Tim McCoy

For the English footballer, see Tim McCoy (footballer).

For the 1972 murder victim, see Murder of Timothy McCoy.

Tim McCoy
McCoy in 1934
Born	Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy (1891-04-10)April 10, 1891 Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.
Died	January 29, 1978(1978-01-29) (aged 86) Ft. Huachuca, Sierra Vista, Arizona, U.S.
Other names	Col. T.J. McCoy Col. Tim McCoy Colonel Tim McCoy
Occupations	Actor showman television host
Years active	1925–1965
Spouses	Agnes Miller ​ ​ (m. 1931, divorced)​ Inga Arvad ​ ​ (m. 1946; died 1973)​
Children	5

Tim McCoy ad in Motion Picture News, 1926

Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy (April 10, 1891 – January 29, 1978) was an American actor, military officer, and expert on American Indian life. McCoy is most noted for his roles in B-grade Western films. As a popular cowboy film star, he had his picture on the front of a Wheaties cereal box.

Early years

Tim McCoy was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on April 10, 1891. His father was an Irish Union Civil War veteran and Police Chief. While attending St. Ignatius College (now Loyola University) McCoy saw a Wild West show that influenced him to purchase a one-way ticket west. He ended up in Lander, Wyoming, where he worked as a ranch hand. While there, he became an expert horseman and roper while developing an extensive knowledge of the customs and languages of the local American Indian tribes. McCoy was a renowned expert in Indian sign language and was named "High Eagle" by the Arapaho tribe of the Wind River reservation. He also competed in numerous rodeos.

Military career

McCoy enlisted as a soldier in the U.S. Army and served in the cavalry during World War I (although he did not serve in combat nor overseas). He served again in World War II in Europe, rising to the rank of colonel with the Army Air Corps and Army Air Forces. He also served as adjutant general of Wyoming between the wars with the brevet rank of brigadier general. At 28, he was one of the youngest brigadier generals in the history of the U.S. Army.

Acting career

Early career

In 1922, David Townsend, president of the Mountain Plains Enterprise Film Company, planned to build "Sunshine Studios" at McCoy's Owl Creek Dude ranch in order to shoot a film titled, "The Dude Wrangler," written by Caroline Lockhart but the project was abandoned.

Portrait from Tim McCoy ad in Motion Picture News, 1926

That same year, he was asked by the head of Famous Players–Lasky, Jesse L. Lasky, to provide American Indian extras for the Western extravaganza, The Covered Wagon (1923). He brought hundreds of Indians to the Utah location and served as a technical advisor on the film. After filming was completed, McCoy was asked to bring a much smaller group of Indians to Hollywood, for a stage presentation preceding each showing of the film.

McCoy's stage show was popular, running eight months in Hollywood and several more months in London and Paris. McCoy returned to his Wyoming ranch, but Irving Thalberg of MGM soon signed him to a contract to star in a series of outdoor adventures and McCoy rose to stardom. His first MGM feature was War Paint (1926), featuring epic scenes of the Wind River Indians on horseback, staged by McCoy and director Woody Van Dyke. (Footage from |War Paint was reused in many low-budget Westerns, well into the 1950s.)

War Paint set the tone for future McCoy Westerns, in that Indians were always portrayed sympathetically, and never as bloodthirsty savages. One notable McCoy feature for MGM was The Law of the Range (1928), in which he starred with Joan Crawford.

McCoy on horse in Gun Code, 1940

The coming of talking pictures, and the temporary inability to record sound outdoors, resulted in MGM terminating its Tim McCoy series and McCoy returning once more to his ranch. In 1929 he was summoned back to Hollywood personally by Carl Laemmle of Universal Pictures, who insisted that McCoy star in the first talking Western serial, The Indians Are Coming. The serial was very successful. Later, in 1932, McCoy starred in Two Fisted Law with John Wayne and Walter Brennan.

McCoy worked steadily in movies until 1936, when he left Hollywood, first to tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus and then with his own "wild west" show. The show was not a success; it was reported to have lost $300,000, $100,000 of which was McCoy's own money. It folded in Washington, D.C., and the cowboy performers were each given $5 and McCoy's thanks. The Indians on the show were returned to their respective reservations by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

McCoy was available for pictures again in 1938, and low-budget producers (including Maurice Conn and Sam Katzman) engaged him at his standard salary of $4,000 weekly, for eight films a year. In 1941 Buck Jones recruited McCoy to co-star in "The Rough Riders" series, alongside Jones and Raymond Hatton. The eight films, released by Monogram Pictures, were very popular, and might have continued but McCoy declined to renew his contract, opting to pursue other interests.

