Paul Brinegar
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Paul Brinegar (December 19, 1917 – March 27, 1995) was an American character actor best known for his roles in three western series: The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Rawhide, and Lancer.
Brinegar's first credited appearance in a feature film was in Larceny (1948). From there, he launched a steady film career that slowed considerably in the late 1950s, after he began appearing on television but did not end until 1994, when Brinegar made his final screen appearance, as a stagecoach driver, in the 1994 film version of Maverick.
Brinegar appeared more than 100 times between 1946 and 1994 in western films, often specializing in playing "feisty, grizzled cowboy sidekicks". On television, from 1956 to 1958, he played James H. "Dog" Kelley, the mayor of Dodge City, Kansas, in the ABC/Desilu western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp starring Hugh O'Brian. Brinegar appeared in that series 33 times as Kelley and in one other episode in another role. In 1959 he played Ludwig, a bartender, in the episode "The Ringer" of the western series The Texan with Rory Calhoun. Brinegar, however, is best remembered as the cattle-drive cook George Washington Wishbone on the CBS series Rawhide from 1959 to 1966. Earlier he had played a similar role, one as the character Tom Jefferson Jeffrey, in the 1958 movie Cattle Empire upon which Rawhide was based.
Brinegar also made two guest appearances on CBS's Perry Mason. His first appearance on that series, prior to Rawhide, was in 1958. He performed as Tom Sackett in the first-season episode titled "The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary". His second appearance on Perry Mason was during the series' ninth and final season. He played Jason Rohan in the 1966 episode "The Case of the Unwelcome Well".
In the 1968-1970 CBS western series Lancer, Brinegar had the role of Jelly Hoskins; and in 1969 he appeared in the western film Charro! starring Elvis Presley. Then, in 1973, he played the barman in Clint Eastwood's film High Plains Drifter. From 1982 to 1983, returning to television, Brinegar portrayed a humorous cowboy-like character, Lamar Pettybone, during the first season of the ABC series Matt Houston. Later he reprised a revised version of his Rawhide Wishbone character for the 1991 TV movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, in which he delivers a brief monologue that includes about a dozen references to old television western series.
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Movies (45)
Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone
1994 · Jim 'Dog' Kelly
Maverick
1994 · Stage Driver
The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw
1991 · Cookie
¡Qué perra vida!
1991 · Old Bellboy
Annihilator
1986 · Pops
Chattanooga Choo Choo
1984 · Pee Wee
Spaceship
1983 · Clint Eastwood / Dirty Harry
The Young Landlords
1983 · Mr. Darden
The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch
1982 · Bodie
Crisis in Sun Valley
1978 · Poole
The Golden Dog
1977 · Jock
High Plains Drifter
1973 · Lutie Naylor
The Secret Sharer
1973 · Captain Archbold
Charro!
1969 · Opie Keetch
The Magnificent Stranger
1966 · Wishbone
Country Boy
1966
How to Make a Monster
1958 · Rivero
Cattle Empire
1958 · Tom Jefferson Jeffrey
Copper Sky
1957 · Charlie Martin
The Vampire
1957 · Willy Warner
The Spirit of St. Louis
1957 · Okie (uncredited)
Fighting Trouble
1956 · Mailman (uncredited)
World Without End
1956 · Vida (uncredited)
Ransom!
1956 · Bank Clerk (uncredited)
Inside Detroit
1955
I Died a Thousand Times
1955 · Bus Driver (uncredited)
The Silver Chalice
1954 · Audience Member (uncredited)
Four Guns to the Border
1954
A Star Is Born
1954 · Man at Funeral (uncredited)
Dawn at Socorro
1954 · Desk Clerk
Human Desire
1954 · Brakeman
Rails Into Laramie
1954 · Bandleader (uncredited)
Phantom of the Rue Morgue
1954 · Angry Accuser in Street (uncredited)
Captain Scarface
1953 · Clegg
We're Not Married!
1952 · Beauty Contest Spectator (uncredited)
Pat and Mike
1952 · Caddy (uncredited)
The Captive City
1952 · Police Sergeant
Journey Into Light
1951 · Bum
Insurance Investigator
1951 · Mr. Spangler
Storm Warning
1951 · Cameraman #1 (uncredited)
A Ticket to Tomahawk
1950
Young Man with a Horn
1950 · Stage Manager (uncredited)
Pinky
1949 · Western Union Clerk (uncredited)
Take One False Step
1949 · Reporter (uncredited)
Larceny
1948 · Mechanic
TV shows (51)
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
1993 · Francis Kilbride
They Came from Outer Space
1990 · John Peckham
Knight Rider
1982 · Chuck
Matt Houston
1982 · Lamar Pettybone
Capitol
1982
Trapper John, M.D.
1979
CHiPs
1977 · Keith Lawton / Old Surfer, Old Surfer
Lucan
1977
Grizzly Adams
1977 · Trapper Tom
Code R
1977 · Alvin Purdy
Barbary Coast
1975 · Jesse
Harry O
1974 · Old Man
Little House on the Prairie
1974 · Glover
Petrocelli
1974 · Patch Dressler
The Six Million Dollar Man
1974 · Rafe Morris
Emergency!
1972 · Husband (Tom), Grady, Max
Nichols
1971 · Gaffer
Cannon
1971 · Charlie Tompkins
Medical Center
1969 · Hnchoo
Lancer
1968 · Jelly Hoskins
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967 · Charlie Moss
Hero
1966
Daniel Boone
1964 · Gurney
Bonanza
1959 · Lev Buckalew
Rawhide
1959 · Wishbone
Lawman
1958 · George the Stage Line Clerk
The Texan
1958 · Ludwig
Shirley Temple's Storybook
1958 · Van Kimmel
Trackdown
1957 · Zack Armstead
Perry Mason
1957 · Jason Rohan, Tom Sackett
Sugarfoot
1957 · Austin (uncredited)
Whirlybirds
1957 · Joe Slade
State Trooper
1956 · Storekeeper
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955 · Milkman (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · Mason, Police Officer, Mr. Stern
Cheyenne
1955 · Slim Mantell
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955 · Jim Begley, Jim Kelley, Jim Kelley (uncredited), Mayor Jim Kelley
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · Jock
Father Knows Best
1954 · Delivery Man (uncredited)
Lassie
1954 · Ben Adams
The Whistler
1954
Public Defender
1954 · Bud, Vic Oliver, Keller
The Man Behind the Badge
1953
Letter to Loretta
1953 · Pete, Ivan Fenwick
The Ford Television Theatre
1952 · Hans, Jamie (uncredited)
Cavalcade of America
1952
Dragnet
1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951 · Brown, Link, Cousin Obie (uncredited), Joe
Racket Squad
1951
The Lone Ranger
1949 · Frankie