Biography
Slim Pickens | American actor (2024)
Slim Pickens is the stage name of Louis Burton Lindley. An American rodeo performer and an actor Slim was born on June 29, 1919, in Kingsburg, California. He was a son of a dairy farmer, Sally Mosher and her wife Louis Bert Lindley. Lindley is mainly remembered today of his cowboy character. He has completed his high school from Hanford High School, Hanford, California and also has remained a member of the “Future Farmers of America”.
How is the Career of Slim Pickens?
Pickens from an early age was an excellent horse rider. He then started making money by riding broncos and roping steers. Though his father forbade him to do this he continued and went to compete in a rodeo. To make his father unknown about his competition he entered the name as Slim Pickens and also won $400. He then joined the rodeo as Slim Pickens and became a famous rodeo clown.
Pickens was in the list in the United States Army during the second world war. When someone questioned about his profession, the recruiter misread “Rodeo” to radio and he has to work the entire enlistment at a radio station in American Midwest.
Pickens name was remembered when it came to a horse rider and bucking bulls ride. But, after his long career as a rodeo, he showed his acting skills in 1946. He appeared in a superhit movie, “Smoky”. Going remarkable in the acting skill, the American actor and director, William Keighley noticed him in 1950 at a rodeo which led him to portray the role of Plank in “Rocky Mountain”.
Slim Pickens in movies
Going on, he appeared on several movies that include Iron Mountain Trail, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, The Last Musketeer. Some of his eye-catching performance during his career is ‘Dr. Strangelove’ for his bomber pilot Major T.J. King Kong’s role in 1964, and ‘Blazing Saddles’, where he tickled the funny bones of the audience with perfection. The movies “Silver Dollar City”, “Seekers of the Fleece”, and “The Black Hole” has his voice.
Pickens hard-work and courage towards his career led him to be honored by the “Rodeo Historical Society” at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum during his posthumous induction into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1986. For his work as a rodeo clown, he was into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. He was into the Happy Canyon Hall of Fame and Penelton Round-up in 2006.
Talking about his personal life, Pickens tied his knot with his wife Margaret Elizabeth Harmon on March 22, 1950. He had a wise relationship with his wife and have three kids; Margaret Louise Wittman, Thomas Michael Lindley, and stepdaughter Daryle Ann Giardino nee Wofford. Pickens underwent surgery due to a brain tumor in San Francisco. But during the period, he also suffered from pneumonia which took his life on December 8, 1983. During his last time, he had been residing with his wife in Columbia, California.
