Young Gun

Funny how one single photo can send you down a rabbit hole and lead to all sorts of information, trivia and visual interest. This happened to me very recently regarding the subject of today's post. It wasn't the photo I have as the cover for this post. I just thought that one helped put the title across nicely. (And I didn't want said photo to be the one that shows up when the post is listed.) The man above is someone I really had no knowledge of previously. His name is Tony Young. (If the gal looks familiar, she's Jean Hale, who popped up in quite a few camp classics in the mid-1960s such as The Oscar, 1967, In Like Flynt, 1967, and the TV series Batman.) 

This is the photo that launched my trip... I saw it on eBay while researching something else. It's of Dan Duryea and Young in the movie Taggart (1964) and the reason it caught my eye ought to be pretty clear.

The son of successful radio-turned-movie actor Carleton G Young (known best for "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" and "The Whisperer"), Tony was born in New York City in 1937, but by 1944 was living in Tinseltown thanks to his father's relocation there for movie work. His father forbid him to pursue a screen career until he'd received an education.

This the young man did first via a stint in the US Air Force (learning various skills via the Armed Forces Network) followed by classes at Los Angeles City College. Still, the biz was beckoning and by 1959 - age 22 - he was attending drama school and earning bit parts on shows like The Alaskans, Lawman, Maverick and Bourbon Street Beat. Next came small film parts in Walk Like a Dragon (1960), starring Jack Lord, and The Marriage-Go-Round (1961), a Susan Hayward-James Mason comedy. Young was already married in 1958 to a young model and aspiring actress. Connie Mason, in the wake of their 1962 divorce, became a Playboy centerfold - Playmate of the Month for June 1963!

Amid parts on Laramie, The Deputy and Bronco, dark-featured Young did as virtually all of his peers were coerced to do by playing Native Americans with names like Johnny Brassbuttons or Yellow Knife. (He's seen here on Cheyenne.)

Possessing a cocksure air and with a wide-set jaw (not unlike Charles Bronson or James Coburn, two men who found great success with such) and a very low, resonant voice, it wasn't long before all that toiling on the countless TV westerns of the 1950s and '60s paid off.

In 1961, he was granted his very own mid-season replacement western series Gunslinger. While the show made little impact against My Three Sons/The Untouchables and The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, it won the hearts of many teenage girls who fell hard for the stoic young man with the deep voice. Twelve episodes were produced and aired, but the series was not picked up for the following season.

Undeterred, he proceeded to roles on 77 Sunset Strip and Death Valley Days. In 1964, he was granted the leading role in a western movie called He Rides Tall (I'll bet...!) The western costarred Dan Duryea as a cold-hearted bad guy. In this, Young was also cast opposite his second wife (married in 1962), Madlyn Rhue.

The Jewish Rhue practiced Catholicism during this period. (I feel like that may be the back of Dick Sargent's head in the first photo?)

Young's only child, daughter Julie, came from this union. Young and Rhue would appear on 77 Sunset Strip together and later on The Virginian, though they divorced in 1970.

The same year as He Rides Tall, Young made the western Taggart, which utilized Duryea again as an antagonist. The stern, "underplayed" Young made a capable if not exactly electrifying leading man. But as you no doubt guessed. It was really his pistol-packin' pants that created the most stir and which inspired this post.

It seems only natural that the costumer appeared to take inspiration from Bonanza's Michael Landon (another show-er!) when selecting Young's look for this movie. The still shot from eBay which led me to look the film up wasn't even framed the same way in the film proper (as is often the case with publicity stills), but - trust me - there was plenty to see throughout. Should you wish to try Taggart out, this is the link to it in a beautiful transfer. (And now I want to see what's up in his other 1964 western, too!)

Though neither of those minor westerns led to anything of note, Young continued to work steadily. He showed up on Bonanza, did a few eps of The Iron Horse and then appeared on Star Trek, in a typically offbeat sci-fi get-up.

His episode was called "Elaan of Troyius" - a bastardization of the Helen of Troy story, with France Nuyen in the title role. Fans of the show will recall that Young's wife Rhue also appeared on Trek as a key guest opposite Ricardo Montalban as Khan.

Following guest spots on It Takes a Thief, Love, American Style and The Virginian, along with parts in movies like Charro! (1969) with Elvis Presley and A Man Called Sledge (1970) featuring James Garner, Young shifted gears a bit. He took part in the revenge flick Chrome and Hot Leather (1971) as a Green Beret hunting down bikers who've killed his fiancee.

Seen here at a screening for Leather are the movie's producer Wes Bishop (embracing Young) and the director Lee Frost. Young soon became a favorite of theirs, appearing in a variety of entertainingly gritty and sleazy drive-in style movies.

One of these, The Bert Convy Story (I'm teasing! The film was 1973's Superchick!) had Young as one of three gentlemen who are being juggled by Joyce Jillson. He's seen shirtless, about to join her in the sack, and on the beach in an abbreviated pair of trunks. (I actually prefer his overall look here than I do his younger years.)

1974 brought the rough and tumble exploitation flick Policewomen. (The movie was about only one policewoman, but the title was altered to avoid confusion with Angie Dickinson's TV series Police Woman, which was then on the air.) During this period he was also popping up on Mannix, Medical Center, Barnaby Jones, among other shows, and the occasional movie such as The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duvall. 

This promotional pic is better than the previous one. If the gal starring in this seems familiar, you may recall her as I did from her guest-starring role on The Golden Girls. Sondra Currie played a red-haired lady who becomes engaged to Blanche's Big Daddy, enraging her future daughter-in-law ("Maybe we oughtta get her a boostah seat!") In 1976, Young wed Currie, his third and final wife, and they divorced a decade later.

Many more TV roles of varying size and scope were to follow. You and I likely saw him time and again and took little notice. He was on S.W.A.T., The Rookies, Starsky and Hutch, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy and, as seen here, Knight Rider. He continued in this vein until 1993 when he retired. Young's father Carleton had died in 1971 of cancer at age 64. Young himself died of lung cancer in 2002... at age 64.

We hope you enjoyed this closer look at an actor who spent more than 30 years on screen, yet who remains lesser-known among TV and moviegoers.

I think that wraps it up!