Chuck Connors! Ben Johnson! Audie Murphy! Amanda Blake! Dale Robertson! Legends with Steve Stevens

Outstanding interview thank you.

My word what a group of fine actors you worked with.

Another great video and interview , keep em coming Rob.

Rob
I do hope you realize you are bringing happy memories of peoples lives in a better time, back to life. I’m 80 and grew up with these westerns and these stars. Thank you from us all.
God Bless You & yours.
Keep it up!

Rob Word, you seem to outdo yourself week after week over and over. This was a really interesting interview and yet I can't think of a bad one that you've ever done. Every last one of the stars you spoke about were well known to me. The incidence with Audie Murphy wasn't shocking because war gave him his share of demons but I'm surprised that I had never heard it because he had always been one of my favorite actors and a genuine hero to boot. Anyway a thousand thanks to you!

Most interesting interview I've seen in a while. Nice job!!

As a kid growing up I watched all the western movies I came across on TV or at the drive in. So I was astounded when I watched The Big Country in my mid-20s and saw Chuck Conners performance. I had seen him in Branded and The Rifleman and considered him to be ok but to be honest TV westerns were not my cup of tea because everyone was always bathed and their clothes and homes were always clean and they didn’t bleed when they were shot. I always preferred movies as they usually were grittier which I considered closer to real life. I had seen The Wild Bunch when I was 8, and that “realism” is what I craved. The Big Country is my favorite western that didn’t involve John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. I always liked Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons was stunningly beautiful, big fan of Charlton Heston as well. I’m probably partially responsible for IMDB shutting down their message boards because I was always arguing Chuck deserved the Oscar over Ives for exactly the reasons mentioned in this interview. Ives performance was great but he being his blustery self while Connors performance was just all over the place, a wide variety of emotions I’d never seen him do. He practically stole the show. His riding skills were great too. I feel vindicated because someone in the know agrees with me. Anyways enjoyed the episode, as always. Happy trails.

I am in awe at the greatest series both The Rifleman and Gunsmoke. I loved The Rifleman. Audie was an American hero….speechless. Thank you so much buddy. You always deliver the best!

What this is it's getting to to heart of these people and just talking with them not an interview with them very real.

That's because Ben Johnson was a Real True old Gent.

Very informative episode, Rob. I loved hearing everything Steve Stevens had to say about these actors from the past. I have a greater appreciation for Chuck Connors now, for sure.

Fantastic reminisces. My wife and I ran into Chuck Conners at a Great Western Gun Show. He was by himself and in his "Thrillseekers" jacket just taking in the gun displays. He was so nice and personable, my wife was enamored with him and would not let him go until he got a hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He loved that I was a firefighter and a civil war reenactor. You mentioned Roy, got to shoot trap with him at the Apple Valley Gun Club and he almost cursed when grabbing a hot shotgun barrel..."too many movie moves grabbing a gun" we laughed. Paid my respects at Audie Murphy's grave several times. Only grave in Arlington with the flag on it 365 days a year.

Need more of these

I love this. I'd like to hug Chuck Connors too! Great guy

Another great episode Rob!

Thanks Rob....You look younger every time I see you

I can't believe I just commented on a different video how great Chuck Connors was in The Big Country.

He mentioned, Strother Martin. He's famous for that quote from "Cool Hand Luke." He said, " What we have here is failure to communicate. " People would say that line so many times for many years.

The 20th Century of this Nation, has been the greatest of all times from the beginning. The morals and morality those days taught, made a Nation humble and proud. Clayton Moore’s Code gave boys the core values of a good boy to become a good man. Those men were strong and women stronger too! We see none of that these days, never will again sadly. Sorry….

Another great interview, Rob! I am a fan of all these people. 👍👍
The first movie I saw in an indoor theater was "The Big Country" and I tried to pattern my behavior in life after Jim McKay (Gregory Peck's character). I love that movie.
Audie Murphy was a true hero. He admitted in "To Hell and Back" that he lost himself in World War II. He shot dozens of Germans, not giving them a chance to surrender. It was just after a false surrender where a German killed a friend after pretending to surrender. (A similar experience happened to Sargent Alvin York in World War I.)

Have you done an episode about Paladin?

Wow!

These interview are all amazing, especially for me since I grew up watching most of these films and tv shows in the 60s. Fascinating.

