June 5, 2026 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became a familiar face in westerns like Tales of Wells Fargo and Iron Horse, Dale Robertson was fighting in Europe during World War II. Commissioned through Officer Candidate School, he served with the U.S. Army’s 322nd Combat Engineer Battalion of the 97th Infantry Division, was wounded twice, and earned both the Silver Star and Bronze Star for his service.
In this installment of our ongoing Hollywood Goes to War series, historian, author, and former U.S. Marine Roger McGrath shares the remarkable story of how a decorated combat veteran went from the battlefields of World War II to a successful acting career in Hollywood.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And the American people.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
During Hollywood's Golden Age, Dale Robertson was considered the epitome
of masculinity as a star of TV and movie westerns
during the genre's heyday.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You were to tell another story.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Another Hollywood goes to War's story is doctor Roger McGrath,
a frequent contributor here on Our American Stories, Take it Away.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Roger Dale Robertson appeared in thirty seven movies and made
dozens of guest appearances and various television shows, as well
as story in two hundred and one episodes of his
own series, Tales of Wells.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Farrville, Good Prep.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
I'm Dale Robertson shooting a low Fargo team.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
He was a star material from his first role as
a cop in The Boy with Green Hair in nineteen
forty eight. Before that role, however, he was a decorated
soldier in World War Two.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You're a natural actor. You're your reactor.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
You listen, your react seems to come fairly easy to you.
Speaker 7 (01:24):
Well, like I say that, they're actors and their personalities.
Motion pictures and television has usually been a business for
personalities and the difference, in my opinion, the way an
actor can change himself to fit a role, and a
personality out of necessity must change the role to fit himself,
you know. And I don't have the ability. Well, nobody
ever asked me to play Shakespeare, and I wouldn't have
(01:45):
done it anyway. They wouldn't let me add lib you know.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Dale Robertson is born in nineteen twenty three in Here, Oklahoma,
to a mother of Irish descent and a father with
mostly Scottish ancestors. Dale was a natural fleet and excelled
in sports, but spent much of his time riding and
training horses, especially for polo. There's a story that while
(02:09):
attending class and high school in Oklahoma City, Robertson boxes
professionally for a time during extra money. Harry Cone, the
head of Columbia Pictures, happens to see him fight in
which daw Kansas and asks the handsome youth to come
to Hollywood to audition for the lead in a movie
(02:31):
about a young boxer. Robertson's only sixteen and says he's
too young to leave home and has polo ponies to
train Robertson graduates from class and High and enrolls at
Oklahoma Military Academy in Claymore for college. The academy has
a rigorous ROTC program, and it's called the West Point
(02:55):
of the Southwest. Robertson is excelling at the academy when
Japan launches its sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. He thinks
about dropping out of school, but remains there until late
May nineteen forty three, when he enlists in the army.
(03:17):
He completes basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and then
oss at Fort Knox, Kentucky, becoming second Lieutenant. Robertson assigned
to Sea Company three, twenty second Combat Engineers, ninety seventh
Infantry Division. He's assigned to lead the second platoon of
(03:39):
Sea Company. The ninety seventh Infantry Division trains for amphibious
operations in the Pacific. Robertson and his fellow soldiers are
looking forward to paying back the Japanese for Pearl Harbor.
Surprising Robertson and everyone else in the division, Washington orders
(04:01):
the entire ninety seventh Infantry Division to board trains bound
for the East. They're going to Europe. Before he leaves.
Robertson visits a photography studio in Hollywood and has a
portrait photo taken to send to his mother. A photographer
is thrilled with a photo and puts a copy of
it on display in the window of his studio. A
(04:24):
talent agent spots the photo and thinks the dashing lieutenant
would be right for the movies. That will have to wait.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I never did even see the picture. I just saw
the proof, and then I started getting letters when I
was overseas from people in Hollywood wanted me to come
out there to make a screen test, which I was
all for it, but ok Sam went too interested my career.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
In February, the ninety seventh board ships in New York
Harbor and sets sail for France, arriving.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Early in March. By the end of March, the.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Division is on the front lines on the west bank
of the Rhine River, opposite Dusseldorf and what's called.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
The Ruhr Pocket.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Robertson and Sea Company are tasked with ferrying reconnaissance patrols
across the Rhine. Three combat engineers are killed and one
is captured. Robertson comes through without a scratch shortly After
his first action, Robertson and sea Company, along with the
rest of the ninety seventh, are transported fifty miles to
(05:31):
the southeast, where they are able to cross the Rhine
and push east on the south side of the Sig River.
