(From Old Corral collection)

Ted Wells Real name: John Oscar Wells 1899 - 1948 On the left is Ted Wells as the star of THE PHANTOM COWBOY (Aywon, 1935).

Ted Wells was born July 11, 1899 in Justice, Midland County, Texas and his father was the local sheriff at the time of the 1900 census. For the 1910 census, the Wells family resided in Custer County, Montana and father Hugh was the County Sheriff. In addition to being a lawman, Hugh R. Wells was a ranch owner, politician, Montana state chairman of the Democratic party and there's more about him in a link at the bottom of this page ... including a mention that son John Oscar Wells (Ted) attended the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.

Ted Wells was a second echelon western hero in a handful of really low budget oaters for producer Robert J. Horner and some better quality productions at Universal. Universal billed him as "Ted Wells, World's Champion Rider" and he was "Pawnee Bill, Jr." in the Horner oaters. Trade publications carried many articles on Pawnee Bill, Jr., Horner, Universal and Ted Wells. Following are a couple tidibts and dates related to Wells becoming a cowboy hero:

• August 5, 1926 Film Daily: "Horner Completes First. Hollywood - Robert J. Horner has completed the first picture of his new series starring Pawnee Bill, Jr., entitled 'The Mystery Rider.'"
• December 28, 1926 Film Daily: "'U' Has New Star. Universal City - Ted Wells is to be starred in a series of westerns for Universal ..."

Stardom was brief and Ted spent the early 1930s with traveling circuses and wild west shows.

Sadly, he re-connected with Horner in the mid 1930s. That collaboration resulted in Wells starring in a pair of bottom-of-the-barrel sagebrush yarns, THE PHANTOM COWBOY (Aywon, 1935) and the lost/missing DEFYING THE LAW (Aywon, 1935). Appears that Wells was to do eight (or more) westerns for Horner:

• The August 21, 1934 Film Daily had an article that Horner was shooting "The Phantom Bandit" with Wells as the lead (and I assume that became THE PHANTOM COWBOY).
• The September 17, 1935 issue of Film Daily noted that Robert J. Horner (and his American Pictures Corporation) was planning an eight film series for Wells, and DEFYING THE LAW had just completed and was the first of the batch. The remaining seven never happened.

Too bad Wells attempted a return to stardom with Horner as THE PHANTOM COWBOY is a mess. Ted has a dual role and also plays the caped "phantom cowboy". Jimmy Aubrey is his overacting sidekick. This thing has rotten dialog, a stationary camera, and other issues. But the worse is when Wells and Aubrey decide to go swimming and strip down to their skivvies. The phantom steals their clothes, gunbelts and horses, and Ted and Jimmy spend about 10 minutes doing scenes in their underwear.

Wells continued doing films but found himself relegated to bit/support roles as well as doubling and stunt work in westerns and serials ... and he was a frequent double for William Boyd in the Hopalong Cassidy adventures (stuntman Cliff Lyons doubled Boyd in the early Hoppy films).

His last movie work occurred in 1945. (If you check the IMDb, you'll find Wells in SUNDOWN RIDERS (1948). That was lensed in 1944, but not released until 1948 by Astor.)

Ted Wells passed away on August 7, 1948, in Wickenburg, Maricopa County, Arizona and his death certificate notes that he was a "Laborer - construction" and died of "natural causes".

But why did Ted Wells exit the movie business circa 1945 ... and he and wife Josephine moved to Maricopa County, Arizona. Was he ill ... injured ... or just not enough film jobs to pay the bills. Inquiring minds want to know.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Ted Wells: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0920438/

You can download or stream the public domain THE PHANTOM COWBOY (Aywon, 1935) from the Internet Archive website: http://www.archive.org/details/phantom_cowboy

The Family Search website (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), State of Arizona Department of Health Services website, and the death certificate provide more information on Ted Wells. This is another example of why name variations - including possible spelling errors - might be important when doing searches. When some of the census records were digitized, Wells' first name of John became Johm:

