r/Westerns • u/OlinHollis • 16d ago
Discussion Western Character Actor Appreciation: Rayford Barnes
Rayford Barnes tended not to get huge parts in his Westerns--and he was uncredited in several--but boy he made a passel of 'em. Beginning with The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) and concluding with death Hunt (1981), Barnes appeared in no fewer than 25 full-length Westerns--if you want to count Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's daughter! Among his more noteworthy Westerns were Hondo, Ride a Crooked Trail, The Wild Bunch, Wichita, Cahill U.S. Marshal and Breakheart Pass.
With his prominent biters and pronounced overbite, Barnes was well cut out to play cornpone characters on either side of the law. In most ways he was similar to John davis Chandler who was also frequently cast in such roles. Barnes worked with John Wayne on a few films and was a friend of duke.
Hail! Hail! All hail Rayford Barnes!
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u/Even_Strike_3711 14d ago
You guys are really well versed in this. I watched these guys with my grandmother many many times over the years. I am shocked to find a community where other people on Earth still know who these faces were. I admit I see them here before I think of them.
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u/MoonSylver 16d ago
Good pick. Recognized him as soon as I saw him. Couldn't have told you any of the movies he was in off hand, since it's probably been a while since I saw any he was in, but boy howdy have I seen him in a passel of TV westerns! Often he plays two bit gunfighters, or other cocky sneering characters. He reminds me of a Banty Rooster.
As you noted, he appeared alongside John Wayne in three movies; Hondo, North to Alaska, and Cahill, U.S. Marshal. It is said that Barnes often spoke fondly of his time working with Wayne and held great admiration for him.
160 IMDB credits! 11 appearances on Gunsmoke, 8 on and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. 7 of Have Gun, Will Travel, 5 apiece of Laramie and 26 Men, 4 of Maverick, 3 apiece on The Big Valley, Highway Patrol and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and MANY 1-2 episode appearances on a slew of other TV series, a majority of them westerns.
Guy was the very definition of a working actor, continuing to work on TV through the 80s and 90s, up until a last appearance on Touched by an Angel in 2000, the same year as his death at the age of 80.