To Kill the Duke (63 page)

Terry Kellum:
After
The Conqueror
did lots of sound for various episodes in many series on TV. Died in 1975 from causes unknown.

Linwood G. Dunn:
One of the best known special-effects wizards Hollywood ever produced. Linwood won five Academy Awards. Put together the trademark RKO radio tower, which eventually became RKO studio’s symbol. Helped develop
King Kong
. The Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood is named after him. After Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz bought RKO from Howard Hughes, the special effects department was shut down. Dunn started his own company and was instrumental in developing special effects for the
Star Trek
series. Died in 1998 from cancer.

Albert Simpson:
Assisted Linwood Dunn on
The Conqueror
. Did the effects for
From Earth to the Moon
and his trail comes up cold after working on
Hawaii
in 1966.

Roydon Clark:
Still living. After
The Conqueror
, his career as a stuntman really took off in the movies and in television. Did movies such as
Cat Ballou
and
Bonnie and Clyde
. On TV, he is especially known for his work on
The Rockford Files
.

Henry A. Escalante:
Worked sparingly as a stuntman after
The Conqueror
, and when he did, it was for various TV series. Grandson of the founder of the Escalante Brothers Circus. Died in 2002 from Alzheimer’s.

Bernie Gozier:
Like Henry, Bernie worked off and on as a stuntman in various movies and mostly TV series. His father was the actor Al Kikune. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1972.

Bob Morgan:
Very popular stuntman who worked on many films after
The Conqueror
. Was almost was killed performing a stunt on the movie
How the West was Won
. It took him five years to recover from his injuries. His wife — the actress Yvonne De Carlo — put her own career on hold to nurse him back to health. He appeared in many of John Wayne’s movies and is the brother of the singer Jaye P. Morgan of
The Gong Show
fame. Died in 1999 from causes unknown.

Boyd ‘Red’ Morgan:
Another of the great stuntmen that dominated the 50’s and 60’s. Boyd got his nickname from his thick red hair. His specialty as a stuntman was falling off a horse in the most convincing and bone-crushing way possible. After
The Conqueror
, he appeared in just about all of John Wayne’s later movies and did a lot of TV series. His body
and mannerisms were rumored to be used for the body of TV commercial icon Mister Clean! Rumored to have died from cancer in 1988.

Gil Perkins:
Worked steadily in TV after
The Conqueror
. In TV he played Bluebeard on
Batman
. Founded The Stuntman’s Association of Motion Pictures and was the treasurer for The Screen Actors Guild for years. Died of natural causes in 1999.

Allan Pomeroy: The Conqueror
was his last film. His trail runs dry except that he died in 1976 from cancer.

Chuck Roberson:
His physical resemblance to John Wayne led to a 30-year career as The Duke’s stunt double in just about all of John Wayne’s movies after
The Conqueror
. When he wasn’t working with Wayne, he worked in a lot of TV series as a stuntman. His own favorite horse was named “Cocaine” and was specifically trained for falling down. After retiring from stunt work he became a second-unit director. He worked on the movie
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
. He wrote a book titled
The Fall Guy — 30 Years as Duke’s Double
. He died in 1979 from cancer.

Barlow Simpson:
Worked exclusively in TV as a stuntman after
The Conqueror
. He mostly appeared on
Branded
and
The Cisco Kid
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1970.

Ray Spiker:
After
The Conqueror
, he only appeared in two movies—
Birdman of Alcatraz
and
The Manchurian Candidate
. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1964.

Norm Taylor:
Was the wrangler on the crew and in charge of handling all the horses. After
The Conqueror
he did stunt work in a few movies,
Fort Dobbs
and
One Little Indian
amongst them. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1993.

Bill White, Jr.:
After
The Conqueror
he did stunt work in
Around the World in 80 Days
and then turned to acting. Was
in Our Man Flint
. His trail turns cold after 1966.

Jack Williams:
After
The Conqueror
he stayed very active in such films as
Spartacus
and
The Wild Bunch
, and on TV in
Maverick
. Died in 2007 of heart failure. His favorite horse was named ‘Coco.’

Terry Wilson:
Found great success on TV as an actor in
Wagon Train
, playing ‘Bill Hawks’ in 267 episodes. Rumored to have died from cancer in 1999.

Jack N. Young:
After
The Conqueror
he did some stunt work on a few more John Wayne pictures. Started his own production company and has been very successful doing TV commercials all over the world for a host of companies and their products. He is still alive but has retired because of prostate cancer. He has informed this author that he is busy working on his autobiography.

Yvonne Wood:
Costume design. Worked in a lot of films after
The Conqueror
. Some of those titles include
The Big Country
and
One-Eyed Jacks
. Died in 1999 from causes unknown.

Michael Woulfe:
Costume designer for Miss Hayward only, in
The Conqueror
. Was very busy, with hundreds of films to his credit, before
The Conqueror
. Only worked on two films after — 1957’s
Jet Pilot
and 1971’s
Happy Birthday Wanda June
. Died in 2007 from natural causes. His favorite costume was one he designed for Judy Garland in
A Star is Born
.