They are now inside Germany.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Robertson's company is.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Tasked with ferrying infantry troops across the sig in assault
boats and building a floating pontoon bridge for vehicles while
under fire from machine guns.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Borders in artillery.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
During the action, Robertson is knocked into the right He's
loaded down with extra gear and is unable to stay afloat.
One of his men dives in and helps him struggle
to shore. Robertson doesn't have time to worry about almost drowning.
The first two vehicles to cross a pontoon bridge hit
mines on the other side and are blown to pieces.
(06:21):
Robertson now leads his platoon in a mine clearing operation.
Casually his mount, but Robertson's smock holds. With a Sig
River crossed, the ninety seventh Infantry Division moves northwestward on
a drive to Dusseldorf. This time the division is on
the same side of the Rhine and can latch an
(06:43):
assault on the German.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
City over roads.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Nonetheless, the division has to fight its way there, and
Robertson and the other combat engineers have to clear obstacles
and mines and repair damaged roads and bridges, all while
under fire. Dusseldorf falls on April eighteenth, nineteen forty five,
marking the end of German resistance in the Rhurer Pocket.
(07:10):
There's no rest from the ninety seventh, though. Robertson and
his combat engineers and everyone else are trucked more than
three hundred miles southeast to the German border with Czechoslovakia.
Their mission is to capture the German held Czech city
of zeb with its munitions factories. The fighting is fierce
(07:31):
and the combat engineers are in the thick of it.
Robertson is blown off his feet when a German artillery
around explodes and shrapp voltaires into his leg. He treats
the wound himself, wraps the leg, and goes back.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
To leading his platoon.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
The ninety seventh secures Cheb on April twenty fifth, but
the division continues to fight in other German held areas
in Czechoslovakia. Fight his wound, Robertson remains with his troops
and continues to fight till May seventh, when Admiral Durnet's,
the acting head of the German state following Hitler's death,
(08:13):
announces an unconditional surrender. The war in Europe is over. Meanwhile,
the war in the Pacific is still aging, especially on
the island of Okinawa, which is a slaughterhouse. Span is
not about to surrender, and it looks like US will
have to invade the Japanese home islands. US strategists essimate
(08:38):
that such an invasion will result in one million American casualties.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And you've been listening to doctor Roger McGrath, who's the
author of Gunfighter's Howiman and Vigilantes Violence on the Frontier
and a US Marene digging in and telling the story
of Dale Robertson. And there are a dozen of stories that
doctor McGrath is told about actors and entertainers who did
what they were supposed to do. As we learned from
(09:08):
Dale Robinson, Uncle Sam had other ideas, more important ideas
with my time than my career.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
It's sort of.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Universal in its day for the actors of their day,
big stars, little stars, wannabes, they all went.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
When we come back, more of the life.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Of Dale Robertson here on our American stories, and we
continue with our American Stories and our Hollywood Goes to
War series, this time featuring the life of Dale Robertson.
(09:48):
Let's pick up when we last left off. The doctor
Roger McGrath, a frequent contributor and the man behind our
Hollywood Goes to War series.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Take it away, Roger.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
The ninety seventh Infantry Division is relatively fresh and it's
one of the Army divisions Europe that is transferred to
the Pacific in late June nineteen forty five. Now, First
Lieutenant Robertson and the others sailed from France to New York.
After a well deserved leave, they travel by train to
(10:21):
Seattle to board the attack transport ship USS Grundy. By
the time Grundy is ready to sail, the atomic bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki convinces Japan to surrender.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Robertson and his.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Combat engineers will now be going not as an invasion force,
but as occupation troops, and arrives at Yokohama on September
twenty five. The division remains on occupation duty for six
months before returning to the United States and being deactivated
(11:01):
at the end of March nineteen forty six.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Dale Robertson was born in Herra.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
In nineteen twenty three, he was wounded twice and awarded
Bronze and Silver stars and the Purple Heart during World
War II.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Robertson is now home and released from duty.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
At six feet and at one hundred and eighty five pounds,
Robertson briefly thinks about a return to the ring, but
his leg still bothers him from the shrapnel wound, and
he sets his sights on Hollywood. He plays minor uncredited
roles in two movies in nineteen forty eight. He's in
(11:39):
another uncredited role as a lifeguard.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
In nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Nineteen fifty is his breakout year, with more substantial incredited
roles in three westerns, two starring Randolph Scott. Although Robertson
will appear in movies other than westerns throughout the nineteen
fifties and sixties, his work in westerns wins him the
most fans in critical acclaim. Robertson gets his first star
(12:08):
billing in nineteen fifty one in The Golden Girl, followed
by three more leading man roles in movies in nineteen
fifty two, including as John Oakhurst in a screen adaptation
of the famous Brett Hart story The Outcasts of Poker.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Flat Ladies.
