Chuck Roberson
Acting • Born 1919-05-10 – Died 1988-06-08
Biography
Charles Hugh Roberson (May 10, 1919 – June 8, 1988) was an American actor and stuntman. Roberson was born near Shannon, Texas, the son of farmer Ollie W. Roberson and Jannie Hamm Roberson. Raised on cattle ranches in Shannon, Texas, and Roswell, New Mexico, he left school at 13 to become a cowhand and oilfield roughneck. He married and took his wife and daughter to California, where he joined the Culver City Police Department and guarded the gate at MGM Studios. Following army service in World War II, he returned to the police force. During duty at Warner Bros. studios during a labor strike, he met stuntman Guy Teague, who alerted him to a stunt job at Republic Pictures. Teague had been John Wayne's stunt double for many years and was able to show him the ropes. Chuck also resembled John Carrol whom Roberson doubled in his first picture, Wyoming (1947). He played small roles and stunted in other roles in the same film. He graduated to larger supporting roles in Westerns for Wayne and John Ford, and to a parallel career as a second-unit director. His television appearances include The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Lawman, Death Valley Days, Have Gun – Will Travel, Laramie, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Laredo, Bonanza, Daniel Boone, and The Big Valley. Roberson also appeared in Disney's television Westerns The Swamp Fox and Texas John Slaughter. They were part of The Wonderful World of Color. Before that, he portrayed a Confederate Prison Captain in The Great Locomotive Chase. In 1980 he published an autobiography, The Fall Guy: 30 Years as the Duke's Double. Roberson died of cancer on June 8, 1988, in Bakersfield, California, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, next to his brother, actor Lou Roberson. Bob Dylan drew him as Long Tom in his Beaten Path series, the drawing is entitled "Untitled 1" and is based on a frame from the film Winchester '73 (1950). Roberson and Wayne Burson, another stuntman, were partners in breeding and training racehorses, with Roberson furnishing the horses from his Bakersfield, California, ranch and Burson training them.
Filmography
136 credits
Shock Corridor
Movie • 1963
Wilkes
The Stone Killer
Movie • 1973
Council Member (uncredited)
Hondo
Movie • 1953
Kloori / Cavalry Sergeant Killed in Indian Attack (uncredited)
The Plainsman and the Lady
Movie • 1946
Deputy (uncredited)
Calendar Girl
Movie • 1947
Swedish Tug of War Man
Song of Scheherazade
Movie • 1947
Midshipman (uncredited)
Jesse James Rides Again
Movie • 1947
Lafe
The Flame
Movie • 1947
Policeman (uncredited)
California Firebrand
Movie • 1948
Gunman
The Arizona Ranger
Movie • 1948
Henchman (uncredited)
Homicide for Three
Movie • 1948
Joe - Policeman
Stampede
Movie • 1949
Sandy (uncredited)
Roughshod
Movie • 1949
Deputy (uncredited)
Law of the Golden West
Movie • 1949
Wagon Driver (uncredited)
Haunted Trails
Movie • 1949
Ed - Ranch Hand (uncredited)
The James Brothers of Missouri
Movie • 1949
Townsman (uncredited)
The Fighting Kentuckian
Movie • 1949
Militiaman (uncredited)
Western Renegades
Movie • 1949
Jones (uncredited)
Trail of the Rustlers
Movie • 1950
Bob - Henchman (uncredited)
The Capture
Movie • 1950
Employee (uncredited)
Cow Town
Movie • 1950
Mike Grady - Henchman (as Charles Roberson)
Hills of Oklahoma
Movie • 1950
Cowhand (uncredited)
Hi-Jacked
Movie • 1950
Police Officer (uncredited)
Atom Man vs. Superman
Movie • 1950
Policeman on Road (uncredited)
The Scalphunters
Movie • 1968
Scalphunter
Night Passage
Movie • 1957
Roan
7 Men from Now
Movie • 1956
Mason
Merrill's Marauders
Movie • 1962
Officer
Rio Lobo
Movie • 1970
Corporal in Baggage Car (uncredited)
The Sons of Katie Elder
Movie • 1965
Townsman (uncredited)
Forty Guns
Movie • 1957
Howard Swain
Smoky
Movie • 1966
Manuel
Hellfire
Movie • 1949
Groper (uncredited)
Black Spurs
Movie • 1965
Norton - Prisoner
Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory
Movie • 1952
Trooper (uncredited)
The Big Country
Movie • 1958
Terrill Cowboy
Ten Wanted Men
Movie • 1955
Gunfighter (uncredited)
The Searchers
Movie • 1956
Ranger at Wedding (uncredited)
Sergeant Rutledge
Movie • 1960
Court-Martial Board Member (uncredited)
The Wings of Eagles
Movie • 1957
Officer
Man of the West
Movie • 1958
Rifleman-Guard on Train (uncredited)
Two Rode Together
Movie • 1961
Comanche
How the West Was Won
Movie • 1962
Officer (uncredited)
Cheyenne Autumn
Movie • 1964
Jessie (uncredited)
Donovan's Reef
Movie • 1963
Festus
Way of a Gaucho
Movie • 1952
Gaucho
The Lusty Men
Movie • 1952
Cowboy
Cat Ballou
Movie • 1965