Interrupted by World War II

In 1942, McCoy ran for the Republican nomination for the open U.S. Senate Seat from Wyoming. During that campaign, he established the first statewide radio hookup in Wyoming broadcasting history. He lost in the primary and within 48 hours volunteered for active duty with the U.S. Army.

He had maintained his Army Reserve commission and was immediately accepted. McCoy spent the war in the U.S. Army and performed liaison work with the Army Air Forces in Europe, winning several decorations. He retired from the army, and reportedly never lived in Wyoming again. His Eagle's Nest ranch was sold. He retired from acting in films after the war, except for a few cameo appearances much later.

Television host

McCoy hosted a KTLA television show in Los Angeles in 1952, titled The Tim McCoy Show, for children on weekday afternoons and Saturdays, in which he provided authentic history lessons on the Old West and showed his old Western movies. His co-host was the actor Iron Eyes Cody who, while of Italian lineage, played an American Indian both on and off screen. McCoy won a local Emmy but didn't attend to receive the award. He was competing against Webster Webfoot in the Best Children's Show category and refused to show up, saying "I'll be damned if I'm going to sit there and get beaten by a talking duck!"

Legacy

For his contribution to the film industry, McCoy was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1973, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. He was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1974.

On January 16, 2010, McCoy was inducted into the Hot Springs County (Wyoming) Hall of Fame. Accepting the honor on his behalf was his son, Terry. Included in the 2010 class were Governor Dave Freudenthal of the State of Wyoming, Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court Bart Voigt, former Wyoming state treasurer Stan Smith, and local high school teacher Karl Allen.

Personal life

McCoy married Inga Arvad in 1947. They had two sons, Ronnie and Terry. McCoy was married to Arvad until her death from cancer in 1973. Arvad was a journalist from Denmark, investigated by the FBI in the early 1940s due to rumors that she was a Nazi spy; there were photographs of Arvad as a guest of Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympics, and she had twice interviewed him. This investigation included the wiretapping of Arvad during a brief affair with John F. Kennedy in late 1941 and 1942 when Kennedy was serving in the U.S. Navy. No evidence of spying against Arvad was ever found.

Later years

In 1973, McCoy was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He also was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1976, he was interviewed at length by author James Horwitz for the cowboy memoir They Went Thataway. McCoy's final, posthumous, appearance was in Hollywood (1980), Kevin Brownlow-David Gill's television history of silent films.

McCoy died on January 29, 1978, at the Raymond W. Bliss Army Medical Center of Ft. Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona. He was cremated and his ashes returned to his Nogales home. Nine years later his remains, and those of his wife, Inga, who had died in 1973, were returned to his birthplace at Saginaw, Michigan, for burial in the Mount Olivet Cemetery next to his family's plot.

Filmography

Poster for The Fighting Fool (1932)

Lobby card for Daring Danger (1932)

Poster for Texas Cyclone (1932)

Poster for Bulldog Courage (1935)

