From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Randolph Scott January 23 1898 March 2 1987 was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962 As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career Scott appeared in a variety of genres including social dramas crime dramas comedies musicals albeit in nonsinging and nondancing roles adventure tales war films and even a few horror and fantasy films However his most enduring image is that of the tallinthesaddle Western hero Out of his more than 100 film appearances more than 60 were in Westerns thus of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western Scott most closely identified with it Scotts more than thirty years as a motion picture actor resulted in his working with many acclaimed screen directors including Henry King Rouben Mamoulian Michael Curtiz John Cromwell King Vidor Alan Dwan Fritz Lang and Sam Peckinpah He also worked on multiple occasions with some noted directors Henry Hathaway 8 times Ray Enright 7 Edwin R Marin 7 Andre DeToth 6 and most notably his seven film collaborations with Budd Boetticher Scott also worked with a diverse array of cinematic leading ladies from Shirley Temple and Irene Dunne to Mae West and Marlene Dietrich He also appeared with Gene Tierney Ann Sheridan Maureen OHara Nancy Carroll Donna Reed Gail Russell Margaret Sullavan Virginia Mayo Bebe Daniels Carole Lombard and Joan Bennett Tall 6 ft 2 in 188 cm lanky and handsome Scott displayed an easygoing charm and courtly Southern drawl in his early films that helped offset his limitations as an actor where he was frequently found to be stiff or lumbering As he matured however Scotts acting improved while his features became burnished and leathery turning him into the ideal strong silent type of stoic hero The BFI Companion to the Western noted In his earlier Westernsthe Scott persona is debonair easygoing graceful though with the necessary hint of steel As he matures into his fifties his roles change Increasingly Scott becomes the man who has seen it all who has suffered pain loss and hardship and who has now achieved but at what cost a stoic calm proof against vicissitude During the early 1950s Scott was a consistent boxoffice draw In the annual Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Polls he ranked tenth in 1950 eighth in 1951 and again tenth in 1952 Scott also appeared in the Quigleys Top Ten Money Makers Poll from 1950 to 1953