The 'brains' and 'action' heavies who had meaty roles and lots of dialog ... and the players who were fathers, ranch owners, lawman, mayors, judges, lawyers, storekeepers, newspaper editors, wardens, etc.

(Courtesy of Jack Tillmany)

Glenn Strange (sometimes spelled Glen Strange) Real name: Glenn George Strange or George Glenn Strange Nickname: "Peewee" or "Pee Wee" 1899 - 1973

(From Old Corral image collection) Above, Tex Ritter has the drop on big Glenn Strange in PALS OF THE SILVER SAGE (Monogram, 1940). Strange is about a head taller than Tex.

Glenn Strange is one of the most recognized of the B western baddies.

He was born in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899, but was raised in Cross Cut, Texas. He learned to play fiddle and guitar by ear and used to play for local dances.

In the late 1920s, Strange and his cousin, Taylor Curtis 'Cactus Mack' McPeters, joined a group of singing cowboys called the 'Arizona Wranglers'. They worked on tour and on radio all around the country. The group ended up in Hollywood and from there Strange and Cactus Mack began working in pictures, and Strange's first film work was circa 1930.

Strange was also a talented songwriter and singer, and was a close pal to singin' cowboy Eddie Dean. Dean and Strange collaborated on various tunes - an example is their opening title song for Dean's TUMBLEWEED TRAIL (PRC, 1946).

Minard Coons noted that in one of his conversations with Eddie Dean, that Dean had mentioned that he (Dean) and Strange would write tunes on the bus ride to location shootings. In an interview in 1975, singing cowboy Eddie Dean talked about his friend, Glenn Strange ... he and Strange were hunting and fishing buddies ... Glenn liked to cook ... he was a terrific guy ... when Dean had his starring series at PRC in the 1940s, he wanted Strange in the cast, but the producer said "nope - Glenn Strange is just too tall!". Another of Strange's buddies was Republic Pictures bad guy Roy Barcroft.

In the late 1930s, Strange briefly played the sidekick to melodious Dick Foran in his Warner's westerns. One of his meatiest roles was as "Tex", one of Dick Foran's Riders (along with Buck Jones, Leo Carrillo, Noah Beery, Jr. and Big Boy Williams) in Universal's 15 chapter RIDERS OF DEATH VALLEY (1941).

I've never seen Strange's exact height mentioned, but he towered over everyone else in the scene. That height probably got him to Universal Pictures where he played the Frankenstein monster on three occasions, including the funny ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (Universal, 1948).

As the B western faded, Strange migrated to TV work. He was "Butch Cavendish", the outlaw that bushwhacks the Texas Rangers in the opening three-parter of the LONE RANGER TV show. Later, he portrayed "Sam Noonan", the Long Branch saloon barkeep, on TV's GUNSMOKE from 1962 until shortly before his death from lung cancer in 1973.

Les Adams has Strange identified in 250+ sound era films - that includes 215 westerns and a half dozen serials. And there's more on Glenn Strange's involvement with the singing groups The Arizona Wranglers, The Range Riders and The Radio Buckaroos, in the Music Mountain section on the Old Corral.

Go to the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral, and then click the link for the California Death Records database. There you will find a record for Glenn G. Strange, birthplace and date of New Mexico and 8/16/1899, and he passed away on 9/20/1973. Old Corral contributors Dale Crawford and Jim Sorensen provided me with a death certificate. In the first/middle/last name columns, the death certificate shows two name variations: GEORGE GLENN STRANGE AKA: Glenn George Strange.

At the Memorial Service for Strange, Eddie Dean sang and the eulogy was delivered by John Mantley (1920-2003) who was executive producer on the GUNSMOKE TV show.

(Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above, Lee 'Lone Ranger' Powell and Charles 'Slim' Whitaker are about ready to jump this quartet of no-goods in ROLLING DOWN THE GREAT DIVIDE (PRC, 1942), one of the Frontier Marshals trio series. Unaware of their pending doom, the four baddies are, from left to right: Rex Lease, Charlie King, Eddie Dean and Glenn Strange. Note the lineup as being shortest to tallest - and check the height of Glenn Strange vs. Rex Lease.

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Glenn Strange: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0833363/

Strange was a member of various singing groups used in the ol' B western ... including the Arizona Wranglers, Range Riders, more. Click HERE and a separate window will open with an Old Corral webpage showing various groups that included Glenn Strange.

The BMI Broadcast Music, Inc. website has a search function where you can check the tunes authored/co-authored by Glenn Strange. When you get to the BMI search page, enter "Strange" in the name box, select "Songwriter/Composer", and then click on the search. Go to: http://repertoire.bmi.com/startpage.asp
You should find several name variations in the listing including "Strange G", "Strange Glen", etc. listed and some of his song writing credits include "On The Banks Of The Sunny San Juan" (Banks of the Old Rio Grande) by Strange and Eddie Dean, and "My Tumbleweed Trail" by Strange and Dean.

Norris Chambers mentions Glenn Strange and Cactus Mack McPeters in his Brief History of Crosscut, Texas: http://www.norrisc.com/crosscut.html

Edith Woodard has a genealogy pages with info on the Strange and McPeters families: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~byrd/Glen_Strange.html and http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~byrd/Leona.html

Jim Tipton's Find-A-Grave site has the burial location as well as a picture of Strange's grave marker, at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills, California: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4340

The National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069 has a Ray Whitley Custom Gibson "party guitar" which was originally owned by Ray Whitley and later, by Glenn Strange. Photos and info can be found at: http://www.usd.edu/smm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Gibson/5991/WhitleyGuitar.html

(From Old Corral image collection) Above is Glenn Strange as Sam Noonan, the Long Branch saloon bartender, on TV's GUNSMOKE. (Courtesy of Joel Towler) Above are Glenn Strange and Joel Towler at the annual Chuckwagon Trailers barbeque in Hansen Dam Park in Pacoima, California, circa 1964. Buddy Roosevelt was behind the camera. And the man wearing the tan jacket on the left is B-western henchie Tom Smith, who often wore a big handlebar moustache and a tall, round top hat. Click HERE for a blowup of Tom Smith from the above photo (and he's wearing his trademark hat and moustache). Click HERE and HERE for some B-western images of Smith. (From Old Corral image collection) Above, Bob Baker has the drop on Strange in THE LAST STAND (Universal, 1938). (From Old Corral image collection) Above, from L-to-R are cowboy star Jack Randall, Kenne Duncan, Glenn Strange, Jack Perrin and George Chesebro. Carl Matthews is in back with the neckhold on Strange. Randall, the brother of Three Mesquiteers star Bob Livingston, made 22 oaters for Monogram Pictures from 1937-1940. Above, Tim McCoy looks on as Buck Jones has Raymond Hatton by the throat in this laugh scene from DOWN TEXAS WAY (1942), one of Monogram Pictures' Rough Riders' series. On the far left is Glenn Strange. (From Old Corral image collection) Above, from L-to-R are: perpetual baddie Charlie King at the desk, Eddie Dean, Lee Powell, and Glenn Strange, standing and wearing the eye shade. Lobby card from RAIDERS OF THE WEST (PRC, 1942), one of the Frontier Marshals trio series westerns. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a pressbook ad noting "And ATLAS THE MONSTER Played By GLENN STRANGE". (From Old Corral image collection) Above is another scene from ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). From L-to-R are Strange as the Frankenstein monster, Lenore Aubert as the villainess and Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. (From Old Corral image collection) Above is Glenn Strange reading the comics and relaxing at the makeup table as he preps for another day of playing the Frankenstein monster. Strange portrayed the monster in three films: HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (Universal, 1944), HOUSE OF DRACULA (Universal, 1945) and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (Universal, 1948).