See Pre-Poll Data Collecting – Westerns Stars for background.
Vote for up to FIVE from this list. Other later lists will focus on other years’ ranges – to be determined as nominations continue coming in.
Use OTHER to mention other stars not on the list (check IMDb for dates).
I had to go with Glenn Ford. I grew up on a ranch and he reminds of the actual ranchers/cowboys I know. Soft-spoken, generous & polite but you don’t want to cross them.
If I’d made it more than FIVE, Glenn would have been on my list, too. He did some fine movies, not just Westerns, and I think my favorite of his would have to be The Fastest Gun Alive (1956), but he was also excellent in Cowboy (1958).
Strother Martin - I hated that guy’s characters with a passion. One of the nastiest and manipulative set of characters I’ve seen in movies. Especially Cool Hand Luke. His characters always instigated the violence and brutality. Or he played these psycho hillbilly characters on tv westerns. He was always the hillbilly dad that sent his retarded inbred sons into town to kill Matt Dillon. I wanted to spit in his character’s faces. That’s some very fine acting to get that kind of visceral response in his roles. Quite an actor but I guy I’d never want to meet. I couldn’t separate that face and white hair from his characters.
I had to vote for Ken Curits (Festus) and Lorne Greene Pa Cartright. Jack Palance the killer from Shane. Palance was just your typical murdering gunslinger. Much different than Strother Martin’s manipulative characters.
**Glenn Ford ** - he was just so cool. Always fun to watch.