Bud Osborne

Not to be confused with Bud Osborn.

Bud Osborne
Osborne in Jail Bait (1954)
Born
Leonard Miles Osborne

(1884-07-20)July 20, 1884
Knox County, Texas, U.S.
DiedFebruary 2, 1964(1964-02-02) (aged 79)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1912–1963

Leonard Miles "Bud" Osborne (July 20, 1884 – February 2, 1964) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 600 films and television programs between 1912 and 1963.[1]

Biography

Osborne was born Miles Osborne in Knox County, Texas, on February 20, 1884.[2] Osborne attended Oklahoma City schools and was a rancher in Oklahoma's Indian Territory before he became an entertainer. After working with the 101 Ranch Show for five years, he worked with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for one year in 1912. He became a member of Thomas H. Ince's film company in 1915.[1]

Osborne specialized in westerns, and was also noted for his skill as a stagecoach driver, and was thus much in demand from his first film in 1912 right through the early 1950s. He was working as a stunt man as late as 1948 (at age 64) in Ray Enright's Return of the Bad Men.

Because Bud Osborne worked in westerns almost exclusively, perhaps his most unusual role was that of a big-game hunter in Sam Katzman's 1955 serial The Adventures of Captain Africa. In this low-budget adventure, Osborne was made up and costumed to resemble Frank Buck, to accommodate the use of wild-animal footage from Buck's 1937 serial Jungle Menace. Osborne even appeared in three very-low-budget features directed by exploitation film specialist Ed Wood: Jail Bait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955), and Night of the Ghouls (filmed in 1959 but not released nationally).

Bud Osborne kept working into his seventies, playing small character parts in such television western series as Have Gun – Will Travel, Bonanza, Bat Masterson, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Rawhide and The Lone Ranger. His last role was in an episode of Gunsmoke in 1963. His career spanned 51 years, with a total of nearly 700 films and television episodes to his credit.

Osborne died in Hollywood, California at age 79 from a heart attack. He was buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.[3]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ a b Katchmer, George A. (2009). A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-7864-4693-3. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  2. ^ Ramsaye, Terry (1940). 1939-40 International Motion Picture Almanac. Quigley Publications.
  3. ^ Copeland, Bobby (1999). B-Western Boot Hill: A Final Tribute to the Cowboys and Cowgirls who Rode the Saturday Matinee Movie Range. Empire Pub. p. 178. ISBN 9780944019283.
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