The High Chaparral
Cast Western Filmographies

 

Leif Erickson
Westerns

On the HCDG "Best Westerns" List

Feature Films           Television Series           Television Features

1935  
Wanderer of the Wasteland
Director:  Otho Lovering
Starring:  Dean Jagger, Buster Crabbe,  
                Jim Thorpe
Notes
Leif Erickson made his film debut in two 1933 band films with Betty Grable before starting a string of Buster Crabbe Westerns based on Zane Grey novels.  Here, in his first Western at the age of 24, he plays "Lawrence" and is credited under the name "Glenn Erickson".  Jim Thorpe, the famous native-American Olympic athlete plays an Indian, as he did in several early Westerns.  
1936  
Desert Gold
Director:  James P. Hogan
Starring:  Buster Crabbe, Tom Keene,
                Robert Cummings
Notes
Another Zane Grey story where Leif is credited again as "Glenn Erickson".  The character he plays is "Glenn Kasedon".
1936 
Drift Fence
Director:  Otho Lovering
Starring:  Buster Crabbe, Tom Keene,
                Katherine DeMille
Notes
Leif's third Zane Grey film, again credited as "Glenn Erickson".  His character is "Curley Prentice".
1936 
Nevada
Director:  Charles Barton
Starring:  Buster Crabbe
Notes
Leif's fourth Zane Grey film, again as "Glen Erickson", but with only one "n".  His character is "Ben Ide".
1938 
Ride a Crooked Mile
Director:  Alfred E. Green
Starring:  Akim Tamiroff,
                Frances Farmer
Notes
This is Leif's first Western after he started using the screen name "Leif Erickson".  It is also the only film in which he appears opposite his wife, Francis Farmer, whom he was married to from 1936 to 1942.  He also has a singing part in his role here as "Johnny Simpkins".
1950
The Showdown 
Director: Dorrell and Stuart McGowan
Starring:  Bill Elliott, Harry Morgan,
                Walter Brennan
Notes
A highly acclaimed film where Leif played "Big Mart".  HC guest star, Jim Davis, also has a role in this film.
1950 
Dallas
Director:  Stuart Heisler
Starring:  Gary Cooper, Ruth Roman,
                Raymond Massey,
                Steve Cochran
Notes
Leif plays a green U.S. Marshall, "Martin Weatherby", who partners with Gary Cooper in this post Civil War Texas saga. Other HC guests include Charles Horvath who played Pedro's fireworks cousin, and Alex Montoya, who played Miguel in multiple HC episodes. 
1952 
The Cimarron Kid
Director:  Budd Boetticher
Starring: Audie Murphy, Hugh O'Brien, 
               Noah Beery, Jr., Frank Silvera
Notes
Leif appears here as "Marshal John Sutton" in this action-packed film about the Dalton Gang starring Audie Murphy as gang member Bill Doolin in one of his early Westerns.  HC cast member, Frank Silvera, makes his screen debut in this film.  Other HC guests include Gregg Palmer and Dave Sharpe.
1953  
Born to the Saddle
Director:  William Beaudine
Starring:  Chuck Courtney,
                Donald Woods, Delores Prest
Notes
Leif plays "Bob Marshall", the father of the love interest of the hero in this story of a rigged horse race.
1953  
A Perilous Journey
Director:  R.G. Springsteen
Starring:  Vera Ralston, David Brian,
                Charles Winninger
Notes
Leif plays "Richards" in this story of mail order brides headed for California.  Other HC actors include Scott Brady, Kathleen Freeman, Paul Fierro, and Denver Pyle.
1956
The Fastest Gun Alive
Director:  Russell Rouse
Starring:  Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain,
               Broderick Crawford,
               Russ Tamblyn
Notes
Leif plays "Lou Glover" in this classic Showdown tale of a gunman (Glenn Ford) trying to give up gunfighting but his reputation won't let him.  Other HC actors include John Dehner, Noah Beery, Jr., and Dub Taylor.
1956  
Star in the Dust
Director:  Charles F. Haas
Starring:  John Agar, Mamie Van Doren,
                Richard Boone, Harry Morgan
Notes
Leif plays "George Ballad" in this story of a sheriff trying to keep peace between the ranchers and the farmers.  Other HC actors include Paul Fix and Stuart Randall.  Clint Eastwood has an uncredited role here as a ranch hand in his very first Western.
1958  
Once Upon a Horse 

Director:  Hal Kanter
Starring:  Dan Rowan, Dick Martin,
                Martha Hyer,
                Mary Tyler Moore
Notes
Leif plays "Granville 'Granny' Dix" in this Western Comedy about two hapless cattle rustlers.  This was the film debut for Dan Rowan and the first pairing of Rowan and Martin as a comedy duo.  "Laugh-In" was still 9 years away.  It is also the screen debut for Mary Tyler Moore who has an uncredited role as a dance hall girl. HC actor, John McGiver, (Ebenezer) appears here as well.
1958 
The Rifleman 
The Sharpshooter

