Rory Calhoun

A chance meeting with Alan Ladd led to a film career for Rory Calhoun, a rangy, likable leading man who started out billed as Frank McCown before settling on his permanent moniker. Best remembered for his work in the Westerns and action pictures, he acted in a wide variety of movies, portraying eligible bachelors in modern-day comedies like "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953) and "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1955), as well as venturing into period fare for "The Colossus of Rhodes" (1961) and the title role in "Marco Polo" (1962).

Calhoun's cowboy credits included the comedy-Western, "A Ticket to Tomahawk" (1950) and a series of films that he produced (with Victor Orsatti) and starred in, "Domino Kid," "The Hired Gun" (both 1957) and "Apache Territory" (1958), all directed by Ray Nazarro. He solidified his Western standing as star of the CBS series, "The Texan" (1958-60), which he also produced with Orsatti. Calhoun has acted in some laughers like "The Night of the Lepus" (1972) and "Angel" (1984), but has balanced those with appearances in the popular CBS miniseries, "The Blue and the Gray" (1982), and features like "Bad Jim" (1990) and "Pure Country" (1992). During the 80s, he also ventured into the realm of daytime drama, playing a judge with political connections on the CBS series "Capitol."