The well-worn phrase "Tall in the saddle" is certainly one easy way of
describing (and perhaps pigeon-holing) leathery, wiry-framed 1940s and
early 1950s western film star Rod Cameron, although he proved quite
capable in crime stories, horrors and even swing-era musicals.
The 6'4" Canadian-born actor was born Nathan Roderick Cox on December
7, 1910, and raised in Alberta. Once his aspirations of becoming a
Royal Canadian Mountie passed, he decided to seek fame and fortune as
an actor in New York and initially grabbed some work as a laborer on
the Holland Tunnel project in Manhattan. When no progress was made
acting-wise, he moved to California where he made his "debut" in an
unbilled bit in one of Bette Davis' scenes
in Die alte Jungfer (1939). Upon
release, however, he discovered his bit in the scene had been deleted.
Cameron found a slight "in" (as in "stand-in") with Paramount Pictures
for such stars as Fred MacMurray while
managing to find himself sparingly used in other Paramount films. To
supplement his income he also played leading man in the studio's screen
tests for starlet wanna-bes and his athleticism paid off playing stunt
double for such established cowboy icons as
Buck Jones. Cameron toiled as a bit
player for quite some time and appeared insignificantly in such
classics as
Das große Los (1940) and
Die scharlachroten Reiter (1940)
(where he fulfilled his early wish by playing a Mountie!). Occasionally
he would find a noticeable secondary role, in such lesser films as
Das Ungeheuer von Chicago (1941),
The Forest Rangers (1942) and
as Jesse James in
The Remarkable Andrew (1942).
Cameron's banner year was 1943, when he finally broke out of the minor
leagues and into the major ranks. His breakout screen role was as
clench-jawed Agent Rex Bennett, out to bring down the foreign enemy and
save the world, in the Republic serial cliffhangers
Haruschi - Sohn des Dr. Fu Man Chu (1943)
and
Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943).
From there he was signed by Universal to appear in a flurry of
low-budget westerns with Fuzzy Knight as
his comic sidekick. Aside from the rough-hewn heroics he was paid to
display, he would occasionally show a softer side for the ladies, such
as with fellow Canadian Yvonne De Carlo
in
Salome, Where She Danced (1945),
Die Herberge zum roten Pferd (1945) and
Rivalen am reißenden Strom (1948). Seldom would he
venture outside the action genre, however, one of the few times being
his role as a symphony conductor in
Swing Out, Sister (1945). For
the most part he remained rooted in westerns and the only variance
within that realm was the occasional black-hatted bad guy.
Among Cameron's many dusty showcases (more often than not made at
Republic or Universal),
Mit Pech und Schwefel (1949),
Panik in Arizona (1949),
Geheimagent in Wildwest (1950) and
Der Cowboy von San Antone (1953) are worth a good
look. Cameron never found his
Höllenfahrt nach Santa Fé (1939) or
Mein großer Freund Shane (1953), a vehicle that might have
held him even "taller" in the saddle, but between 1953 and 1955 he was
still ranked "top 5" box-office.
In the 1950s Cameron found time to settle into a couple of syndicated
TV series. Both
City Detective (1953) and
State Trooper (1956) lasted a
couple of seasons. He also guested on the more popular western series,
such as Bonanza (1959),
Am Fuß der Blauen Berge (1959) and
Die Leute von der Shiloh Ranch (1962). When his
movie career began to fade in the early 1960s, he went to Spain for a
few spaghetti westerns and appeared in a couple of low-budget westerns
such as
Der schnellste Colt von River Falls (1965)
and Colorado Saloon 12 Uhr 10 (1965),
which was noticed more for reuniting sagebrush stars from yesteryear
than for its high quality. He also played an aging rodeo star who dies
early in the story in the biopic
Evel Knievel (1971).
The only serious tabloid scandal he ever found himself in was when he
divorced wife Angela Alves-Lico (1950-1960) and then immediately
married his ex-wife's mother, Dorothy, who was a few years older than
him. An extended battle with cancer finally claimed the 73-year-old
actor in 1983 at a Gainesville, Georgia, hospital.