Stuart Gilmore:
Three-time Academy Award nominee for editing on
The Alamo, Airport
and
The Andromeda Strain
, all after
The Conqueror
. Father of producer William S. Gilmore, who produced
A Few Good Men
. Stuart died in 1971 from unknown causes.

C. Bakaleinikoff: The Conqueror
was one of the last movies that Constantine Romanovich Bakaleinikoff worked on for RKO Studios where for years he had been its senior director of music. Nominated for numerous Academy Awards over his very lengthy career in show business, he was married to the silent-screen actress Fritzi Ridgeway. He died in 1966 from unknown causes.

Sidney Cutner:
Orchestrator for
The Conqueror
. Did
Rio Bravo
and
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
among other films. Died in 1971 from causes unknown.

Leo Shuken:
Academy Award-winning orchestrator for
Stagecoach
, Leo worked on a lot of films after
The Conqueror
Including
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
. Died from unknown causes in 1976.

William Hole, Jr.:
Script supervisor for
The Conqueror
. After the movie he went into TV and became a director on such shows as
Peyton Place
and
The Bionic Woman
. Rumored to have died from cancer in1990.

Robert Sidney:
Choreographer for
The Conqueror
. He did a few more movies afterwards, including
How to Murder your Wife,
and
Where the Boys Are
. Died from pneumonia in 2008.

Dick Powell:
Just loved getting John Wayne to pay up on that plumbing bill — even if it was in quarters. Dick never got to be the big studio boss, because Howard Hughes sold RKO. Instead, Powell took his immense talents to TV and formed Four Star Productions with Charles Boyer, David Niven and Ida Lupino. Powell’s Four Star Productions did incredibly well with the shows
Zane Grey Theatre
and
The Dick Powell Show
. Powell took advantage of the new medium and lorded over quality shows that were all about giving the audience intelligent, witty and top-notch entertainment. Although he never got to make that movie of a bestselling 19th-century European novel — he came close with Four Star Productions. He directed (and produced) one movie after
The Conqueror
that won an Academy Award for special effects —
The Enemy Below
. Dick was married three times (his last wife was the talented actress June Allyson) and had four children from the marriages. His son Dick Powell, Jr., played Dick Powell, Sr. in the movie
The Day of the Locust
. Dick Powell died in 1963 from cancer of the lymph glands. His house was used as the setting for the popular TV show
Hart to Hart
.

Howard Hughes:
A real American (if not human) original. Industrialist, aviator, engineer, studio owner, casino owner, philanthropist, ladies’ man, billionaire. As with the Duke, what can be possibly said, written or thought about Howard Hughes that hasn’t already been done? Okay, here goes. When he sold TWA he netted a profit of $567 million. He gave all his stock in Hughes Aircraft to The Howard Hughes Medical Institute — thus making the aircraft company a tax deductible charitable organization.

Hughes Medical is the largest organization of its kind, dedicated to biomedical and medicine, in the world. As of this writing, Hughes Medical has an endowment of $14.8 billion. He paid all the expenses for actress Gene Tierney’s daughter, Daria, who was born with a myriad of medical problems. Even though he didn’t trust government at any levels after the St. George, Utah fiasco, in 1960, he loaned $205,000 to Richard Nixon’s brother Donald. Given his extreme dislike for Richard Nixon’s opponent (John Kennedy), father Joe Kennedy and the lack of influence
that Donald actually had with his brother, the loan made no sense whatsoever — except to Donald, who needed the money.

At one point in the 1960’s, he started buying up all the chain restaurants and four-star hotels in his native state of Texas. He then transferred his ownership to Hughes Medical. He only trusted Mormons in the latter part of his life. Since he wasn’t affiliated with that church, no one could explain why. At the same time he was buying up chain restaurants and four-star hotels in Texas, he moved to The Desert Inn’s penthouse in Las Vegas. When the owners resented his mammoth operation on the top floor, he bought The Desert Inn and a lot of the other hotels/casinos. He then became a recluse, after which he only made one public appearance (if you can call it that), in the 1970’s, and that was over a speaker-box via a phone line, to denounce Clifford Irving. Irving had been having a lot of fun pulling the wool over the New York City publishing world, saying he had co-authored (with Hughes) an autobiography of Howard. The fun didn’t last and Irving did 17 months in the slammer.

While living in Las Vegas Hughes was once jolted out of bed by what he thought was an earthquake and aftershocks. When his aides told him it was not an earthquake but aftershocks caused by underground nuclear testing, Hughes went ballistic. He authorized his aides to bribe President Johnson and President Nixon to cease the testing (the bribes were never offered by the aides). After all, Howard Hughes knew that the cancer rate on his movie
The Conqueror
was three times higher than the average. When Dick Powell died from cancer of the lymph glands, Hughes pulled the movie from circulation. Only he watched it, and he watched it a lot. When one of his aides asked him why he watched it every day, Hughes reportedly answered “…the cinematography is the best. And it should be! After all, I had four Academy Award-winning photographers filming the thing.” He died in 1976 from kidney failure. Before he died and knowing that he was dying, he reportedly started an authentic will that would have left a sizeable amount of money to any of the actors, actresses and crew members (or their survivors) who got sick (and died) from cancer. That will never surfaced, but hundreds of others did — all of them fake.