 | 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) |  | Bud Geary Real name: |
 Maine (Bud) Geary from the 1925 Standard Casting Directory.  Above is a screen capture of Bud Geary as Davy Crockett in the opening prologue from Chapter 1 of Tom Mix's THE MIRACLE RIDER (Mascot, 1935). |
An AP wire story in early November, 1927 newspapers reported that actor "Sigsbee Maine Geary ... was brought into court on the complaint of his wife, who charged he was delinquent in alimony of $75 a month." ; "The actor explained that the alimony payments had slipped while he was paying for a beauty operation on his nose ..." ; "... with his former nose, the best he could do in the films was $25 a week as an extra. With the remodeled nose ... he was able to command $75 a week ..." ; "The judge gave Geary until November 29 (1927) to try out his new nose ... and begin his alimony payments."
A beefy guy with a husky voice and about 6 feet 1 inch tall, Bud was negatively impacted with the arrival of talking pictures. During the early to mid 1930s, he picked up a few paydays doing mostly minor, uncredited roles in various genres, and you can spot him as a gangster, taxi driver, prison guard ... and often as a police officer and detective.
His workload begins to increase circa 1935-1936. And Bud's association with cliffhangers began in the late 1930s with unbilled roles in RED BARRY (Universal, 1938), THE SPIDER'S WEB (Columbia, 1938), FLYING G-MEN (Columbia, 1939), DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939), DICK TRACY'S G-MEN (Republic, 1939), more.
By then, he had developed stunting and doubling skills to compliment his henchman and 'action heavy' assignments.
He found a home at Republic Pictures, and from 1939-1946, he ACTED in about a hundred features and chapterplays. The studio used him so often that he was signed to a term player contract(s) which ran from July, 1943 through July, 1945.
Some background - in the 1940s, thrifty Republic Pictures had some familiar villains and supporting players under contract. Amongst their term contract roster were Roy Barcroft, Leroy Mason, Kenne Duncan, Grant Withers, Tom London, Jack Kirk ... and Bud Geary. This was a cost saving move versus hiring those folks as free lancers in film after film. During their contracted servitude, they received regular paychecks ... in exchange for lots of work. (Of those seven players, Barcroft's term player contract(s) was the lengthiest, running from July, 1943 through July, 1953.)
Quite often, some of the contractees mentioned above were together as members of the outlaw gang. For example, Geary worked in over 40 films with Roy Barcroft and over 20 with Leroy Mason.
As to Bud's Republic westerns, he was most often doing villainy vs. Wild Bill Elliott, the Three Mesquiteers, Sunset Carson, Don Barry and Allan Lane. Not many with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
He did westerns and serials for other production companies. Examples: he's in a half dozen early 1940s RKOs with Tim Holt; at Columbia Pictures, he's in five Charles Starretts, one Three Stooges short, and the Wild Bill Elliott chapterplay THE VALLEY OF VANISHING MEN (Columbia, 1942); and just prior to his death, Bud portrayed the brains heavy vs. Bob Steele in THUNDER TOWN (PRC, 1946) as well as a henchie role in a 1946 Johnny Mack Brown at Monogram.
There were two more marriages. vaudeville dancer Julie Blake became wife number two in 1930 and she died in 1935 at age twenty four. Wife number three was Blanche M. Geary, and they were together through Bud's death in 1946.
Ruff tuff stuntman and henchman Sigsbee Maine 'Bud' Geary passed away on February 22, 1946 at the Newhall, California Community Hospital from injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident in San Fernando, California. A coroner's investigation determined that his car overturned due to excessive speed. A tragic ending for one of the great stunt men and western and serial heavies.
Although some of the data may be incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Bud Geary and his son Richard/Dick Geary:
Bud Geary: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0311274
Actor and stuntman Richard Clark Geary (1925-2000): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0311283
Boyd Magers' Western Clippings website has a profile on Bud Geary: http://www.westernclippings.com/stuntmen/budgeary_stuntmen.shtml
Daniel Neyer's "The Files of Jerry Blake" serial website has a webpage on Bud Geary doing serials: https://filesofjerryblake.com/serial-henchmen/bud-geary/
There's a webpage on the Old Corral with details on Roy Barcroft, Leroy Mason, Kenne Duncan, Bud Geary and others who were under term contracts in the 1940s with Republic Pictures. Go to the Old Corral homepage, and click on the menu item titled "Republic's Stable of Bad Guys".
Bud Geary's Movie stats. Below is a chart of Bud Geary's acting and stunt work from 1920-1947 in westerns, serials, shorts, and other films. The quantities are from data in the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) as of late October, 2016. Totals for each category:Acting = 281 westerns, serials and other films. Stunts = 121 westerns, serials and other films (and this number will probably grow as he gets spotted in more films). Geary was under term player contract(s) at Republic from July, 1943 through July, 1945 and I've highlighted those years in red. | |||||||||||||||||||
| ACTING | 15 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
11 |
18 |
21 |
19 |
20 |
12 |
17 |
33 |
35 |
28 |
16 |
10 |
1 |
| STUNTS | |
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
10 |
10 |
6 |
12 |
17 |
15 |
23 |
10 |
4 |
|
| YEAR | 1920- 1929 |
1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 |
 (Courtesy of Les Adams) From L-to-R are a quartet of unfriendly faces: Bud Geary, Frank Ellis (in the doorway shadows), Bob Wilke and Roy Barcroft in a scene from CODE OF THE PRAIRIE (Republic, 1944) which starred Smiley Burnette and Sunset Carson.  (From Old Corral 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 collection) Above from L-to-R are Bud Geary, Hal Taliaferro (Wally Wales), Le Roy Mason (seated), and Kenne Duncan in VIGILANTES OF DODGE CITY (Republic, 1944), one of the Red Ryder adventures starring Wild Bill Elliott.  (From Old Corral collection) From L-to-R are Smiley Burnette, Bud Geary, Bob Livingston, George J. Lewis and Leander de Cordova in a lobby card from the last film of Republic's short-lived John Paul Revere series, THE LARAMIE TRAIL (Republic, 1944).  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a handful of mid 1940s baddies and henchies - from L-to-R are Herman Hack, Tommy Coats, Fred Graham, Bud Geary and Buck Bucko in a scene from the Sunset Carson starrer, CHEROKEE FLASH (Republic, 1945).  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a lobby card from Bob Steele's THUNDER TOWN (PRC, 1946). From left to right are Edward Howard, Charlie King, Bob Steele and, wearing the suit and playing the brains heavy is Bud Geary. This was released in April, 1946, a month or so after Bud Geary's death. Crop / blowup below of their faces. 
 (From Old Corral collection) Above - comic Syd Saylor tweaks Bud Geary's nose while mustached Bob Steele does some restraining in a photo from the pressbook for Steele's THUNDER TOWN (PRC, 1946). |
On the trail of Bud Geary.
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The Family Search website, California Death Index, Social Security Death Index (SSDI), Newspaper Archive, ProQuest obituaries, death certificate, and newspaper and trade funeral notices and obituaries provide more on Bud Geary and family. Bud was married three times and I've highlighted the wives in this color.
Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Bud Geary at Forest Lawn - Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12755/bud-geary Find A Grave notes that Blanche Mildred Geary passed away on February 17, 1979 and is interred at Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, Los Angeles County, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125882394/blanche-mildred-geary California Death Index has records on Bud's two sons:
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