Reel Cowboys of the Santa Susanas -- Tim McCoy

Tim McCoy -- upper Iverson Ranch (Eagle Beak above horse)

Colonel Tim McCoy (1891 – 1978) was a B-Western cowboy star, military officer, and expert on Native American manners and customs.  As a youngster he left his Michigan home and found work on a Wyoming ranch.  There he became an expert horseman and roper.  While in Wyoming he studied the area's Indian tribes and became an expert in their customs and manners.  The Arapahoe tribe (of the Wind River reservation) named him "High Eagle".

During World War I and World War II he was a decorated soldier, rising to the rank of Colonel with the Army Air Corps. He also served the state of Wyoming as its Adjutant General.

In 1922, he provided Native American extras for the Western epic film, The Covered Wagon (1923) (produced by Famous Players-Lasky), and by 1926 he appeared in his first starring role War Paint (1926).  In 1929 he starred in the first talking Western serial, The Indians Are Coming! (1929).

During 1936, he left Hollywood to tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus, and his own "wild west" show.

Throughout the 1930s he starred in low-budget Westerns produced Maurice Conn (Ambassador Pictures) and Sam Katzman (Victory and Puritan Pictures) who engaged him with a salary of $4000 weekly, to make eight films a year. 

In 1941 Buck Jones recruited McCoy to co-star in "The Rough Riders" series, along with Raymond Hatton. The eight Rough Riders films (released by Monogram Pictures) were extremely popular and help stay his waning career.

In 1952, McCoy hosted the "The Tim McCoy TV Show" on KTLA in Los Angeles.  His sometimes co-host was the actor Iron Eyes Cody.

Tim McCoy's Santa Susana locations filmography:

Arizona Gang Busters (1940) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) PRC

Below the Border (1942) starring Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Ray Hatton (Iverson Ranch) Monogram (lobby photo courtesy of Bruce Hickey)

Code of the Cactus (1939) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) Victory

Cornered (1932) starring Tim McCoy - Columbia

Fighting Renegade (1939) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) Victory

Frontier Crusader (1940) starring Tim McCoy - PRC

Ghost Patrol (1936) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) Excelsior

Gun Code (1940) starring Tim McCoy - PRC

Lightnin' Bill Carson (1936) starring Tim McCoy (Iverson Ranch) Puritan

Lightning Carson Rides Again (1938) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch)(Iverson Ranch) Victory

The Lion's Den (1936) starring Tim McCoy - Puritan

Morgan's Last Raid (1929) starring Tim McCoy (Chatsworth) MGM

The Outlaw Deputy (1935) starring Tim McCoy (Iverson Ranch) Puritan

Outlaws' Paradise (1939) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) Victory

Phantom Ranger (1938) starring Tim McCoy (Iverson Ranch) Conn

Riders of Black Mountain (1940) starring Tim McCoy - PRC

The Riding Tornado (1932) starring Tim McCoy - Columbia

Riding Wild (1935) starring Tim McCoy (Iverson Ranch) Columbia

Roarin' Guns (1936) starring Tim McCoy, Rosalinda Price and Wheeler Oakman (Brandeis Ranch) Puritan Pictures Corp

Six Gun Trail (1938) starring Tim McCoy - Victory

Straight Shooter (1939) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) Victory

Texas Cyclone (1932) starring Tim McCoy with John Wayne (Iverson Ranch) Columbia

Texas Wildcats (1939) starring Tim McCoy - Victory

Trigger Fingers (1939) starring Tim McCoy - Victory

Two Gun Justice (1938) starring Tim McCoy (Brandeis Ranch) Conn

The Western Code (1932) starring Tim McCoy - Columbia

'Reel Cowboys of the Santa Susanas' is a continuing series about "six-gun heroes that performed on movie location ranches in Chatsworth, California.  For more information about Chatsworth filming locations see http://www.cowboyup.com/ to find information about my books: Rendezvous at Boulder Pass: Hollywood's Fantasyland - 2010 and Reel Cowboys of the Santa Susanas - 2008.

Disclaimer: This list of movie titles and credits has been compiled from many sources.  It has not been independently verified.  Titles with location credits in parentheses are either movies I own or come from a source I feel has a higher level of creditability.