John 'Dusty' King (born Miller McLeod Everson, July 11, 1909 – November 11, 1987) was a singer and film actor renowned for his

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

s particularly the

Range Busters ''The Range Busters'' was a 1940–1943 American Western film series of 24 films. They were about the adventures of a trio of cowboys, many filmed at the Corriganville Movie Ranch, produced by George W. Weeks and distributed by Monogram Picture ...

series.

Biography

Everson was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. A graduate of the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

, Everson travelled the country working a variety of jobs, such as chauffeuring motorcars from Detroit to Cincinnati, lumberjacking in New Mexico, and working as a ranch hand in Arizona.Rainey, Buck ''Serial Film Stars: A Biographical Dictionary 1912–1956'', 2005, McFarland, p.714 Everson found himself a radio announcing job in Covington, Kentucky then returned to Cincinnati where he announced, hosted, and sang. Hearing him on the radio, bandleader

Ben Bernie Benjamin Anzelwitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 23, 1943),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...

hired him as a singer with Everson changing his name to John King. Noting his good looks and popularity, Bernie recommended him to Hollywood with

Zeppo Marx Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx (February 25, 1901 – November 30, 1979) was an American comedic actor, theatrical agent, and engineer. He was the youngest and last survivor of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers f ...

also agreeing with Bernie.

Hollywood

King was contracted to

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

making several films and playing the lead in the serial ''

Ace Drummond ''Ace Drummond'' is an aviation comic strip scripted by Eddie Rickenbacker and illustrated by Clayton Knight. In its run, it followed aviator Ace Drummond on his adventures around the world. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip ...

''. He made appearances in films for other studios before being hired by

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

to play the lead in a

Cinecolor Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and ...

Western, ''The Gentleman from Arizona'' in 1939. The following year King would play "Dusty" in the

series of Westerns. The Range Busters were Monogram's version of

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

The Three Mesquiteers ''The Three Mesquiteers'' is the umbrella title for a Republic Pictures series of 51 American Western B-movies released between 1936 and 1943. The films, featuring a trio of Old West adventurers, was based on a series of Western novels by W ...

. King played the

singing cowboy A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier, the original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, hardships, and d ...

alongside of

Ray "Crash" Corrigan Ray "Crash" Corrigan (born Raymond Benitz; February 14, 1902 – August 10, 1976) was an American actor most famous for appearing in many B-Western movies (among these the Three Mesquiteers and Range Busters film series). He also was a ...

who was later replaced by David Sharpe and

comedy relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

Max Terhune Max Terhune (February 12, 1891 – June 5, 1973) was an American film actor born in Franklin, Indiana. He appeared in nearly 70 films, mostly B-westerns, between 1936 and 1956. Among these, Terhune starred in ''The Three Mesquiteers'' and ' ...

with his dummy Elmer for a total of 18 films in the series. In ''

Haunted Ranch ''Haunted Ranch'' is a 1943 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey. The film is the twentieth in Monogram Pictures' "Range Busters" series, and it stars John "Dusty" King as Dusty, "Davy" Sharpe and Max "Alibi" Terhune, with ...

'' (1943), Sharpe leaves the trio to enlist in the US Army in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. Not only did Sharpe actually enlist in the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

but King himself was drafted in the USAAF serving in Special Services in Arizona. After discharge there were no film offers, so King returned to radio, later buying a station. He later left the radio industry to run a waffle shop in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

Filmography

Notes

External links

*
King at B Westerns website
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, John 'Dusty' 1909 births 1987 deaths American male film actors Male Western (genre) film actors Male film serial actors Male actors from Cincinnati University of Cincinnati alumni 20th-century American male actors