 Above - portrait shot of Canutt during his Lone Star/Monogram work with John Wayne, circa 1934. |
| Special thanks to Audrea Elaine "Honey" Canutt Dittman, the daughter of Yak and Audrea Canutt, for helping on Canutt family history. Honey - your old e-mail address is no longer valid. Would you please shoot ye Old Corral webmaster an e-mail please. |
Born in Washington state, Canutt became active in rodeos and wild west shows as a teenager. He picked up the moniker of "Yakima" during rodeo days because he wound up being billed as "The Man (or Cowboy) from Yakima".
Canutt won the title of 'All Around Cowboy' at the Pendleton Oregon Roundup in 1917, 1919, 1920 and 1923. It was during this rodeo work that Yak met and married Kitty Wilks who was the All-Around Champion Cowgirl at the 1916 Pendleton Roundup. The pairing was brief, and a quote from Canutt's autobiography (Stunt Man, The Autobiography of Yakima Canutt" by Canutt with Oliver Drake) provides some details about Yak and Kitty Canutt:
"This marriage turned out to be one of those undeclared vest-pocket wars. It was an unhappy one that terminated three years later when I acquired a divorce. It was never contested --- seeming to be one-hundred percent mutual."
Canutt met Tom Mix during these rodeo performances and wound up in Hollywood where he began doubling for various performers. Pudgy Benny Corbett, who would become a familiar face in B-westerns during the 1930s, was a rodeo performer and a friend of Canutt, and Corbett migrated to Hollywood around the same time. The Canutt autobiography also mentions his enlistment in the Navy for World War I service, but he was not sent overseas and was released soon after the 1918 Armistice.
In the 1920s, Canutt continued working both the rodeo circuit and Hollywood. By the middle of the decade, he was starring in low-budget, independently produced westerns, many of which were cranked out by prolific director Ben Wilson (1876-1930). His first starring film was probably RIDIN' MAD which was lensed in 1924. In 1926, Canutt starred in THE DEVIL HORSE, and that film included the lengthy battle between a paint hoss and the black Rex, "King of the Wild Horses". That horse fight became part of filmdom's "stock footage library", and bits and pieces of it were incorporated into various sound era westerns and cliffhangers.
 (Courtesy of Les Adams) 1925 --- note the A Yakima Canutt Production on this lobby card. The heroine is Helene Rosson (1897-1985), who had three brothers (Arthur, Richard and Harold) that were also part of the Hollywood film community. Cinematographer Harold (Hal) Rosson is probably the most famous, and much of his career was spent at MGM during their glory years. Hal Rosson's film work includes EL DORADO (1967), NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (1958), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE (1951) THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (1944), DUEL IN THE SUN (1946), THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), TARZAN THE APE MAN (1932), lots more.  (Courtesy of Les Adams) 1926 --- the heroine is silent screen performer Neva Gerber (Genevieve Dolores Gerber) (1894-1974), who did a bunch of serials in the 1920s.  (Courtesy of Les Adams) 1926 --- the heroine is Neva Gerber ... and Canutt's "Boy the Wonder Horse" even gets some credit. |