Armed Guard (uncredited)
The Far Country
Movie • 1954
Latigo (uncredited)
The Green Berets
Movie • 1968
Sgt. Griffin
Sign of the Pagan
Movie • 1954
Mirrai
The Prodigal
Movie • 1955
Chieftain
McQ
Movie • 1974
Santiago's Bodyguard (uncredited)
Big Jake
Movie • 1971
Texas Ranger (uncredited)
Chisum
Movie • 1970
Trail Herder (uncredited)
The Undefeated
Movie • 1969
Yankee Sergeant at River (uncredited)
Hellfighters
Movie • 1968
Firefighter in Plane (uncredited)
Welcome to Hard Times
Movie • 1967
Miner Fighting Bert (uncredited)
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
Movie • 1967
Cook (uncredited)
Nevada Smith
Movie • 1966
Deputy (uncredited)
Shenandoah
Movie • 1965
Rebel Commander with Mustache
Smoky
Movie • 1966
Chuck - a Ranch Hand
Blindfold
Movie • 1966
Fitzpatrick's Henchman
Lady Godiva of Coventry
Movie • 1955
Soldier
The Rounders
Movie • 1965
Brawler (uncredited)
Advance to the Rear
Movie • 1964
Monk (uncredited)
Mail Order Bride
Movie • 1964
Saloon Brawler (uncredited)
The Hired Gun
Movie • 1957
Frank Cooper - Conroy Ranch Wrangler
The Rawhide Years
Movie • 1956
Johnny (uncredited)
Red Sundown
Movie • 1956
Henshaw's Man
The Great Locomotive Chase
Movie • 1956
Confederate Prison Captain (uncredited)
The Second Greatest Sex
Movie • 1955
Brawler (uncredited)
Kentucky Rifle
Movie • 1956
Indian (uncredited)
Timberjack
Movie • 1955
Lumberjack (uncredited)
The Lone Gun
Movie • 1954
Luke (uncredited)
Jubilee Trail
Movie • 1954
Man at Bar (uncredited)
Calamity Jane
Movie • 1953
Barfly (uncredited)
Gun Belt
Movie • 1953
Oliver
Raiders of the Seven Seas
Movie • 1953
Spanish Officer (uncredited)
The Blazing Forest
Movie • 1952
Lumberjack (uncredited)
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Movie • 1952
Pirate (uncredited)
Blackbeard, the Pirate
Movie • 1952
Mounted Soldier
Cattle Town
Movie • 1952
Rider
Indian Uprising
Movie • 1952
Taggart Man
McLintock!
Movie • 1963
Sheriff Jeff Lord
Spartacus
Movie • 1960
Slave (uncredited)
Winchester '73
Movie • 1950
Long Tom (uncredited)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Movie • 1962
Henchman (uncredited)
Rio Bravo
Movie • 1959
Gunman (uncredited)
Last of the Wild Horses
Movie • 1948
Deputy Chuck (uncredited)
Rio Grande
Movie • 1950
Officer / Indian Fires Arrow Into Col. York's Chest (uncredited)
Two Rode Together
Movie • 1961
Comanche (uncredited)
Wake of the Red Witch
Movie • 1948
Seaman
The Gallant Legion
Movie • 1948
Ranger
99 and 44/100% Dead
Movie • 1974
Gunman
Outcasts of Black Mesa
Movie • 1950
Kramer - Henchman (as Charles 'Chuck' Roberson)
The War Wagon
Movie • 1967
Brown / Mustachioed guard at blown bridge
Cow Country
Movie • 1953
Stubby (as Brett Houston)
The King and Four Queens
Movie • 1956
Posseman
Hannah Lee: An American Primitive
Movie • 1953
Cowboy
Cahill: United States Marshal
Movie • 1973
Leader of Bunch
Run of the Arrow
Movie • 1957
Sergeant
The Alamo
Movie • 1960
Tennesseean
El Dorado
Movie • 1966
Jason's Gunman
The Tall Men
Movie • 1955
Alva Jenkin (uncredited)
Albuquerque
Movie • 1948
Man at Gambling Table (uncredited)
The Wonderful Country
Movie • 1959
Barton
John Wayne's 'The Alamo'
Movie • 1992
Tennessean
Song of Scheherazade
Movie • 1947
Midshipman
The Western: A Lost TV Special
Movie • 1958
Self
The Lucy Show
TV • 1962
Fireman #1
Alias Smith and Jones
TV • 1971
The Mod Squad
TV • 1968
Lost in Space
TV • 1965
Alien Fighter
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Sgt. Keller
Laredo
TV • 1965
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Baxter
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV • 1957
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Dark Panther
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Stage Driver
Bat Masterson
TV • 1958
Henchman about to be Sawn in Half
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Brenner
The Lone Ranger
TV • 1949
Todd Gunder
Panic!
TV • 1957
Mr. Terrific
TV • 1967
Dawson
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Junior
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Driver
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Joe
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Dutch
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Lige Henry
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Shawnee Leader
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV • 1957
Pike
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV • 1957
Rancher
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV • 1957
Man
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Wagon Driver
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV • 1954
Sam - Ranger #1