Speaker 8 (12:28):
It's a pleasure to have made your acquaintance.
Speaker 9 (12:30):
Where are you going up over the hill?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
It's Sandy Bar.
Speaker 9 (12:33):
Don't you think we ought to stick together? Why?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Miss?
Speaker 8 (12:36):
We just got to run out of town together.
Speaker 9 (12:38):
We didn't get married.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
What about San Francisco?
Speaker 9 (12:42):
Fine city?
Speaker 5 (12:43):
But not for me.
Speaker 9 (12:44):
You'd rather take a chance on another one of these shantytowns.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
I should think you'd be embarrassed.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
I've also been embarrassed in San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Robertson stars in four westerns in nineteen fifty three, including
The Silver Whip with Rory Calhoun and ro Robert Wagner.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
In supporting roles.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
One of his two movies in nineteen fifty four is
The Gambler from Natchez. Looking back on his career, Robertson
said this was his favorite of his movies.
Speaker 9 (13:15):
After my father was killed, there was a mark deck
found on the table.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
How much did you charge? Are revised for that favor.
Speaker 8 (13:23):
I assure you I would never do such a sick
to your father. Never he was my good friend.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
You're wrong at is.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
My father was only a customer, nothing more.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
You have no friends.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
In nineteen fifty five, in Top of the World, he
stars as a jet pilot stationed in Alaska, and also
in nineteen fifty five in Son of Sindbad, he stars
as Sinbad, a tale straight out of one thousand and
one Arabian Nights.
Speaker 9 (13:54):
You mean you plan to keep us here for all time?
What we may offer men like yourselves, it should not
prove a fate to be lamented. Then may I offer
a counterproposal?
Speaker 8 (14:08):
Return with us to Bagdad.
Speaker 9 (14:10):
Since I'm to be knighted second in command of the Caleph,
I'll demand that you'll be allowed to return without fear
of being impounded.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
What say you?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
No?
Speaker 9 (14:19):
Here, there's your answer, My friends escort them to their quarter.
Oh no, wait a minute, I demand to be heard.
But Sindbad has offered you is not only freedom from
royal jurisdiction, but from something of much greater importance, freedom
from loneliness. If you accept his proposal, you will once
again be free to sing with men, dance with men,
(14:41):
laugh with men, love with men, marry and bear the
children of men, find peace and understanding with men. Well,
what do you say?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
In nineteen fifty seven, not only does he star in
perhaps his best Western onion Outlaws, with Brian Keith playing
as antagonist, but Robertson begins a TV series that makes him.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Famous, Tales of Wells Fargo.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
The series is Tales of Wells Fargo. Robertson stars as
special Agent Jim Hardy in all two hundred.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
And one episodes.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Harty is loosely based on a real life detective.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
For Wells Fargo, Jim Hume.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
There's also a large number of young actors making guests
appearances who will go on to fame and fortune, including
Steve McQueen.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
I got a girl, we want to get married, go
to Mexico and make a fresh start.
Speaker 9 (15:45):
That's gospel.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Jim, you help me find my girl, and I give
you my pledged word.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I'll get over across that border.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
And as the last of Wells Fargo's ever seeing me
and I don't go back on my word.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Lady Chuck Connors, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughan, James Koburn.
Speaker 8 (16:07):
Real noble fella, ain't you Hardy willing to put your
head on a planet? Roll well Fargo. I see, I
learned a man just like you, played it straight right
down the line. That's why he's dead. He's my brother,
(16:36):
and the war came. He had his head filled with
a bunch of words.
Speaker 10 (16:41):
Like honor, duty, w ladyship. What was left to him?
Back in a box? H both fools, Lee Van.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Cleef and Jackie Van Also making appearance in the series,
and probably the majority of the episodes is Dale Robertson's
own horse, Jubilee. That's just not gilding with the white
blaze on his face and four white stockings.
