BOB STEELE BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Twins, Robert Adrian Bradbury and William Curtis Bradbury were born January 23rd, 1907 in Portland, Oregon to parents Ronald and Nieta Bradbury. Both parents were stage/vaudeville performers and would tour throughout the US and Canada, while the twin brothers lived with the grandmother on her ranch in Washington. They also had one more brother, James Irving Bradbury, born November 7th, 1921.
Their father was in awe of Hollywood and purchased a small ranch in the San Fernando Valley. Their father worked on a number of silent films, then around 1918 decided to pursue the other side of the industry as a director and writer and changed his name to Robert North Bradbury Sr.
The twins were very different in their goals and aspirations. William went on to University after graduating from High School and became a lead surgeon in the field of OBGYN while Bob did not complete high school and instead chose to pursue a career in film. Neither boys served in the military.
Bob began making films as a teenager and actually did some work with his twin brother in a series of outdoor short subjects produced and directed by their father in 1920 titled, "The Adventures of Bob and Bill". He worked for his dad in over two dozen short episodes before his brother and him finally decided to go their separate ways. Bob gained popularity rather quickly working on various B Western series of the late silent and early sound era working with a variety of studios such as Supreme, PRC, Monogram and Republic. It was in the western titled, "Mojave Kid" (1927) that Bob first used his name Bob Steele which became his stage name. He also had several supporting roles in some well known pictures such as, "Of Mice and Men" (1939) starring Burgess Meredith, Noah Beery Jr., Lon Chaney Jr. and Charles Bickford and "The Big Sleep" (1946) starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Dorothy Malone.
Primarily, Steele was a figure of Westerns and by the mid 40's his popularity was decreasing. He did continue to act and spent the next twenty five years portraying character roles. Bob was quite memorable in his performance on, "The Enforcer" (1951). He also became involved in Television and regained some of his stardom for his role as Trooper Duffy in, "F Troop" (1965) which he got at the age of 59. Bob even had the opportunity to perform in a John Wayne classic "McLintock! (1963) in the latter part of his career. He had a couple more roles on films one in particular, "Hang 'Em High" (1968) starring Clint Eastwood, where he was a remorseful member of a lynching party, Steel then chose to fully retire from acting in 1973.
His career spanned over 50 years and he appeared in over 150 films. He became ill with emphysema a couple years after retirement and on December 21st, 1988, Bob Steele passed away at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California.
He was married three times during his lifetime. First to Louise A. Chessman from June 10th, 1931 to December 12th, 1933, then to Alice Petty Hackley from August 12th, 1935 to July 12th, 1938 and finally he married his third wife Virginia Nash Tatem on August 29th, 1939 and they remained together until he passed away.
Filmography
1973 Charley Varrick
1973 Nightmare Honeymoon
1971 Something Big
1970 Rio Lobo
1970 Family Affair
1969 Then Came Bronson
1969 The Great Bank Robbery
1969 Doc
1968 Hang 'Em High
1965 F Troop
1965 The Bounty Killer
1965 Town Tamer
1965 Requiem for a Gunfighter
1965 Shenandoah
1964 Taggart
1963 Gunsmoke
1964 Chicken
1963 The Renegades
1964 Bullet for a Badman
1963 4 for Texas
1963 McLintock!
1963 Temple Houston
1963 Gallows in Galile
1962 The Wide Country
1962 The Bravest Man in the World
1962 The Longest Day
1962 The Wild Westerners
1962 Six Black Horses
1961 The Comancheros
1961 Whispering Smith
1961 Trial of the Avengers
1960 National Velvet
1960 A Matter of Pride
1959 Rawhide
1960 Incident of the Deserter
1959 Incident of Fear in the Streets
1959 Incident of the Tumbleweed
1960 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
1960 Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge
1960 Texas John Slaughter: Kentucky Gunslick
1960 Overland Trail
1960 West of Boston
1960 Hell Bent for Leather
1960 The Texan
1960 The Terrified Town
1959 Hotel de Paree
1960 Sundance and the Bare-Knuckled Fighters
1959 The Man Who Believed in Law
1960 The Deputy
1960 Backfire
1960 The Atomic Submarine
1959 The Rebel
1959 In Memoriam
1959 Judgment
1959 Pork Chop Hill
1959 Lawman
1959 The Journey
1959 Rio Bravo
1958 The Californians
1959 Gold-Tooth Charlie
1958 The Marshal
1959 No Name on the Bullet
1959 Death Valley Days
1959 Stagecoach Spy
1957 Maverick
1958 Holiday at Hollow Rock
