A History of the Movies exhibited in Salisbury / Rowan County, North Carolina from JANUARY 1920 - TODAY
THE CALL OF THE WILD had its Buck. However the greatest BUCK the screen ever knew was a U.S. Army vet, born in Indiana back in 1891 as Charles Frederick Gebhart.
A real-life cowboy, he broke into the picture business as a bit player and stuntman at Universal for the daily pay of five bucks.
He jumped horses to FOX and went through the ranks from a $40 per day stuntman to a $150 weekly actor, envisioned by the studio execs as a Tom Mix back-up. His first leading role came in 1920.
By 1925, Buck had over 150 films under his belt (he made three with Carole Lombard that same year) and was one of the screen's top paid actors.
On November 28, 1942, Buck was a guest at Boston's famed Coconut Grove nightclub when a deadly fire broke out. By the time it was extinguished, over five hundred perished in the inferno. Buck was one of them. He survived two days in the hospital but died before his wife could reach his bedside.
THE CALL OF THE WILD had its Buck. However the greatest BUCK the screen ever knew was a U.S. Army vet, born in Indiana back in 1891 as Charles Frederick Gebhart.
A real-life cowboy, he broke into the picture business as a bit player and stuntman at Universal for the daily pay of five bucks.
He jumped horses to FOX and went through the ranks from a $40 per day stuntman to a $150 weekly actor, envisioned by the studio execs as a Tom Mix back-up. His first leading role came in 1920.
By 1925, Buck had over 150 films under his belt (he made three with Carole Lombard that same year) and was one of the screen's top paid actors.
On November 28, 1942, Buck was a guest at Boston's famed Coconut Grove nightclub when a deadly fire broke out. By the time it was extinguished, over five hundred perished in the inferno. Buck was one of them. He survived two days in the hospital but died before his wife could reach his bedside.
