- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCharles Orby Whitaker
- Nicknames
- Charley
- Charles Whittaker
- Height1.91 m
- American cowboy and actor Slim Whitaker was working the rodeo circuit at age 17, eventually becoming a cowhand on the Chowchilla Ranch in central California. In 1912 he was hired as a riding extra and stunt man by Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson for westerns being filmed in Niles Canyon, CA. During the silent era his peers were Hal Taliaferro, Al Bridge, Charles King, Ken Maynard, Yakima Canutt, Walter Brennan, Hoot Gibson, a very young John Wayne and many others. He was one of the most prolific of the B-western bad guys and supporting actors. His movie career spanned 36 years, from the silents through the post-World War II period, and he appeared in over 300 films.- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Bahn <Ottobahn@CenturyTel.Net
- SpouseEthel Maze(1910 - 1944) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- After retiring from movies in the late 1940s, he worked as a security guard and a fireman.
- He was an actual cowboy. Originally from Missouri, he headed west shortly after his marriage in 1910, got work on several cattle drives and wound up working as a cowhand at the Chowchilla Ranch in California's San Joaquin Valley. When the ranch was sold, he and several of his fellow cowboys--including future cowboy actors Jack Montgomery and Hank Bell--got on their horses and headed north looking for work. When they passed through the small town of Niles, they got work as cowboy extras in a film being shot by Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, whose studio Essanay Films was headquartered in Niles. Discovering that acting like a cowboy was much more lucrative--and safer--than actually BEING a cowboy, they headed south to Southern California to seek employment in the film industry there. The rest, as they say, is history.
- Father of Charles Whitaker Jr..
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