Speaker 9 (17:14):
At you, Beleie at Miles, No, I'm Dale Robertson. I
played Jim Hardy.
Speaker 10 (17:19):
On Wells Fargo for Belle Mall Famous cigarettes.
Speaker 8 (17:22):
Remember with bell mel you can light either end and get.
Speaker 10 (17:25):
Satisfying flavor, so friendly to your taste.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
During the series and for three decades after the series
ends in nineteen sixty two, Robertson continues to appear in movies.
His last is at age seventy in nineteen ninety three
in Wind in the Wire, playing himself alongside Randy Travis,
Burt Reynolds, and Chuck norris.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Dale.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Robertson spends his later years or raising and training horses
on a ranch he owns.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
What got you onto your ranch in Oklahoma? Had to
come back into a television series. I thought you had
kind of said, Hey, enough of Hollywood going about the
oil industry.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Yeah, you hear about the banks going up there, meet one.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So he came back to television.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
Yeah, well you were when you were working out here.
You you were never part of the chicau against the
Hollywood seen much or rather private individual.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
No.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
I soon got out here in the days when I
was considered the thing to do, go here, be seen.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
Now.
Speaker 7 (18:23):
I lived out in the valley, way out in the valley. Yeah,
and we always had horses and just I'd come to
work and go home when that was about it.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
He dies in twenty thirteen in Lajoia, California, close to
the site of the World War Two Camp Callen, where
he trained for amphibious assaults as Lieutenant Robertson platoon leader
a second Platoon, C Company three twenty second Combat Engineers,
(18:53):
ninety seventh Infantry Division, and.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
A terrific job on the production editing and story telling
by our own Greg Hengler and his special thanks to
doctor Roger McGrath and my goodness, what he did in
World War Two and what was required with so many
of the soldiers.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
They helped liberate Europe.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
They get sent back to America, Robertson does, and he
shipped across to Seattle where they're preparing him to join
the invasion forces in Japan some reward for defeating Hitler.
Luckily for him and the rest of the soldiers in
the Pacific, and ready to go to the Pacific from
the Seattle and elsewhere. The atomic bombs were dropped the
(19:34):
war ended. He still went to Yokohama and stayed there
for six months, but not part of an invasion force,
but part of an occupation force there for six months
nineteen fifty was his breakout. The breakout show was Tales
of Wells Fargo and of course later on in life
coming back into the business well because he needed to.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
The story of Da L.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Robertson heroism at its finest and sacrifice part of our
Hollywood Goes to War series. Here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And the American people.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
During Hollywood's Golden Age, Dale Robertson was considered the epitome
of masculinity as a star of TV and movie westerns
during the genre's heyday.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You were to tell another story.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Another Hollywood goes to War's story is doctor Roger McGrath,
a frequent contributor here on Our American Stories, Take it Away.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Roger Dale Robertson appeared in thirty seven movies and made
dozens of guest appearances and various television shows, as well
as story in two hundred and one episodes of his
own series, Tales of Wells.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Farrville, Good Prep.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
I'm Dale Robertson shooting a low Fargo team.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
He was a star material from his first role as
a cop in The Boy with Green Hair in nineteen
forty eight. Before that role, however, he was a decorated
soldier in World War Two.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You're a natural actor. You're your reactor.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
You listen, your react seems to come fairly easy to you.
Speaker 7 (01:24):
Well, like I say that, they're actors and their personalities.
Motion pictures and television has usually been a business for
personalities and the difference, in my opinion, the way an
actor can change himself to fit a role, and a
personality out of necessity must change the role to fit himself,
you know. And I don't have the ability. Well, nobody
ever asked me to play Shakespeare, and I wouldn't have
(01:45):
done it anyway. They wouldn't let me add lib you know.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Dale Robertson is born in nineteen twenty three in Here, Oklahoma,
to a mother of Irish descent and a father with
mostly Scottish ancestors. Dale was a natural fleet and excelled
in sports, but spent much of his time riding and
training horses, especially for polo. There's a story that while
(02:09):
attending class and high school in Oklahoma City, Robertson boxes
professionally for a time during extra money. Harry Cone, the
head of Columbia Pictures, happens to see him fight in
which daw Kansas and asks the handsome youth to come
to Hollywood to audition for the lead in a movie
(02:31):
about a young boxer. Robertson's only sixteen and says he's
too young to leave home and has polo ponies to
train Robertson graduates from class and High and enrolls at
Oklahoma Military Academy in Claymore for college. The academy has
a rigorous ROTC program, and it's called the West Point
(02:55):
of the Southwest. Robertson is excelling at the academy when
Japan launches its sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. He thinks
about dropping out of school, but remains there until late
May nineteen forty three, when he enlists in the army.
