Tim McCoy
Encyclopedia
Col. Tim McCoy was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, military officer, and expert on American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 life and customs.

Early years

Born the son of an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 Union Civil War soldier who later became police chief in Saginaw, he became a major film star most noted for his roles in Western films. He was so popular with youngsters as a cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

 star that he appeared on the cover of Wheaties cereal boxes.

He attended St. Ignatius College
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...

 in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and after seeing a wild west show there, left school and found work on a Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 ranch. He became an expert horseman and roper and developed a knowledge of the ways and languages of the Native American tribes in the area. He competed in numerous rodeos, then enlisted in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 when America entered World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Military career

McCoy was also a decorated soldier in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 during World War I (although not in combat or overseas) and again in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, rising to the rank of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 with the Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...

. He also served the state of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 as its Adjutant General
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...

 between the wars with the brevet rank of Brigadier General
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...

. At 28, he was reputed to be the youngest Brigadier General in the history of the US Army.

McCoy was a renowned expert in Indian sign language and was named "High Eagle" by the Arapahoe tribe of the Wind River reservation.

Early career

In 1922, he was asked by the head of Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company created on July 19, 1916 from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company -- originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays -- and Jesse L...

, Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. was a pioneer Hollywood film producer. He was a key founder of Paramount Pictures with Adolph Zukor, and father of screenwriter Jesse L...

, to provide Native American extras for the Western extravaganza, The Covered Wagon
The Covered Wagon
The Covered Wagon is an American silent Western film released by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze based on a novel by Emerson Hough about a group of pioneers traveling through the old West from Kansas to Oregon. J...

(1923). He brought hundreds of "his" Indians to the Utah location and served as technical advisor
Technical advisor
A technical advisor is an individual who is expert in a particular field of knowledge, hired to provide detailed information and advice to people working in that field...

 on the film. After the filming was completed, McCoy was asked to bring a much smaller group of Indians to Hollywood, for a stage presentation preceding each showing of the film. McCoy's stage show was very popular, running eight months in Hollywood and several more months in London and Paris. McCoy returned to his Wyoming ranch, but Irving Thalberg
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make very profitable films.-Life and...

 of MGM soon signed him to a contract to star in a series of outdoor adventures and McCoy rose to stardom. His first MGM feature was War Paint (1926), featuring epic scenes of the Wind River Indians on horseback, staged by McCoy and director Woody Van Dyke. (Footage from War Paint was reused in many low-budget westerns, well into the 1950s.) War Paint set the tone for future McCoy westerns, in that Indians were always portrayed sympathetically, and never as bloodthirsty savages. One notable McCoy feature for MGM was The Law of the Range (1928), in which he starred with Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

.

The coming of talking pictures, and the temporary inability to record sound outdoors, resulted in MGM terminating its Tim McCoy series and McCoy returning once more to his ranch. In 1929 he was summoned back to Hollywood personally by Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle , born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios - Universal...

 of Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

, who insisted that McCoy would star in the first talking western serial, The Indians Are Coming! The serial was very successful, and McCoy worked steadily in movies until 1936, when he left Hollywood, first to tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus
Ringling Brothers Circus
The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert , August , Otto , Alfred T. , Charles , John , and Henry...

 and then with his own "wild west" show. The show was not a success and is reported to have lost $300,000, of which $100,000 was McCoy's own money. It folded in Washington, D.C. and the cowboy performers were each given $5 and McCoy's thanks. The Indians on the show were returned to their respective reservations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

McCoy was available for pictures again in 1938, and low-budget producers (including Maurice Conn and Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...

) engaged him at his standard salary of $4000 weekly, for eight films a year. In 1941 Buck Jones
Buck Jones
Buck Jones was an American motion picture star of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, best known for his work starring in many popular western movies...

 recruited McCoy to co-star in "The Rough Riders" series, alongside Jones and Raymond Hatton
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton was an American movie actor who appeared in almost five hundred movies, including a stint of being paired in 1920s comedies with Wallace Beery....

. The eight films, released by Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...

, were very popular, and might have continued but McCoy declined to renew his contract, opting to pursue other interests.

Interrupted by World War II

In 1942 McCoy ran for the Republican nomination for the open US Senate Seat from Wyoming. Interestingly enough, during that campaign, he established the first state-wide radio hookup in Wyoming broadcasting history. He lost in the primary and within 48 hours volunteered for active duty with the U.S. Army. He had maintained his Army Reserve commission and was immediately accepted. McCoy spent the war in the U.S. Army and performed liaison work with the Army Air Forces in Europe, winning several decorations. He retired from the army and, according to lore, never lived in Wyoming again. His "Eagle's Nest" ranch was sold. He retired from films after the war, except for a few cameo appearances much later.

