Personal Info
Birth date
1895-07-21 (130 Years)
Day of death
1973-03-23
Gender
Male
Known for
Acting
Place of birth
Vevay, Indiana, USA
Also known as
Kenneth Olin Maynard
Ken Maynard
Biography
From Wikipedia Kenneth Olin "Ken" Maynard (July 21, 1895 – March 23, 1973) was an American motion picture stuntman and actor. Maynard served in the United States Army during World War I. After the war, Maynard returned to show business as a circus rider with Ringling Brothers. When the circus was playing in Los Angeles, California, actor Buck Jones encouraged Maynard to try working in the movies. Maynard soon had a contract with Fox Studios. He first appeared in silent motion pictures in 1923. Maynard's work included stunt performance. His horsemanship and rugged good looks made Maynard a cowboy star. He and his white stallion, "Tarzan," became famous. His two recorded songs with Columbia Records, "The Lone Star Trail" and "The Cowboy's Lament," made him one of the first of the singing cowboys. Maynard moved to Universal Studios, where he made his first films with a musical soundtrack. He sang two songs in Sons of the Saddle in 1930. In 1931 and 1932, Maynard worked for Tiffany Productions and Sono Art-World Wide Pictures before moving back to Universal in 1933. Maynard played several musical instruments, and was featured that year on the violin in The Fiddlin' Buckaroo, and on the banjo in The Trail Drive. Maynard moved to Mascot Pictures in 1934. Maynard appeared in more than ninety films in twenty years with his white cowboy hat, fancy shirt, and a pair of six-shooters, but alcoholism so severely affected his life that his acting career ended in 1944. He made appearances at state fairs and rodeos. He owned a small circus operation featuring rodeo riders but eventually lost it to creditors. His substantial wealth had vanished, and he lived a desolate life in a rundown trailer. During these years, Maynard was supported by an unknown benefactor, long thought to be Gene Autry. More than twenty five years after his last starring role, Maynard returned to the screen two small roles, in 1970 and 1972, the more notably in The Marshal of Windy Hollow. Maynard died of stomach cancer in 1973 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, California. He was interred at Forest Lawn Cypress Cemetery in Cypress, California. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ken Maynard has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6751 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography
Haunted Gold
4.9
Overview:
John Mason returns to the Sally Ann mine to claim his half share. Janet Cater also returns although her father lost his half share to Joe Ryan. Ryan and his gang are also there to get the gold. A mysterious Phantom is also present. Mason's plan to expose Ryan as an outlaw and to force him to turn his share to Janet works. But when distracted by the Phantom, John is made a prisoner by the gang.In Old Santa Fe
5
Overview:
Gangster Chandler and his accomplice Tracy arrive at a dude ranch. Cowboy Kentucky arrives at the same time. When Tracy double-crosses his boss and has the stage robbed, Kentucky finds the outlaws and brings them in. Tracy frames him for the murder of the driver but his pal Cactus gets him out of jail. He returns just as Chandler shoots Tracy and Kentucky finds himself arrested for another murder.Bigfoot
3
Overview:
Bigfoot kidnaps some women and some bikers decide to go on a rescue mission to save them.Flaming Lead
4
Overview:
Cowhand Ken Clark is stranded in Chicago, and temporarily takes a job as a sharp-shooter entertainer in a night club, with the intention of getting enough money together to get back to his beloved Arizona. Frank Gordon, while drunk, is about to be rolled by the club bouncer, but Ken interferes and earns Clark's gratitude. Gordon gets a telegram from Kay Burke, the daughter of his partner in Arizona, notifying him that her father, Jim Burke, has been killed by rustlers.The ranch has a U.S. Army contract to furnish horses, but she sees little hope of being able to make good because the stock is being rustled, and she asks Gordon for his help.Six Shootin' Sheriff
5.7
Overview:
Cowboy star Ken Maynard is Jim "Trigger" Morton, in town undercover while pursuing the man who framed him for robbery. But a well-placed shot tames a band of scofflaws and gains Morton the sheriff's badge. Now, he's riding on both sides of the law. The line is further blurred when old buddy Chuck offers evidence of Morton's innocence in exchange for a blind eye to Chuck's impending postal heist in this classic Western.Gun Gospel