Rob,
I have messaged you before on quite a few other occasions,
but none have been this kind of important !
A number of years ago, long before my accident which left me paralyzed from my neck down,
I owned a charter aircraft, and limousine service in Naples, Florida,
I had the pleasure of working with "Chuck" Connors, and subsequently, he had requested me as his regular driver.
After the first time I picked him up in one of our stretch limousines, Chuck asked if I had anything a little less over the top, more like a standard sedan.
We of course did !
Before I could manage to get out, and get to open the back door of the car for him at the airport, Chuck had already had the front door opened, and was getting in the car, we ended up having some of the best conversations on our trips from Fort Myers RSW Airport, on the way back to Naples !
He was my childhood hero, and ended up being someone far easier to talk to, than I could have ever imagined !
I never knew Steve was his agent until right at this very moment Rob !
Sadly, Chuck became very sick shortly after those years, and we lost Chuck soon after !
What wonderful inside detailed stories Rob !
Without the work that you do Rob, every bit of this world be lost forever !
Thank you SO MUCH for every single feature that you do Rob !
Was this interview done recently ?

Brilliant interview and such a wonderful insight into Westerns and the Stars at each side of the Camera 🙂

What a pig firing Amanda Blake. She was part of the show. What an idiot!

Jim Arness and hells angels priceless.

Why did Audie Murphy hate black people? They should have supported women better.

Ben Johnson was a great actor. Steve stevens. Your stories are wonderful. Westerns should still be around. It’s a shame that producers and directors don’t see things from an actors view

Looking forward to more episodes with Steve.

Interestering interview Rob, we don't see a lot of agents talking about theirs clients. JJ Starbuck a blast from the past i watched every episode.

I remember meeting Ben Johnson in San Antonio one time. And his brother. Big men with bigger hearts ❤️ 👍

This is the truly unusual and great element of your channel. You find these hidden gems like Steve Stevens. I never thought I'd wanna watch an interview with an agent. But this guy kept the careers of the stars behind the stars alive, and had so much affection for them. The hidden ingredients, the special sauce of westerns were these character actors. And the guy who kept their carrers alive. Also,you were in pretty tall cotten being on a rodeo team with Ben Johnson my friend.

Chuck Connors playing bad guy, "Slow Boy," in Police Story was a very underrated performance; maybe because it was "just" TV.

Shooting story with Audie Murphy didn't sound right. Murphy slept with a .45 auto under HIS PILLOW. He knew how to use it. If he pulled on someone in public in a major city, he must've thought it was a damned serious situation; so much so that, per this guest, he opened fire (from presumably point blank range) with TWO guns...and apparently missed.

Ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know, ya know...

I read that Kitty didn't return because the bartender died and she was heartbroken over it so being he wasnt coming back she decided not to as well. They were always in scenes together. Her getting fired asking for nicer clothes doesn't really make sense but i guess anything is possible.

Hard to imagine a better interview than A Word on Westerns. Thanks Mr. Word

A piece of wood showed more emotion than that awful, overrated, so-called "actor" named Charlton Heston. BTW, the same applies to Rock Hudson.

Love your videos and interviews. I was born in 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and grew up watching all those wonderful TV shows: "Bronco", "Cheyenne", "Maverick", "Lawman", "The High Chaparral", "Wanted: Dead or Alive", etc. Thanks for this episode that brought back wonderful memories of two of my favourite shows: "The Rifleman" and "Branded" with the great Chuck Connors! I am very glad I was born around that time.

Another incredible video!
Great stuff.

In How the West Was Won Arness had almost superhuman strenght.

Dirty Steve Stevens was a pal of Billy the Kid !!!!!

Great stuff

That was a Great Segment!
Thank you!!

A few points. John Mantley said in an interview that Ken Curtis demanded TWICE as much money as Amanda Blake was getting for Return to Dodge, and Mantley refused to give it to him. Also Mantley's problems with Blake went back a lot further. Blake hated having to fall into a pond in the episode called The Lost from three years earlier but Mantley insisted on it. Finally in an episode for Gunsmoke's last season called The Guns of Cibola Blanca, Kitty was supposed to be raped. Blake objected to this because Kitty had suffered a sexual assault in an episode from a few years earlier called Hostage. On this point I think Blake was correct.

Excellent

Hugh O'Brien, the last man killed by John Wayne. "The Shootist", what a great movie.

Great show Rob!!!!