Slim Pickens: A Cowboy Turned Actor (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] the famous director once said i can take a cowboy and make an actor but i can't take an actor and make a cowboy you're looking at a cowboy turned actor slim pickings slim was born lewis burton lindley jr on the 29th of june 1919 in kingsburg california he had one brother samuel turk lindley born the 31st of december 1921 and a sister irene mitchell lindley born 17 january 1924 slim also had two half brothers from his mother's previous marriage herbert nichols born 1909 and gerald thomas nichols born 1911. he also had a half sister from his dad's previous marriage dorothy mildred lindley born 1910. slim's parents was lewis burton lindley senior and sally mosher turk lindley slim's dead was a lifelong dairy farmer who raised his family on a dairy ranch riding horses and taking care of cows his mother sally helped with the dairy but her primary job was to care for the family by the time burke as slim was called was four years old he was riding horses and even claiming one of his own by the age of 12 he was calf roping in junior rodeos he attended hanford high school and like most farm kids became a member of the ffa and 4-h clubs this is slim on the right with a high school judging team for the future farmers of america and this is slim on the family farm there are several stories as to how lewis bert lindley got the name of slim pickens he loved rodeo and so one day he sneaked off the farm without finishing all of his chores in order to enter local rodeo competition he did pretty good so they published his name in the local paper his dad was furious when he read slim's name at breakfast the next morning for one thing rodeoing was dangerous and on the farm the chores had to be finished so the next time slam sneaked off to the rodeo he finished his chores early knowing that he couldn't use his name on a roster again and he was having a hard time coming up with a new one so when the hopeful rodeo star signed up at the stand he asked the fella to desk which bucking horse would be a good pick he was told you're one of the last to sign up there's not much good stock left it's going to be slim pickings so slim thought well if i'm going to have slim pickings i might as well be slim pickings now this is slim's sister irene a would-be cowgirl on the lynley farm in 1935. three years after this picture was taken tragedy struck when mr lindley asked his daughter irene to go into the house and bring him his rifle somehow she was accidentally shot irene mitchell lindley passed away on the 9th of october 1938 at the age of 14. after finishing high school slim went full time into rodeoing until world war ii started and on october the 7th 1942 he enlisted in the army when he wrote on a military form what he did in severe life he wrote rodeo they read it as radio so they sent him to the communication school as a radio operator while still in the military on june the 25th 1943 slim received word that his brother austin nichols had committed suicide by gunshot austin had become distraught over the loss of his ten-year-old daughter irene from leukemia not knowing that his wife was pregnant with his second child a year or so later slim was released from the army and quickly went back to rodeoing he soon made the name as one of the best rodeo performers in the business he rode bareback and saddlebrock he also become one of the best bull riders on the circuit when one of the rodeo clowns the most dangerous job in the rodeo didn't show up for a performance slam was asked to step in and he loved it he became one of rodeo's best known clowns by developing his own act as a spanish bull fighter even wearing an authentic bull fighter's costume using a cape to distract bulls from their fallen riders he even took some matador lessons now one time slim jumped in a barrel to escape a bull and the bull wouldn't let him out so he hollered for help get my cape and wave it he said to get his attention and one of the cowboys stood waving the cape over the fence he hollered at slim it's not working and slim hollered back it's not the cape he wants it's you now slim pickens became one of the highest paid professionals in rodeo once he began clowning but at a heavy price he said he had been bitten thrown gourd kicked and stepped on broke wrist collar bones ribs crushed chest two broke backs and five bones in his feet in 1946 he was paid 25 dollars to ride a bucking horse named sundale in a movie that was named smokey with fred mcmurray and anne baxter slim was unaccredited because it wasn't really an acting job they just needed somebody to ride sundown he won't get into the movie business until another four years later now this picture was taken in 1947 of slim's dead mr lindley and a neighbor girl lois at his kingsbird ranch and this is slim with lois's grandmother showing that horses were a part of daily life now before cowboy star rex allen started making movies he did some rodeoing and during that time he met slim pickens they had no way of knowing at the time that they would be working together in movies a few years later rex said every bull rider he met had rather have slim peekings in the arena protecting them than anyone else on earth two important things happened in 1950 slim was performed at the madeira county fair when he wandered in front of a fast running horse ridden by margaret elizabeth harmon maggie as she has called almost run over slim and it scared her realizing what could have happened she was not pleased with him however things soon changed and a lifelong love affair began on march 22 1950 31 year old bert lindley jr slim pickens