode with the men of Shiloh for four seasons through most of season six. Clu continued to guest star in dozens of television presentations including TV westerns like, Bonanza, Kung Fu, The North and the South, Book II, and Walker Texas Ranger. His numerous films include, The Last Picture Show, The Killers, and McQ with John Wayne. Recently, Clu appears in his son’s (John Gulagar) films such as Feast whose executive producers included Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Wes Craven. And he appeared in the 2012 comedy/horror film Piranha 3DD, alongside David Hasselhoff, Christopher Lloyd, and Gary Busey.
Mary Deese Hampton,
wife of actor, the late James Hampton
From his first film, “The Cliffdwellers”, which was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Short Subject Film” in 1962, to the multi-award winning movie “Sling Blade”, James Hampton’s career as an actor, writer and director spans over 40 years. One of the most familiar faces on television and film, James has had memorable roles in motion pictures such as “Teen Wolf”, “The Longest Yard”, “The China Syndrome”, “Police Academy V”, “Condorman”, “Hangar 18” and “Pump Up The Volume”. On t.v., James was the tone-deaf bugler Hannibal Dobbs on “F Troop” and starred in countless other hit shows such as “Gunsmoke”, “The Rockford Files”, “The Dukes of Hazzard”, “Melrose Place”, “Full House”, and “Murder She Wrote” to name just a few.
James has been honored with a Golden Globe Award Nomination, a Screen Actor’s Guild Award Nomination, a Bronze Halo Award and has appeared in over 20 Academy Award and Emmy Award winning projects. He has been referred to as a ”living bridge” between Old Hollywood and New Hollywood, having worked alongside many stars such as Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Jack Lemon, Burt Reynolds, Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, Michael J. Fox, Jason Bateman and Billy Bob Thornton.
In the 1990s and 2000s, James also directed nearly 50 television shows such as “Sister Sister”,”Smart Guy”, “The Tony Danza Show”, “Evening Shade”, “Boston Common”, “Grace Under Fire”, “Lincs” and “Hearts Afire”.
James has completed filming the upcoming movies “Flutter” produced by “24’s” Glenn Morshower, “Big Stone Gap” starring Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg and “Divine Access”, starring Billy Burke and Gary Cole. He also recently appeared in “The Last Ride” starring “E.T’s” Henry Thomas, as well as the horror film “Jacob” starring Michael Biehn.
Darby Hinton
Darby Hinton was born in Santa Monica, California on August 19, 1957. His father, actor Edgar Latimer “Ed” Hinton, Jr. (1927–1958), was a native of Wilmington, North Carolina. Darby Hinton made his acting debut at the age of six months and as a child actor appeared in many commercials, films, and television series. He attended high school at the American School in Lugano, Switzerland, and then went to college on the World Campus Afloat Institute for Shipboard Education, a cruise ship that traveled the world to study different societies. He returned to California to continue his studies at Pepperdine University while continuing to make TV appearances
One of Darby’s great interests is the martial arts, and he is skilled in the JKD concept of fighting. He remained quite close to his Daniel Boone co-star Fess Parker, who became something of a surrogate father to him over the years. His own father, actor Ed Hinton, died in a plane crash when he was just over a year old, and his mother never remarried. He is the brother of actresses Daryn and Darcy Hinton.
Hinton’s acting debut at the age of six months old was in the arms of Jayne Mansfield in the TV show Playhouse 90“. In 1962 he played Jafar Mainwaring, a child character in the 1962 film Hero’s Island. In 1963, he was cast in an uncredited role in Walt Disney’s Son of Flubber and as Rocky in the episode “Getting Ed’s Goat” of CBS’s sitcom, Mr. Ed, starring Alan Young and Connie Hines. Shortly before he was cast as Israel Boone, Hinton appeared as Benjie Diel in the 90-minute episode “The Ben Engel Story” of ABC’s western series Wagon Train. He went on to appear in numerous features and television shows. One day his mother dropped him off at Twentieth Century Fox (dressed in knee high socks and a lederhosen) to audition for a role in The Sound of Music, and the boy unintentionally got lost. He wandered into the wrong line of kids; by the time his mother found him, Darby had turned in his lederhosen for a coonskin cap to play Fess Parker’s son Israel, on Daniel Boone, for the next six years. Check out his entire career here on the IMDB website.