• 1900 census - 27 year old Hugh Wells (born Missouri), his 25 year old wife Lottie (born Texas), 4 year old daughter Louise (born Texas), and 1 year old son J. O. Wells (born Texas) live in Justice Precinct 1-4, Midland, Texas: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3PN-P56
  1900 census taken June 19-20, 1900 - the Wells family resides in Justice Precinct No 1, Midland County, Texas. The age of son J. O. Wells is 11/12 (meaning 11 months old). The occupation of father Hugh is "Sheriff": https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11871-35227-7?cc=1325221
• 1910 census - 42 year old H. R. Wells (born Texas), wife Lottie A. (born Texas), daughter Hortense (born Texas), son John O. (born Texas), and daughter Cato (born Montana) live in Miles Ward 3, Custer County, Montana. Also listed are many county prisoners: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLCS-9DG
  Ancestry had the 1910 census takers worksheet - father Hugh is "County Sheriff". There are no ages listed for the Wells family members (other than father Hugh).
• 1920 census - 46 year old Hugh R. Wells (born Missour), 45 year old wife Lottie (born Texas), 20 year old son John (born Texas), and 11 year old daughter Manta (born Montana) live in Miles Ward 2, Custer County, Montana: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M83K-H3C
  Ancestry had the 1920 census takers worksheet - the Wells family owns their home at 1113 Pleasant, Miles, Custer County, Montana. Father Hugh's occupation is "Banker - M. C. Nt'l." No occupation is listed for John.
• 1930 census - this MAY be our Ted Wells, actor and stunt man:
  30 year old John O. Wells (born Kansas) and his 26 year old wife Vivian R. (born Armenia) are in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCND-CW3
  Ancestry had the 1930 census takers worksheet from April, 1930. The location is Stockton, San Joaquin County, California, and at the top of the form, the institution is "Wortham traveling show". John O. Wells and Vivian R. Wells are both listed as "con - show" along with George Stein, "agent - show". Wells reports himself as a World War I veteran. Viewing several prior census worksheets, there are dozens of show employees and a John T. Wortham is listed as "proprietor - traveling show".
  The Circus Historical Society website had a few comments about Wortham. Clarence A. Wortham operated railroad carnivals until his death in 1922. And his brother John Wortham was the owner/proprietor of traveling shows.
• 1940 census: 39 year old Johm [sic] Wells (born Texas), 31 year old wife Josephine (born Kansas) and 6 year old son Johm [sic] C. are living in the Los Angeles area: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K9H2-JJL
• 1940 census takers worksheet: Ted Wells and family are renting at 10838 Huston in Los Angeles. Wells was born in Texas; he resided in Phoenix, Arizona in 1935; he completed four years of college; his occupation is "Stunt rider - Motion Pictures"; and in 1939, he worked 36 weeks and earned $2500.00: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-27797-1988-70?cc=2000219&wc=M9Q8-Y62:n1905675900
• The death certificate on John O. Wells is available online at the Arizona Department of Health Services: http://genealogy.az.gov/
  From the death certificate: John O. Wells was born July 11, 1899 in Midland, Texas and he was a World War I veteran. He and wife Josephine M. Wells lived in Morristown, Maricopa County, Arizona and his occupation was "Laborer - construction". Parents were Hugh Reginald Wells (born St. Louis, Missouri) and Laura Ann Holt (born West, Texas). 49 year old Wells passed away on August 7, 1948 in Wickenburg, Maricopa County, Arizona, and cause of death was "natural causes" (no details), and the death certificate was signed by the Wickenburg Coroner (not a doctor). Death certificate informant was Mrs. H. W. Stearns, Los Angeles. Wells was cremated.
• The death certificate informant of H. W. Stearns was Wells' sister Hortense (who knew more about the Wells family than Ted's wife Josephine):
  July 8, 1919 marriage of 23 year old Hortense Louise Wells (born Midland, Texas) to 25 year old Francis A. Stearns (born Los Angeles) in Miles City, Custer County, Montana. Her parents were Hugh R. Wells and Lottie A. Holt: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3Q5-FNT
  1940 census - 55 year old Hortense Stearns (born Texas; divorced), 19 year old daughter Francis Ann (born California) and 17 year old daughter Marilyn M. (born California) are living in Los Angeles: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9CC-Z8K
  1940 census takers worksheet shows Hortense as "Manager - Bungalow Court": https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-27796-4728-71?cc=2000219

Find A Grave website has Ted Wells and his parents interred at Fairview Cemetery, Midland, Midland County, Texas:
John Oscar Wells: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=149762683
His father, Hugh Reginald Wells (1873-1949): http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=149762721
His mother, Lottie Holt Wells (1874-1938): http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=149762702

The Internet Archive has the 1921 book Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, under the editorial supervision of Tom Stout (Volume III). This includes a detailed biography on Ted Wells' father Hugh R. Wells who was a sheriff, ranch owner, politician, Montana state chairman of the Democratic party, more. The bio notes that his children were Hortense Louise, John Oscar and Monta Cato. And John O. attended the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. This link should take you to pages 1346-1347 of that Montana history with the profile of Hugh R. Wells and family: https://archive.org/stream/montanaitsstoryb03stou#page/n1021/mode/2up

(From Old Corral collection) Above - a lobby card from the Wells silent GRIT WINS (Universal, 1929). (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above - a lobby card from Wells' THUNDER RIDERS (Universal, 1928). From left to right are an unidentified man, Charlotte Stevens and Ted Wells. The director was William Wyler, and his early work included several dozen Universal silent westerns and action yarns starring Wells, Art Acord, Jack Mower, Fred Gilman, Fred Humes, more.

(Courtesy of Les Adams)

(Courtesy of Les Adams) Left is a poster included in the pressbook for Robert J. Horner's THE PHANTOM COWBOY (Aywon, 1935). Above - the pressbook also had a glowing description of the film. Got a chuckle from the comment that "Nathan Hirsh, president of the Aywon company directed Robert J. Horner to spare no expense ...".

(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a lobby card from Wells' second starring role for Robert J. Horner, the lost/missing DEFYING THE LAW (Aywon, 1935). In the crop/blowup below from that lobby card, the cast of characters from left to right are: Herman Hack (green shirt), Jimmy Aubrey (purple shirt), Julian Rivero, Ted Wells, Dick Cramer, unidentified guy on desk, and George Chesebro. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a great shot of William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy doing some fisticuffs in RIDERS OF THE TIMBERLINE (Paramount, 1941). And observing in the right background are the doubles for Boyd and sidekick Brad King. Boyd's double could be either Cliff Lyons or Ted Wells (but is probably Wells) and a blowup of that photo section is below.  Note the grin on the face of Brad King's double.