June 20, 2024 marks the centennial of Audie Murphy, a young man from Texas who joined the army in 1942 and fought Nazis in World War II. He became the most decorated soldier in U.S. military history. After the war, he was recruited by Hollywood where he starred in films from 1949 to 1967. He died in a plane crash in 1971.
Most of his films were westerns made under contract to Universal Pictures, starting in 1950 with THE KID FROM TEXAS, in which he played Billy the Kid, and continuing with KANSAS RAIDERS, also 1950, in which he played Jesse James, and Budd Boetticher’s THE CIMARRON KID (1952), in which he played Bill Doolin. He continued to star in westerns until 40 GUNS TO APACHE PASS (1967), before his final film appearance in a cameo as an aging Jesse James in Boetticher’s A TIME FOR DYING (1969).
Audie Murphy as Jesse James in KANSAS RAIDERS
Brian Camp's Film and Anime Blog 