Joel McCrea (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] [Music] this is the actor joel albert mcrae his career spanned almost five decades and appeared in more than 87 films producer harry sherman said of joel mcrae that joel is the greatest natural western star since the old days of tom mix and william s hart he has an authentic background and is one of the finest natural horsemen i've ever seen just a guy who knows how to set a horse with grace and authority in a 1978 interview mcrae said i like doing comedies but as i get older i was better suited to do westerns i think it's because i think it becomes unattractive for an older fellow trying to look young and falling in love with attractive young girls the minute i get on a horse a hat and a pair of cowboy boots i felt easier i didn't feel like an actor anymore i felt like a guy just out there getting it done joel mcrave was born november the 5th 1905 in south pasadena california his parents was thomas and louise mcrae thomas worked as an executive for the los angeles gas and electric company joel's mother louisa whipple macrae was a professional christian science practitioner his maternal grandfather albert whipple was one of the original 49ers that came to california in a covered wagon to search for gold during the 1849 gold rush joel's paternal grandfather major john mccrae had been an indian fighter and a stagecoach driver from san bernardino to los angeles joel had one older sister lois whipple mcrae born january the 9th 1899 and one older brother john mccrae iii born 1902 in 1914 when joel was nine years old the family moved from pasadena to 77 55 hollywood boulevard in los angeles he said he guessed his scottish heritage made him a good business person he said his first business deal was with his mother he said he invested in chickens sold her the eggs she cooked them and he said i ate them like a lot of boys at his age joel got a paper route with the los angeles times it just so happened that a lot of his customers was hollywood moguls like sam goldwyn wallis reed and cowboy star william s hart he said the paper route was good for him because it taught him not to be impressed with movie stars although some lived in million-dollar mansions and was supposed to have had millions they sometimes had a hard time coming up with the 60 cents they owed me for the month's paper delivery young joel became more impressed with the horses that they rode than the actors who wrote them he volunteered to become a horse holder for tom mix and william s hart who he delivered newspapers to and by the time he was 12 he was known by the crew for hanging around movie sets and watching in 1917 silent star ruth roland was making a western with her leading man who was scared to death of horses so they dressed mcrae up in buckskin and put him on a horse he got to be in a couple of shots he said and they paid him five dollars he changed his mind about wanting to be a cowboy and decided to become an actor joel attended hollywood high school and during the summer when school was out he'd work as a cowboy on one of the local ranches he said to be a real cowboy the first thing you gotta learn is a horse gets up on its front feet and a cow gets up on its back feet he once got all tangled up in his rope trying to get a cow up by pulling the front part of the cow with a rope around his saddle horn he said where a cowboy goes behind the cow grabs the tail and pulls it up on its hind legs after graduating from high school joel studied acting at pomona college and he got some stage experience at the pasadena community playhouse he had lived around movie making most of his life growing up and was doing stunt work even in high school in 1928 when joel graduated college he had already been in silent movies as an extra and such as the fair co-ed in 1927 with marion davies and johnny mac brown joel was one of the unaccredited students in 1928 he'll get a part in the five o'clock girl that again starring marion davies the picture was supposed to be the first talkies that davis was in where she was supposed to sing three songs however after having so much trouble with the new sound equipment they went back to the silent film and the film was shelved almost three weeks later in 1930 joel began getting real rolls like the silver horde about the salmon fishing in alaska about this time he left mgm and went to rko he is making enough money to move the family to this house at 243 south rockingham avenue in los angeles in 1932 joel will be in bird of paradise directed by king viter and his co-star was dolores del rio who at the time was a major star with a five thousand dollar salary where mccrae was only making 500. the movie made a stir from its semi-nude scenes on the 20th of october 1933 joel mccrae married actress frances d they had first met at the beach where he was playing volleyball and she was doing a photo shoot her photographer asked him if he wanted to be in the picture later he said that he was unshaven and had pulled up beside her at a red light and gave her a nod she turned stuck her nose up in the air and drove off he said the third time they met was on the set of the silver cord with irene dunn and francis d the movie was about a domineering matriarch that works to sabotage her son's new marriage after marrying francis joel began taking advice from oklahoma humorist will rogers who told him to save half of everything he made and put his money into buying land he took the advice in about a thousand acres in a then unincorporated area of eastern ventura county which is now a thousand oaks he'll eventually increase it to 3 000 acre ranch which mccrae and his wife francis lived and will raise their family and ride their horses joel considered himself to be a full-time rancher and a part-time actor he was visited once by the irs and asked why did he claim to be a rancher instead of an actor he stuck his hands out and said do you think that these calluses comes from ranching or acting he said they never bothered him again the next year in 1934 joel and francis d will have a son they named jody jodie will become an actor in later