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 Sam Lawson) | Al Ferguson Full name: Alfred George Ferguson Nickname: "Fergie" 1888 - 1971 Salutation on the photo reads: To Joe One of the best from your pal Al Ferguson 1925 |
Above - Al Ferguson circa 1924, and about 35 years old, when he was briefly starring in some silent films. Photo is a crop from the full page ad shown below. (From Old Corral collection) Al Ferguson in 1935 and about 47 years old. (Courtesy of Ken Jones) Al Ferguson in 1944 and about 56 years old. |
A second batch of eight were planned and tradepapers had coming attraction announcements on two titles, LAWLESS LOVE and THE LIGHTNING PASSES. However, I found no confirmation that these were completed.
After his brief fling as a star, Al moved into character and support roles, sometimes as the main heavy, sometimes as a henchman. During those final years of the silent film, he butted heads with various cowboy heroes. Examples: he played opposite Tom Tyler, Bob Steele and Tom Mix at Film Booking Office (FBO); with Ted Wells at Universal; in Jack Perrin oaters for Rayart and Universal; with Ken Maynard at First National and Universal; and a handful of other sagebrush adventures starring Ben Wilson, Yakima Canutt and Cliff Lyons.
He successfully made the transition to talking pictures and Les Adams has him identified in about 200 sound era movies, and that number includes 86 oaters and 44 serials.
Of Ferguson's sound cliffhangers, nearly twenty were for Universal. There were three for Nat Levine at Mascot and about fifteen chapterplays for producers Jack Fier, Larry Darmour and Sam Katzman at Columbia Pictures.
in the 1930s and 1940s, his cowboy film appearances were scattered amongst many white hatted heroes, and you'll spot him in a few - or a handful - of films with John Wayne, Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, Ken Maynard, Charles Starrett, Johnny Mack Brown, Trail Blazers, Range Busters, others. Not many paychecks from Republic Pictures for Ferguson - he was in the first DICK TRACY chapterplay, one Gene Autry oater, and one with Roy Rogers. He did only two Hopalong Cassidys. Al worked often with Bob Steele, appearing in a dozen beginning with Bob's FBO silents and continuing through Steele's Billy the Kids at PRC, Trail Blazers at Monogram, and last starring roles in the mid 1940s at PRC and Cinecolor adventures for Action Pictures/Screen Guild.
A good Ferguson western film role occurs in Tim McCoy's early talkie THE ONE WAY TRAIL (Columbia, 1931). Fergie plays saloon owner "Coldeye Cornell", the brains heavy responsible for the death of McCoy's brother. He also had lots of dialog and screen time in the independent serial, MYSTERY TROOPER (Syndicate, 1931). That cliffhanger has a ghost town, a hunt for a map to a lost gold mine, and a caped protagonist called the "Mystery Trooper" who helps Robert Frazer, Blanche Mehaffey and Buzz Barton in their battles with Ferguson and gang.
Among Ferguson's last movie jobs were bit parts in Columbia's final cliffhangers, BLAZING THE OVERLAND TRAIL (Columbia, 1956) and PERILS OF THE WILDERNESS (Columbia, 1956), both produced by Sam Katzman.
Ill with prostate cancer, Al Ferguson passed away on December 4, 1971 at the Burbank Community Hospital, Burbank, California.
The Family Search website (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), California Death Index, Social Security Death Index (SSDI), and the death certificate provide more on Al Ferguson:
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Al Ferguson: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0272360/
Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Alfred George Ferguson at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18339/al-ferguson
Find A Grave also has Narcissus Marie Ferguson (1892-1982) interred at Oakland Cemetery, Dallas, Texas: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96022638/narcissus-marie-ferguson
Daniel Neyer's "The Files of Jerry Blake" serial website has a webpage on Al Ferguson in cliffhangers: https://filesofjerryblake.com/serial-henchmen/al-ferguson/
There's a dozen+ film titles from 1914 - 1921 for "Alfred Ferguson" and "George Ferguson" at the website for the American Film Company (nicknamed the "Flying A") which is maintained by the University of California at Santa Barbara. When you get to this webpage, click on the letter F, and scroll down the listing for Alfred Ferguson and George Ferguson: https://flyinga.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu/people/index.html
Al Ferguson - silent screen hero.
Abve is a full page ad for the initial batch of outdoorsy adventures starring Al Ferguson. This is from the November, 1924 issue of Exhibitors Trade Review (available at the Internet Archive). The J. J. Fleming Productions building shown in the ad was located in Beaverton, Oregon (near Portland). Below is a still culled from the March 21, 1925 Exhibitors Trade Review (available at the Internet Archive). Mounted police officer Al Ferguson has the drop on Frank Granville in a scene from Ferguson's starrer SCARLET AND GOLD (J. J. Fleming Prod./Davis Distributing, 1925). |
Al Ferguson - from heavy and
character roles to henchman and bit parts.
(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a crop from a lobby card from OUTLAWED (FBO, 1929), and from left to right are Tom Mix, Sheriff Al Ferguson and clean shaven deputy Hank Bell. This was one of the five silents that Mix did for Film Booking Office (FBO) in the late 1920s. Looks like Ferguson's gunbelt is the same as the one he's wearing in the photo below from Wayne's THE DESERT TRAIL (Lone Star/Monogram, 1935). Above are screen captures of Al Ferguson at his meanest - as "Buck Rankin" in the Bob Steele NEAR THE RAINBOW'S END (Tiffany, 1930). He was in his early forties when he appeared in this, which was Steele's first talking picture. In the top screen capture, Ferguson is roughin' up Merrill McCormick. In the lower screen grab, Cliff Lyons is the smilin' guy on the left. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above from left to right are John Wayne, Al Ferguson and Paul Fix in a still from THE DESERT TRAIL (Lone Star/Monogram, 1935). In this, Ferguson and Fix steal rodeo prize money and also commit a murder, and Wayne and sidekick Eddy Chandler are blamed. (From Old Corral collection) Cornering Bob Steele are veteran baddies Al Ferguson (left) and George Chesebro (right) in a lobby card from DEATH VALLEY RANGERS (Monogram, 1943). Both Ferguson and Chesebro were born in 1888, and in their mid fifties. This was the fourth Trail Blazers film ... and the first with Bob Steele (which made the Trail Blazers team a trio versus the earlier duo of Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson). (Courtesy of Ken Jones) Hoot Gibson on the left and Chief Thunder Cloud on the right, have apprehended a trio of henchies in OUTLAW TRAIL (Monogram, 1944), an entry in the Trail Blazers series. In the center from L-to-R are Jim Thorpe, Al Ferguson and Frank Ellis. James Francis 'Jim' Thorpe, (1888-1953) won the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic games, but was later stripped of his medals since he had played pro sports. Ferguson is unbilled/uncredited as a henchman working for rotund Cy Kendall who portrays town boss "Honest John Travers". (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above from L-to-R are Jerry Fields, Al Ferguson, Dan White, Bud Osborne and Charlie King in a scene from the Ken Maynard HARMONY TRAIL (Mattox, 1944; re-released in 1947 by Astor as WHITE STALLION). In this one, Fields, Ferguson, White and Osborne are gang members working for Charlie King. |