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(18 October 1898, Frankfurt, Kentucky
- 27 December 1974, Torrance, California)
 Birth
Name - Raymond Anthony Glenn
Kentucky-born Bob Custer was an actual cowboy who left the range to
perform in rodeo shows. Like many other rodeo performers, he found
out that appearing in western films paid quite a bit more (and was
much less dangerous) than bull-riding and steer-roping, and he began
to gain popularity as a western star in a series of medium-budget
films in the early and mid-'20s. Unlike many other cowboy stars,
however, Custer branched out into other genres, using his real name
of Raymond Glenn. He returned to making westerns in the late 1920s
but the advent of talkies posed a huge problem for Custer: he choked
when reading lines. Call it mike-fright or whatever, but the problem
was exasperated by him working for very lowest rung of Hollywood:
for producers such as Harry S. Webb and J.P. McGowan. Miserable
production values wouldn't do anything but magnify his limitations
as an actor. Consequently, Custer never regained the measure of
popularity he had in the 1920s. He appeared in his last film in
1936. |
