The Old Corral

The Old Corral website, used along with CowboyPal, will probably let you track down information on just about every screen western hero or villain. Unlike CowboyPal, Old Corral focuses on those actors who spent their lives working for the lesser known studios, generally not cracking into the "A" picture market for any length of time. Also, OC only has a few items related to television westerns, mostly actors who made their names in "B" movies and later moved on to the small screen range.

The folks at OC have done an outstanding job digging up information and photographs of the lesser known heroes. You will also find links to pages dedicated to folks like John Wayne (who began in second-tier theatricals), but that isn't the goal of the OC contributors.

Sunset Carson, Tim Tyler, Buck Jones and the sidekicks might not be known to folks unfamiliar with the hundreds of western features turned out by smaller studies during the 1930s through '50s. Series like the Three Mesquiteers, Rough Riders and the Range Busters are long forgotten, not even appearing on Turners Classic Movies or AMC, as far as I know. Still there are older fans, and younger ones just learning of this output, who'll be glad to see sites like OC and CowboyPal available.

It's easy to get lost for an hour or so on these sites, but in my opinion it's time well spent.