Rusty Wescoatt

Rusty Wescoatt
Born August 2, 1911
Maui, Hawaii, U.S
Died September 3, 1987 (aged 76)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1947-1965

Rusty Wescoatt (August 2, 1911 - September 3, 1987) was an American supporting actor who appeared in over 80 films between 1947 and 1965, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Wescoatt was an expert at playing the henchmen role in B-Westerns and serials, as he had a satisfactory career in both. But Wescoatt's main studio for serial mayhem was Columbia. His screen persona was usually a bully who, often had more brawn than brains, did the physical labor according to the strict orders given by the brains heavy.

During each mission, Wescoatt went from one chapter to the next trying desperately to kill the hero with fists, knives, guns, bombs, ropes, or whatever else happened to be handy at the time. But he was a bad luck man, because most of the time he had to face distinguished serials heroes. This way, Robert Lowery realled mauled him in Batman and Robin; George Reeves pummeled him in The Adventures of Sir Galahad; Kirk Alyn tried to teach him the error of his ways in two Superman cliffhangers, and Buster Crabbe knocked him every time in The Sea Hound and King of the Congo. At that was just in the serials, when not getting knocked around saloons in westerns.

As a change of pace, Wescoatt eventually played as a detective in Touch of Evil, policeman or deputy sheriff in several movies, suggesting he could play a law enforcement’s role. Then, after the westerns and serials faded in the mid-1950s he migrated to television work, acting in classic TV western series, specially in the Death Valley Days anthology, and also appeared in two films with the Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity.

Wescoatt died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 76.

Selected appearances

Serials

Films

TV shows

External links