1935
Wanderer of the Wasteland
Director: Otho
Lovering
Starring: Dean Jagger, Buster Crabbe,
Jim Thorpe |
Notes
Leif Erickson made his film debut in two 1933 band
films with Betty Grable before starting a string of
Buster Crabbe Westerns based on Zane Grey novels. Here, in
his first Western at the age of 24, he plays
"Lawrence" and is credited under the name "Glenn
Erickson". Jim Thorpe, the famous
native-American Olympic athlete plays an Indian, as
he did in several early Westerns.
|
|
|
1936
Desert Gold
Director: James
P. Hogan
Starring: Buster Crabbe, Tom Keene,
Robert Cummings |
Notes
Another Zane Grey story where Leif is credited again
as "Glenn Erickson". The character he plays is
"Glenn Kasedon". |
|
|
1936
Drift Fence
Director: Otho
Lovering
Starring: Buster Crabbe, Tom Keene,
Katherine DeMille |
Notes
Leif's third Zane Grey film, again credited as
"Glenn Erickson". His character is "Curley
Prentice". |
|
|
1936
Nevada
Director:
Charles Barton
Starring: Buster Crabbe |
Notes
Leif's fourth Zane Grey film, again as "Glen
Erickson", but with only one "n". His
character is "Ben Ide". |
|
|
1938
Ride a Crooked Mile
Director: Alfred
E. Green
Starring: Akim Tamiroff,
Frances Farmer |
Notes
This is Leif's first Western after he started using
the screen name "Leif Erickson". It is also
the only film in which he appears opposite his wife,
Francis Farmer, whom he was married to from 1936 to
1942. He also has a singing part in his role
here as "Johnny Simpkins". |
|
|
 1950
The Showdown
Director: Dorrell and
Stuart McGowan
Starring: Bill Elliott, Harry Morgan,
Walter Brennan |
Notes
A highly acclaimed film where Leif played "Big Mart".
HC guest star, Jim Davis, also has a role in this
film. |
|
|
1950
Dallas
Director: Stuart
Heisler
Starring: Gary Cooper, Ruth Roman,
Raymond Massey,
Steve Cochran |
Notes
Leif plays a green U.S. Marshall, "Martin Weatherby",
who partners with Gary Cooper in this post Civil War
Texas saga. Other HC guests include Charles Horvath
who played Pedro's fireworks cousin, and Alex
Montoya, who played Miguel in multiple HC episodes. |
|
|
1952
The Cimarron Kid
Director: Budd
Boetticher
Starring: Audie Murphy, Hugh O'Brien,
Noah Beery, Jr.,
Frank Silvera |
Notes
Leif appears here as "Marshal John Sutton" in this
action-packed film about the Dalton Gang starring
Audie Murphy as gang member Bill Doolin in one of
his early Westerns. HC cast member, Frank
Silvera, makes his screen debut in this film.
Other HC guests include Gregg Palmer and Dave
Sharpe. |
|
|
1953
Born to the Saddle
Director:
William Beaudine
Starring: Chuck Courtney,
Donald Woods, Delores Prest |
Notes
Leif plays "Bob Marshall", the father of the
love interest of the hero in this story of a rigged
horse race. |
|
|
1953
A Perilous Journey
Director: R.G.
Springsteen
Starring: Vera Ralston, David Brian,
Charles Winninger |
Notes
Leif plays "Richards" in this story of mail
order brides headed for California. Other HC
actors include Scott Brady, Kathleen Freeman, Paul
Fierro, and Denver Pyle. |
|
|
1956
The Fastest Gun Alive
Director:
Russell Rouse
Starring: Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain,
Broderick Crawford,
Russ Tamblyn |
Notes
Leif plays "Lou Glover" in this classic Showdown
tale of a gunman (Glenn Ford) trying to give up
gunfighting but his reputation won't let him.
