Name
Cliff Lyons
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1901-07-05
Deathday
1974-01-06 (73 years old)
Place of Birth
Clarno Township, Lake County, South Dakota, USA
Biography
Cliff Lyons was an American actor, stuntman and second-unit director, primarily of Westerns, particularly the films of John Ford and John Wayne. Lyons, the son of Garrett Thomas Lyons and Wilhamena Johnson Lyons, was raised on a South Dakota farm, though his family lived for a time in Memphis, TN, where he attended business school. An expert horseman, he gave up the notion of a business career and opted for the rodeo arena instead, touring the country;y and eventually reaching Los Angeles at the age of 21. With accomplished cowboys in great demand, Lyons quickly became involved in movies, working both as a stuntman and an actor. After only a couple of bit parts, he was signed by producer Bud Barsky to do seven inexpensive Westerns directed by Paul Hurst, with Lyons and Al Hoxie alternating as the hero and the heavy. Lyons and Hoxie alternated in another Western series produced by Morris R. Schlank, and, as Cliff 'Tex' Lyons, he seemed headed for minor stardom as a B-Western lead. However, Lyons' voice was not well-suited for sound and the talkie revolution confined him to small roles. As his small shot at stardom faded, however, his career as a stunt double for stars big and small was on the rise. He doubled such cowboy stars as Tom Mix, Ken Maynard, Buck Jones and Johnny Mack Brown. In 1936 he worked with John Wayne for the first and struck up a personal and business relationship that would remain strong for three decades. Wayne was influential in getting Lyons his first work as a second-unit director and in introducing Lyons to John Ford, for whom Lyons would do some of his finest work. Lyons' reputation as a stunt coordinator is comparable to that of acknowledged master Yakima Canutt, with whom Lyons partnered on numerous occasions. Perhaps Lyons' most impressive work was the massive and dynamic battle sequences of Wayne's The Alamo (1960). He was married from 1938 to 1955 to actress Beth Marion, with whom he had two sons. Cliff Lyons died in 1974 at 72, not long after coordinating stunts for Wayne's The Train Robbers (1973).
Date of Birth 4 July 1901, near Clarno Township, Lake County, South Dakota
Date of Death 6 January 1974, Los Angeles, California
Known For
7.7
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his m...
6.909
On the eve of retirement, Captain Nathan Brittles takes out a last patrol to stop an impen...
7
Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the mi...
6.983
The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War...
6.8
Former sheriff Ben Stride, haunted by the loss of his wife in a Wells Fargo robbery, hunts...
6.3
The story of Frank W. "Spig" Wead - a Navy-flyer turned screenwriter....
- 1930 Covered Wagon Trails
- 1930 Firebrand Jordan as Pete
- 1930 The Canyon of Missing Men as Brill Lonegran
- 1930 The Cheyenne Kid as Cowhand (uncredited)
- 1935 Stormy as Cowhand (uncredited)
- 1956 7 Men from Now as Henchman
- 1926 Desert Greed as Gillis - Henchman (uncredited)
- 1929 The Arizona Kid as Red Hank
- 1930 Under Texas Skies as Mustang - Henchman (uncredited)
- 1930 Western Honor
- 1930 The Oklahoma Sheriff
- 1930 The Hunted Men as Henchman Red (uncredited)
- 1930 Breezy Bill as Bandit
- 1930 The Man from Nowhere
- 1929 The Law of the Plains as Henchman
- 1950 Wagon Master as Marshal of Crystal City
- 1929 Bullets and Justice as Red Barton
- 1928 Manhattan Cowboy as Tex Spaulding
- 1927 Hell Hounds of the Plains as Henchman (uncredited)
- 1959 The Young Land as Reynolds - Jury Foreman (uncredited)
- 1935 The Last Days of Pompeii as Ostorius - a Gladiator (uncredited)
- 1957 Apache Warrior as Trooper (uncredited)
- 1936 The Lawless Nineties as Henchman Davis
- 1968 The Green Berets as Hugh Parkinson (uncredited)
- 1965 Major Dundee as Trooper (uncredited)
- 1932 The Night Rider as Bert Logan
- 1931 Red Fork Range as 'Skeeter' Beldon
- 1931 The Painted Desert as Rider
- 1932 The Rainbow Trail as Horseman
- 1930 The Last of the Duanes as Henchman
- 1970 Chisum as Wrangler (uncredited)
- 1926 Blue Streak O'Neil
- 1930 Canyon Hawks as Tom Hardy
- 1929 The Last Roundup as Jimmy Blyth
- 1929 Code of the West as Leary Henchman
- 1937 Hollywood Round-Up as Saloon Set Brawler
- 1960 Sergeant Rutledge as Sam Beecher (uncredited)
- 1959 The Young Land as Jury Foreman
- 1933 Gordon of Ghost City as Rider
- 1952 Bend of the River as Willie
- 1950 When Willie Comes Marching Home as Churchgoer (uncredited)
- 1943 Wagon Tracks West as Henchman Matt
- 1959 Ben-Hur as The Lubian (uncredited)
- 1931 Riders of the Purple Sage as Jed
- 1960 Spartacus as Soldier (uncredited)
- 1937 Black Aces as Rider
- 1929 The Voice from the Sky as Henchman 'Humpy'
- 1939 Renegade Trail as Henchman
- 1935 The Eagle's Brood as Cowhand
- 1930 The Call of the Desert as Nate Thomas
- 1937 North of the Rio Grande as Barfly
- 1932 The Devil Horse as Cowhand (uncredited)
- 1925 Wild Horse Canyon as Ranch Hand
- 1925 The Road Agent
- 1940 Winners of the West as Indian / Henchman
- 1928 Across the Plains as Chuck Lang
- 1950 Rio Grande as Soldier (uncredited)
- 1951 The Red Badge of Courage as Soldier (uncredited)
- 1936 Trailin' West as Gambler (uncredited)
- 1965 Genghis Khan as (uncredited)
- 1961 Two Rode Together as William McCandless (uncredited)
- 1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon as Trooper Cliff (uncredited)
- 1929 Headin' Westward as Pat Carle
- 1935 The Crimson Trail as Barroom Cowhand
- 1948 3 Godfathers as Guard at Mojave Tanks (uncredited)
- 1967 The War Wagon as Outrider (uncredited)
- 1942 The Silver Bullet as Stage Driver
- 1942 The Silver Bullet as Barfly
- 1943 Colt Comrades as Rancher
- 1930 Near the Rainbow's End as Lefty - Henchman
- 1929 The Cowboy and the Outlaw as Slim Saxon
- 1929 The Fighting Terror
- 1926 The Fighting Ranger
- 1957 The Abductors as Secret Service Agent
- 1925 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ as Charioteer (uncredited)
- 1930 The Oklahoma Cyclone as Henchman
- 1927 Outlaw's Paradise as Sheriff
- 1930 O'Malley Rides Alone as Henchman
- 1959 The Horse Soldiers as Union Sergeant (uncredited)
- 1927 Western Courage as Henchman Cliff
- 1931 Three Rogues as Deputy (uncredited)
- 1960 The Alamo as Bowie's Man (uncredited)
- 1965 Marco the Magnificent as (uncredited)
- 1955 The Prodigal as Harun (uncredited)
- 1930 The Lone Rider as Henchman
- 1928 The Old Code as Jacques de Long
- 1957 The Wings of Eagles as Officer in Brawl (uncredited)
- 1953 The Sun Shines Bright
- 1934 In Old Santa Fe as Cowhand (uncredited)
- 1957 Wagon Train ( 1 episode ) as Creel Weatherby
