The 'brains' and 'action' heavies who had meaty roles and lots of dialog ... and the players who were fathers, ranch owners, lawman, mayors, judges, lawyers, storekeepers, newspaper editors, wardens, etc.

(Courtesy of Donn & Nancy Moyer)

(From Old Corral image collection)

Canadian born Kenne Duncan started in films during the early 1930s, but found his most enduring work as a villain and supporting player in serials and westerns. Duncan labored for most of the B film studios and production outfits.

One of his meatier roles was as 'The Mesa Kid' who butts heads with Tim McCoy (as 'Trigger' Tim Rand) in FRONTIER CRUSADER (PRC, 1940).  About halfway through the flick, McCoy and Duncan have a gunfight in the local watering palace ... shots are fired ... Duncan walks out through the swinging saloon doors and mounts his cayuse ... then slowly falls off the hoss, dead from McCoy's bullets.

Duncan's most important work - and most remembered - occurred from 1937 - 1950 when he appeared in about 120 films for Republic Pictures, and most were westerns and serials. He was under a term player contract(s) at Republic from July, 1943 through July, 1946, and that seems to be his most prolific film appearance period. That contract provided Duncan with security and a regular paycheck, but it also allowed Republic to utilize him in a lot of films ... and they did.

The rest of his screen work appears to be either freelancing/day-at-a-time (and being paid for a day or two of work) or a picture commitment arrangement (where he would work for one or more days, or in the case of a serial, for a week or more). Les Adams has Duncan pegged in about 225 films, of which 157 are westerns and 22 are serials.

As the B western and serial productions began to fade, Duncan migrated to TV work in shows such as WILD BILL HICKOK, ADVENTURES OF KIT CARSON, THE LONE RANGER, more. Duncan may have been friendly with Gene Autry - or Autry's producer Armand Schaefer - as he worked in about two dozen of Gene's films and TV shows. He also appeared in many episodes of THE RANGE RIDER, BUFFALO BILL JR., and ANNIE OAKLEY television programs which were churned out by Autry's Flying A production company. Duncan became a friend and close associate to director Ed Wood, Jr. (who brought us PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and other films), and wound up starring in two of Wood's anemic creations, THE SINISTER URGE (1961) and NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (1959). He also appeared in an unsold color TV pilot from Wood titled CROSSROAD AVENGER (1953) which starred Tom Keene. Duncan also did personal appearances and tours which showcased his trick shooting skills.

A talented performer who added much to the B movie genre, Duncan passed away on February 7, 1972. In September, 1999, Bob Siler sent me an e-mail noting that Duncan's ashes are in the Garden Of Devotion, Grand View cemetery, Glendale, California.

Some reports mention that Duncan died of a heart ailment, but I found some material from the 1970s that mentioned barbituate overdose. In Bob Malcomson's Those Enduring Matinee Idols (TEMI), a W. T. 'Bill' Stewart had written in with some necrology info on several serial performers and noted that Duncan's death certificate read 'acute barbituate intoxication'. For those of you with copies of TEMI, Stewart's note is in TEMI, Chapter 16, April-May 1972, Volume 2 - Number 6, Page 231. Some message board postings on the Serial Squadron website mentioned that the cause of death was 'stroke', although Duncan had taken a significant amount of alcohol and barbituates.

In March, 2000, thanks to Boyd Magers, I was able to get more info from Dale Berry, who was a close friend of Kenne Duncan and worked with him during his personal appearances. Dale said that Duncan was a heavy beer drinker, and was on prescribed medications following a stroke about a year before he died. Ed Wood was the one who called him in the middle of the night to say Kenne had died at home.

In March, 2001, got an e-mail from Bobby Copeland with the following info: "regarding Kenne Duncan's death, I have a copy of his death certificate. He died as a result of a barbiturate overdose, and his death was ruled a suicide."

Go to the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral, and then click the link for the California Death Records database. You'll find a record for Kenne Duncan, birthplace and date of Canada and 2/17/1902, and he passed away on 2/7/1972.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Kenne Duncan: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0242010/

Jim Tipton's Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Kenne Duncan who is interred at Grand View Memorial Park, Glendale, California: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10023661

The color "Trick Shooting With Kenne Duncan" (which was written and directed by Ed Wood and produced by Ronald Ashcroft) is available on YouTube and runs about 9 minutes. Filmed circa 1953, Duncan is sponsored by Remington Arms (which provided him with his .22 caliber rifles). And there's newsreel footage at the end showing Kenne riding in a parade during his tour of Japan. Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLSg8usUAUw

There's information and photos of Duncan starring as "Dr. Acula" in the Ed Wood NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (1959): http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/blog/2009/07/ed-wood-blogathon-screwy-details-in-the-night-of-the-ghouls.html

