Ken Maynard

Ken Maynard (b. Vevay, Indiana, July 21, 1895 – d. Woodland Hills, California, March 23, 1973) – Actor, singing cowboy, horseman, and stuntman. Recorded on Columbia as one of the first “singing cowboys,” Maynard grew up around Columbus, Indiana, and briefly attended Indiana University. Although his horse training remains a mystery, he was a trick rider for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and for the Ringling Brothers Circus. Best remembered as a cowboy—particularly for his stunts with his stallion Tarzan—Maynard’s first appearance in a silent film was in a non-Western role in 1924, when he played Paul Revere. With twenty silent westerns under his belt, Maynard switched from Fox to Universal in 1929 and was earning top salary (up to $100,000) per film. From the 1920s to the mid 1940s, Maynard appeared in over ninety feature films. Because of his temper, arrogance and extreme alcoholism, few people in Hollywood missed him when he walked away from the business in 1944. Although he made a minor acting comeback near the end of his life, he spent his last several years with little success and even less money. In fact, he died penniless at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland, California, in 1973.