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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
April 10, 1891
Died
January 29, 1978
Place of Birth
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Also Known As
- Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy
Tim McCoy
0.2 Popularity
Biography
One of the great stars of early American Westerns. McCoy was the son of an Irish soldier who later became police chief of Saginaw, Michigan, where McCoy was born. He attended St. Ignatius College in Chicago and after seeing a Wild West show there, left school and found work on a Wyoming ranch. He became an expert horseman and roper and developed a keen knowledge of the ways and languages of the Indian tribes in the area. He competed in numerous rodeos, then enlisted in the U.S. Army when America entered the First World War. He was commissioned and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the end of World War I, he returned to his ranch in Wyoming, only to be called by Governor Bob Carry to the post of Adjutant General of Wyoming, a position he held until 1921. The position carried with it the rank of Brigadier General (a brevet promotion) and it has been reported that this made him the youngest general officer in the U.S. Army. His reputation as a friend to the Wind River Reservation Indians, both Arapahoe and Shoshone, preceded him and in 1922, he was asked by the head of Famous Players-Lasky, Jesse L. Lasky, to provide Indian extras for the Western extravaganza, The Covered Wagon (1923). He resigned from the state position and recruited several hundred Indians to the Utah movie location. When the film wrapped, he was asked to choose several Indians to accompany him to Hollywood. There the production company developed a live 'prologue' to be presented just prior to the movie showing. The idea was a success and McCoy and his Indian group toured the U.S. and eventually, Europe as well. After touring this country and Europe with the Indians as publicity, McCoy returned to Hollywood and used his connections to obtain further work in the movies, both as a technical advisor and eventually as an actor. MGM speedily signed him to a contract to star in a series of Westerns and McCoy rapidly rose to stardom, making scores of Westerns and occasional non-Westerns. He retired from the army and from films after the war, but emerged in the late 1940s for a few more films and some television work. In 1942 he ran for the Republican Nomination for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming. He was defeated and returned to Hollywood and an uncertain future. In 1946 he sold his Wyoming ranch and moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and the life of the gentleman farmer. While living there, he met and married Danish writer Inga Arvad. He later built a home in Nogales, Arizona where Inga subsequently died in 1973. He spent his later years as a retired rancher. He died at the U.A. Army hospital at Ft. Hauchuca, Arizona on January 29 1978 at the age of 86. Inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1974. During World War I, he served as an artillery officer in the US Army in France. Spouse Inga Arvad (1945 - 1973) (her death) Alice Miller (? - 1931) (divorced) (3 children)
Known For
9.0
(archive footage)
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
1976
6.0
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972
6.0
Judge Irving Short
Requiem for a Gunfighter
1965
6.0
Gen. Allen (as Colonel Tim McCoy)
Run of the Arrow
1957
6.6
Colonel
Around the World in 80 Days
1956
0.0
Himself
Injun Talk
1946
5.0
Marshal Tim McCall
West of the Law
1942
4.0
Marshal Tim McCall
Riders of the West
1942
0.0
U. S. Marshal Tim McCall
Down Texas Way
1942
5.7
Marshal Tim McCall
Ghost Town Law
1942
Credits
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
as (archive footage)
1976
9.0
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
as Self (archive footage)
1972
6.0
Requiem for a Gunfighter
as Judge Irving Short
1965
6.0
Run of the Arrow
as Gen. Allen (as Colonel Tim McCoy)
1957
