Summary
- B-movie Westerns were popular in the mid-20th century and featured talented actors who made a name for themselves in the genre.
- Some B-movie stars, like Lash LaRue, had impressive real-life skills as cowboys, while others started as stuntmen before becoming stars.
- Fred MacMurray, Joel McCrea, and Audie Murphy were among the best B-movie Western actors, with notable roles in both Westerns and other genres.
Throughout the heyday of the B-movie Western, several stand-out stars made a name for themselves playing cowboys, gunslingers, and outlaws. While the popularity of the Western may have declined since the mid-20th century, the B-movies that were produced during that period stood as some of the most enjoyable, action-packed, fun-loving films ever screened. Without the major stars and actors who led them, they would not be nearly as acclaimed, and its important to shine on the best actors of this genre.
There are some B-movie Western stars, such as Lash LaRue, whose talent comes not primarily from their acting skill but from their incredible abilities as real-life cowboys. Other stars got their start as stuntmen during the silent film era but managed to stick around and make a name for themselves as stars of feature films. Some surpassed their humble origins and made a name for themselves in mainstream Hollywood pictures. These are the best B-movie actors of all time.
10 Lash LaRue (1917 – 1996)
Lash LaRue was a B-movie star of the 1940s and 1950s
Lash LaRue was a B-movie star known for his all in black dress style and incredible skill with the bullwhip. LaRue was so skilled with the whip that he even taught Harrison Ford in preparation for the Indiana Jones movies (via TMDB). LaRue originally screen tested at Warner Bros but was denied for looking too similar to their star Humphrey Bogart. LaRue starred in dozens of Westerns with standout performances as The Cheyenne Kid in Song of Old Wyoming and a run of B-movie westerns playing his own character of Marshal Lash LaRue, which solidified his reputation as one of the greats of the genre.
9 Fred MacMurray (1908 – 1991)
Fred MacMurray was known for B-movie Westerns early in his career
While Fred MacMurray was also notable for roles outside of B-Movie Westerns, such as the iconic film noir Double Indemnity, he got his start in low-budget Western productions. Starring in Westerns like The Trials of the Lonesome Pine in 1936 one of MacMurray’s most notable roles was in the 1957 movie Quantez opposite Dorothy Malone, which was a Western that everybody should watch at least once. A fine forgotten Western about a group of robbers heading to the Mexican border, MacMurray expertly played an experienced killer dealing with the morality of his poor decisions. While MacMurray never got the acclaim of other Western stars, his talent always shone through in his many B-movie roles.
8 Joel McCrea (1905 – 1990)
Joel McCrea was a star across genres and excelled in B-movie Westerns
With a career in movies that included comedy, drama, romance, and thrillers, Joel McCrea best excelled in the Western genre where he played dozens of parts. McCrea’s most notable role was opposite Western legend Randolph Scott in the 1962 movie Ride the High Country. With incredible charisma and a strong commitment to his role, McCrea played Steve Judd, an ex-lawman hired to transport gold from a mining camp back to California. Ride the High Country stood as some of the best works of McCrea, Randolph, and director Sam Peckinpah who would go on to make The Wild Bunch.
7 Rory Calhoun (1922 – 1999)
Rory Calhoun was a B-movie Western star of the 1950s and 1960s
Rory Calhoun got his start in the 1940s Hollywood studio system with bit parts in movies like Laurel and Hardy’s The Bullfighters before gaining recognition in the Western genre. Calhoun had a fruitful collaboration with director Ray Nazarro and starred in his Western B-Movies such as Domino Kid, The Hired Gun, and Apache Territory. Calhoun had a reputation as a likable leading man and occasionally broke away from Western movies and had a supporting part in the screwball comedy How to Marry a Millionaire, opposite Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe.
6 Johnny Mack Brown (1904 – 1974)
Johnny Mack Brown was a star of the early 1930s who later moved into B-movie roles
A successful college football player, Johnny Mack Brown transitioned into an acting career after graduating from college in the late 1920s. With a starring role in the 1930 movie Billy the Kid, Mack Brown became a bonafied star for a very brief period in the early 1930s but soon found himself in low-budget Westerns and unable to reclaim his former glory. From 1939 to 1944, Mack Brown starred in 29 B-westerns opposite his comedic co-star Fuzzy Knight. While Mack Brown continued to act throughout the 1950s and 1960s but lived in the shadow of his once major success.
5 Tim Holt (1919 – 1973)
Tim Holt was a B-movie Western star of the 1940s and early 1950s
While Tim Holt had major roles in Western dramas like The Treasure of Sierra Madre, opposite Humphrey Bogart, he also excelled in many B-movie Westerns like 1939 Stagecoach Kid. This acted as a Western remake of the 1930s romantic comedy It Happened One Night, which featured a rare romantic subplot for Holt. Holt appeared in 46 B-movies for RKO pictures, many of which were Westerns, and made a name for himself as a singing cowboy who worked tirelessly on several movies every year throughout the 1940s.
4 Buck Jones (1891 – 1942)
Buck Jones was a B-movie Western star in hundreds of productions from the 1920s to the early 1940s
Buck Jones was one of the most notable B-movie Western stars and before entering a career in show business worked as a cowboy on an Oklahoma ranch. Jones got his start as a stuntman for Universal Pictures in the 1910s and became a leading man with the release of the silent Western movie The Last Straw in 1920. Jones’ career included hundreds of film roles, however, when the industry switched ro sound movies he was forced into B-movies where he exceled as gruff or lawmen in movies like The Range Feud, where he teamed up with legendary Western actor John Wayne.
3 Charles Starrett (1903 – 1986)
Charles Starrett was a B-movie Western star in the 1930s and 1940s of more than 100 movies
A B-movie cowboy star, Charles Starrett was best known as the leading man of The Durango Kid western movies. In The Durango Kid, Starrett played an upstanding citizen who pretended to be a dangerous horseman and terrorized local criminals, driving them out of town. Starrett made a career as a good guy chasing the baddies and also utilized his talents as a musician in many musical Westerns. When he retired in 1952, Starrett held the record for longest run of feature films, having made 131 movies for Columbia Pictures (via TMDB).
2 Randolph Scott (1898 – 1987)
Randolph Scott was a B-movie Western star from the late 1920s to the early 1960s
Randolph Scott was a major Western leading man known as the quintessential tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Tall, muscular, and handsome, Scott oozed charisma and was a consistent box-office draw playing the strong-silent type of Western star. With an acclaimed career over more than 30 years, Scott excelled in movies like Ride Lonesome, where he played the bounty Ben Brigade escorting a man to his murder trial. A star through and through, Scott was one of the greatest heroes seen in the B-movie Western genre.
1 Audie Murphy (1925 – 1971)
Audie Murphy was a B-movie Western star of the 1950s and 1960s whose life story was as interesting as any of his films
Audie Murphy’s reputation as the best B-movie Western star was propped by his real-life story as one of the most decorated combat soldiers of World War II (via The National WWII Museum). Murphy was said to have singled-handedly stopped a German attack and received the Medal of Honor at 19 years old. Murphy played himself in his life story To Hell and Back and starred as outlaws such as Billy the Kid in The Kid from Texas and Jesse James in Kansas Riders. Audie Murphy starred in 33 Western movies and, with an incredible tale to match his onscreen persona, stands as the best B-movie Western actor ever.
Sources: TMDB, The National WWII Museum
