Rory Calhoun (Francis Timothy McCown, 1922-1999) made his first films as Frank McCown in 1944-45. (He refers to himself as Smoke in these photos.) As Rory Calhoun, he went on to have a long career in films and television. He married his first wife, Lita Baron, in 1948.
James Watson Webb Jr. (usually credited as J. Watson Webb Jr., 1916-2000) would become the chief editor at 20th-Century Fox — his career in Hollywood spanned the years 1941-52.
Quite a wild youth, he spent time in Federal prison for cross state armed robberies until he was released at age 21, and met the notorious Henry Willson in Hollywood. When the tabloids where ready to out Rock Hudson in the 1950’s, Willson gave them the dirt on Calhoun’s imprisonment and George Nader’s sexual proclivities to protect Hudson. Calhoun’s bad boy past helped his career as the public saw it as a youthful indiscretion, George Nader was ruined in Hollywood but went on to success in European films.
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I am intrigued by young Smoke, just starting out in pictures, on a hunting trip with the well-heeled (and well-connected) Watson Webb and then in a family party with the Webbs. Perhaps Calhoun, Hudson, and Nader had more in common than was thought.
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