life appearing in his dad's movies and he's probably best known for the slow-minded deadhead in the movie beach party with annette funershello and frankie avalon jody was married to dusty iron wing and raised her three children as his own he passed away in 2009 from heart trouble at the age of 74 while ranching in roswell new mexico the next year in 1935 after jody's birth the mccrays will have a second son david david will marry jan johnson and they will have three children he will become a rancher like his dead when jan passed away from cancer david married lorraine johnson and they had two children lorraine will pass away after a car accident in 2004 he'll then marry lorella marley they'll remain married until david's death on the 13th of november 2020 at the age of 85 also in roswell one of david's sons white oversees the ranch and land owned by his granddad and works to keep his granddaddy's memory alive in 1928 joel met the famous white earp in a studio lot and was impressed by the old law man i suspect his grandson white was named after the real wide earth in 1937 joel mcrae will play the first doctor kildare in films interns can't make money also the same year joel will start with his wife francis d in a western fargo where mccray works for the wells fargo and company in 1939 joel will star in another western union pacific with barbara stanwick about the building of the union pacific railroad across the west in 1941 mcrae will co-star with veronica lake in sullivan's travels where a hollywood director sets out to experience life as a poor homeless person so that he can better direct his next film joel never received an academy award but most of hollywood felt that he should have won one for sullivan's travels in 1942 joel will star in two william wilmans westerns first the great man's lady with barbara stanwick next it'll be buffalo bill with a young marine o'hara in 1946 joel would star in the virginian with barbara britton the virginian was such a success that mcrae decided to do only westerns joel and francis had made such a success out of their ranching and real estate he could now pick the pictures he enjoyed doing and that was westerns in 1950 he will star with ellen drew in stars in my crown where a southern congregation finds the strength to lay down their arms and rebuild their lives after the civil war this is one of mccrae's most enduring films is still being watched today the director was jacques tornier that happened to be a high school classmate of joel's in 1951 and 52 joel was the voice of jace pearson on nbc's radio network it was a reenactment of actual texas ranger case files called the tales of the texas rangers always with his favorite horse charcoal it's believed that in 1951 joel and francis separated but never divorced then this separation a child was born monica lee mcrae who will become an actress writer and recording artist now this is monica and her younger brother peter who was born in 1955 after joel and francis reconciled peter is a real estate developer and married courtney lemon jack lemmon's daughter in 2001. peter is now the only surviving son of joel and frances mcrae the same year peter was born joel starred with vera miles in wichita a movie about wyatt earp he had known the real wide earp and now here he was playing him in movies two years later in 1958 joel will lose his sister lois whipple mcrae ramsey caldwell on july the 18th 1958 at the age of 59. the next year in 1959 joel and his oldest son jody will star together in a nbc tv series wichita town it'll be 26 episodes with joel as marshall mike dunbar and jody as one of his deputies in 1962 joel mcrae and randolph scott came together to make what they thought would be a final western directed by sam peckinpaul ride the high country with mariette hartley the critics gave bad reviews which was a surprise to both mcrae and scott they said that they were just two old washed up actors playing two old washed up cowboys despite what the critics said the public loved the movie and made it a classic according to a well-known director joel mcrae along with ben johnson was considered to be the best horseman in hollywood at that time ride the high country was randolph scott's last movie and mcrae will not make another one for four years it was married hartley's first movie in 1966 it'll be the young rounders where he'll play with slim pickings as rodeo riders then in 1969 joel will be inducted into the western performance hall of fame at the national cowboy and western heritage museum in oklahoma city the next year in 1970 it'll be cry blood apache again with his son jody we're there in a rare screen appearance together where members of a gold expedition is stalked by an indian warrior that wants to revenge the massacre of his tribe in 1972 joel will lose his older brother john mcrae iii at the age of 70. in 1976 joel comes out of retirement to star in his last movie mustang country where an old rodeo rider turns ranchers tries to hunt down a wild mustang with the help of an indian boy after mustang country actor joel mccrae will fully retire to his ranch where he and francis enjoyed family and ranch life francis d through the years maintained a lasting friendship with actress katherine hepburn the mccrays ultimately donated several hundreds of acres to the city of thousand oaks called the joel mcrae park her grandson wyatt said that francis wanted to see children playing on the land the way her boys did growing up at the age of 84 joel was taken to the motion picture and television hospital in woodland hills with breathing problems after a short stay on the 20th of october 1990 on his and his beloved wife francis d mcrae's 57th wedding anniversary joel albert mcrae passed away from pneumonia his remains was scattered on the ranch that he loved his star is on the hollywood walk of fame located on the north side of 6900 block of hollywood boulevard [Music] you

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 50,840

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Id: dUicvGlXgz4

Length: 18min 14sec (1094 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 14 2021