He appeared in 110 of the Daniel Boone episodes beginning with the September 24, 1964, premiere, “Ken-Tuck-E”, a reference to Kentucky, the setting of the series. Patricia Blair played his mother, Rebecca Boone; Veronica Cartwright, his sister, Jemima Boone. Ed Ames and Dallas McKennon co-starred as the Cherokee tribesman Mingo and innkeeper Cincinnatus. Hinton’s last Daniel Boone roles, filmed when he was twelve, were in the 1969–70 season: “A Very Small Rifle”, “The Road to Freedom”, “The Printing Press”, “Target Boone”, “Hannah Comes Home”, and “Sunshine Patriots”.
After Daniel Boone, Hinton acted with appearances as Hal Parker in “This Will Really Kill You” (1970), of NBC’s The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, as Tom Woods in “Legacy of Fear” (1971) of ABC’s Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, appeared in an episode of The Big Valley which also included a young Richard Dreyfuss, as James Scott in “How to Steal a Submarine” (1975) of CBS’s Hawaii Five-O, starring Jack Lord, and as Buddy Moran in “Beauty Knows No Pain” (1981) of CBS’s Magnum, P.I., starring Tom Selleck. In 1982 and 1983, he appeared in two episodes of ABC’s The Fall Guy starring Lee Majors. From 1985-86, Hinton was cast as the second Ian Griffith on NBC’s daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives. He was named in the starring role of Cody Abilene in the 1985 Andy Sidaris film, Malibu Express.
Hinton has also been starring as the patriarch of Greystone Mansion in the Theater 40 production of The Manor in Beverly Hills, inspired by the true and tragic events that took place in this historic Doheny Mansion where they perform. In February 2011 Hinton starred in the theater production The Last Laugh by playwright Bill Svanoe and directed by Emmy winner Blake Bradford and starring Joan Darling. Hinton also worked on the History Channel mini-series Texas Rising that aired Memorial Day 2015. Most recently he had a starring role in Bill Tilghman and The Outlaws, Wayne Shipley, Director, a 2019 release.
Hinton is a member of the SAG/AFTRA Young Performers Committee, an active member of A Minor Consideration, and on the Advisory Committee of Looking Ahead, all geared to helping the creative youth of today experience the best of life while helping them avoid the pitfalls that have plagued young artists of the past and present.
James Hoffpauir
James Hoffpauir is an actor and director, known for Hero In The Rain (2005), Truth or Fiction (2011), and Sundown (2013). He has written, directed, acted, and produced lasting and innate messages throughout his work. James is a perfectionist. In 2012 he founded his own production company called Crossroads Live. Hoffpauir has interviewed many well know stars such as Robert Fuller, Alex Cord, Michael Dante, and many others. His interviews can be seen on his Facebook page “Crossroads Live Show with Jim and Debbie.”
Dean Reading
Dean Reading, best known for his online show, Crossroads Live!, was raised on a ranch in Fort Bend County, Texas. Having competed in high school and college rodeos, he went on to compete in professional rodeos in the seventies and eighties. Reading graduated from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and English and a secondary Teaching Certificate. In the 1980s, Reading was the Program Director for Group W Cable in Grapevine, Texas for several years where he produced, directed and appeared in several TV programs. Some of these programs were syndicated thru the Group W Cable systems and several TV stations throughout the Southwest. Six Shooter Junction, Texas Traditions, and Entertainment Clipboard were among these productions. Reading then worked on several films in the transportation department, local casting department, and appeared periodically as an actor. He taught advanced film acting at Actor’s Preparatory Studio in Fort Worth for two years as well as teaching video production at Video Technical Institute for a year.
Roberta Shore
Roberta Jymme Schourop (born April 7, 1943, Monterey Park, California), better known as Roberta Shore, is an American actress and performer, most famous for her youthful television and movie roles in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Though never a Mouseketeer, Shore co-starred in several Walt Disney productions featuring the Mouseketeers and thus came to be associated with them. She appeared as Annette Funicello‘s rival Laura Rogan in Annette’s self-titled series and as French-speaking Franceska in The Shaggy Dog (1959).
