Ladies of the Western: Interviews With Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and the 1960s

by Michael G. Fitzgerald

This work features interviews with 51 leading ladies who starred in B-westerns, A-westerns, and television westerns. Some were well-known and others were not, but they all have fascinating stories to tell and they talk candidly about their careers and the many difficulties that went along with their jobs. Back then, conditions were often severe, locations were often harsh, and pay was often minimal. The actresses were sometimes the only females on location and they had to provide their own wardrobe and do their own make-up, as well as discourage the advances of over-affectionate co-stars. Despite these difficulties, most of the women interviewed for this agree that they had fun. Claudia Barrett, Virginia Carroll, Francis Dee, Lisa Gaye, Marie Harmon, Kathleen Hughes, Linda Johnson, Ruta Lee, Colleen Miller, Gigi Perreau, Ann Rutherford, Ruth Terry, and June Vincent are among the 51 actresses interviewed.

Genres: Westerns, Film

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 24, 2002

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've watched hundreds of western movies and TV shows, but I can only remember one that didn't have any woman in it at all. Most westerns have a female who is important to the plot: usually more than one woman, in fact. They play many different roles: ranch wife, saloon girl, even gunslinger or bandit. While the roles may vary, they have one thing in common in that they are all lookers. One would think that the West was devoid of homely or chubby women if they went exclusively by film. So completely fetching are these ladies that they developed a pretty strong fan base among the mostly male audiences, and the authors capitalize on this by publishing this book of interviews of female stars in their twilight years.

This isn't their first kick at this cat. Westerns Women: Interviews With 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s was previously published and, although I hate to say it, this edition seems to be comprised of women who didn't make the cut for the first book. Many of these ladies were unknown to me, but they all get their own chapter complete with nice glossy photos and their western film credits listed at the end of the chapter. It's an easy book to read but readers who are not big fans of the oaters will get bored very quickly.