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1925	The Thundering Herd	Burn Hudnall
1926	War Paint	Lt. Tim Marshall
1927	Winners of the Wilderness	Col. O'Hara
	California	Capt. Archibald Gillespie
	The Frontiersman	John Dale
	Foreign Devils	Capt. Robert Kelly
	Spoilers of the West	Lt. Lang
1928	The Law of the Range	Jim Lockhart
	Wyoming	Lt. Jack Colton
	Riders of the Dark	Lt. Crane
	The Adventurer	Jim McClellan
	Beyond the Sierras	The Masked Stranger
	The Bushranger	Edward
1929	Morgan's Last Raid	Capt. Daniel Clairbourne
	The Overland Telegraph	Capt. Allen
	Sioux Blood	Flood
	The Desert Rider	Jed Tyler
1930	The Indians Are Coming	Jack Manning	12 chapter serial
1931	Heroes of the Flames	Bob Darrow	12 chapter serial
	The One Way Trail	Tim Allen
	Shotgun Pass	Tim Walker
	The Fighting Marshal	Tim Benton
1932	The Fighting Fool	Sheriff Tim Collins
	Texas Cyclone	'Texas' Grant (Jim Rawlings)	co-starred John Wayne
	The Riding Tornado	Tim Torrant
	Two-Fisted Law	Tim Clark	co-starred John Wayne
	Daring Danger	Tim Madigan
	Cornered	Sheriff Tim Laramie
	Fighting for Justice	Tim Keene
	The Western Code	Tim Barrett
	End of the Trail	Captain Tim Travers
1933	Man of Action	Tim Barlow
	Silent Men	Tim Richards
	The Whirlwind	Tim Reynolds
	Rusty Rides Alone	Tim 'Rusty' Burke
	Police Car 17	Tim Conlon
	Hold the Press	Tim Collins
	Straightaway	Tim Dawson
1934	Speed Wings	Tim
	Voice in the Night	Tim Dale
	Hell Bent for Love	Police Captain Tim Daley
	A Man's Game	Tim Bradley
	Beyond the Law	Tim Weston
	The Prescott Kid	Tim Hamlin
	The Westerner	Tim Addison
1935	Square Shooter	Tim Baxter
	Law Beyond the Range	Tim McDonald
	The Revenge Rider	Tim O'Neil
	Fighting Shadows	Constable Tim O'Hara
	Justice of the Range	Tim Condon
	The Outlaw Deputy	Tim Mallory
	Riding Wild	Tim Malloy / Tex Ravelle
	The Man from Guntown	Tim Hanlon
	Bulldog Courage	Slim Braddock / Tim Braddock
1936	Roarin' Guns	Tim Corwin
	Border Caballero	Tim Ross
	Lightnin' Bill Carson	U. S. Marshal 'Lightnin' Bill Carson
	Aces and Eights	'Gentleman' Tim Madigan
	The Lion's Den	Tim Barton
	Ghost Patrol	Tim Caverly
	The Traitor	Sergeant Tim Vallance, Texas Rangers
1938	West of Rainbow's End	Tim Hart
	Code of the Rangers	Tim Strong
	Two Gun Justice	Tim
	Phantom Ranger	Tim Hayes
	Lightning Carson Rides Again	'Lightning Bill' Carson, posing as Jose	as Colonel Tim McCoy
	Six-Gun Trail	Captain William 'Lightning Bill' Carson
1939	Code of the Cactus	'Lightning' Bill Carson posing as Miguel
	Texas Wildcats	'Lightning' Bill Carson
	Outlaws' Paradise	Captain William 'Lightning Bill' Carson / Trigger Mallory
	Straight Shooter	'Lightning' Bill Carson / Sam Brown
	The Fighting Renegade	Lightning Bill Carson aka El Puma
	Trigger Fingers	'Lightning' Bill Carson
1940	Texas Renegades	Silent Tim Smith
	Frontier Crusader	'Trigger' Tim Rand
	Gun Code	Marshal Tim Hammond, alias Tim Hays
	Arizona Gang Busters	'Trigger' Tim Rand
	Riders of Black Mountain	Marshal Tim Donovan
1941	Outlaws of the Rio Grande	Marshal Tim Barton
	The Texas Marshal	Marshal 'Trigger Tim' Rand
	Arizona Bound	Marshal Tim McCall, posing as 'Parson" McCall
	The Gunman from Bodie	Marshal McCall
	Forbidden Trails	Marshal Tim McCall, posing as Ace Porter
1942	Below the Border	Marshal Tim McCall
	Ghost Town Law	Marshal Tim McCall
	Down Texas Way	U. S. Marshal Tim McCall
	Riders of the West	Marshal Tim McCall
	West of the Law	Marshal Tim McCall
1952	The Tim McCoy Show (TV)	Himself
1956	Around the World in 80 Days	Colonel, U.S. Cavalry	as Col. Tim McCoy
1957	Run of the Arrow	Gen. Allen	as Colonel Tim McCoy
1965	Requiem for a Gunfighter	Judge Irving Short	(final film role)

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Tim McCoy Remembers the West: An Autobiography by Tim McCoy and Ronald McCoy (1977)

Hardback:

ISBN 0-385-12798-7

ISBN 978-0-385-12798-1

Paperback:

ISBN 978-0-8032-8155-4

• Tim McCoy on the Tomahawk Trail by Gaylord Du Bois. Big Little Book, Whitman, 1937. Western novel about Tim McCoy (full text).
• Tim McCoy—A Wyoming Poet. RoundTop Records, LLC., Thermopolis, Wyoming

Paperback:

ISBN 978-0-9796970-0-5

DVD

• Col. Tim McCoy's The Silent Language of the Plains! RoundTop Records, LLC. Thermopolis, Wyoming

ISBN 978-0-9796970-1-2

External links

• Works by or about Tim McCoy at Internet Archive
• Tim McCoy Papers at the American Heritage Center
• Tim McCoy, Western Star at AHC blogs
• Tim McCoy at IMDb
• The Tim McCoy Show at IMDb
• Tim McCoy at Virtual History