NYR
Overview:
From Death Valley in the Mojave Desert to Mount Whittier, the outlaw gangs are wreaking havoc on the gold and money shipments from the mines and ranches. Wells Fargo organizes an express service that will insure the shipments and ensure a guaranteed delivery. Granger Hume is hired to help Wells-Fargo deliver on their promise.Whirlwind Horseman
4
Overview:
Ken and Happy, looking for their friend Cherokee, run into an outlaw gang led by Ritter who have been terrorizing the ranchers. Ken figures that one of the prominent citizens is the real boss and sets a trap to find him.Death Rides the Range
6
Overview:
A wounded archaeologist crawls into the camp of three kindhearted cowboys. When the cowboys bring him to a nearby trading post, he's murdered after he lets slip a secret about a hidden cave. Investigating his death, Ken and his friends encounter a land dispute between a pair of neighboring ranches, an arrogant German baron and a mysterious shack that houses a great secret.Brass Commandments
NYR
Overview:
"Flash" Lanning returns to Bozzam City from the East to put an end to cattle rustling. Gloria Hallowell, who has known him by reputation, falls in love with Lanning but believes that he loves Ellen Bosworth, an eastern "lady." Campan, the leader of the rustlers, hoping to lure Lanning into a trap, kidnaps both girls. Lanning rescues the girls, punishes Campan, and indicates to Gloria that she is the girl for him.Arizona Whirlwind
5.5
Overview:
US marshals Ken, Hoot and Bob stop a gang dressed as Indians from robbing the stage. After getting repairs at the relay station, but before they get to town, another trap is set, but they get away. In town, they search the stage and find nothing. But hidden in the axle grease can are diamonds. Polini wants them cut into smaller diamonds so that he can easily dispose of them. Throughout this Western, the courageous trio faces off against cunning opponents, including the gang's merciless leader (Ian Keith) and an unsuspecting banker (Karl Hackett).Honor of the Range
5
Overview:
After Sheriff Ken puts money in the safe, his brother Clem gives Rawhide the combination. With the money gone the disgruntled townsmen make Boots Sheriff and lock up Ken. Clem, now a prisoner of Rawhide, has a change of heart and sends Ken a message with the outlaw's location. Ken escapes by impersonating the saloon entertainer and rides for the hangout.Lucky Larkin
NYR
Overview:
Colonel Lee, a homesteader, is the object of terrorists who want to drive him off the range so that his horses cannot be entered in the county races, and he refuses an offer of Martin Brierson to buy him out. Pete, Brierson's brother, in hiding because of his criminal record, burns the colonel's barn and injures his horses. Convinced of Brierson's responsibility for the terror tactics, "Lucky" Larkin plans to ride Tarzan, the colonel's pet colt. Brierson does his best to disqualify the horse, but Larkin tricks him and wins the race. Larkin captures Pete and forces him to confess. The Brierson brothers are brought to justice, and Larkin wins Emmy Lou, a homesteader's daughter.The Law Rides Again
6
Overview:
When a band of American Indians breaks a treaty with the federal government, U.S. Marshals Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson hit the trail with captured outlaw Duke Dillon (Jack La Rue) to find out what sparked the uprising. They discover clues that point to corrupt Indian agent John Hampton (Kenneth Harlan), but meanwhile, the bandit Dillon pulls a fast one on the marshals, and soon everybody's getting ready for a showdown.Western Courage
6
Overview:
Wealthy Henry Hanley takes his family to a dude ranch. But his daughter Gloria's boyfriend Eric is waiting and he is after Hanley's money. Ken overhears Eric's plan and abducts Gloria to stop the elopement. The outlaw Lacrosse and his henchman then catch Ken without his guns, take off with Gloria, and leave a tied up Ken in a burning shack.King of the Arena
NYR
Overview:
Mysterious deaths have been occurring in the same towns as Miller's Circus and the Governor has sent Ken Kenton to investigate. Ken joins the show but when he realizes that Bargoff is involved, Bargoff has fled and taken Mary Hiller as a hostage. The trail leads to Baron Petroff who concocted the deadly chemical and Ken quickly finds himself the Baron's prisoner.The Gunfighter
NYR
Overview:
Billy Buell (William Farnum), a stranger involving himself with a long-standing mountain feud. The Benchleys and the Camps have been feuding ever since Lew Camp (J. Morris Foster) learned that his daughter Nellie (Doris May) was stolen by Jacob Benchley (Arthur Morrison) to replace a dead Benchley baby. Buell, who has fallen in love with Nellie, returns her to her mother (Virginia True Boardman). That doesn't sit well with the Benchley clan, who arrive for a final shootout.Gun Justice
NYR
Overview:
Wanting the Lance ranch, Burkett kills Lance and brings in an imposter to pose as the heir Ken Lance. Ken learns of the plan, captures the imposter, and arrives posing as himself. In an ensuing gunfight a man is killed and Ken is in trouble when not only is he accused of the murder, but the imposter escapes and convinces the Sheriff he's the real Ken Lance.Come On, Tarzan
5.5
Overview:
Ken Maynard's exceptionally intelligent horse, Tarzan the Wonder Horse, is the star of this western about evil cowboy Steve Frazer (Welch) who gathers horses for slaughter, whose meat is sold to pet food manufacturers. The wild horse Tarzan frees the doomed horses from their corrals, and Frazer convinces the Sheriff that Tarzan is a threat and can be shot on sight. Local cowboy Ken Benson (Maynard) and rancher Pat Riley (Kennedy) work together to clear Tarzan's good name and put Frazier behind bars for his evil deeds.Trailing Trouble
5
Overview:
When mild mannered Friendly Fields is sent to the Blair ranch to work, he is mistaken for the notorious outlaw Blackie Burke. When a drought develops and the ranchers look for new grazing land, he plays the part and forces them to give he best plot to his boss Miss Blair. But no sooner than his mother arrives to expose the hoax, the real Blackie also arrives.The Demon Rider
NYR
Overview:
A ranch foreman captures a notorious gang of gold thieves. He ties them up and leaves them for a pursuing posse while he goes out to find the gold they stole. When the posse arrives, the gang's leader convinces them that the foreman is actually the gold thief, and the posse sets out in pursuit of him.The Fighting Legion
NYR
Overview:
After being shot, a dying Marshal Dawson gives Dave Hayes his badge and asks him to finish his job. Dave becomes Marshal but when Bowie, the man that shot Dawson appears, he exposes Dave as an imposter. Dave is then in trouble when Edwards incites the mob to lynch him.Haunted Range
NYR
Overview:
The hero must solve the murder of his benefactor within six months in order to inherit a valuable ranch.Mountain Justice
5
Overview:
In the Kentucky mountains, Ken McTavish comes to Kettle Creek looking for the killer of his father. When he learns that it was Abner Harland, he fakes the killing of his friend Rusty, puts Abner in a coffin, and takes off. Lem Harland, seeing Rusty alive, realizes what happened and the chase is on.Tombstone Canyon
3.5
Overview:
A range lawman (Ken Maynard) unmasks a black-cloaked phantom killer (Sheldon Lewis).The Arizona Terror
NYR
Overview:
Captain Porter's scheme is to buy livestock and then have his men show up later to kill the buyer and retrieve the money. When his men kill the next victim, he frames the Arizonian for the murder. The Arizonian escapes the law and joins up with the outlaw Vasquez. Knowing Porter's scheme, he plans to trap him by using Vasquez as the next buyer.The Code of the Scarlet
NYR
Overview:
Assigned to catch a gang of outlaws, officers Bruce Kenton and Paddy Halloran rescue Helen Morgan when her wagon is attacked by the very same gang. Through a ruse, Kenton manages to infiltrate the gang, which is holed up in the lawless community of Caribou Flats. While in the employ of villainous trading post operator Jack Blake, Kenton discovers that Blake is not only the leader of the gang but also the man who murdered Helen's brother.Senor Daredevil
NYR
Overview:
Don Luis O'Flagherty (Ken Maynard), a daredevil comes to the rescue of his long-lost father, "Tiger" O'Flagherty (George Nichols), the supervisor of a supply-wagon train destined for the miners in Sonora. Tiger is being terrorized by Jesse Wilks (J.P. McGowan), who hopes to starve the miners out of their claims. Falling in love with Tiger's ward, Sally (Dorothy Devore), Don Luis manages to turn the tables on Wilks, who is killed attempting to rob the supply train.The Man Who Won
NYR
Overview:
Bill is a gambler, whose friend Scipio goes in search of his wife Jessie. Jessie, fed up with her life of poverty, has run off with the wealthy and villainous James. She has left behind her two children on James' promise that she can send for them later. Scipio leaves the tots with Bill when he goes on his search..The Grey Vulture
NYR
Overview:
Fired from his job for shirking his duties, the 'Knight of the Plains' Bart Miller stumbles across a would-be stagecoach robbery and he rescues damsel in distress Betty Taylor. He takes Betty and her pretty girlfriends to the ranch of her father Bill Taylor. Meanwhile Taylor's foreman Luke Hatton is plotting to rustle his boss' herd with the aid of the corrupt lawyer Harkness.Acting
1976Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch as (archive footage)
1972The Marshal of Windy Hollow as Texas Ranger
1970Bigfoot as Mr. Bennett
1944Harmony Trail as Marshal Ken Maynard
1944Arizona Whirlwind as Ken Maynard
1944Westward Bound as Ken Maynard
1943Death Valley Rangers as Ken Maynard
1943Blazing Guns as Marshal Ken Maynard
1943The Law Rides Again as U.S. Marshal Ken Maynard
1943Wild Horse Stampede as Marshal Ken Maynard
1940Lightning Strikes West as Lightning Ken Morgan
1940Phantom Rancher as Ken Mitchell
1939Death Rides the Range as Ken Baxter
1939Flaming Lead as Ken Clark
1938Six Shootin' Sheriff as Jim 'Trigger' Morton
1938Whirlwind Horseman as Ken Morton
1937Trailing Trouble as John 'Friendly' Fields
1937Boots of Destiny as Ken Crawford
1936The Fugitive Sheriff as Ken Marshall
1936The Cattle Thief as Ken
1936Avenging Waters as Ken Morley
1936Heroes of the Range as Ken Smith
1935Heir to Trouble as Ken Armstrong
1935Lawless Riders as Ken Manley
1935Western Courage as Ken Baxter
1935Western Frontier as Ken Masters
1934Mystery Mountain as Ken Williams
1934In Old Santa Fe as Ken aka 'Kentucky'
1934Smoking Guns as Ken Masters
1934Honor of the Range as Sheriff Ken / Brother Clem
1934Wheels of Destiny as Ken Manning
1933Gun Justice as Ken Lance
1933Fargo Express as Ken Benton
1933Strawberry Roan as Ken Masters
1933The Trail Drive as Ken Benton
1933The Fiddlin' Buckaroo as 'Fiddlin'
1933King of the Arena as Captain Ken Kenton
1933The Lone Avenger as Cal Weston
1933Phantom Thunderbolt as Thunderbolt Kid
1933Drum Taps as Ken Cartwright
1932Tombstone Canyon as Ken
1932Haunted Gold as Tim Kelly (archive footage) (uncredited)
1932Hollywood on Parade No. A-5 as Self
1932Between Fighting Men as Ken
1932Come On, Tarzan as Ken Benson
1932Dynamite Ranch as Blaze Howell
1932Whistlin' Dan as 'Whistlin' Dan Savage Posing as Ed Black
1932Hell-Fire Austin as Ken 'Hell-Fire' Austin
1932Texas Gun Fighter as Bill Dane
1932The Sunset Trail as Jim Brandon
1931The Pocatello Kid as The Pocatello Kid / Sheriff Jim Bledsoe
1931Branded Men as Rod Whitaker
1931Range Law as Hap Conners
1931The Arizona Terror as The Arizonian
1931Alias: The Bad Man as Ranger Ken Neville
1931The Two Gun Man as 'Blackie' Weed
1930Fighting Thru as Dan Barton
1930Sons of the Saddle as Jim Brandon
1930Song of the Caballero as Juan Posing as El Lobo
1930Mountain Justice as Ken McTavish
1930The Voice of Hollywood No. 9 as Unknown
1930The Fighting Legion as Dave Hayes
1930Lucky Larkin as 'Lucky' Larkin
1930Parade of the West as Bud Rand
1929Señor Americano as Lieutenant Michael Banning
1929The Wagon Master as The Rambler
1929The California Mail as Bob Scott
1929The Royal Rider as Dick Scott
1929The Lawless Legion as Cal Stanley
1929Cheyenne as Cal Roberts
1928The Phantom City as Tim Kelly
1928The Glorious Trail as Pat O'Leary
1928The Code of the Scarlet as Bruce Kenton
1928The Upland Rider as Dan Dailey
1928The Canyon of Adventure as Steven Bancroft
1928The Wagon Show as Bob Mason
1927Gun Gospel as Granger Hume
1927The Red Raiders as Lieutenant John Scott
1927The Devil's Saddle as Harry Morrel
1927The Land Beyond the Law as Jerry Steele
1927Somewhere in Sonora as Bob Bishop
1927The Overland Stage as Jack Jessup
1926The Unknown Cavalier as Tom Drury
1926Senor Daredevil as Don Luis O'Flaherty
1926Haunted Range as Terry Bladwin
1926The Grey Vulture as Bart Miller
1925North Star as Noel Blake
1925Fighting Courage as Richard Kingsley
1925The Demon Rider as Billy Dennis
1924Janice Meredith as Paul Revere
1924$50,000 Reward as Tex Sherwood
1923Somebody Lied as Unknown
1923Cameo Kirby as (uncredited)
1923The Gunfighter as (uncredited)
1923The Man Who Won as Conroy
1923Brass Commandments as (uncredited)
Production
1934Honor of the Range ... Producer
1934Wheels of Destiny ... Producer
1933Gun Justice ... Producer
1933Strawberry Roan ... Producer
1933The Trail Drive ... Producer
1933The Fiddlin' Buckaroo ... Producer
1933King of the Arena ... Producer
1930Sons of the Saddle ... Producer
1930Song of the Caballero ... Producer
1930Mountain Justice ... Producer
1930The Fighting Legion ... Producer
1930Lucky Larkin ... Producer
1930Parade of the West ... Producer
1929Señor Americano ... Producer
1929The Wagon Master ... Producer
Directing
1933The Fiddlin' Buckaroo ... Director