married 28 year old margaret elizabeth harmon in la paz county arizona between rodeos maggie had been previously married and had a five-year-old daughter named daryl ann slim will accept her as his daughter and she'll be raised as such the same year slim and maggie married he was performing his bull fighting routine at a rodeo in saugus california when he was spotted by a talent agent who asked him if he wanted to do a screen test and slim asked how much will it cost me he said nothing slim said do you mean to tell me that they'll pay me to fall off of horses in front of a camera when i've been paying entrance fees to do the same thing for years now director william kigley hired slim as one of several confederate background cowboys in the movie rocky mountain that starred earl flynn and patricia weimore it'll be the first accredited movie for slim now it's been said that during the filming of rocky mountain director william kigley and his wife was concerned about the newcomer patricia wymore falling victim to the charms of earl flynn her co-star so they placed flynn on one end of the motels and patricia on the other with the kidleys in the middle underestimating flynn because it turned out to be a good thing for the two married that year and remained together until flynn's death in 1959 now the next year after rocky mountain slim and maggie had their first child a son thomas michael lindley on march 18 1951. around this time rexella was already a cowboy star and he used betty epson in his first few films as his sidekick with epson leaving that's when rex thought of his old rodeo friend slim pickens he recommended slim to director william whitney who directed the next nine rexella pictures slim's first film with rexella was colorado sundown with mary ellen k as rex's leading lady slim will appear as rex's sidekick for the next 11 years rex said the republic pictures really got a good deal with slim because he could do his own riding stunts rode his own horse named dear john this is slim with dear john and slim was one of the only few hollywood actors that could actually drive a six mew team stage coach rex stated years later about slim pickings that republic pictures was notorious for not paying their actors very well so slim between pictures would work the rodeo to make more money he said once he received a phone call from slim wanting him to send him 300 he was on his way to perform at the rodeo in calgary when he turned his horse trailer over that was carrying his appaloosa horse dear john and needed some money to repair the trailer he told rex i've been hunting deer john all morning long before i found him and rex asked well where did you find him at and slim said i found him down at city hall he was trying to talk him into taking my driving license away in 1953 it'll be down laredo way with rexella and marjory lord and the next year on the 12th of january 1954 slim and maggie will have a little girl margaret louise a year after margaret louise was born slim appeared with john payne in santa fe passage now this is slim on dear john jumping a wagon it was directed by william whitley the director of most of rexella's films a slim star began to rise he was making more money and was able to buy a ranch in clovis california for his dead now this picture of slim is nephew billy sam's boy and rex sally was taken at the ranch in 1958 slim pickens was hard to ride a bucking horse for gregory peck in a major motion picture big country with an array of major stars such as gene simmons charlton heston chuck hunters carol baker and others when you see gregory pick riding the bucking horse old thunder that's not gregory peck that's slim pickings and old thunder was actually slim's horse dear john slim never let anybody ride dear john but him he trained dear john to buck on cue and nobody knew what that cue was the horse you see peck riding is another appaloosa that looked like john but it belonged to slim's daughter daryl ann she refused to let him use her horse until her dad told her that they would pair for the use now daryl ann will grow up to become an actress and stunt performer herself and she'll share the love of horses with her dead and will work to preserve his memory two years after big country finished slim will learn that his dead louis burton senior had passed away on february the 13th 1960 at the age of 70. mr lindley was interred at the clover cemetery in clovis california 1961 slim and maggie was living at 17444 ramer street in northridge slim built a barn in the back where the tennis courts are now to house deer john and other horses now slim's son tom tells the story about him riding dear john off a distance from home trying to figure out what the cue was that his dad used to make dear john buck he said he finally figured it out and had a long walk home slam had tom on a horse before he could walk and wanted him to learn horsemanship from the best slim along with his friend clyde kennedy a world-class horse trainer trained his son to be the best when elizabeth taylor did all those wonderful jumps in national velvet that was clyde kennedy this is tom around 10 years old riding clyde's horse pepper in a national horse show it was only natural that tom become a top-notch trainer and equine rig production specialist now this is slim with his son and grandson tom also worked in some of his dad's films but his love was training horses and working for years with vents and horse breeders in and around carson city and reno nevada now this is tom on a morgan stallion one of the many horses he's trained he called buckshot but the official name was montana harvest and this is montana harvest as a brier model