Wild Bill Elliott

Wild Bill Elliott (born Gordon Nance, October 16, 1904 – November 26, 1965) was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B Westerns, particularly the Red Ryder series of films.

Early life Elliott was born Gordon Nance on a ranch near Pattonsburg, Missouri, the son of Leroy Whitfield Nance, a cattle broker, and his wife, Maude Myrtle Auldridge.

The young Nance grew up within 20 miles of his birthplace; he spent most of his youth on a ranch near King City, Missouri. His father was a cattle rancher and commissioner buyer for the Kansas City stockyards. Riding and roping were part of Nance's upbringing. He won first place in a rodeo event in the 1920 American Royal livestock show. He briefly attended Rockhurst College, a Jesuit school in Kansas City, but soon left for California, hoping to become an actor.

His final contract as a Western star was with Monogram Pictures, where budgets declined as the B Western lost its audience to television. When Monogram became Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1953, it phased out its Western productions, and Elliott finished his contract playing a homicide detective in a series of five modern police dramas, his first non-Westerns since 1938.

Elliott retired from films (except for a few TV Western pilots, which were not picked up). He worked as a spokesman for Viceroy cigarettes and hosted a local TV program in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring many of his Western films.

Personal life and death Elliott married Helen Josephine Meyers in February 1927. Their daughter, Barbara Helen Nance, was born October 14, 1927. Elliott and his wife were divorced in 1961. He married Dolly (Herbst) Moore that same year. Following his retirement in 1957, he moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he bought a ranch. He died there from lung cancer on November 26, 1965, aged 61. His ashes are interred in the Eternity Mausoleum at Palm Downtown Mortuary/Cemetery on Main Street in Las Vegas. Across the Sierras (1941) North from the Lone Star (1941) The Return of Daniel Boone (1941) Hands Across the Rockies (1941) The Son of Davy Crockett (1941) King of Dodge City (1941) Roaring Frontiers (1941) The Lone Star Vigilantes (1942) Bullets for Bandits (1942) North of the Rockies (1942) The Devil's Trail (1942) Prairie Gunsmoke (1942) Vengeance of the West (1942) The Valley of Vanishing Men (1942) Serial Calling Wild Bill Elliott (1943) The Man from Thunder River (1943) Wagon Tracks West (1943) Bordertown Gun Fighters (1943) Death Valley Manhunt (1943) Tucson Raiders (1944) featuring Red Ryder Marshal of Reno (1944) featuring Red Ryder The San Antonio Kid (1944) featuring Red Ryder Cheyenne Wildcat (1944) featuring Red Ryder Vigilantes of Dodge City (1944) featuring Red Ryder Sheriff of Las Vegas (1944) featuring Red Ryder Great Stagecoach Robbery (1945) featuring Red Ryder Lone Texas Ranger (1945) featuring Red Ryder Phantom of the Plains (1945) featuring Red Ryder Marshal of Laredo (1945) featuring Red Ryder Colorado Pioneers (1945) featuring Red Ryder Wagon Wheels Westward (1945) featuring Red Ryder California Gold Rush (1946) featuring Red Ryder Sheriff of Redwood Valley (1946) featuring Red Ryder Sun Valley Cyclone (1946) featuring Red Ryder Conquest of Cheyenne (1946) featuring Red Ryder Plainsman and the Lady (1946) Wyoming (1947) The Fabulous Texan (1947) Old Los Angeles (1948) The Gallant Legion (1948) Hellfire (1949) The Last Bandit (1949) The Savage Horde (1950) The Showdown (1950) The Longhorn (1951) Fargo (1952) Waco (1952) Kansas Territory (1952) The Maverick (1952) The Homesteaders (1953) Rebel City (1953) Topeka (1953) Vigilante Terror (1953) The Forty-Niners (1954) Dial Red O (1955) Sudden Danger (1955) Calling Homicide (1956) Chain of Evidence (1957) Footsteps in the Night (1957)