(03:17):
He completes basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and then
oss at Fort Knox, Kentucky, becoming second Lieutenant. Robertson assigned
to Sea Company three, twenty second Combat Engineers, ninety seventh
Infantry Division. He's assigned to lead the second platoon of
(03:39):
Sea Company. The ninety seventh Infantry Division trains for amphibious
operations in the Pacific. Robertson and his fellow soldiers are
looking forward to paying back the Japanese for Pearl Harbor.
Surprising Robertson and everyone else in the division, Washington orders
(04:01):
the entire ninety seventh Infantry Division to board trains bound
for the East. They're going to Europe. Before he leaves.
Robertson visits a photography studio in Hollywood and has a
portrait photo taken to send to his mother. A photographer
is thrilled with a photo and puts a copy of
it on display in the window of his studio. A
(04:24):
talent agent spots the photo and thinks the dashing lieutenant
would be right for the movies. That will have to wait.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I never did even see the picture. I just saw
the proof, and then I started getting letters when I
was overseas from people in Hollywood wanted me to come
out there to make a screen test, which I was
all for it, but ok Sam went too interested my career.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
In February, the ninety seventh board ships in New York
Harbor and sets sail for France, arriving.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Early in March. By the end of March, the.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Division is on the front lines on the west bank
of the Rhine River, opposite Dusseldorf and what's called.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
The Ruhr Pocket.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Robertson and Sea Company are tasked with ferrying reconnaissance patrols
across the Rhine. Three combat engineers are killed and one
is captured. Robertson comes through without a scratch shortly After
his first action, Robertson and sea Company, along with the
rest of the ninety seventh, are transported fifty miles to
(05:31):
the southeast, where they are able to cross the Rhine
and push east on the south side of the Sig River.
They are now inside Germany.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Robertson's company is.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Tasked with ferrying infantry troops across the sig in assault
boats and building a floating pontoon bridge for vehicles while
under fire from machine guns.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Borders in artillery.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
During the action, Robertson is knocked into the right He's
loaded down with extra gear and is unable to stay afloat.
One of his men dives in and helps him struggle
to shore. Robertson doesn't have time to worry about almost drowning.
The first two vehicles to cross a pontoon bridge hit
mines on the other side and are blown to pieces.
(06:21):
Robertson now leads his platoon in a mine clearing operation.
Casually his mount, but Robertson's smock holds. With a Sig
River crossed, the ninety seventh Infantry Division moves northwestward on
a drive to Dusseldorf. This time the division is on
the same side of the Rhine and can latch an
(06:43):
assault on the German.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
City over roads.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Nonetheless, the division has to fight its way there, and
Robertson and the other combat engineers have to clear obstacles
and mines and repair damaged roads and bridges, all while
under fire. Dusseldorf falls on April eighteenth, nineteen forty five,
marking the end of German resistance in the Rhurer Pocket.
(07:10):
There's no rest from the ninety seventh, though. Robertson and
his combat engineers and everyone else are trucked more than
three hundred miles southeast to the German border with Czechoslovakia.
Their mission is to capture the German held Czech city
of zeb with its munitions factories. The fighting is fierce
(07:31):
and the combat engineers are in the thick of it.
Robertson is blown off his feet when a German artillery
around explodes and shrapp voltaires into his leg. He treats
the wound himself, wraps the leg, and goes back.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
To leading his platoon.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
The ninety seventh secures Cheb on April twenty fifth, but
the division continues to fight in other German held areas
in Czechoslovakia. Fight his wound, Robertson remains with his troops
and continues to fight till May seventh, when Admiral Durnet's,
the acting head of the German state following Hitler's death,
(08:13):
announces an unconditional surrender. The war in Europe is over. Meanwhile,
the war in the Pacific is still aging, especially on
the island of Okinawa, which is a slaughterhouse. Span is
not about to surrender, and it looks like US will
have to invade the Japanese home islands. US strategists essimate
(08:38):
that such an invasion will result in one million American casualties.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
And you've been listening to doctor Roger McGrath, who's the
author of Gunfighter's Howiman and Vigilantes Violence on the Frontier
and a US Marene digging in and telling the story
of Dale Robertson. And there are a dozen of stories that
doctor McGrath is told about actors and entertainers who did
what they were supposed to do. As we learned from
(09:08):
Dale Robinson, Uncle Sam had other ideas, more important ideas
with my time than my career.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
It's sort of.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Universal in its day for the actors of their day,
big stars, little stars, wannabes, they all went.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
When we come back, more of the life.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Of Dale Robertson here on our American stories, and we
continue with our American Stories and our Hollywood Goes to
War series, this time featuring the life of Dale Robertson.
