Cliff Ketchum(1918-1984)

Clifford Gordon Ketchum was born on January 20, 1918 in Aston, Monoma County, Iowa, USA. He was the son of Arthur Leslie Antil and Dorothy Nelson Ketchum. As a part-time actor he appeared in two 1959 movies (Pork Chop Hill and The Young Land) and from 1957 to 1965 in three television series (once on 77 Sunset Strip and three times each on Tales of Wells Fargo and Gunsmoke). His best known work was as a saddle maker, leather stamper, and silversmith. His saddles were often used in television and movies as well as by real life cowboys. Stunt men prized his saddles. Many of the special ornate saddles with flashy silver work used in parades were handcrafted by Cliff Ketchum. Cliff Ketchum apprenticed Saddlemaking at the Porter Saddle Company, Phoenix Az. while in high school, under the watch full eye of Luis Ringlero, Master Saddlemaker. According to the 1940 U.S, Census at the age of 22 he managed a Los Angeles Saddle Shop. His first marriage was on February 27, 1940. Ketchum enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 31, 1942 and remained in military service until his release on March 1, 1946. After World War II , he packed his bags with his wife and young son and went to Los Angeles and worked for a few saddle shops before he opened the San Fernando Valley Saddlery with Art Hugenberger in Van Nuys, California, USA. Later he bought out his partner. Cliff Ketchum's horse was in Disney movies Tonka (1958) and Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). The saddle used by James Arness was a San Fernando Saddlery Saddle. Many saddle makers were apprenticed under Ketchum's tutelage. Ketchum was married to Wanda Juanita Gledhill, Patricia A. Fullerton, and Anna Gail Jensen. Cliff Ketchum passed away on September 11, 1984 in Milton-Freewater, Umatilla County, Oregon, USA.