Leading Men Guy Madison
The Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok (TV)/ Will Bill Hickok
5 Against The House/ Al Mercer
Drums In The Deep South/ Major Will Denning
The Charge At Feather River/ Miles Archer
Per Quinlan's Film Stars:
Boyishly handsome, fair haired, ski sloped nosed American actor who began in romantic roles but, in an oddly spasmodic film career, was seen from 1949 almost entirely in westerns, most of them big budget color productions, if not in the Gary Cooper class. He became popular on TV in the 1950's series Will Bill Hickok and very bury in the 1960's in continental westerns.
He was born Robert Ozell Mosely in 1922 at Pumpkin Center, CA.
Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college for two years.
Prior to war service he worked as a telephone lineman before joining the U S Navy during World War Two.
While on leave in 1944 Madison visited Hollywood. he caught the eye of Henry Wilson, the head of talent at David O. Selznick's new production company Vanguard Pictures. He was cast in a bit part as a sailor in Selznick's film Since You Went Away and at that time his name was changed to Madison.
Though the part was small, the studio received thousands of letter from fans wanting to know more about him.
Madison was signed by RKO Pictures in 1946 and began appearing in dramas and romantic comedies.
In 1951 he was cast in the title role of the TV series The Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok. His co star was Andy Devine as his partner Jingles Jones and the series ran for seven years.
At the finish of the series Madison appeared in several more full length feature films before leaving for Europe and some Continental western films.
Some of the film roles of Guy Madison were:
Since You Went Away (1944) as Sailor Harold Smith
Till The End Of Time (1946) as Cliff Harper
Honeymoon (1947) as Corporal Phil Vaughn
Texas, Brooklyn And Heaven (1948) as Eddie Tayloe
Massacre River (1949) as Larry Knight
Drums In The Deep South (1951) as Major Will Denning
Red Snow (1952) as Lt. Phil Johnson
The Charge At Feather River (1953) as Miles Archer
The Command (1954) as Captain Robert MacClaw
5 Against The House (1955) as Al Mercer
The Last Frontier (1955) as Capt. Glenn Riordan
On The Threshold Of Space (1956) as Capt. Jim Hollenbeck
Hilda Crane (1956) as Russell Burns
The Beast Of Hollow Mountain (1956) as Jimmy Ryan
Reprisal! (1956) as Frank Madden aka Neola
The Hard Man (1957) as Steve Burden
Bullwhip (1958) as Steve Dailey
Jet Over The Atlantic (1959) as Brett Murphy
Slave Of Rome (1961) as Marco Valerio
Sword Of The Conqueror (1961) as Almachi
Women Of Devil's Island (19620 as Henri Valliere
The Executioner Of Venice (1963) as Rodrigo Zeno
Old Shatterhand (1964) as Capt. Bradley
Sandokan alla ricossa (1964) as Yanez
Return Of The Sandokan (1964) as Yanez
Gunmen Of Rio Grande (1964) as Wyatt Earp/ Laramie
Kidnapped To Mystery Island (1964) as Souyadhana
Il vindicatore mascherato (1964) as Massimo
L'avventuriero della Tortuga (1965) as Alfonso di Montelimar
Legacy Of The Incas (1965) as Jaquar/Karl Hansen
Five For Revenge (1966) as John Latimore/Tex
LSD Flesh Of Devil (1967) as Rex Miller
Renegade Riders (1967) as Colonel Thomas Blake
Return of Django (1967) as Father Gus Fleming
The Devil's Man (1967) as Mike Harway
Bang Bang Kid (1967) as Bear Bullock
Superargo And The Faceless Giants (1968) as Prof. Wendland Wond
Long Days Of Hate (1968) as Martin Benson
The Battle Of The Last Panzer ( 1969) as Lofty
Un posto all'inferno (1969) as Major Mac Graves
Hell Commandos (1969) as Major Carter
I diavoli della guerra (1969) as Capt. George Vincent
Reverend's Colt (1970) as Rev. Miller
The Pacific Connection (1974) as The Old Man
Il baco de seta (1974) as Robert
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who saved Hollywood (1976) as Star At Screening
Where's Willie? (1978) as Tony Flore
Red River (1988-TV) as Bill Meeker, Rancher
In addition to his successful 7 year TV series The Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok, Mr. Madison also appeared on other television programs such as The Ford Television Theater, Climax!, Wagon Train, General Electric Theater, Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars, The Ann Southern Show, The Red Skelton Hour, Death Valley Days, Zane Grey Theater, The Smith Family, Fantasy Island, The Rebels and William Tell.
For his contribution to the radio and televisions industries, Madison has two stars on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
Madison was married twice.
His first wife was the actress Gail Russell. They were married from 1949 until 1954 at which time they divorced.
His second wife was Sheila Connolly and they were married from 1954 until they divorced in 1963. The couple had three daughters.
Madison also had an affair with Gia Scala which produced a son named Robert.
Guy Madison died from emphysema in 1996 at age 74. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, CA.
I really enjoyed this actor on his TV series The Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok. I also enjoyed him in the films 5 Against The House, The Charge At Feather River, Drums In The Deep South, The Beast Of Hollow Mountain and The Command.
Louie The Movie Buff