6.0
Around the World in 80 Days
as Colonel
1956
6.6
Injun Talk
as Himself
1946
0.0
West of the Law
as Marshal Tim McCall
1942
5.0
Riders of the West
as Marshal Tim McCall
1942
4.0
Down Texas Way
as U. S. Marshal Tim McCall
1942
0.0
Ghost Town Law
as Marshal Tim McCall
1942
5.7
Below the Border
as Marshal Tim McCall
1942
4.9
Forbidden Trails
as Marshal Tim McCall
1941
5.4
The Gunman From Bodie
as Marshal Tim McCall
1941
4.0
Arizona Bound
as Tim McCall
1941
3.5
The Texas Marshal
as Marshal Trigger Tim Rand
1941
0.0
Outlaws of the Rio Grande
as Tim Barton
1941
0.0
Riders of Black Mountain
as Marshal Tim Donovan
1940
0.0
Arizona Gang Busters
as Trigger Tim Rand
1940
5.0
Gun Code
as Marshal Tim Hammond posing as Tim Hays
1940
0.0
Frontier Crusader
as Trigger Tim Rand
1940
3.0
Texas Renegades
as 'Silent' Tim Smith
1940
0.0
Trigger Fingers
as 'Lightning' Bill Carson
1939
0.0
The Fighting Renegade
as Bill Carson posing as El Puma
1939
5.7
Straight Shooter
as "Lightning" Bill Carson
1939
5.2
Outlaws' Paradise
as William Carson / Trigger Mallory
1939
0.0
Texas Wildcats
as 'Lightning' Bill Carson
1939
0.0
Code of the Cactus
as Bill Carson
1939
5.5
Six-Gun Trail
as Captain William Carson
1938
3.0
Lightning Carson Rides Again
as Lightning Bill Carson / Jose
1938
4.8
Phantom Ranger
as Tim Hayes
1938
4.2
Two Gun Justice
as Tim
1938
6.0
Code of the Rangers
as Tim Strong
1938
0.0
West of Rainbow's End
as Tim Hart
1938
6.0
The Traitor
as Tim McCoy: Sergeant Tim Vallance - Texas Ranger
1936
0.0
Ghost Patrol
as Tim Caverly
1936
4.2
The Lion's Den
as Tim Barton
1936
0.0
Aces and Eights
as Tim Madigan
1936
4.8
Lightnin' Bill Carson
as Marshal Lightnin' Bill Carson
1936
5.0
Border Caballero
as Tim Ross
1936
6.0
Roarin' Guns
as Tim Corwin
1936
6.5
Bulldog Courage
as Slim Braddock / Tim Braddock
1935
4.7
The Man from Guntown
as Tim Hanlon
1935
0.0
Riding Wild
as Tim Malloy / Tex Ravelle
1935
0.0
The Outlaw Deputy
as Tim Mallory
1935
0.0
Justice of the Range
as Tim Condon
1935
0.0
Fighting Shadows
as Constable Tim O'Hara
1935
6.0
The Revenge Rider
as Tim O'Neil
1935
0.0
Law Beyond the Range
as Tim McDonald
1935
0.0
Square Shooter
as Tim Baxter
1935
5.2
The Westerner
as Tim Addison
1934
0.0
Prescott Kid
as Tim Hamlin
1934
0.0
Beyond the Law
as Tim Weston
1934
0.0
A Man's Game
as Tim Bradley
1934
0.0
Hell Bent for Love
as Police Captain Tim Daley
1934
0.0
Voice in the Night
as Tim Dale
1934
0.0
Speed Wings
as Tim
1934
0.0
Straightaway
as Tim Dawson
1933
0.0
Hold the Press
as Tim Collins
1933
0.0
Police Car 17
as Tim Conlon
1933
2.0
Rusty Rides Alone
as Tim Burke
1933
0.0
The Whirlwind
as Tim Reynolds
1933
0.0
Silent Men
as Tim Richards
1933
0.0
Man Of Action
as Ranger Tim Barlow
1933
0.0
End of the Trail
as Captain Tim Travers
1932
6.0
The Western Code
as Tim Barrett
1932
0.0
Fighting for Justice
as Tim Keene
1932
0.0
Cornered
as Sheriff Tim Laramie
1932
6.0
Daring Danger
as Tim Madigan
1932
0.0
Two-Fisted Law
as Tim Clark
1932
4.6
Hollywood on Parade
as Self
1932
3.0
The Riding Tornado
as Tim Torrant
1932
0.0
Texas Cyclone
as Texas Grant
1932
4.2
The Fighting Fool
as Sheriff Tim Collins
1932
0.0
The Fighting Marshal
as Tim Benton
1931
6.0
Shotgun Pass
as Tim Walker
1931
0.0
The One Way Trail
as Tim Allen
1931
0.0
The Indians Are Coming
as Jack Manning
1930
4.5
The Desert Rider
as Jed Tyler
1929
0.0
Sioux Blood
as Flood
1929
0.0
The Overland Telegraph
as Captain Allen
1929
0.0
Morgan's Last Raid
as Capt. Daniel Clairbourne
1929
0.0
🎬
The Bushranger
as Edward
1928
0.0
Beyond the Sierras
as The Masked Stranger
1928
0.0
The Adventurer
as Jim McClellan
1928
0.0
🎬
Riders of the Dark
as Lt. Crane
1928
0.0
🎬
Wyoming
as Lt. Jack Colton
1928
0.0
The Law of the Range
as Jim Lockhart
1928
2.5
Spoilers of the West
as Lieutenant Lang
1927
0.0
Foreign Devils
as Capt. Robert Kelly
1927
0.0
The Frontiersman
as John Dale
1927
0.0
California
as Capt. Archibald Gillespie
1927
5.0
Winners Of The Wilderness
as Col. Sir Dennis O'Hara
1927
7.5
War Paint
as Lt. Tim Marshall
1926
0.0
The Thundering Herd
as Burn Hudnall
1925
0.0
🎬
The Man Who Would Not Die
1924
0.0