Randolph Scott

Randolph Scott

At the time of his retirement from acting he had been seriously considered for the role played by Chuck Connors in the Doris Day comedy Move Over, Darling (1963). It was to have been a reprise of the role he played in My Favorite Wife (1940).

Best friends were Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, and the Reverend Billy Graham.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 764-766. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

Campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, and attended the Republican National Convention.

Due to his shrewd financial investments, Scott was reportedly worth around $100 million by the end of his life.



During the '30s, was roommates with Cary Grant in a beach house known jocularly as Bachelor Hall. The close friendship between Scott and Grant and the steady stream of women into and out of Bachelor Hall have fed rumor mills for years.

During the early 1950s, Scott was a consistent box-office draw. In the annual Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Polls, he ranked tenth in 1950, eighth in 1951, and again tenth in 1952.

Formed Ranown Productions with producer Harry Joe Brown and produced several films.

From 1950 to 1953, Scott was among Hollywood's Top 10 box office draws.

He was a conservative Republican and one of Hollywood's biggest supporters of Ronald Reagan as governor of California.

He was very ill in the final years of his life, and was hospitalized several times with pneumonia.

His image from his westerns as an upright, outstanding sheriff or cowboy was so strong, it was paid homage to in Mel Brooks's classic comedy Blazing Saddles (1974). When the African-American sheriff chides the reluctant townspeople that they would have helped Randolph Scott, the great western star's name is intoned by a chorus on the soundtrack and the townspeople are won over.

Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1975.

Interred at Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, just four blocks from his boyhood home at 312 W. 10th Street.

Remained close friends with Cary Grant until the day he died. When he heard of his old friend's death, he reportedly put his head in his hands and wept.

Retired from acting at the age of 64 because he knew he could never hope to surpass his performance in the Sam Peckinpah western Ride the High Country (1962).

Rode a beautiful blond sorrel horse named Stardust in many of his westerns.

Was the inspiration for the popular 1973 song "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?," a top-20 country hit for the The Statler Brothers.


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