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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 Minard Coons)
Terry Frost

Name variations:
Terrance vs. Terry and Lawrence vs. Laurence vs. Lauerence

Probable full name: Terry Laurence Frost

1906 - 1993


Minnesota born Terry Frost was a frequent cowboy villain beginning in the early 1940s, and his twenty five year film and TV career lasted through the mid 1960s. His first movie role was playing a henchman in the Tim Holt CYCLONE ON HORSEBACK (RKO, 1941) which was released in June, 1941.

While he did appear in a dozen or so Republic oaters and cliffhangers, Frost was most often the antagonist to Eddie Dean, Lash LaRue, Johnny Mack Brown, Whip Wilson and a few other cowboy heroes in sagebrush adventures from Monogram Pictures and Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). He also became a favorite of thrifty producer Sam Katzman, and Terry appeared in over a dozen of the Katzman serials for Columbia Pictures, including the two SUPERMAN cliffhangers with Kirk Alyn.

Les Adams has Frost identified in about 120 films and of those, 82 are westerns and 22 are serials.

Typical of the western supporting players of the period, Frost migrated to early TV work and can be seen in many episodes of BUFFALO BILL JR., RIN-TIN-TIN, WILD BILL HICKOK, CISCO KID, ANNIE OAKLEY, ROY ROGERS, GENE AUTRY, WYATT EARP, GUNSMOKE, RAWHIDE, lots more shows. He had a recurring role as "Sgt. Morris" in the Broderick Crawford HIGHWAY PATROL, one of many syndicated programs churned out by Frederick W. Ziv's Ziv Television Programs company.

Prior to his movie career, Terry owned a small restaurant and did the cooking (see the 1940 census). I vaguely recall that when Frost retired from active film work, he wound up as a drama teacher at a California college or school. In later years, he worked as a tour guide for a travel business or a cruise ship (and he traveled extensively to overseas destinations). He even authored the book titled Actors Only which was published in the mid 1970s.

Terry passed away on March 1, 1993 in the Los Angeles area from heart failure.


  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Terry Frost: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0296574/

The IMDb has a People Working Together function, and Terry worked with producer Sam Katzman a total of 32 times during the years 1945 - 1962. Most were serials: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0296574,nm0441947

The Family Search website, Ancestry.com, Minnesota Historical Society, California Death Index, and Social Security Death Index (SSDI) have information on Terry Frost. There is confusion on his real first and middle names. In the census and other data below, note the name variations of:
          First name: Terry vs. Terrance
          Middle name: Lawrence vs. Laurence vs. Lauerence

You may want to visit the "Sunset Carson's Interviews" webpage on the Old Corral. There you'll find a YouTube link to an 11 minute interview with Terry Frost courtesy of Jerry Whittington.

There's a biography and a lengthy 1991 interview with Terry Frost by Jan Alan Henderson. The original website is no longer working, but a copy of the interview - without photos - is available at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20210506183448/budreeves.com/trailriders/articles/terryfrostinterview.html

Boyd Magers' Western Clippings website has a profile on Terry Frost: http://www.westernclippings.com/heavies/terryfrost_charactersheavies.shtml

The Variety tradepaper has a 1993 obituary on Terry Frost which notes that "he died March 1 in Los Angeles from heart failure": http://variety.com/1993/scene/people-news/terry-frost-104803/



Shown with star Broderick Crawford, Terry Frost played "Sgt. Morris" in many episodes of HIGHWAY PATROL during the first and second seasons of the show.

     

Above and below images courtesy of Gary Goltz, who has a website devoted to Broderick Crawford and the HIGHWAY PATROL TV series (1955-1959): http://www.highwaypatroltv.com/photos.shtml



Above - Terry Frost as Sgt. Morris on the cover art for the official Highway Patrol gun and holster set.



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from L-to-R are Douglas Fowley, Lynne Carver, stuntman Ted Mapes (with hat), Steve Clark, Terry Frost (with hat), Johnny Mack Brown, Lynton Brent (partial face), a very old Jack Rockwell (wearing the suit), Tom Quinn and Raymond Hatton in a scene from JMB's DRIFTING ALONG (Monogram, 1946).



(From Old Corral collection)

Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton (with shotgun) have the drop on Marshall Reed (black shirt) and Terry Frost (red shirt) in a lobby card and a crop/blowup from GENTLEMAN FROM TEXAS (Monogram, 1946). Left to right in the background are Steve Clark (suit) and Lew Morphy (behind JMB's horse).



(Courtesy of Ed Phillips)

Above - an older Johnny Mack Brown has the drop on Lee Roberts (center) and Terry Frost (on the right) in this unidentified scene still. This is probably from TEXAS LAWMEN (Monogram, 1951).



(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above - a little good natured fisticuffs at one of the conventions between three cowboy and serial bad guys - Tris Coffin is about to pummel Terry Frost, while a smiling George J. Lewis looks on.


(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above - Terry Frost making a point at a 1970s film convention.



(Courtesy of Bill Sasser)

Marguerite, Terry's first wife, passed away in the 1970s and they had been married about forty years. Circa 1983, he married Marion Carney Callahan, and they attended many of the western film festivals. Above are Marion, an unidentified young man, and Terry at the 1991 Charlotte Festival.

After Terry's death in 1993, Marion tied the knot again ... with Lash LaRue.



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