(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, a handbill hawking the live show along with a couple of films at George West, Texas (near Houston) on April 26, 1947.  Note the admission prices. BLONDIE'S HOLIDAY (Columbia, 1947) was a new film but the second half of the bill, PANAMINT'S BAD MAN with Smith Ballew, was originally released by 20th Century Fox in 1938. (Courtesy of Dale Berry) Above - Kenne Duncan, Smiley Burnette and Dale Berry. Dale recalled that this photo was taken around 1952 while all three were performing at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis.  Other performers at the Fair were the Lennon Sisters (from Lawrence Welk TV show); The Rin Tin Tin TV troupe including Jim Brown, Lee Aaker, Rinty and stuntman Doyle Brooks; and Leon McAuliffe and the Cimarron Boys provided the music. (Courtesy of Dale Berry) Above - Duncan and Dale Berry posing at Kenne's trick-shootin' rig during the 1952 Indiana State Fair at Indianapolis.  Note that Remington Arms was the sponsor.  Also check Duncan's billing on the sign --- "the Notorious Movie and Tele-Villain".

(Courtesy of Les Adams)

On the left is a pressbook ad for the lost/missing short POWDER RIVER GUNFIRE (Universal-International, 1948), which had Duncan as the star/lead. At the time, U-I was also doing western shorts with songster Tex Williams.

Larry Blanks recalls seeing a performance with Kenne Duncan:

"Growing up in Chattanooga, TN, I hardly every missed a B-Western movie on Saturday. We had five theaters on Market street and one theater on Broad. I would start out in the morning and 'work' my way to most all of them, or at least as far as my dollar would take me. After all, it only cost ten cents to see the movie, ten cents for popcorn and ten cents for a coke. Then I had to eat lunch at the Krystal which was twelve cents for a hamburger and another dime for chocolate milk. It took some creative accounting to make that dollar last!

Anyway, each year we had the Hamilton County Fair and there was usually a cowboy star in a booth set up by the fire eaters, or fat lady or 'Freaks of Nature' displays. Around 1951 or so, I must have been about 8 years old, my mother took me to the fair. We walked into the tent show at the last minute to catch the start of the act. I was real excited but upset because we were so late and we probably wouldn't get to sit up close.

As we paid the money and entered the tent through the curtain, a cowboy jumped out from behind the side of the tent and yelled, "stick 'um up!". It was Kenne Duncan and I recognized him right away as one of the bad guys I would usually boo. But, he put his arm around my shoulder and escorted my mom and I up to the front row of the tent, set us down and jumped up on the stage to begin. After the show, he autographed a photo and brought it down to me.

From that point on, I knew that even though he played a bad guy, he was a good guy at heart. I never forgot him or that night. The only problem is, neither my mom nor I know what happened to the photo. It stayed under the glass top of my dresser for years, but just disappeared."

(Courtesy of Mark Heller) Above is a cast and crew shot during the filming of the made-in-Canada mountie adventure UNDERCOVER MEN (J. R. Booth/Dominion, 1935). Standing from left to right are: unidentified woman, director Sam Newfield, heroine Adrienne Doré, unidentified man, a very young Kenne Duncan (in hat and suit, and billed as Kenneth Duncan), unidentified woman, and Wheeler Oakman. Left to right kneeling in the front row are: unidentified man, Charles Starrett, unidentified man (appears to be actor Eric Clavering; definitely not I. Stanford Jolley), and actor Phil Brandon (who portrayed one of the mounties). (From Old Corral image collection) Above, an interesting lobby card from RIDING THE SUNSET TRAIL (Monogram, 1941), and from L-to-R are: Betty Miles, Tom Keene, Kenne Duncan (with moustache), Sherry Tansey (James Sheridan Tansey), Earl Douglas, and Tom London. Earl Douglas' real name was Lou Yaconelli, the brother of sidekick Frank Yaconelli. If you look close, you might make out the moustached Arkansas Slim Andrews to the right of Keene's face. Can you spot the error on this lobby card - look at all the gunbelts and the holsters as they are on the left side. Apparently, the photo used in preparation of this card was reversed. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above from left to right are Kenne Duncan, James Newill and Reed Howes in a fight scene from the Texas Rangers adventure, BORDER BUCKAROOS (PRC, 1943). (From Old Corral image collection) Above from L-to-R are William Haade, Bud Geary, Wild Bill Elliott (as Red Ryder), and on the far right is Kenne Duncan in a still from SHERIFF OF LAS VEGAS (Republic, 1944). (From Old Corral image collection) Above are Kenne Duncan vs. Wild Bill Elliott in a lobby card from CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH (Republic, 1946), one of the best of the Red Ryder adventures.