1954: "The white man always wins the battles [in Hollywood]. "History proves otherwise."
Never in Hollywood,
Indian is Film Star
1954, Aug 13 The Orlando Sentinel
Moab, Utah - Although he has never been in Hollywood, Lea Bradley has made a career of motion pictures. He is sought after by even major Hollywood studio as both actor and technical adviser.Bradley says his role in Universal-Internationals's "Smoke Signal," shot at Moab, was his 57th part. That's more, company executives say, than most actors in Hollywood can boast.
Bradley is a Navajo Indian. He began his movie career with Richard Dix in "The Vanishing American," in 1925. Since then, he says, he has played every type of Indian except the Navaho he is.
Bradley says he is not too happy about the way Hollywood portrays Indians.
"The white man always wins the battles," he says. "History proves otherwise. Sometimes I have a little trouble with my Indians preventing them from crossing up the director and winning the battle on the screen."
(Note: From IMBD - A Navajo from Kayenta, he made his cinema début in 1925 in "The Vanishing American", by George B. Seitz. Fluent in both Navajo and English, he was hired by the film industry as an interpreter with Navajo extras and got small bits in many westerns. He was, of course, member of the "stock actors" working for director John Ford on the movies he shot in Monument Valley and Moab area. Worked on over 50 to 60 movies, making most of his "movie career" without having to leave the Navajo Reservation.)
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1954, Aug 13 The Orlando Sentinel |
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1956, Jan 1 Arizona Daily Star |
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1955, Oct 2 Oakland Tribune |
It's a Frustrating Business,
Being an Indian in the Movies
1957, April 28 The Racine Journal Times Sunday Bulletin Hollywood - All things are relative, according to Richard Lone Dog, a Shoshone Indian who points out by the way of proof that when palefaces win a fight in a motion picture, it's a victory; when Indians win (and this is rare), it's a massacre.
Lone Dog actually is a rancher who lives in Riverton, Wyo. He was asked how he feels about westerns in connection with a forthcoming Bryna Productions film, "Ride Out for Revenge."
"Generally speaking, westerns dealing with Indians are frustrating," he said. "We never really win a fight. When we do, it's sure to be eclipsed by a huge defeat later or become known as a massacre."
Another Indian polled by Bryna is Robert Bucking Horse, a Sioux from Twin Falls, Idaho. His big beef is with the linguistic elements of Indian pictures.
"There is no such work as 'ugh' in any Indian language as far as I can determine," he said. "And if someone complains that he wouldn't understand real Indian tongues, I suggest using subtitles with the English translation of what an India is saying in his own tongue. They've been determined as effective in foreign films, you know."
Miscellaneous Indians queried on related topics said they hated singing cowboys and disliked a lack of real romance in westerns. Iron Eyes Cody, an Indian who is established as an actor, agreed and added one note of preference:
"I like Rory Calhoun," he said. "And not just because he's in the picture we're discussing. I like him because he is a man of great wisdom. After all he gave me a job in 'Ride Out for Revenge.'
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1957, April 28 The Racine Journal Times Sunday Bulletin |