Bob Steele

 Bob Steele, born Robert Adrian Bradbury (January 23, 1907 – December 21, 1988)

Steele's career began to take off in 1927, when he was hired by production company Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) to star in a series of Westerns. Renamed Bob Steele at FBO, he soon made a name for himself, and in the late 1920s, 1930s and 1940s starred in B-Westerns for almost every minor film studio, including Monogram, Supreme, Tiffany, Syndicate, Republic (including several films of The Three Mesquiteers series) and Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) (including the initial films of their "Billy the Kid" series), plus he had the occasional role in an A-movie, as in the adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men in 1939. In cowboy movies shown on TV in the 1940s he played a dashing, but short cowboy replete with eye-make-up and lipstick. In the 1940s, Steele's career as a cowboy hero was on the decline, but he kept himself working by accepting supporting roles in big movies like Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep, or the John Wayne vehicles Island in the Sky, Rio Bravo , Rio Lobo, The Comancheros, and The Longest Day. Besides these he also made occasional appearances in science fiction films like Atomic Submarine and Giant from the Unknown.

Steele also performed on television, including the role of Sergeant Granger in the premiere episode, "The Peacemaker", in 1957 of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Colt .45. Steele appeared as "Kirby" with Agnes Moorehead and Madlyn Rhue in the 1959 episode "In Memoriam" of another ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. In the middle 1960s, Steele was cast in a regular supporting role as Trooper Duffy in ABC's F Troop. Bob Steele died on December 21, 1988, from emphysema after a long illness, he was 81 years old. Steele is interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.