Television host

McCoy hosted a KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...

 television show in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 in 1952, called "The Tim McCoy Show", for children on weekday afternoons and Saturdays, in which he provided authentic history lessons on the Old West and showed his old western movies. His co-host was the actor Iron Eyes Cody
Iron Eyes Cody
Iron Eyes Cody was an American actor. He frequently portrayed American Indians in Hollywood films. In 1995, Cody was honored by the American Indian community for his work publicizing the plight of Native Americans, including his acting in films...

 who, while of Italian lineage, played an American Indian both on and off screen. McCoy won a local Emmy but didn't attend to receive the award. He was competing against "Webster Webfoot" in the "Best Children's Show" category and refused to show up, saying, "I'll be damned if I'm going to sit there and get beaten by a talking duck!"

Legacy

For his contribution to the film industry, Col. Tim McCoy was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

. In 1973, McCoy was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. McCoy was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1974.
On January 16, 2010 McCoy was inducted into the Hot Springs County (Wyoming) Hall of Fame. He ranched in the county for over 30 years. Accepting the honor on his behalf was his son Terry. Included in the 2010 class were Governor Dave Freudenthal of the State of Wyoming, Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court Bart Voigt, former Wyoming state treasurer Stan Smith, and local high school teacher Karl Allen.

Personal life

McCoy married Agnes Miller, the daughter of the famous British stage actor and producer Henry Miller
Henry Miller (actor)
Henry Miller was an English-born American actor, director, theatrical producer and manager.Born as John Pegge in London, Miller's parents immigrated to Canada where he started acting as a juvenile. He became the leading man in Charles Frohman's stock company in New York City's Empire Theatre in 1893...

. Their marriage resulted in three children: son Gerald, daughter Margarita, and son D'Arcy. They were divorced in 1931 and McCoy kept a portion of the ranch holdings in Hot Springs County, Wyoming. Agnes McCoy was rewarded with that portion known as the "Eagles Nest".(See 1931 divorce decree at Big Horn County, Wyoming, Clerk of Court's office)

His second marriage was to Inga Arvad
Inga Arvad
Inga Arvad was a Danish journalist, noted for a romantic relationship with John F. Kennedy from 1941 to 1942 and for being Adolf Hitler's companion at the 1936 Summer Olympics. She was born Inga Maria Petersen but changed her name in 1931...

 in 1945. They had two sons, Ronnie and Terry. McCoy was married to Arvad until her death from cancer in 1973. Arvad was a controversial Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 journalist investigated in the early 1940s due to rumors that she was a Nazi spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...

, rumors that spawned from photographs of Arvad as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's companion at the 1936 Olympics and that she had twice intereviewed him. Arvad had also had several previous marriages and an affair with John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

. J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...

 surreptitiously audiotaped her bedroom trysts with Kennedy as a result of the FBI's investigation; journalist Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...

 reported in his book The Dark Side of Camelot that Kennedy tried to retrieve those tapes throughout his presidency.

Later years

In 1973, Tim McCoy was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo, photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies...

 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...

. He also was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1976 he was interviewed at length by author James Horwitz for the cowboy memoir "They Went Thataway." Tim McCoy's final film appearance was in the Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...

-David Gill
David Gill (film historian)
David Ian Gill was born in Papua New Guinea, the son of Cecil Gill, a missionary doctor. His uncle was the sculptor Eric Gill. The family returned to England in 1933 where Gill attended the Belmont Abbey School, Hereford...

 television history of silent films, Hollywood, first telecast in 1980.

McCoy died in 1978 at the Post Hospital on Ft. Huachuca, Sierra Vista, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 and was later cremated. Originally, his ashes were returned to his Nogales home. Nine years later, his remains, and those of wife Inga, who had died in 1973, were returned to his birthplace at Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...

 for burial there in the Mount Olivet Cemetery next to his family's plot.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1925 The Thundering Herd Burn Hudnall
1926 War Paint Lt. Tim Marshall
1927 Winners of the Wilderness
Winners of the Wilderness
Winners of the Wilderness is a MGM silent film, directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Tim McCoy and Joan Crawford. In this costume drama, set during the French-Indian War, Rene Contrecouer , the daughter of a French general falls for a soldier of fortune...