also in 1961 slim would be in one-eyed jacks starring marlon brando brando also directed the film and it was the only movie that he ever directed three years later in 1964 slim will receive a call from director stanley kubrick kubrick slim how soon can you get to london for a one-day shoot i need you bad and i need you now peter sellers has fell and broke his hip peter was starring in a black comedy called dr strangelove how i learned to love the bomb sellers was playing several different parts and was also supposed to play major king kong slim had never been out of the country before so he was held up at the london airport until he could receive a passport as major tj king kong slim played a commander of a b-52 heading for targets in the soviet union he rides an atomic bomb waving his cowboy hat like a bull rider after dr strangelove slim said things changed his dressing room got bigger his paychecks got bigger the directors no longer referred to him as hey you instead they said how are you mr slim acting is like having a license to steal he said where else can you make so much money with so little investment now the next year slim will be in in harm's way with john wayne and a host of other stars a black and white picture about the navy's first year after the attack on pearl harbor in 1966 his stagecoach starred stephanie powers and margaret mike hunters alex cord bing crosby and van hefflen slim played buck the stagecoach driver actually he was the only one that could handle the stagecoach team now this is slim's son tom again in front of a norman rockwell print of stagecoach that rockwell signed for slim to give to tom on his birthday in 1968 on july the 22nd slim will lose his beloved mother sally mosher turk lindley at the age of 79 in clovis california it's believed that mrs lindley was cremated by her own request in 1970 slim will be in what is one of my favorite movies the ballad of cable hogue that starred jason robarts and stella stevens slim even helped his brother sam get a bit part as easy in the movie the movie was directed by sam peckinpaul and this is pick and paul and jason robarts on the set peck and paul had the reputation of being hard to work for sometimes throwing fits and losing his temper he once told slim pickens slim i can't work with some of these actors like ben johnson he wants too much money so i'm gonna start using you and all my movies and slim said why thank you sam maybe you'll make me rich and i won't have to work for you either in 1971 slim played wild jack monroe on a mary tyler moore tv show where mary had to go over the station wjbm's manager's head to the crazy cowboy owner played by slim in 1972 slim played the cowboy in the getaway with steve mcqueen and ally mcgraw that same year he was in john wayne film the cowboys where a rancher will anderson john wayne is forced to hire youngsters for a cattle drive the film will take five months to make the next year slim will become sheriff baker in pat garrett and billy the kid now here he is in a scene with james coburn and kate gerardo coburn once said this was one of the most enjoyable films that he ever worked on in 1974 it'll be blazing saddles directed by mayo brooks and starring cleveland little and gene wilder playing the role of tackart slim will make one of them famous quotes in the movies what in the wide wide world of sports is a going on here when slim was asked what he thought about using four letter words and movies his reply was well i might say hell or damned and on occasion i might call somebody an s-o-b if he qualifies some places stated that easy-picking slim's brother had an unaccredited role in this picture but i couldn't find any evidence of it easy most of his life loved training dogs and was lacked by everyone in 2001 at the age of 79 he passed away from cancer at the regents care center in reno nevada in 1975 slim and maggie will move to the gold springs subdivision in the old gold mining town of columbia california some 75 miles east of stockton this is slim and maggie at home in columbia also that year slim will be the evil limping bank robber in the comedy the apple dumpling gang along with bill bixby susan clark tim conway don knotts and numerous others in 1978 slim and his daughters margaret called maggie lou and daryl ann at the buffalo bill museum in wyoming slim will spend his last years with his love maggie at their home in columbia in 1982 he'll be inducted into the hall of great western performers at the national cowboy and western heritage museum in oklahoma city that same year you begin to realize something was wrong his vision was off and severe headaches after having test run it was discovered that the cowboy had a brain tumor on august 10 neurosurgeons at the university of california medical center in san francisco successfully removed the tumor however his recovery did not go well and on october the 11th 1983 he went to the evergreen convalescent hospital in modesto after almost two months on december the 8th the rodeo cowboy lewis burton lindley jr and famous actor slim pickens passed away of pneumonia related to his surgery his beloved wife maggie and daughters maggie lou and daryl ann was at his side his remains were scattered in a meadow near pinedale wyoming where he owned a ranch and loved to hunt slim pickens was 64 years old 22 years after his passing in 2005 he was inducted into the pro rodeo hall of fame in colorado springs [Music] colorado [Music] you

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 225,787

Rating: 4.9327908 out of 5

Keywords: Slim Pickens

Id: rRMadOBOlZI

Length: 25min 2sec (1502 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 30 2020