~ IN MEMORY ~
actor Clint Walker, father of WA/DL pilot Valerie
Walker
May 30, 1927 ~ May 21, 2018
Norman Eugene "Clint" Walker, actor and singer and father of
Western/Delta pilot Valerie Walker, has passed nearing his 91st
birthday.
----------------------
Actor Clint Walker, star of TV show
'Cheyenne,'.....................
Actor Clint Walker, best known for manifesting the role of
Cheyenne Bodie in the 1955-63 western TV series "Cheyenne," has died at the age
of 90 in Grass Valley, Calif.
According to TMZ, Walker's daughter Valerie confirmed he died
of congestive heart failure.
Born Norman Eugene Walker in Hartford Ill., his acting career
spanned across five decades. His towering 6-6 figure with a 48-inch chest would
allow him to fit a character-mold as the "big man" in movies and on
television.
His acting career began with a role in the 1954 film Jungle
Gents and ended with a voice-over as Nick Nitro in the 1998 family action movie
Small Soldiers. In the years between, he starred in the films Yellowstone Kelly,
The Dirty Dozen, Pancho Villa and in the 1974 TV series
"Killdozer!"
However, the role that would define his career would be his
lead part in "Cheyenne," the first hour-long western television
show.
Walker painted an image of a lifelike hero with a
larger-than-life frame. A man quick to humility and never quick to anger; a
gentle giant, yet one who acts without hesitation and willing to draw iron when
dealing out justice with numerous villains and bandits across the American
West.
Walker's massive physique, booming voice and smooth delivery
embodied the western-era everyman. Determined and uncompromising, Walker's
Cheyenne meandered alone through the post-Civil War frontier, helping those in
distress with his innumerable strength, gentle spirit and unwavering
practicality.
His archetypal portrayal of Cheyenne would be connected to
Walker for the rest of his career.
He would reprise his famed role twice, both occurring more
than two decades after the series ended; First in 1991 for the made-for-TV movie
The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, and again in 1995 for an episode of
the TV show "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues."
Walker personified the character of Cheyenne for seven
seasons, taking a sabbatical from 1958-59 to strike for better terms, namely due
to Warner Brothers' restriction on Walker's ability to produce his own music
outside of the company's record label. Due to Walker's strike, "Cheyenne" spun
off into two separate western series: "Bronco" and "Sugarfoot."
A freak skiing accident at Mammoth Mountain, Calif., almost
claimed his life in 1971. Walker fell from a ski-lift chair and landed on a ski
pole, puncturing his heart. Initially pronounced dead, doctors saved his life by
repairing his heart.
Walker has been married three times. He married wife Verna
Garver in 1948; they had one daughter, Valerie, two years later. After divorcing
Garver in 1968, he married Giselle Hennesy and they stayed together until she
died in 1994.
He is survived by his current wife Susan Cavallari, who he
married in 1997, and daughter Valerie, who was one of the first two female
pilots hired by Western Airlines, and the first to ascend to the rank of first
officer.
I am just learning of his death today after watching Cheyenne all morning and half of the afternoon. I'm heartbroken. Clint Walker was probably my most favorite TV western star. Growing up watching him every Saturday morning. Rest in peace "Cheyenne " as you wait in the arms of our Lord
ReplyDeleteHe will be greatly missed. I knew his father from Aurora Mo.
ReplyDeleteI still look @Chayenne on Tv.What a hunk.Rest inPeace you still continue to thrill some of the younger generation
ReplyDeleteClint Walker was the personification of an American hero. You were my hero as a kid and I still watch re-runs of Cheyenne today. God bless you and may you ride the trails in heaven.
ReplyDeleteWonderful comment. I too, was sad at his passing. He personified the American Spirit.
DeleteThank you
He was so handsome and I loved watching him as Brody on Cheyenne! He will be missed by so many!
ReplyDeleteAdored this cowboy from 1961 when my aunt got a tv.....RIP BIG GENTLE MAN.....never forgotten
ReplyDeleteI was born in 1954 and never saw Cheyenne until 2019 and fell in love with Clint walker immediately. I’m still trying to watch all the episodes and anything else Clint Walker. His personal sincerity comes across the screen like a wonderful, soft, warm cloud. I felt this was not acting but the true nature of the man, honest, caring, smart, and humble. Added to that his gorgeous good looks and singing voice and oh my... what a package. There will never be another like him which makes me so sad. RIP Mr. Walker.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right! There will never be another like him! Sad that he’s not here with us on earth anymore in these dark times.
DeleteThe wife and I are in our early 60's. I was born in Texas,she in California. I watched Cheyenne with my Granddad as a boy. I can remember him calling my grandmother " Sugarfoot ". I know that Sugarfoot was a character on the series but, I think he called her that cuz she was so sweet. Now thanks to cable we sit and watch the Cheyenne Show every night after supper. And like all women she also thinks Mr. Walker is a " hunk". The only thing I have in common with Clint is our middle name but, when I put on my cowboy hat and start singing she can't tell the difference. Old cowboys don't die they just ride away into the sunset. You'll always "sit tall in the saddle" in our eyes.
ReplyDeleteHe must have been proud of Valerie, making her way in what was a male only job and her dedication to martial arts. I watched Cheyenne as a kid and watch it now on the H&I Network.
ReplyDeleteHe and my dad were of an age, and when I learned this big man on screen shared my first name, I just thought it was cool. However, over the years, in all those tv characters with this imposing figure, it was always his underlying gentleness and humility that impressed me. He could easily have been cocky and arrogant, but chose to act a gentle-man. God bless the few like him!
ReplyDelete