Other HC actors include John Dehner, Noah Beery,
Jr., and Dub Taylor. |
|
|
1956
Star in the Dust
Director:
Charles F. Haas
Starring: John Agar, Mamie Van Doren,
Richard Boone, Harry Morgan |
Notes
Leif plays "George Ballad" in this story of a
sheriff trying to keep peace between the ranchers
and the farmers. Other HC actors include Paul
Fix and Stuart Randall. Clint Eastwood has an
uncredited role here as a ranch hand in his very
first Western. |
|
|
1958
Once Upon a Horse
Director: Hal
Kanter
Starring: Dan Rowan, Dick Martin,
Martha Hyer,
Mary Tyler Moore |
Notes
Leif plays "Granville 'Granny' Dix" in this Western
Comedy about two hapless cattle rustlers. This
was the film debut for Dan Rowan and the first
pairing of Rowan and Martin as a comedy duo.
"Laugh-In" was still 9 years away. It is also
the screen debut for Mary Tyler Moore who has an
uncredited role as a dance hall girl. HC actor, John
McGiver, (Ebenezer) appears here as well. |
|
|
1958
The Rifleman
The Sharpshooter
As Jim Lewis in The
Sharpshooter
With Dennis Hopper and Charles Arnt
Director: Sam Peckinpaw
Starring: Dennis Hopper, Chuck Conners, |
|
|
1958-1960
Zane Grey Theater
The Sharpshooter (1958)
Sunday Man (1960)
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1959-1961
Rawhide
Incident at the Buffalo Smokehouse
(1959)
Incident Near Gloomy River (1961)
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1961
The
Rebel
Helping Hand
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1961-1965
Bonanza
The Rescue (1961)
All Ye His Saints (1965)
Director:
Starring: |
As Tom Caine in All Ye His Saints |
|
1962
Shootout at Big Sag
Director: Roger
Kay
Starring: Walter Brennan, Luana Patten,
Chris Robinson |
Notes
Leif plays "Sam Barbee" in this feature that was
originally intended as the pilot for a television
series that didn't make it on air. |
|
|
1963
Wagon
Train
The Eli Bancroft Story
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1964
The Travels of
Jamie McPheeters
The Day of the Toll Takers
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1964-1965
The
Virginian
The Drifter (1964)
Return a Stranger (1964)
Blaze of Glory (1965)
Director:
Starring: |
As Charlie Ryan in Return a Stranger |
|
1965
A Man Called Shenandoah
Incident at Dry Creek
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1965-1966
Daniel Boone
The Aaron Burr
Story (1965)
River Passage (1966)
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1966
Branded
Barbed Wire
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1967
Gunsmoke
Saturday Night
Director:
Starring: |
|
|
1972
Man and Boy
Director: E.W.
Swackhamer
Starring: Bill Cosby, Gloria Foster,
George Spell, John Anderson |
Notes
Leif plays corrupt "Sheriff Mossman" in this film
that was Bill Cosby's first dramatic role in feature
films. It is the story of a black Civil War
Veteran and his son in pursuit of their horse that
had been stolen. Other HC actors include Henry
Silva, Dub Taylor, and Yaphet Kotto. |
|
As Sheriff Mossman |
As Sheriff Mossman |
|
1972
The Daughters of
Joshua Cabe
Director: Philip Leacock
Starring: Buddy Ebsen, Sandra Dee,
Don Stroud, Paul Koslo,
Karen Valentine,
Lesley Ann Warren |
Notes
Leif plays "Amos Wetherall" in this Aaron Spelling
comedy Western about a father (Buddy Ebsen) who gets
a prostitute, a pick pocket , and a former prisoner
to pose as his daughters in order to regain his
land. HC actor Jack Elam has a role here. |
|
|
1976
Winterhawk
Director:
Charles B. Pierce
Starring: Leif Erickson, Woody Strode,
Denver Pyle, Michael Dante,
Dawn Wells |
Notes
Leif has one of the starring roles as trapper,
"Elkhorn Guthrie" who befriends a Blackfoot Indian
in pursuit of smallpox serum. Winterhawk ends
up kidnapping a female settler who later falls in
love with him. HC guest actor Denver Pyle has
a role here. |
|
|
1980
Wild Times
Director: Richard Compton
Starring: Sam Elliott, Ben Johnson,
Bruce Boxleitner, Dennis Hopper,
Harry Carey Jr. |
Notes
A four-hour mini-series about the exploits of a
threesome of shooting competitors. Other HC
actors include Cameron Mitchell and Pat Hingle. |
|
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