Aside from Disney, Shore had a featured role in the 1959 screen version of Blue Denim, duetting with Warren Berlinger, and an uncredited cameo appearance in A Summer Place as Sandra Dee‘s gossipy schoolmate Anne Talbert. Later she played Ricky Summers in the 1960 movie Because They’re Young, Jenny Bell in The Young Savages (1961), and in an uncredited role as Lorna in Stanley Kubrick‘s 1962 version of Lolita.
Shore’s television credits include appearances on Playhouse 90, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Donna Reed Show, The Lawrence Welk Show (a singing appearance in 1959), several Western series including Maverick, Wagon Train, The Tall Man, and Laramie, and regular roles on Father Knows Best (as Joyce, Bud Anderson’s girl friend), The New Bob Cummings Show and The Virginian.
In 1957, Shore played the role of popular literary detective Nancy Drew in a 1957 pilot that was produced by Desilu for CBS. The project was not picked up due to disapproval from the owners of the franchise. She co-starred alongside actors Tim Considine and Frankie Thomas.
Shore was featured very prominently as a series regular within the first three seasons of The Virginian as Betsy Garth, the daughter of Shiloh Ranch owner Judge Garth played by Lee J. Cobb. Though no longer a regular in the fourth season, she returned in the fourth episode of that season (#95 “The Awakening”) in a story in which Betsy meets and falls for a gentleman played by Glenn Corbett. A disillusioned former minister, Corbett’s character finds his way back to his belief in God and by story’s end finally proposes to Betsy. The episode ends with the couple being wed at Shiloh Ranch by Judge Garth himself before the newlyweds ride off to Pennsylvania where Corbett’s character is to become the minister of a church.
After the mid-1960s, Shore did little in the way of movies or television. In 1962, she starred alongside Candy Moore in a failed television pilot Time Out for Ginger. She emerged in 1984 as a radio disc jockey and program host in Salt Lake City, Utah. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[2] Shore and then-husband Ron Frederickson auditioned for the parts of Ishmael and his wife Leah in a 2004 movie adaptation of the Book of Mormon. While her husband won the role of Ishmael, the producers felt Shore’s earlier fame would detract from the movie’s message and chose actress Sheryl Lee Wilson to play Leah. As a child Roberta was cast as the Yodeler for “It’s a Small World”.
Antigoni Tsamparlis,
life-partner of the late James Stacy
Best known for his starring role in the western series Lancer, actor James Stacy also appeared in many other westerns including Cheyenne, Palladin, Cimarron Strip, and several episodes of Gunsmoke.
In addition to the western genre, James also appeared in movies such as South Pacific, Spartacus, Sayonara, Winter a-go-go, Summer Magic, A Swinging Summer and Something Wicked This Way Comes. James was also a series regular on Ozzie and Harriet and appeared in 3 Donna Reed Show episodes.
James lost an arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident in 1973. He returned to acting a year later and costarred with Kirk Douglas in the western movie Posse. He earned two Emmy nominations and was recently posthumously portrayed by Timothy Oliphant in Quinten Tarantino’s movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood .
Meet his long time partner, Antigoni Tsamparlis who shares personal stories and memories with Stacy’s steadfast fans.
Lana Wood
Provocative and ever the temptress in her prime, the dark-maned, gorgeous Lana Wood was born Svetlana Gurdin in Santa Monica, California, the younger daughter of Nikolai Stephanovich Zakharenko and Maria Stepanovna Zudilov, émigrés of Ukrainian and Russian descent. Barely speaking comprehensible English, they subsequently changed the family name to Gurdin after becoming US citizens. Both her parents’ families fled their Russian homeland following the Communist takeover and the couple met and married in San Francisco. Lana’s more famous acting sister was christened Natalia eight years earlier and the third girl in the family was a half-sister named Olga, her mother’s child.
Lana was inevitably drawn into films as a result of sister Natalie’s overwhelming success. She made her “debut” as a baby in Natalie’s “B” film Driftwood (1947) only to have her cute bit cut from the picture. Her first screen credit actually came with the John Ford classic The Searchers (1956) as a younger version of Natalie’s character, and she was off and running.