(09:48):
Let's pick up when we last left off. The doctor
Roger McGrath, a frequent contributor and the man behind our
Hollywood Goes to War series.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Take it away, Roger.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
The ninety seventh Infantry Division is relatively fresh and it's
one of the Army divisions Europe that is transferred to
the Pacific in late June nineteen forty five. Now, First
Lieutenant Robertson and the others sailed from France to New York.
After a well deserved leave, they travel by train to
(10:21):
Seattle to board the attack transport ship USS Grundy. By
the time Grundy is ready to sail, the atomic bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki convinces Japan to surrender.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Robertson and his.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Combat engineers will now be going not as an invasion force,
but as occupation troops, and arrives at Yokohama on September
twenty five. The division remains on occupation duty for six
months before returning to the United States and being deactivated
(11:01):
at the end of March nineteen forty six.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Dale Robertson was born in Herra.
Speaker 6 (11:07):
In nineteen twenty three, he was wounded twice and awarded
Bronze and Silver stars and the Purple Heart during World
War II.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Robertson is now home and released from duty.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
At six feet and at one hundred and eighty five pounds,
Robertson briefly thinks about a return to the ring, but
his leg still bothers him from the shrapnel wound, and
he sets his sights on Hollywood. He plays minor uncredited
roles in two movies in nineteen forty eight. He's in
(11:39):
another uncredited role as a lifeguard.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
In nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Nineteen fifty is his breakout year, with more substantial incredited
roles in three westerns, two starring Randolph Scott. Although Robertson
will appear in movies other than westerns throughout the nineteen
fifties and sixties, his work in westerns wins him the
most fans in critical acclaim. Robertson gets his first star
(12:08):
billing in nineteen fifty one in The Golden Girl, followed
by three more leading man roles in movies in nineteen
fifty two, including as John Oakhurst in a screen adaptation
of the famous Brett Hart story The Outcasts of Poker.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Flat Ladies.
Speaker 8 (12:28):
It's a pleasure to have made your acquaintance.
Speaker 9 (12:30):
Where are you going up over the hill?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
It's Sandy Bar.
Speaker 9 (12:33):
Don't you think we ought to stick together? Why?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Miss?
Speaker 8 (12:36):
We just got to run out of town together.
Speaker 9 (12:38):
We didn't get married.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
What about San Francisco?
Speaker 9 (12:42):
Fine city?
Speaker 5 (12:43):
But not for me.
Speaker 9 (12:44):
You'd rather take a chance on another one of these shantytowns.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
I should think you'd be embarrassed.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
I've also been embarrassed in San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Robertson stars in four westerns in nineteen fifty three, including
The Silver Whip with Rory Calhoun and ro Robert Wagner.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
In supporting roles.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
One of his two movies in nineteen fifty four is
The Gambler from Natchez. Looking back on his career, Robertson
said this was his favorite of his movies.
Speaker 9 (13:15):
After my father was killed, there was a mark deck
found on the table.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
How much did you charge? Are revised for that favor.
Speaker 8 (13:23):
I assure you I would never do such a sick
to your father. Never he was my good friend.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
You're wrong at is.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
My father was only a customer, nothing more.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
You have no friends.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
In nineteen fifty five, in Top of the World, he
stars as a jet pilot stationed in Alaska, and also
in nineteen fifty five in Son of Sindbad, he stars
as Sinbad, a tale straight out of one thousand and
one Arabian Nights.
Speaker 9 (13:54):
You mean you plan to keep us here for all time?
What we may offer men like yourselves, it should not
prove a fate to be lamented. Then may I offer
a counterproposal?
Speaker 8 (14:08):
Return with us to Bagdad.
Speaker 9 (14:10):
Since I'm to be knighted second in command of the Caleph,
I'll demand that you'll be allowed to return without fear
of being impounded.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
What say you?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
No?
