- Gene Autry, The Phantom Empire, 1934.
The veteran cowpoke passed the codswallop to the new guy. In the first of his 97 starring roles, Autry discovered, as one does, Muranians from the drowned continent of Mu living right underneath his Radio Ranch. They had TV, ray guns, radium. All Autry had was his radio show. Sing, cowboy, sing! Fellow cowpoke Tom London was no fan of Maynard. ”I did six pictures with him, then refused offers after that. He was mean to his horses and mean to the people he thought he could buffalo. He was often half drunk on a picture and sometimes didn’t even show up.” Most of these B-cowhands used to say they were (like jockeys) merely “scufflin’ for groceries. ”Contrary to his screen image, off-screen Maynard was thoroughly disliked by pretty much everyone he worked with. He was a foul-mouthed, bullying alcoholic who threw his weight around on the set after he achieved stardom and delighted in terrorising the cast and crews of his pictures. He was variously described as everything from “a bad-tempered drunk” to “downright mean”. This behaviour, coupled with his constant and heavy drinking, eventually cost him his film career, despite having numerous opportunities to redeem himself. For the last few years of his life he lived in a broken-down house trailer on an empty lot in North Hollywood, CA, and was pretty much kept alive by his brother Kermit Maynard, who visited him regularly, bringing him food and cleaning up both Ken and the trailer.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 1