As Jim Lewis in The Sharpshooter

With Dennis Hopper and Charles Arnt

Director:  Sam Peckinpaw
Starring:  Dennis Hopper, Chuck Conners,
Notes
 
     
1958-1960  
Zane Grey Theater
The Sharpshooter (1958)
Sunday Man
(1960)

Director: 
Starring: 
Notes
 
1959-1961 
Rawhide
Incident at the Buffalo Smokehouse (1959)
Incident Near Gloomy River
(1961)

Director: 
Starring: 
Notes
 
1961 
The Rebel 
Helping Hand

Director: 
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Notes
 
1961-1965  
Bonanza
The Rescue (1961)
All Ye His Saints (1965)

Director: 
Starring: 


As Tom Caine in All Ye His Saints

Notes
 
1962
Shootout at Big Sag
Director:  Roger Kay
Starring:  Walter Brennan, Luana Patten,
                Chris Robinson
Notes
Leif plays "Sam Barbee" in this feature that was originally intended as the pilot for a television series that didn't make it on air.
1963 
Wagon Train
The Eli Bancroft Story

Director: 
Starring: 
Notes
 
1964  
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters
The Day of the Toll Takers

Director: 
Starring: 
Notes
 
1964-1965 
The Virginian
The Drifter (1964)
Return a Stranger (1964)

Blaze of Glory (1965)

Director: 
Starring: 


As Charlie Ryan in Return a Stranger

Notes
 
1965 
A Man Called Shenandoah
Incident at Dry Creek

Director: 
Starring: 
Notes
 
1965-1966
Daniel Boone 
The Aaron Burr Story (1965)
River Passage (1966)

Director: 
Starring: 
Notes
 
1966  
Branded
Barbed Wire

Director: 
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1967
Gunsmoke 

Saturday Night
Director: 
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Notes
 
1972 
Man and Boy
Director:  E.W. Swackhamer
Starring:  Bill Cosby, Gloria Foster,
               George Spell, John Anderson
Notes
Leif plays corrupt "Sheriff Mossman" in this film that was Bill Cosby's first dramatic role in feature films.  It is the story of a black Civil War Veteran and his son in pursuit of their horse that had been stolen.  Other HC actors include Henry Silva, Dub Taylor, and Yaphet Kotto.

As Sheriff Mossman

As Sheriff Mossman
1972
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe

Director:  Philip Leacock
Starring:  Buddy Ebsen, Sandra Dee,
               Don Stroud, Paul Koslo,
               Karen Valentine,
               Lesley Ann Warren
Notes
Leif plays "Amos Wetherall" in this Aaron Spelling comedy Western about a father (Buddy Ebsen) who gets a prostitute, a pick pocket , and a former prisoner to pose as his daughters in order to regain his land.  HC actor Jack Elam has a role here.
1976
Winterhawk 

Director:  Charles B. Pierce
Starring:  Leif Erickson, Woody Strode,
                Denver Pyle, Michael Dante,
                Dawn Wells
Notes
Leif has one of the starring roles as trapper, "Elkhorn Guthrie" who befriends a Blackfoot Indian in pursuit of smallpox serum.  Winterhawk ends up kidnapping a female settler who later falls in love with him.  HC guest actor Denver Pyle has a role here.
1980
Wild Times 

Director:  Richard Compton
Starring:  Sam Elliott, Ben Johnson,
                Bruce Boxleitner, Dennis Hopper,
                Harry Carey Jr.
Notes
A four-hour mini-series about the exploits of a threesome of shooting competitors.  Other HC actors include Cameron Mitchell and Pat Hingle.

 

 

 

1958  Ride
Director:                           Roberto plays
Writers: 
Starring: 
Notes:
Roberto

 

1978  How the West Was Won 
Director:                                                             Ted plays
Writer:
Starring: 
Notes:

 

1958  Maverick
Regular Cast: 

Roberto plays

Episode: Plunder of Paradise  (   1958)
Season  - Episode
Director: 
Writers: 
Also Starring:

 

  

 

Notes:

 

 

Other Western Filmographies

Leif Erickson                (John Cannon)
Cameron Mitchell
          (Buck Cannon)
Linda Cristal
                (Victoria Cannon)
Henry Darrow
              (Manolito Montoya)
Mark Slade
                  (Blue Cannon)
Rudy Ramos                  (Wind)
Frank Silvera
               (Don Sebastian Montoya)

Don Collier                    (Sam Butler)
Bob Hoy                        (Joe Butler)
Roberto Contreras         (Pedro) 
Ted Markland                (Reno)
Rudolfo Acosta              (Vaquero)
Jerry Summers              (Ira)
 

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