Bill Cody (actor)

Bill Cody
Cody and Ada Ince in Frontier Days, 1934
Born	William Joseph Cody, Jr. (1891-01-05)January 5, 1891 St. Paul, Minnesota
Died	January 24, 1948(1948-01-24) (aged 57) Santa Monica, California
Occupation	Film actor

'William Joseph "Bill" Cody Jr. (January 5, 1891 – January 24, 1948) was a Hollywood B-western actor of the 1920s, 1930s and into the 1940s, and father to Bill Cody, Jr..

Cody, often called "the reel Bill Cody", began his acting career in the early days of film, and just happened to have the same name as "Buffalo" Bill Cody, although being of no relation. The name was, initially, what drew producers to Cody. However, he soon proved to be a charismatic performer in his own right.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of William F. Cody and Lillian Isabel Johnson, Cody was said to have attended Saint Thomas Military Academy, and later St. Johns University. Immediately out of college, he joined the Metropolitan Stock Company, touring the U.S. and Canada. This eventually led him to Hollywood. In 1922 he began working as a stuntman.

Jesse Goldburg, liking Cody, signed him to an eight series film deal for the 1924-1925 season. Golburg's company, Independent Pictures, although known for being made for as little money as possible, had gained a good reputation for having good casting and locations for their films. The first of the series starring Cody was Dangerous Days, directed by J.P. McGowan. That was followed by The Fighting Sheriff, with the rest of the series out over the next six months.

Following the Independent Pictures series, Cody starred in two films for Associated Exhibitors, The Galloping Cowboy and King of the Saddle, both released in 1926. That same year he starred in Arizona Whirlwind released through Pathé. In 1927 he starred in Born to Battle, which gave him an opportunity to exhibit his horse riding skills and to use a bull whip on screen, and two more Bill Cody Productions boasting stories supposedly concocted by Cody himself: Gold From Weepah and Laddie, Be Good. Agile and pleasant in appearance, Cody ended his silent film career by starring in a group of action pictures released by Universal which temporarily removed him from the western milieu: The Price of Fear, Wolves of the City, The Tip-Off, Slim Fingers and Eyes of the Underworld.