L.Q.Jones, the sandy-haired giant with the high cheekbones, warm smile and ice-cold blue eyes, is set to celebrate his 94th birthday this August. He’s been a constant, mostly menacing, screen presence for five decades. His last film was 2006’s Prairie Home Companion. The veteran of hundreds of big and small-screen performances recently told True West, “We didn't know it while it was taking place, but when we did The Wild Bunch, it changed the way the pictures were accepted, changed them 180 degrees. And, oddly enough, I happened to be in another picture, The Mask of Zorro, that changed it back.” He explained that the former brought an unflinching look at brutal violence, and the latter marked a return to thrills with less realistic blood-letting. It’s no surprise that his lengthy career has bridged many cinematic trends.
He got his boot in the door thanks to his former University of Texas in Austin roommate, Fess Parker, who also got fraternity brother the late Morgan Woodward his first role. Woodward recalled, “Fess sneaked him in to see director Raoul Walsh, and L.Q. is so crazy, he convinced him that he ought to be in the picture.” It didn’t hurt that Fess, by then TV’s Davy Crockett, also got writer and future director Burt Kennedy to rewrite L.Q.’s dull audition scene. L.Q. was so pleased with the role that he took his character’s name for his own; until then he’d been Justus McQueen.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2021-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July - August 2021-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
Hero of Horsepower - Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
From the Basin to the Plains
Discover Wyoming on a road trip to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.
Spencer's West
After the Civil War, savvy frontiersmen chose the Spencer repeating carbine.
Firearms With a Storied Past
Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.
She Means Business!
An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.
Ride that Train!
HERITAGE RAILROADS KEEP THE OLD WEST ALIVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
Saddle Up with a Western
Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.
