- Roy Barcroft
Infobox actor
name = Roy Barcroft
imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Howard Clifford Ravenscroft
birthdate =7 September 1902
location =Crab Orchard, Nebraska ,USA
deathdate =28 November 1969
deathplace =Woodland Hills, Los Angeles ,California ,USA
othername = Big Roy, Roy Bancroft, Howard Clifford Ravenscroft
occupation =Film , stage,television actor
yearsactive = 1937-1969
spouse = Hortense Flanagan (1930) Vera Thompson (1932-his death)
homepage =
academyawards =
emmyawards =
tonyawards =Roy Barcroft (
7 September 1902 -28 November 1969 ) was an American character actor famous for playing villains in B-Westerns and other genres. Notedfilm critic Leonard Maltin acclaimed Barcroft as "Republic Pictures ' number one bad guy".cite video | people=Leonard Maltin | year2= 2005 |month2= December |title= The Adventures of Spin and Marty |medium= DVD |publisher=Walt Disney Treasures ]Early life
Barcroft was born Howard Clifford Ravenscroft [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/54/Roy-Barcroft.html Roy Barcroft Biography (1902-1969) ] ] to a farming family in
Nebraska in 1902. In 1917 be joined up with theUnited States Army to fight inFrance inWorld War I , where he was wounded in action. After leaving the army he drifted through several jobs (includingranch hand ,roughneck , railroad worker andseaman ) before re-enlisting and being stationed inHawaii .Career
In 1929, he moved to
California and worked as an extra and a salesman. He was discovered while acting in an amateur theatre production (a hobby he took up to improve his speaking voice as a salesman) and cast in the serial "S.O.S. Coast Guard ". He worked for many studios in the years that followed until 1943 when he signed an exclusive 10-year contract with Republic. Under this contract, he starred in almost 150 films and serials, becoming instantly recognisable as the villain to the audiences of the day.His career slowed with the decline of B-Westerns but he found work in television and B-Movies during the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1955–1957, he became familiar to a new generation of youthful audiences, not as a villain but as "Col. Jim Logan", the kindly owner of the Triple-R boys' ranch in the hit television serials "
Spin and Marty ", seen onWalt Disney 's celebrated "Mickey Mouse Club". A DVD version of the 1955 season, , was released in 2005 as part of the "Walt Disney Treasures " series.In marked contrast to his villainous movie persona, Barcroft off-screen "had a reputation as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood," said Leonard Maltin in 2005. Barcroft died of
kidney cancer at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in 1969, survived by his wife, Vera Thompson, and his three children.The Internet Movie Database records 365 roles over his career.
Further reading
* "Roy Barcroft, King of the Badmen" by
Bobby J. Copeland , Biography, ISBN 0944019323References
External links
*imdb name|id=0054117|name=Roy Barcroft
*amg name|2:3676
* [http://www.b-westerns.com/villainb.htm Roy Barcroft at B-Westerns]
* [http://www.dougmacaulay.com/kingspud/sel_by_actor_index_2.php?actor_first=Roy&actor_last=Barcroft Roy Barcroft, Great Character Actor]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/roy-barcroft Roy Barcroft at Answers.com]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
