CHARLES "DURANGO" STARRETT - TYPED LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 296532

CHARLES "DURANGO" STARRETT
TLS with handwritten postscript, campaigning for the memory of fellow actor and real-life hero Buck Jones
Typed Letter signed: "Charles 'Durango' Starrett" as Honorary President, Buck Jones Rangers, 1 page, 5½x4. Fragment quoted in full: "I am sorry my trip back East (3 months) plus pressing business problems delayed the return of your autographed photo. [Item not included.] If one good turn deserves another, maybe you can help me by signing the enclosed letter of support. [Item not included.] Buck Jones was more than his image - a great Hollywood cowboy - he was his own man, true to himself. One of character and courage. You may recall he gave his life in saving others in that tragic, Boston, Coconut Grove Fire. Sincerely". Handwritten postscript: "Please sign one and send 2 to out of town friends". Charles Starrett (1903-1986, born in Athol, Massachusetts) is best known for his portrayal of "The Durango Kid" in a string of B-westerns in the 1940s and early 1950s. He spent his college years playing football for Dartmouth, and upon graduation chose acting as his profession. After a few years of stage work and vaudeville, Starrett signed with Paramount in 1930 but never found the breakthrough role he needed to be a star at the studio. In the mid-1930s, Starrett signed a long-term contract with Columbia and starred in a multitude of B westerns for the studio. But his most famous part, as the Durango Kid, was the role that both made and broke his film career. Return of the Durango Kid (1945), kicked off a series of nearly 70 Durango Kid films. But in the early 1950s, as the B-western faded into the horizon, Starrett retired from the screen. He passed away in 1986 at the age of 82. Western film star Charles "Buck" Jones was among 492 persons killed in the Coconut Grove Fire of 1942, while attending a party in his honor. For years, legend had it that Jones died returning to the fire, trying to save others. Fine condition.