Queer Places:
2415 Brundage Ln, Bakersfield, CA 93304
50210 Aspen Drive, Morongo Valley, CA, 92256
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Cathedral City, Riverside County, California, USA
Guy Madison (born Robert Ozell Moseley; January 19, 1922 – February 6, 1996) was an American film, television, and radio actor. He is best known for playing Wild Bill Hickok in the Western television series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok from 1951 to 1958.
During his career, Madison was given a special Golden Globe Award in 1954 and two stars (radio, television) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk claimed
Mike Connolly (a gay gossip columnist for The Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966) "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including
Robert Francis,
Guy Madison,
Anthony Perkins,
Nick Adams, and
James Dean."
Madison was born January 19, 1922, in Bakersfield, California.[1] He
attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked
briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Navy in 1942,
during World War II. In 1944, Madison was visiting Hollywood on leave when his boyish good looks and physique caught the eye of
Henry Willson, the head of talent at David O. Selznick's newly formed Vanguard Pictures. Willson was widely known for his stable of good-looking young actors with unusual names that he had bestowed upon them, and he immediately rechristened Moseley as Madison and cast him in a bit part as a sailor in Selznick's Since You Went Away (1944).
Although on the screen for only three minutes, the studio received thousands of letters from fans wanting to know more about him.[3] He received extensive coverage in the influential fan magazines of the time, including Photoplay where his agent Henry Willson had once worked.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Madison married the actress Gail Russell in 1949. They separated in 1953
and divorced in October 1954.[17] Later that month, Madison married actress
Sheila Connolly in Juarez, Mexico. They had three daughters: Bridget, Erin,
and Dolly. They separated in November 1960 and divorced in April 1963. He had
an affair with Gia Scala and, before her death, she made him the beneficiary
to her portion of the Screen Actors Pension Fund.[18][19][20] He had a son,
Robert Madison, who also became an actor.
Following his retirement, Madison built a large ranch home in Morongo Valley, California.[22] He died of emphysema at the Desert Hospital Hospice in Palm Springs, California, on February 6, 1996, at the age of 74.[23] He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.[24] His friend, actor turned stockbroker Don Burnett, spoke at his funeral.
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