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TOWERING TALENT

Clint Walker dead at 90 – Cheyenne star and Western icon who stood at 6ft 6in passes away from heart failure

His daughter Valerie said he was 'a warrior, fighting to the end'

ACTOR Clint Walker, best known for his role as the title character on the 1950s TV western Cheyenne, has died aged 90.

The western icon's wife Susan and daughter Valerie were by his side when he passed away on Monday, May 21.

 Western icon Clint Walker has died aged 90
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Western icon Clint Walker has died aged 90Credit: Kobal Collection - Shutterstock

Walker died Monday of congestive heart failure at a hospital in his longtime home of Grass Valley, California at age 90, his daughter, Valerie Walker, told The Associated Press.

"He was a warrior, he was fighting to the end," said Valerie Walker, a retired commercial pilot who was among the first women to fly for a major airline.

Clint Walker, whose film credits included "The Ten Commandments" and "The Dirty Dozen," wandered the West after the Civil War as the solitary adventurer Cheyenne Bodie in "Cheyenne," which ran for seven seasons on ABC starting in 1955.

Born Norman Eugene Walker in Hartford, Illinois, he later changed his name in both public and private life to the more cowboyish Clint.

 Walker in 1950s hit Cheyenne
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Walker in 1950s hit CheyenneCredit: Rex Features
 Clint Walker pictured in 2012. The actor died from heart failure
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Clint Walker pictured in 2012. The actor died from heart failureCredit: Getty - Contributor

He worked on Great Lakes cargo ships and Mississippi river boats and in Texas oil fields before becoming an armed security guard at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

There, many Hollywood stars, including actor Van Johnson, saw the 6ft 6in Walker and encouraged him to give the movies a try.

He then found himself under consideration for his first role in "The Ten Commandments," starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.

He had a meeting with the film's director Cecil B. DeMille, but was late after stopping to help a woman change a tyre and feared he'd blown his shot.

 His daughter Valerie said he was a "warrior"
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His daughter Valerie said he was a "warrior"Credit: Rex Features
 Walker as a prisoner in 'The Dirty Dozen'
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Walker as a prisoner in 'The Dirty Dozen'Credit: Getty - Contributor

"He just exuded power," Walker said of DeMille in a 2012 interview for the archive of the television academy.

"He looked me up and down and said, 'You're late young man.'" "I thought 'oh no, my career is over before it even started.'"

Walker explained why he was late and said Demille responded "Yes, I know all about it, that was my secretary."

Walker was cast as the captain of the pharaoh's guard in the movie that came out in 1956.

 Clint Walker in Yellowstone Kelly
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Clint Walker in Yellowstone KellyCredit: Kobal Collection - Shutterstock

He beat out several big names for the role of "Cheyenne," but speculated that it was because he was already under contract for much cheaper than the other actors would demand to Warner Bros., which produced the show.

Based roughly on a 1947 movie, "Cheyenne" began as an hour-long program that originally was alternated with two other Westerns. The only one of the three programs to survive, it made Walker a star, and after a brief departure over a contract dispute, Walker played the role for seven seasons.

Walker's most memorable big-screen appearance came in 1967's "The Dirty Dozen," whose all-star cast included Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson.

He appeared in many other movies including the westerns "Fort Dobbs," ''Yellowstone Kelly" and "Gold of the Seven Saints" and in the Doris Day and Rock Hudson film "Send Me No Flowers" in 1964, and most recently lent his voice to 1998's "Small Soldiers."

Walker nearly died in 1971 when a ski pole pierced his heart in California's Sierra Nevada.

"They rushed me to a hospital where two doctors pronounced me dead... No pulse, no heartbeat; I was clinically dead," he said in 1987.

A third doctor detected life, and an operation saved him.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his wife of 30 years Susan Cavallari Walker.


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