Col. O'Hara
California Capt. Archibald Gillespie
The Frontiersman John Dale
Foreign Devils Capt. Robert Kelly
Spoilers of the West Lt. Lang
1928 The Law of the Range Jim Lockhart
Wyoming Lt. Jack Colton
Riders of the Dark Lt. Crane
The Adventurer Jim McClellan
Beyond the Sierras The Masked Stranger
The Bushranger Edward
1929 Morgan's Last Raid Capt. Daniel Clairbourne
The Overland Telegraph Capt. Allen
Sioux Blood Flood
The Desert Rider Jed Tyler
1930 The Indians Are Coming Jack Manning
1931 Heroes of the Flames Bob Darrow
The One Way Trail Tim Allen
Shotgun Pass Tim Walker
The Fighting Marshal Tim Benton
1932 The Fighting Fool Sheriff Tim Collins
Texas Cyclone 'Texas' Grant (Jim Rawlings)
The Riding Tornado Tim Torrant
Two-Fisted Law Tim Clark
Daring Danger Tim Madigan
Cornered Sheriff Tim Laramie
Fighting for Justice Tim Keene
The Western Code Tim Barrett
End of the Trail Captain Tim Travers
1933 Man of Action Tim Barlow
Silent Men Tim Richards
The Whirlwind Tim Reynolds
Rusty Rides Alone Tim 'Rusty' Burke
Police Car 17 Tim Conlon
Hold the Press Tim Collins
Straightaway Tim Dawson
1934 Speed Wings
Voice in the Night Tim Dale
Hell Bent for Love Police Captain Tim Daley
A Man's Game Tim
Beyond the Law Tim Weston
Prescott Kid Tim Hamlin
The Westerner Tim Addison
1935 Square Shooter Tim Baxter
Law Beyond the Range Tim McDonald
The Revenge Rider Tim O'Neil
Fighting Shadows Constable Tim O'Hara
Justice of the Range Tim Condon
The Outlaw Deputy Tim Mallory
Riding Wild Tim Malloy/Tex Ravelle
Man from Guntown Tim Hanlon
Bulldog Courage Slim Braddock/Tim Braddock
1936 Roarin' Guns
Roarin' Guns
- Cast :*Tim McCoy as Tim Corwin*Rosalinda Price as May Carter*Wheeler Oakman as Walton*Rex Lease as Jerry*John Elliott as Bob Morgan*Karl Hackett as Evans*Richard Alexander as "Bull" Langdon*Jack Rockwell as Dave Barry*Ed Cassidy as Sheriff...

Tim Corwin
Border Caballero Tim Ross
Lightnin' Bill Carson U. S. Marshal 'Lightnin' Bill Carson
Aces and Eights 'Gentleman' Tim Madigan
The Lion's Den Tim Barton
Ghost Patrol Tim Caverly
The Traitor Sergeant Tim Vallance, Texas Rangers
1938 West of Rainbow's End Tim Hart
Code of the Rangers Tim Strong
Two Gun Justice Tim
Phantom Ranger Tim Hayes
Lightning Carson Rides Again 'Lightning Bill' Carson, posing as Jose as Colonel Tim McCoy
Six-Gun Trail Captain William 'Lightning Bill' Carson
1939 Code of the Cactus 'Lightning' Bill Carson posing as Miguel
Texas Wildcats 'Lightning' Bill Carson
Outlaws' Paradise Captain William 'Lightning Bill' Carson / Trigger Mallory
Straight Shooter 'Lightning' Bill Carson / Sam Brown
The Fighting Renegade
The Fighting Renegade
- Cast :*Tim McCoy*Joyce Bryant as Marian Willis*Ben Corbett as Magpie*Ted Adams as Link Benson*Budd Buster as Old Dobie*Dave O'Brien as Doctor Jerry Leonard*Forrest Taylor as Professor Lucius Lloyd*Reed Howes as Sheriff*John Elliott as Prospector...

Lightning Bill Carson aka El Puma
Trigger Fingers 'Lightning' Bill Carson
1940 Texas Renegades Silent Tim Smith
Frontier Crusader 'Trigger' Tim Rand
Gun Code Marshal Tim Hammond, alias Tim Hays
Arizona Gang Busters 'Trigger' Tim Rand
Riders of Black Mountain Marshal Tim Donovan
1941 Outlaws of the Rio Grande Marshal Tim Barton
The Texas Marshal Marshal 'Trigger Tim' Rand
Arizona Bound Marshal Tim McCall, posing as 'Parson" McCall
The Gunman from Bodie Marshal McCall
Forbidden Trails Marshal Tim McCall, posing as Ace Porter
1942 Below the Border Marshal Tim McCall
Ghost Town Law Marshal Tim McCall
Down Texas Way U. S. Marshal Tim McCall
Riders of the West Marshal Tim McCall
West of the Law Marshal Tim McCall
1952 "The Tim McCoy Show" Himself
1956 Around the World in Eighty Days Colonel, U.S. Cavalry as Col. Tim McCoy
1957 Run of the Arrow Gen. Allen as Colonel Tim McCoy
1965 Requiem for a Gunfighter Judge Irving Short

Further reading

  • Tim McCoy Remembers the West: An Autobiography by Tim McCoy and Ronald McCoy (1977)


Hardback:
ISBN 0385127987
ISBN 978-0385127981


Paperback:
ISBN 803281552
ISBN 978-0803281554

  • Tim McCoy—A Wyoming Poet. RoundTop Records, LLC., Thermopolis, Wyoming


Paperback:
ISBN 978-0979697005

DVD

  • Col. Tim McCoy's The Silent Language of the Plains! RoundTop Records, LLC. Thermopolis, Wyoming
ISBN 978-0979697012

External links

  • Tim McCoy at Internet Movie Database
    Internet Movie Database
    Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

  • The Tim McCoy Show at Internet Movie Database
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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