Sunday, March 23, 2025

SO LONG, JACK LILLEY

You were recognizable in your recurring role as the stagecoach driver on Little House on the Prairie for nine, fulfilling seasons. 

You also galloped your way into such television ventures as Bonanza and Highway to Heaven (with your bracketing costar, Michael Landon), as well as Little House's offshoot, Father Murphy, plus Rawhide, The Wild Wild West, Maverick, The Magnificent Seven, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Wagon Train, Lawman, The Big Valley, The High Chaparral, Cheyenne, Gunsmoke and Disney's Zorro.  

On the movie front, you contributed varied roles and reliable, stunt work to Sudden Impact, Pink Cadillac (the latter two with your Rawhide compatriot, Clint Eastwood), Planet of the Apes (2001), Army of Darkness, The Legend of ZorroThe ShootistThe Last Cowboy, The Man Who Shot Liberty VallanceCity Slickers, Three Amigos!, Support Your Local Sheriff!Cat Ballou, Bad GirlsTerrior, The Master of My Life, Beau Geste (1966), Omar KhayyamNo Name and Dynamite; The Homecoming of Johnny WhitecloudRough Riders, The Gambler V, The Gambler Returns, Washington Square, Hard Promises, Everything That RisesFormidable, Scars of Our HandsThen Came Jones and Young Guns. You also participated in the Durango Kid and Francis the Talking Mule features from the 1940s to the mid 1950s. 

You spurred your skills as stuntman and actor at an impeccable pace: a genuine cowpoke who added artistic charm to whatever you faced. May you now ride the high plains of Heaven, Mr. Lilley, where your adventures will prevail into the vastness of forever. 

No comments:

Post a Comment