Rod Cameron
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Nathan Roderick Cox (b. in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on December 7, 1910 - d. in Gainesville, Georgia on December 21, 1983), Rod Cameron was a movie actor whose movie career stretched from the 1930s to the 1970s. Though he made several horror, war, action and science fiction movies, the lanky Canadian is best remembered for his western films.
Cameron started out as a stuntman and bit player for Paramount Pictures. His early films include Heritage of the Desert with Donald Woods and Russell Hayden, Rangers of Fortune with Fred MacMurray, and Henry Aldrich for President with Jimmy Lydon. He also played bit roles at Universal Pictures, as in If I Had My Way starring Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean.
In 1943, Rod Cameron rose to starring status in action serials for Republic Pictures. As crime-busting federal agent Rex Bennett, Cameron vigorously beat the daylights out of enemy terrorists in 15 weekly episodes of G-Men vs the Black Dragon. Cameron was already working in another serial when audience reaction to Black Dragon started coming in. Cameron was so popular that the studio transformed the new production into another Rex Bennett adventure, Secret Service in Darkest Africa, with Cameron again battling Axis agents.
When cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown left Universal Pictures for Monogram Pictures, Rod Cameron replaced him as Universal's western series star. The tall, rugged Cameron looked good in the saddle and was popular with exhibitors, and Universal soon gave him straight character roles in feature films, including Salome, Where She Danced co-starring Yvonne DeCarlo.
Universal reorganized and downsized its activities in 1947, leaving Cameron and other contract players unemployed. He was hired by Monogram Pictures for a long string of outdoor action pictures.
In the 1950s Cameron was regularly featured on television. He starred in the City Detective, State Trooper, and Coronado 9 series, and was a guest performer in many dramatic series. He continued to work in motion pictures and television into the 1970s.
Cameron's private life was colorful; in a highly publicized marital scrap, he divorced his wife to marry her mother. Because of this, Cameron's former director William Witney publicly acclaimed Rod Cameron as the bravest man he ever saw.
Recently, Cameron was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
[edit] External links
Rod Cameron at the Internet Movie Database
