- Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard (
July 21 ,1895 –March 23 ,1973 ) was an American motion picturestunt man andactor .Born Kenneth Olin Maynard in
Vevay, Indiana , he was an accomplished horseman. As a young man, he performed inrodeo s and was a trick rider with "Buffalo Bill 's Wild West Show" and acircus rider with Ringling Brothers. DuringWorld War I , he served in theUnited States Army .He first appeared in silent motion pictures in 1923 and in addition to acting also did stunt work. Maynard became one of the first singing cowboys with
Columbia Records and was also one of the first to make a star out of his white stallion named "Tarzan". With his white cowboy hat, fancy shirt, and pair of six-shooters, from the 1920s to the mid-1940s, Maynard appeared in more than 90 films. However, hisalcoholism severely impacted his life and his career ended in 1944. He owned a small circus operation featuring rodeo riders but eventually lost it to creditors.The significant amount of money he had earned vanished and he lived a desolate life in a rundown
mobile home . During these years, Maynard was supported by an unknown admirer - long thought to beGene Autry [Singing In The Saddle, by Ranger Douglas B. Green. ISBN 0826515061] .More than 25 years after his last starring role, Maynard returned to two small parts in films in 1970 and 1972.
Ken Maynard died penniless in 1973 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, California. He was interred at Forest Lawn Cypress Cemetery [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3056] in
Cypress, California . Maynard's funeral is described in detail in James Horwitz's book "They Went Thataway ". [Horwitz, James. "They Went Thataway" (1978). Ballantine Books; . ISBN 0-345-27126-2]For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ken Maynard has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6751 Hollywood Blvd.His brother,
Kermit Maynard , was also an actor and stuntman.Trivia
The
motion picture "Smoking Guns", released theatrically in 1934, starred Ken Maynard in the role of Ken Masters. The western took part in a haunted house, changing the standard setting and locale often found in B-westerns. Themotion picture received a public showing at theMid atlantic nostalgia convention in Aberdeen,Maryland in 2006.References
*imdb name|id=0562770|name=Ken Maynard
External links
[http://www.b-westerns.com/kenmay.htm b-westerns bio]
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