Bob Steele (actor)
Bob Steele was an American actor in film and television, performing mostly in Westerns. He also was billed as Bob Bradbury Jr., changing his name to Bob Steele in 1927 when he starred in The Mojave Kid. Altogether, Steele appeared in more than 400 Western films and television series. In 1937 and 1938, he was among the top 10 Western moneymakers.
Steele was born Robert Adrian Bradbury Portland Oregon, his father was Robert North Bradbury, who was a director of Western films straddling the silent and talkie eras. Steele began acting as a child actor, appearing in films directed by his father.
Early life
Steele was born Robert Adrian Bradbury in Portland, Oregon. His parents were Robert North Bradbury and the former Nieta Quinn. He had a twin brother, Bill, also an actor, as well as another brother named Jim.After years of touring in vaudville, the family settled in Hollywood in the late 1910s, where his father soon found work in the movies, first as an actor, later as a director.
In 1920, Steele's father, Robert N. Bradbury, filmed and directed a number of two-reelers that he had made of Bill and his brother Bob. After showing these to friends, it was suggested that he produce them as an adventure series for children. They were released as a series of 16 one-reelers titled The Adventures of Bill and Bob. The series was only moderately successful because screenings were designed for children and thus were often withdrawn from theaters and instead shown in Sunday school groups and in schools.
Steele attended Glendale High School, where he became close friends with classmate Duke Morrison, who would, like Steele, become an actor and change his name to John Wayne. Steele would remain a lifelong presence around Wayne. At Glendale, while Bob's brother Bill played football, Bob participated in boxing and baseball. Bill continued through graduation, went to college and eventually became a doctor. Bob, however, having done theater in school, decided he wanted pursue acting as a career. He left school his junior year, following his father to the movie studios where he was able to do small parts in films. Before Bill left for college, Bob and Bill toured as a vaudeville act known as The Murdock Brothers.
Career
Beginning his film career as Robert Bradbury Jr., he was able to get roles in a series of historical Westerns being directed by his father, Robert North Bradbury, at Sunset Productions, including With Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness, With Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo, and With Sitting Bull at the Spirit Lake Massacre. While working at Sunset, he was able to get a role at Film Booking Offices of America in the 1926 film The College Boob.Bob was screen tested by FBO in 1927 for a planned series of Westerns, and won the contract over fifteen other actors. Screenwriter Oliver Drake encouraged Bob to change his name. Now appearing as Bob Steele, his breakout film was the silent Western, The Mojave Kid, directed by his father. The Mojave Kid was a success and launched Steele into stardom. He would go on to star in thirteen additional silent Westerns.
Steele was well positioned to make the jump from silent Westerns to sound. He was youthful, with good acting ability, and his short stature drew fans who loved to see him take on larger, less good-looking outlaws. His first "talkie" was Near the Rainbow's End in 1930, which he followed with thirteen major films. Steele became one of the most popular B-Western stars of the 1930s and 1940s and worked for almost every minor film studio, including Monogram, Supreme, Tiffany, Syndicate, Republic, including several films of The Three Mesquiteers series, and Producers Releasing Corporation, including the initial films of their "Billy the Kid" series. He was even able to land the occasional role in an A-movie, as in the adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men in 1939.
In the 1940s, Monogram signed Steele to appear in four of their Trail Blazers series alongside Hoot Gibson and Ken Maynard. Steele's career as a cowboy hero was on the decline, although he still had leading roles in Westerns as late as 1946 in films such as Ambush Trail. He kept himself working regularly by accepting supporting roles in big movies like Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep, and the John Wayne vehicles Island in the Sky, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, The Comancheros, and The Longest Day. Besides these he made occasional appearances in science fiction films like The Atomic Submarine and Giant from the Unknown.
He also performed on television, including the role of Sergeant Granger in the premiere episode, "The Peacemaker", in 1957 of the ABC/Warner Bros. Western series, Colt.45. In 1957, he was cast as Sam Shoulders in "Bunch Quitter" in another ABC/WB Western series, Sugarfoot, with Will Hutchins. He appeared in 1958 and 1959 in two episodes of the NBC Western, The Californians, and three episodes of Maverick with James Garner, including "The War of the Silver Kings", "The Seventh Hand", and "Holiday at Hollow Rock".
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. He also appeared as Deputy Sam in four episodes of Hugh O'Brian's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. In 1959, he appeared with Mason Alan Dinehart, another Wyatt Earp alumnus, in the episode "Half a Loaf" of the syndicated series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.
Steele appeared in six different episodes of the Walt Disney's Western television series Texas John Slaughter with Tom Tryon. On January 25, 1960, Steele was cast as the frontier gunfighter Luke Short in an episode of the CBS Western series, The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun.
In the mid-1960s, Steele was cast in a regular supporting role as Trooper Duffy in ABC's F Troop, which allowed him to show his comic talent. Trooper Duffy in the F Troop story line claimed to have been "shoulder to shoulder with Davy Crockett at the Alamo" and to have been the only survivor of the battle 40 years before. In real life, 40 years before F Troop, Steele played a supporting role in his father's 1926 film Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo.
Death and legacy
Steele died of heart failure, December 31, 1988. He is interred in the columbarium at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.In Peter Straub and Michael Easton's The Green Woman graphic novel, the protagonist is named Bob Steele. The novel explicitly states that he is named after the actor.