In an effort to break away from her sister’s looming shadow and find her own place in Hollywood, Lana set out to secure TV roles and did quite well on such popular programs including Have Gun – Will Travel (1957), Dr. Kildare (1961) and The Fugitive (1963). In 1965 she earned a contract at Twentieth Century-Fox and was cast in her first television series, The Long, Hot Summer (1965). Better yet was her 1966 breakthrough role as hash-slinging waitress “Sandy Webber” on the original prime-time soap opera smash Peyton Place (1964), which she played for two seasons. Lana developed an earthy “bad girl” persona. Her character femmes bore typical hard-luck stories–tarnished girls from the wrong side of the tracks who were often more trouble than they were worth.
After Peyton Place (1964), Lana continued her film career. She kept her name alive on TV as well, making the guest rounds on The Wild Wild West (1965), Bonanza (1959), The Felony Squad (1966) and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1967).
A major career boost presented itself in the form of producer Albert R. Broccoli (nicknamed “Cubby”), who offered her the role of Bondian femme fatale “Plenty O’Toole” in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) opposite Sean Connery. She stayed fairly active throughout the next decade or so with several TV movies and the films Grayeagle (1977) and Satan’s Mistress (1982). Marriages during the 1970s included a union with actor/co-star Richard Smedley, whom she met on the set of A Place Called Today (1972). They produced her only child, daughter Evan, in 1974. She married producer Allan Balter after meeting him during the filming of Captain America (1979). In the mid-’80s she appeared for a time on the daytime soap opera Capitol (1982) but made a decision to move away from the acting arena after this period.
Later years included behind-the-camera work as a producer, which included co-producing the ABC-TV special The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004). She also had her own casting company at one point. Most recently you may see Ms. Wood in Bill Tilghman & The Outlaws. Lana is a devoted animal lover.
Mark Staggs — “Festus Hagen,” Master of Ceremonies
Mark Staggs has been doing comic celebrity impersonations since 1966. He started making people “laff” in the third grade impersonating Bill Cosby and John Wayne. “It only took me 40 years to git good,” says Mark, “Now I do over 100 voices and growing”. Mark currently travels the country doing Christian comedy and capturing the hearts of Gunsmoke fans with his wonderful Festus impersonation. He even took “Newley” by surprise “He’s scary”, quotes Buck Taylor when first introduced to Mark’s “Festus ” for the first time at The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo 2017.
Rick Mantooth, Question & Answer Sessions Moderator
Vice President and General Manager of Foster Communications Co., Rich Mantooth has been involved in radio broadcasting for over 40 years, 34 years of which have been in San Angelo. He has also served as an on-air personality at radio station 94.7 KIXY-FM, where he performs under the name of Jay Michaels while speaking to listeners in the San Angelo area.
Rick also has experience in newspaper and television ventures and has won numerous awards for producing great local advertisements.
While not working in the media, Mantooth is a pillar in the San Angelo community, participating in numerous local charitable efforts, taking on many leadership roles on various councils and committees in the San Angelo community and serving at his local church. He grew up on Westerns and knows a lot of trivia about them.
Charles Williams, Moderator, Authors’ Question and Answer Sessions
Charles Williams, is the Executive Director of the Will Rogers Medallion Award Committee. He is a long-time Dallas, Texas resident and a member of the Dallas, Texas Gene Autry Fan Club.
Originally created to honor outstanding volumes of Cowboy Poetry, the Will Rogers Medallion Award includes other categories as interest and reader demand increased. Will Rogers was an accomplished author as well as a cowboy entertainer, and the purpose of the Award is to honor this facet of his legacy as well as to highlight current books that embody strong content, excellent production values, and enduring interest. The Annual Award Show is hosted in the Ft. Worth Stockyards during Red Steagall’s Cowboy Gathering, attracting authors from as far away as Canada, Wyoming, the Dakotas, and Montana.
Authors – see our new Authors & LookALikes page
Note all appearances are posted in good faith–health and work schedules permitting.
See our Facebook Group “Cowboy Ways Nowadays” for up to the minute information on the Cowboy Way Jubilee event. Post who you want to see at our next Cowboy Way Jubilee!
Like our Facebook Page “Cowboy Way Jubilee” and sign up for our event on Facebook “2020 Cowboy Way Jubilee” — it’s a great place to find roommates, share rides, etc… (at your own risk, of course)
For more info or questions, email CowboyWayFest@gmail.com, or call or text Leslei Fisher 580.768.5559.