Frank McGrath

At 64 years old, Frank McGrath has this physical status:

Benjamin Franklin McGrath (February 2, 1903-May 13, 1967) was an American television and film actor and stunt performer who appeared on the western television series Wagon Train for five seasons and then three seasons on ABC.

McGrath appeared in all 272 episodes in the series's eight seasons, which had ended only two years before his death.

McGrath's Wooster character provided the meals and company for both fictional trail masters, Seth Adams and John McIntire as Christopher "Chris" Hale.

Early life

In far northwestern Missouri, McGrath was born in Mound City, Holt County.

Personal life

McGrath married Libby Quay Buschlen (1902–1978), a native of Arthur Ontario, Canada. He died in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of sixty-four of a heart attack, and was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Source

Career

He appeared in The Rainbow Trail, a 1932 film based on a 1915 Zane Grey novel of the same name, his first appearance, uncredited, was in The Rainbow Trail, a study of Mormon polygamy based on a 1915 Zane Grey novel of the same name. McGrath was the US Army Bugler in two of the finest westerns ever built, Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. McGrath appeared in fifty one scenes with John Wayne and Henry Fonda, one of the main characters in Fort Apache. McGrath appeared in one hundred and twelve scenes (112). She Wore a Yellow Ribbon In scenes from this film, only John Wayne himself defeated McGrath. McGrath worked closely with John Wayne and was in numerous film scenes in both of these films, which were directed by John Ford. McGrath, a versatile stunt performer who had just recovered from broken his back while racing in the 1956 John Wayne photograph, took three separate horse fall and drag scenes for the 1956 John Wayne photo.

McGrath appeared briefly as ranch foreman John Pike in a 1956 episode "Quicksand" of ABC's Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker, a year before Wagon Train began. McGrath's debut in 1957 as a stagecoach in Henry Fonda's film, The Tin Star, was uncredited. In 1958, he played Jake Rivers in the episode "The Most Dangerous Man Alive" on NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo, starring Dale Robertson.

McGrath appeared on ABC's situation comedy Tammy in 1965 and 1966, with Debbie Watson as the principal and Denver Pyle as the grandfather. McGrath appeared on two television westerns, as stagecoach Neddie Henshaw on NBC's The Virginian and as Buster in the 3/1967 episode "Plunder" of ABC's The Big Valley, and as Buster. McGrath appeared in The War Wagon, the character in Ned Martin's Gunfight in Abilene, and Ballard Weeks in Glenn Ford's, The Last Challenge, just shy of his death. In 1967, all three films were released.

Warner Baxter, an Academy Award-winning actor, appeared on and stunt double for a number of years. According to Los Angeles Times reporter John Scott, he so much resembled Baxter that they may have died for brothers. Both men formed a friendship outside of the studios, and McGrath served in various capacities with him. Photographs from the 1920s Fox film "Slave Ship" (1937) show identically dressed Baxter and his stand-in, McGrath, looking very much like brothers. McGrath did an extensive interview with the Associated Press in late 1938. They had met in 1928, according to him. Baxter was taken by their resemblance to each other and had him used as a stand-in. They may have passed for twin brothers if they had been closer in age. Baxter's employment were written into Baxter's deals by 1935. McGrath was being paid $300 per week ($2,762.32 in 2019) to be a stand-in, stunt double, and personal trainer. At that time, stand-ins were paid $40 a week. They all worked together to maintain Baxter's fitness, including swimming, tennis, boxing, and occasional bodyguard. A personal relationship emerged from that. They hunted several times a year in lieu of fishing trips. In 1934, McGrath saved Baxter's life while on a hunting trip to a remote part of Colorado. Baxter had broken his leg and McGrath carried him for four days on his back out of the woods and to a hospital. It was the event that cemented the personal relationship. McGrath told people what they should talk about when they asked what they should talk about when asked what they should talk about, but images.

Mr. Remington was his last role in the Don Knotts comedy-western, The Shakiest Gun in the West, released in 1968, the year after McGrath's death. Terry Wilson, the Wagon Train's former costar, appears in McGrath's The War Wagon and The Shakiest Gun in the West.

Source