The "Indians"

(Courtesy of Ed Phillips)

(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above is Rodd Redwing (1904-1971), real name: Roderic/Rodric Redwing, and the photo above left is from CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA. In the cliffhanger, THE SON OF GERONIMO (Columbia, 1952), Redwing was 'Porico', the Son of Geronimo. Clayton Moore starred --- he was available during his year off from the Lone Ranger TV show (when John Hart portrayed the LR). Chief Yowlachie played Geronimo. Redwing, a member of the Chickasaw tribe, was noted as the fastest --- or one of the fastest --- quick draw artists and instructed many of the Hollywood cowboys.

The Redwing role I best remember: portraying the Gurkha Sergeant breaking trail for Errol Flynn and his paratroopers in OBJECTIVE BURMA (1945).

You may want to go to the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral, and then to the California Death Records database. There you will find a record for: Rodd Redwing, born 8/24/1904 in New York, and he passed away on 5/30/1971. There is a corresponding record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).

(Courtesy of Jim Martin)

Jim Martin, Redwing and Jock Mahoney did trick shooting shows in the 1950s in Southern California and Las Vegas. Jim writes:

"Above is Rodd standing proudly next to the bullet backstop displaying knife and pendulum with two targets, one on each side of the blade. The shot is called 'the pendulum trick'. With the pendulum swinging from side to side, one bullet passes thru the open two-inch hole. The bullet is split on the knife blade and breaks both targets.

When you mentioned the stereotyping and the reputations for the Indians always being the bad guys, you reminded me of one time Rodd and I were practicing our gun work in Rodd's hideout above a gun store in North Hollywood that had formerly been a dance studio with the mirrors all along one wall. He used the mirrors to watch himself do the gun tricks so he could see what it looked like to an audience. While we were taking a break, he told me that someday he wanted to make a western where the Indians would go against stereotype and charge UP the hill instead of always coming down the hill."

(Courtesy of Jim Martin)

(Courtesy of Ken Jones)

Above is Rodd Redwing in the Ken Curtis starrer, RIDERS OF THE PONY EXPRESS (Screencraft, 1949).

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Rodd Redwing: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0715192/

Jim Tipton's Find A Grave website has a photo of the grave marker for Redwing at Hollywood Forever (Hollywood Memorial Cemetery), Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7893643&pt=Rodd%20Redwing