1958 The Seventh Hand
1957 War of the Silver Kings
1958 Tales of Wells Fargo
1958 The Happy Tree
1958 Cimarron City
1958 Twelve Guns
1958 Ride a Crooked Trail
1958 The Bonnie Parker Story
1958 Giant from the Unknown
1958 Have Gun - Will Travel
1958 The High Graders
1957 Decision at Sundown
1957 Sugarfoot
1957 Bunch Quitter
1957 Colt .45
1957 The Peacemaker
1957 The Parson and the Outlaw
1957 Band of Angels
1957 Gun for a Coward
1957 Duel at Apache Wells
1956 Cheyenne
1956 Lone Gun
1956 Pardners
1956 The Steel Jungle
1955 The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
1955 The Buntline Special
1955 Rich Man's Son
1955 Trail's End for a Cowboy
1955 Frontier Journalism was Fearless
1955 The Spoilers
1955 The Fighting Chance
1955 Last of the Desperados
1955 Screen Directors Playhouse
1955 Arroyo
1954 The Outcast
1954 Drums Across the River
1953 Island in the Sky
1953 Column South
1953 Savage Frontier
1953 San Antone
1952 The Lion and the Horse
1952 Bugles in the Afternoon
1952 Rose of Cimarron
1951 Cattle Drive
1951 Fort Worth
1951 Silver Canyon
1951 The Enforcer
1950 The Savage Horde
1949 South of St. Louis
1947 Killer McCoy
1947 Bandits of Dark Canyon
1947 Exposed
1947 Cheyenne
1947 Twilight on the Rio Grande
1946 Rio Grande Raider
1946 The Big Sleep
1946 Thunder Town
1946 Sheriff of Redwood Valley
1946 Ambush Trail
1946 Six Gun Man
1945 Northwest Trail
1945 The Navajo Kid
1945 Wildfire
1944 Trigger Law
1944 The Utah Kid
1944 Marked Trails
1944 Sonora Stagecoach
1944 Outlaw Trail
1944 Arizona Whirlwind
1944 Westward Bound
1943 Death Valley Rangers
1943 Revenge of the Zombies
1943 Riders of the Rio Grande
1943 Santa Fe Scouts
1943 The Blocked Trail
1943 Thundering Trails
1942 Valley of Hunted Men
1942 Shadows on the Sage
1942 The Phantom Plainsmen
1942 Westward Ho
1942 Raiders of the Range
1942 Code of the Outlaw
1941 West of Cimarron
1941 Gauchos of El Dorado
1941 Outlaws of Cherokee Trail
1941 Billy the Kid in Santa Fe
1941 Gangs of Sonora
1941 Saddlemates
1941 Billy the Kid's Fighting Pals
1941 Pals of the Pecos
1941 The Great Train Robbery
1941 Prairie Pioneers
1941 Billy the Kid's Range War
1940 Billy the Kid's Gun Justice
1940 Lone Star Raiders
1940 The Trail Blazers
1940 Billy the Kid in Texas
1940 Under Texas Skies
1940 City for Conquest
1940 Billy the Kid Outlawed
1940 The Carson City Kid
1940 Pinto Canyon
1940 Wild Horse Valley
1939 Of Mice and Men
1939 El Diablo Rides
1939 The Pal from Texas
1939 Riders of the Sage
1939 Mesquite Buckaroo
1939 Smoky Trails
1939 Feud of the Range
1938 Durango Valley Raiders
1938 Desert Patrol
1938 The Feud Maker
1938 Thunder in the Desert
1938 Paroled - To Die
1937 The Colorado Kid
1937 Arizona Gunfighter
1937 Ridin' the Lone Trail
1937 The Red Rope
1937 Doomed at Sundown
1937 Border Phantom
1937 Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin
1937 The Trusted Outlaw
1937 Lightnin' Crandall
1936 The Gun Ranger
1936 Cavalry
1936 Brand of the Outlaws
1936 The Law Rides
1936 Last of the Warrens
1936 The Kid Ranger
1935 Trail of Terror
1935 Alias John Law
1935 The Rider of the Law
1935 Powdersmoke Range
1935 Sundown Saunders
1935 Tombstone Terror
1935 Smokey Smith
1935 Big Calibre
1935 Kid Courageous
1935 No Man's Range
1934 Western Justice
1934 The Brand of Hate
1934 A Demon for Trouble
1933 The Mystery Squadron
1933 Ranger's Code
1933 Galloping Romeo
1933 The Gallant Fool
1933 Trailing North
1933 Breed of the Border
1932 The Fighting Champ
1932 Young Blood
1932 Texas Buddies
1932 Hidden Valley
1932 Son of Oklahoma
1932 The Man from Hell's Edges
1932 Riders of the Desert
1932 Law of the West
1932 South of Santa Fe
1931 The Nevada Buckaroo
1931 Near the Trail's End
1931 The Ridin' Fool
1931 Sunrise Trail
1930 Headin' North
1930 The Land of Missing Men
1930 The Oklahoma Cyclone
1930 The Oklahoma Sheriff
1930 Near the Rainbow's End
1930 Hunted Men
1930 The Man from Nowhere
1930 Breezy Bill
1929 A Texas Cowboy
1929 The Cowboy and the Outlaw
1929 The Invaders
1929 Laughing at Death
1929 The Amazing Vagabond
1929 Come and Get It!
1928 Headin' for Danger
1928 Lightning Speed
1928 Captain Careless
1928 Man in the Rough
1928 Breed of the Sunsets
1928 The Riding Renegade
1928 Sliding Home
1928 Driftin' Sands
1927 The Bandit's Son
1927 The Mojave Kid
1927 Sitting Bull at the Spirit Lake Massacre
1926 The College Boob
1926 Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo
1926 Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness
1922 The Opossum
1922 Mysterious Tracks
1922 Dangerous Trails
1921 Trailing the Coyote
1921 A Day in the Wilds
1921 The Skunk
1921 The Civet Cat
1921 The Mountain Lion
1921 The American Badger
1921 The Fox
1921 Catching a Coon
1921 Outwitting the Timber Wolf
1921 Trapping the Wildcat
1920 The Adventures of Bob and Bill
