Buck Jones

Born in Vincennes Indiana December 12, 1891, Buck Jones enlisted in the United States Army in 1907 at age sixteen. He was assigned to the 6th Cavalry and served in the Philippines during the Moro Rebellion. He was wounded in combat and honorably discharged in 1909.

Jones found his way to the 101 Ranch in Oklahoma where he worked as a cowboy before moving on to work in a Wild West Show. There he met and fell in love with professional horse woman Dell Osborne. They married during a show performance in 1915. Soon after, with Dell pregnant, Buck decided to give up the traveling show and seek employment in film work.

He broke in as a stuntman and bit player at Universal pictures. More stunt work followed at Canyon Pictures. William Fox, owner of Fox Film hired Buck to back-up Tom Mix. This would lead to his first starring role in 1920. By 1925 Buck, along with Tom Mix and Hoot Gibson was one of the top cowboy actors. The advent to talkies dampened the market for westerns temporarily. Buck signed with Columbia Pictures, then a B feature studio. Buck’s voice worked in talk film. During the thirties he made B Westerns for Columbia and Universal, until singing cowboys became the box office attraction.

Buck made a comeback at Columbia in 1940 with the hit serial White Eagle. He followed this with his final series, The Rough Riders paired with Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton. The series was the brainchild of Scott R. Dunlap, VP Production at Monogram Pictures. The series was produced in 1941 and 1942 until the outbreak of WW II brought the series to an end.

On November 28, 1942, while attending a party at Cocoanut Grove in Boston as guest of honor, Buck Jones suffered burns in a tragic fire. His injuries would prove fatal two days later. He received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

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Ride easy,
Paul