The two best friends I grew up with until sixth grade were named Cody and Gunnar. (Yes, our names were Griffin, Gunnar, and Cody, and we paved the way for children who would later be christened Blanket, Apple, and Moon Unit.) Cody’s dad was Jack Palance, who played the psychopath that gunslinger Alan Ladd kills in the 1953 Western Shane. Gunnar’s dad was Howard Keel, who played everyone from singing lumberjacks to Wild Bill Hickok. Gunnar
