Charles Starrett (Durango Kid) Vintage Hand Autographed Signed Photograph

Description: Charles Robert Starrett (March 28, 1903 – March 22, 1986), was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the Durango Kid westerns. Starrett still holds the record for starring in the longest series of theatrical features: 131 westerns, all produced by Columbia Pictures. Vintage Boldly Hand Autographed Signed Photograph. Very Good Condition. He played the romantic lead in his first movie, Fast and Loose (1930), which starred Frank Morgan, Miriam Hopkins, and Carole Lombard. Starrett starred in the Canadian production The Viking (1931), a rugged outdoor adventure filmed on location in Newfoundland, which had begun as a Paramount Pictures project. Starrett was very active for the next two years, playing juvenile leads for both major and minor studios. He was featured in Our Betters (1933), Murder on Campus (1933), and as a young doctor named Orion in "Along Came Love", opposite Irene Harvey. Of Starrett's early character appearances, today's viewers may be most familiar with the Will Rogers picture Mr. Skitch (1933), featuring Starrett as the romantic lead. Offscreen, Charles Starrett helped organize the Screen Actors Guild. He held membership card #10. The Durango Kid After playing assorted rancher, ranger, and sheriff roles, Charles Starrett was cast as The Durango Kid in 1940. The character was an upright citizen known and liked by the townsfolk, but he masqueraded as a notorious, black-garbed horseman to terrorize the local criminals and foil their plans. The film was successful but not much different from some of Starrett's earlier good-guy-chasing-bad-guy roles. The character was revived five years later in The Return of the Durango Kid, which caught on very quickly. Starrett played an amiable cowpoke named Steve (the last name varied but he was always Steve to his friends), who would become angered by injustice and go after the villains as the mysterious, elusive Durango Kid. Steve's paint horse was named "Bullet" and Durango's white horse was "Raider." A follow-up film was made, and then a series. One favorite device became a signature: the masked Durango Kid suddenly materializing like Superman, always catching the villains by surprise. The Durango Kid rejuvenated Charles Starrett's career, winning him a new generation of loyal fans, a new five-year contract, and even a comic-book adaptation, Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid (1949-1955), published by Magazine Enterprises. The film series was also a useful training ground for novice actresses and fashion models, who would be signed to six-month contracts and cast as cowgirls in Starrett westerns. Dub Taylor comic sidekick "Cannonball", worked with Starrett until 1946. At that time, Smiley Burnette, who had been a very popular sidekick to Gene Autry, was brought in to replace Taylor. Burnette, appropriately enough, played a character called "Smiley Burnette." The Durango Kid films combined vigorous action sequences—often with spectacular stunts performed by Ted Mapes and later Jock Mahoney—and western music. Each film featured musical specialties by Burnette and by a guest artist or group from records or radio. In 1947 producer Colbert Clark faced a scheduling problem for the film Prairie Rainders and had to borrow scenes from older westerns to coax the running time up to the usual length. Thus Starrett's The Lone Hand Texan (1947) was filmed in nine days,[14] but Prairie Raiders was finished in four. This emergency measure was only temporary, and the series returned to its standard schedule of six to nine days each until 1949 when the series faced a challenge. Production costs kept rising but the financial return was limited, so the budgets were cut. Now, every all-new Durango Kid adventure alternated with a "cheater" that filmed new scenes for about half the picture and filled out the hour with old scenes from the film library. Sometimes the scripting and editing were very clever. Streets of Ghost Town (1950) was built around chunks from the 1946 westerns Gunning for Vengeance and Landrush, and the new scenes were staged in a deserted town, saving money on supporting actors, extras, stuntmen, sets, and props. In Cyclone Fury (1951), footage from four older Starrett westerns is worked into the plot. The final Durango Kid feature was The Kid from Broken Gun (1952), with the new footage set in a courtroom and the old footage illustrating the testimony of the various characters. Columbia was beginning to use this same recycling gambit in its action serials and The Three Stooges comedies. The net proceeds donated between two different dog rescues. Thank you for your support. ALL MY ITEMS SOLD HAVE A 100% UNCONDITIONAL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

Price: 19.99 USD

Location: Phoenix, Arizona

End Time: 2024-11-17T14:33:21.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD