Bill Cody Western Movies to Watch Free.
Bill Cody, born William Joseph Cody Jr., (January 5, 1891 – January 24, 1948) was a Hollywood B-western actor of the 1920s, 1930s and into the 1940s, and father to Bill Cody, Jr..
Cody, often called “the reel Bill Cody”, began his acting career in the early days of film, and just happened to have the same name as “Buffalo” Bill Cody, although being of no relation. The name was, initially, what drew producers to Cody. However, he soon proved to be a charismatic performer in his own right.
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of William F. Cody and Lillian Isabel Johnson, Cody was said to have attended Saint Thomas Military Academy, and later St. Johns University. Immediately out of college, he joined the Metropolitan Stock Company, touring the U.S. and Canada.
This eventually led him to Hollywood. In 1922 he began working as a stuntman. Jesse Goldburg, liking Cody, signed him to an eight series film deal for the 1924-1925 season. Golburg’s company, Independent Pictures, although known for being made for as little money as possible, had gained a good reputation for having good casting and locations for their films. The first of the series starring Cody was Dangerous Days, directed by J.P. McGowan. That was followed by The Fighting Sheriff, with the rest of the series out over the next six months.
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Following the Independent Pictures series, Cody starred in two films for Associated Exhibitors, The Galloping Cowboy and King of the Saddle, both released in 1926. That same year he starred in Arizona Whirlwind released through Pathé. In 1927 he starred in Born to Battle, which gave him an opportunity to exhibit his horse riding skills and to use a bull whip on screen, and two more Bill Cody Productions boasting stories supposedly concocted by Cody himself: Gold From Weepah and Laddie, Be Good. Agile and pleasant in appearance, Cody ended his silent film career by starring in a group of action pictures released by Universal which temporarily removed him from the western milieu: The Price of Fear, Wolves of the City, The Tip-Off, Slim Fingers and Eyes of the Underworld.
His first talking feature was Under Texas Skies, starring Bob Custer, in 1930. Many former silent film stars failed to be accepted by the public with the advent of sound pictures, and many could not make a successful transition. However, Cody’s pace never lessened, and he was in demand immediately following his first “talky”, despite his well-known difficulty with the memorization of dialogue. Late in 1934, producer Ray Kirkwood signed Cody to a contract, to make a series of cowboy thrillers for release through Spectrum Pictures. Kirkwood, a native of Pennsylvania who had once been a production manager for Thomas Ince and later a film distributor in South America, turned producer with the release of Frontier Days, a lively and entertaining feature which opened to exceptionally good reviews. Cody and his pinto, Chico, were joined by leading lady Ada Ince, silent film veterans Franklyn Farnum and William Desmond, one-time leading man Wheeler Oakman, and Cody’s 9-year-old son, billed simply as Billy, Jr.. As the first father-and-son team starring together in B Westerns, both Cody, Sr. and Billy showed considerable promise in the first film of the series. It was followed by Six Gun Justice, The Cyclone Ranger (a tale of mistaken identity from the pen of prolific western writer Oliver Drake), The Texas Rambler (another Oliver Drake screenplay, this one with a strong element of mystery), and The Vanishing Riders (in which Cody and his son masquerade as ghosts to demoralize a gang of despicable, superstitious rustlers). The Codys went on tour with a wild west show and circus. When they returned to Hollywood, Kirkwood – experiencing a financial squeeze – replaced writer Drake with his own wife, Zara Tazil, who wrote the remaining screenplays for the series. Director J. P. McCarthy succeeded in getting from Cody one of his best performances in The Lawless Border, featuring Molly O’Day as leading lady. Blazing Justice and Outlaws of the Range concluded the Spectrum series on a pleasant but less-ambitious note.
Cody was the star attraction with the Downie Brothers Circus when it opened its 1935 season in Macon, Ga. on April 17, to a capacity house. “With all equipment resplendent in new red paint the show opened with the Cavalcade of Splendor. Bill Cody was then introduced by Harry Mack,” Downie’s press agent. Cody was replacing Dixie Starr, who had headlined the 1934 season. In May 1935 Billboard reported that Cody and “the new seal act were going over big.” In August, two of Cody’s sons joined him from their school vacations, and one report said that Cody was at work on a circus film, which was to be one of eight he would make for Spectrum Pictures. The September 28, 1935 Billboard reported that Cody “closed several weeks ago” but does not give a date or reason for his leaving.Ray Kirkwood’s widow recalled in later years that Kirkwood was very fond of Cody. He planned another series of eight features, co-starring Cody, Sr. and Cody, Jr. for the 1936-37 season, and this was announced in the trade papers. With finances strained, the first film – scripted by Zara Tazil and entitled The Reckless Buckaroo – went into production. During production, Kirkwood’s backer, Monarch Laboratories, removed him as producer and ordered him to leave the set, placing director Harry Fraser in charge. By the first of March, 1936, Fraser had finished the picture, but Kirkwood was unable to secure financing for any additional films in the proposed series. The Cody series concluded abruptly, and Kirkwood left Hollywood. Released in 1937 by Crescent Pictures, this proved to be Cody’s final starring role. Cody’s career slowed for a time, and his roles became less, but he still had success throughout his lifetime. Oliver Drake wrote the part of “Sheriff Warren” for him in the RKO film The Fighting Gringo, starring George O’Brien in 1939, and that same year he played a small role in what has been called John Wayne’s breakout role, Stagecoach, directed by the legendary John Ford. He is said to have had bit roles in two cliffhangers, G-Men vs the Black Dragon and The Masked Marvel, both in 1943, and in Joan of Arc, released in 1948.
Cody died at age 57 in 1948, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. A funeral Mass was celebrated at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood, and Cody was survived by his wife, Victoria Regina, and his sons, Bill, Jr. and Henry.
Acting credits
1948 Joan of Arc
English Guard (uncredited)
1943 The Masked Marvel
Tunnel-Bomb Thug (uncredited)
1943 Bad Men of Thunder Gap
Townsman (uncredited)
1939 The Fighting Cowboy
1939 The Fighting Gringo
Sheriff Fred Warren (as Bill Cody Sr.)
1939 Stagecoach
Rancher (uncredited)
1936 Outlaws of the Range
Steve Harper
1936 Blazing Justice
Ray Healy
1935 Lawless Border
Bill Roberts, posing as Whitey Jones
1935 The Vanishing Riders
Bill Jones
1935 The Texas Rambler
Tom ‘The Rambler’ Manning
1935 The Cyclone Ranger
The Pecos Kid
1935 The Reckless Buckaroo
Bill Carter
1935 Six Gun Justice
Jim Slade
1934 Frontier Days
The Pinto Kid
1934 Western Racketeers
Bill Bowers
1934 The Border Menace
Bill ‘The Shadow’ Williams
1934 Border Guns
Bill Harris / Bill Austin
1933 Ann Vickers
Guard (uncredited)
1933 Gun Law
Henchman (uncredited)
1932 Law of the North
Bill Roberts
1932 Mason of the Mounted
Bill Mason
1932 Texas Pioneers
Captain Bill Clyde
1932 Ghost City
Bill Temple
1931 Land of Wanted Men
Silent Saunders
1931 Oklahoma Jim
Oklahoma Jim Kirby
1931 The Montana Kid
Bill Denton
1931 Dugan of the Badlands
Bill Dugan
1930 Under Texas Skies
Army Captain Jack Hartford
1929 Eyes of the Underworld
Pat Doran
1929 The Tip Off
Jimmy Lamar
1929 Slim Fingers
Al Wellsley
1929 Wolves of the City
Jack Flynn
1929 The Wilderness
1928 The Price of Fear
Grant Somers
1927 Gold from Weepah
Bill Carson
1927 Born to Battle
Billy Cowan
1927 The Arizona Whirlwind
Bill Farley
1926 King of the Saddle
1926 The Galloping Cowboy
Bill Crane
1925 The Fighting Smile
Bud Brant
1925 Love on the Rio Grande
1925 Border Justice
Joseph Welland
1925 Cold Nerve
1925 The Fighting Sheriff
Larry O’Donnell
1925 Moccasins
Tom Williams
1925 Riders of Mystery
Bob Merriwell
1925 Dangerous Odds