Greg Manchess’ Conan is very close to my conception of Robert E. Howard’s barbarian warrior..
Scouting the internet for photographs of the scout Luther S. “Yellowstone” Kelly, I ran across numerous images of Clint Walker. Walker portrayed Kelly in the 1959 Western “Yellowstone Kelly,” which was based on a novel by Henry Wilson Allen (writing as Clay Fisher).
I was struck again by how closely Walker fits my conception of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. I don’t think I’d ever seen Walker, or was at least not conscious of it, when I read my first Conan stories — and yet what I saw in my minds eye is Walker to a T. (Interestingly, I pictured Craig McDonald’s Hector Lassiter as looking much like William Holden — only to find out later that that is how Craig pictured him, too).
Walker had the size (6’6″) and athleticism that Howard imbued his character with, but he didn’t look like a bodybuilder, which always just seemed wrong to me. And Howard’s Conan didn’t wax his chest, either.
So formidable was his appearance, naked but for short leather breeks and sleeveless shirt, open to reveal his great, hairy chest, with his huge limbs and his blue eyes blazing under his tangled black mane.
— “Hour of the Dragon,” Robert E. Howard
No bodybuilder bullshit with waxed pectorals.
I like Jason Momoa a lot, though I never saw his Conan movie, which I understand is abominable (not because of him). I actually like his look with the character far more than I like Ahhhnold’s, but it’s still not how I picture the Cimmerian. Conan will always, in my mind’s eye, look like Clint Walker.
So, there you have it — I give you Yellowstone Conan.
I’m not the only one who thinks Walker was born to play the Cimmerian. Somebody scarred him up and gave him Conan’s square-cut mane and… well, there ya go. Conan, 1959.
Matthew says
The appearance of actors in movies can override the description of a character in the original story. Humphrey Bogart does not actually look like how Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe are described. I’ve got to the point where I see in my minds eye Marlowe as Chandler describes him, but not Spade, interestingly.
I do think Viggo Mortensen had the right look for Aragon. I see Conan as how Frazetta drew him.
JimC says
Viggo was a great Aragorn. I read that Nic Cage was in consideration. That idea horrifies me.
Wayne says
When I was a kid watching him on t.v., most of my friends and I wanted to grow up to be Clint Walker. Hard to do when you stop at 5′ 9″.
My biggest casting disappointment was Jude Law as Inman in Cold Mountain. The character in the book was big, rough hewn, and could best three men in a no-holds-barred fight. He wasn’t a sensitive wimp.
Although he was a bit old for the part, I think Robert Mitchum played Phillip Marlowe convincingly in the 1970’s versions of The Big Sleep and farewell, My Lovely.
JimC says
I also thought Jude Law was a bizarre choice for Vasily Zaitsev in Enemy at the Gates. The guy can’t look like anything but an Englishman.
Paul McNamee says
On the old Conan forums, there was a thread for discussing classic actors (in their prime) in Howard roles. I don’t know if it’s been recreated at the new forums.
Clint Walker came up. So did Jack Palance.
I’m thinking now of a double feature – Palance as Conan, Walker as Kull. 🙂
JimC says
Palance was a stud. Remember his one-arm pushups at the Academy Awards?
Matthew says
I had one of those weird ideas that I have. I wondered what would happen if they made Robert E. Howard’s Shadow of the Vulture in the 50s. I imagine it starring John Wayne as the knight Gottfried; Maureen O’Hare as Red Sonya, directed by Howard Hawks and written by Leigh Brackett.
I’m not sure why I had that idea.
JimC says
Well it works. Maureen O’Hara — bold! Tempestuous!
deuce says
With Yul Brynner as Mikhal Oglu!
Matthew says
That’s a great idea!
john roberts says
Walker was also one genuine tough SOB. I remember the time he was skiing, took a tumble and got one of his ski poles clean through his heart. He survived. Even Conan would have had a hard time surviving a stab through the heart. Admittedly, Hyborian emergency rooms were pretty primitive.
JimC says
Holy crap!
Craig McDonald says
Back in the 1960s, just about the time I discovered the Doc Savage character via the Bantam paperback reprints of the old pulp novels, there was a report of a Doc Savage film being developed that would have starred Walker as Doc… For quite a while, I envisioned Doc as Walker because of that. And I remember that story about the ski pole (he was actually declared dead) and I think that might have derailed the Doc film if memory serves and resulted in the George Pal/Ron Ely version…
Matthew says
I think they were going to have Chuck Connors aka The Rifleman. Which does not mean they did not look at Walker.
http://heroheroinehistory.blogspot.com/2011/04/doc-savage-1960s-movie-that-almost-was.html
john roberts says
Connors might have made a decent Conan, too. He’d have been a long-and-lean Conan, much in the Liam Neeson mold.
Matthew says
You know, I think Howard imagined Conan’s build as a bit more like a heavy weight boxer’s than Arnie.
JimC says
Absolutely. Howard was a boxing fanatic.
deuce says
You beat me to it, JMR! I saw Connors in GERONIMO about a month ago and it really struck me. With his Apache wig, Connors just looked so natural a REH’s Cimmerian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZlDp4y37I
The director knew he had dramatic gold in Chuck’s grim 3/4 profile. He must’ve used it 20x in the movie. Connors could move like a panther and was a damn good horseman. A steely blue stare as well. My main gripe is that Chuck’s shoulders are oddly narrow.
I’ve yet to see a “perfect” Conan actor. To me it would be some mix of Connors and Walker with some Palance and early McLaglen in there.
JimC says
You guys have a strong point there…
Lane Batot says
Hokey though it is, I LOVE the Chuck Conners “Geronimo” movie(yes, I have a DVD copy, and used to have a VHS copy!), which I first saw as a kid back in the 60’s on our first color TV! Conners made a BAD-ARSE, but noble Geronimo, and there was some great horse riding in that(filmed in Mexico) film–I always felt, despite it’s many historical inaccuracies, it captured the SPIRIT of those last Apache “renegades” better than anything they have done before or since. Really suprisingly good for the time. Despite the many efforts, they’ve YET to make an accurate, definitive Geronimo movie. I’d rather see an accurate, definitive VICTORIO(and Lozen!) movie, myself! As I have mentioned before on this blog!….And my favorite Clint Walker movie is still the Western classic “Night Of The Grizzly”. The portrayal of the “outlaw” grizzly “Old Satan” was not unrealistic–I have a book on the histories of quite a few of those savvy last surviving grizzlies of the Old West, and many had quite as destructive(to the ranchers) and notorious a career as any human pirates! Complete with enormous rewards on their heads–often more lucrative ones than contemporary human outlaws of the time! Ditto for the “Last Of The Loners”; the so-called outlaw wolves……
JimC says
night of the Grizzly is a good un!
Thom Eley says
I’ve got some photos of the real Yellowstone Kelly.
JimC says
I WANTS them….
Jim Hayden says
My favorite miscast has always been Harrison Ford in Bladerunner – in Phillip K Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’, Decker is basically a kind-of dumpy middle-agey cop – I picture Ned Beatty on Homicide, not Indiana Solo.