Speaker 9 (14:19):
Here, there's your answer, My friends escort them to their quarter.
Oh no, wait a minute, I demand to be heard.
But Sindbad has offered you is not only freedom from
royal jurisdiction, but from something of much greater importance, freedom
from loneliness. If you accept his proposal, you will once
again be free to sing with men, dance with men,
(14:41):
laugh with men, love with men, marry and bear the
children of men, find peace and understanding with men. Well,
what do you say?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
In nineteen fifty seven, not only does he star in
perhaps his best Western onion Outlaws, with Brian Keith playing
as antagonist, but Robertson begins a TV series that makes him.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Famous, Tales of Wells Fargo.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
The series is Tales of Wells Fargo. Robertson stars as
special Agent Jim Hardy in all two hundred.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
And one episodes.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Harty is loosely based on a real life detective.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
For Wells Fargo, Jim Hume.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
There's also a large number of young actors making guests
appearances who will go on to fame and fortune, including
Steve McQueen.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
I got a girl, we want to get married, go
to Mexico and make a fresh start.
Speaker 9 (15:45):
That's gospel.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Jim, you help me find my girl, and I give
you my pledged word.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I'll get over across that border.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
And as the last of Wells Fargo's ever seeing me
and I don't go back on my word.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Lady Chuck Connors, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughan, James Koburn.
Speaker 8 (16:07):
Real noble fella, ain't you Hardy willing to put your
head on a planet? Roll well Fargo. I see, I
learned a man just like you, played it straight right
down the line. That's why he's dead. He's my brother,
(16:36):
and the war came. He had his head filled with
a bunch of words.
Speaker 10 (16:41):
Like honor, duty, w ladyship. What was left to him?
Back in a box? H both fools, Lee Van.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Cleef and Jackie Van Also making appearance in the series,
and probably the majority of the episodes is Dale Robertson's
own horse, Jubilee. That's just not gilding with the white
blaze on his face and four white stockings.
Speaker 9 (17:14):
At you, Beleie at Miles, No, I'm Dale Robertson. I
played Jim Hardy.
Speaker 10 (17:19):
On Wells Fargo for Belle Mall Famous cigarettes.
Speaker 8 (17:22):
Remember with bell mel you can light either end and get.
Speaker 10 (17:25):
Satisfying flavor, so friendly to your taste.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
During the series and for three decades after the series
ends in nineteen sixty two, Robertson continues to appear in movies.
His last is at age seventy in nineteen ninety three
in Wind in the Wire, playing himself alongside Randy Travis,
Burt Reynolds, and Chuck norris.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Dale.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Robertson spends his later years or raising and training horses
on a ranch he owns.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
What got you onto your ranch in Oklahoma? Had to
come back into a television series. I thought you had
kind of said, Hey, enough of Hollywood going about the
oil industry.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Yeah, you hear about the banks going up there, meet one.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So he came back to television.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
Yeah, well you were when you were working out here.
You you were never part of the chicau against the
Hollywood seen much or rather private individual.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
No.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
I soon got out here in the days when I
was considered the thing to do, go here, be seen.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
Now.
Speaker 7 (18:23):
I lived out in the valley, way out in the valley. Yeah,
and we always had horses and just I'd come to
work and go home when that was about it.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
He dies in twenty thirteen in Lajoia, California, close to
the site of the World War Two Camp Callen, where
he trained for amphibious assaults as Lieutenant Robertson platoon leader
a second Platoon, C Company three twenty second Combat Engineers,
(18:53):
ninety seventh Infantry Division, and.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
A terrific job on the production editing and story telling
by our own Greg Hengler and his special thanks to
doctor Roger McGrath and my goodness, what he did in
World War Two and what was required with so many
of the soldiers.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
They helped liberate Europe.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
They get sent back to America, Robertson does, and he
shipped across to Seattle where they're preparing him to join
the invasion forces in Japan some reward for defeating Hitler.
Luckily for him and the rest of the soldiers in
the Pacific, and ready to go to the Pacific from
the Seattle and elsewhere. The atomic bombs were dropped the
(19:34):
war ended. He still went to Yokohama and stayed there
for six months, but not part of an invasion force,
but part of an occupation force there for six months
nineteen fifty was his breakout. The breakout show was Tales
of Wells Fargo and of course later on in life
coming back into the business well because he needed to.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
The story of Da L.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Robertson heroism at its finest and sacrifice part of our
Hollywood Goes to War series. Here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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