Most Famous Real Cowboys (and Cowgirls) in History

Montie Montana was a beloved cowboy figure in Southern California who appeared at events and parades in sequined western attire. Montana was a real-life cowboy who learned roping tricks as a child growing up in Montana. He moved to California and parlayed his roping skills into a career in movies. He also lassoed President Dwight Eisenhower — with the president’s approval — during the inaugural parade in 1953.

Ab Saunders was a cowboy and gunman and an associate of Old West luminaries Billy the Kid and Doc Scurlock. Saunders was a member of the Lincoln County Regulators, a deputized posse that was involved in the Lincoln County War, a prolonged dispute between rival business factions in New Mexico in 1878.

Baxter Black is a cowboy, philosopher, and poet who has served as a commentator on cowboy culture and rural life on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” He once went on “The Tonight Show” and regaled host Johnny Carson with a poem titled “A Vegetarian’s Nightmare” that humorously suggests that plants feel pain.

With so many farm hands off to fight in World War II, Casey Tibbs grabbed the opportunity to augment his family’s income by breaking horses. By the time he was 22, Tibbs was considered to be the best bronc rider in the nation. Tibbs became famous, eventually appearing in movies and making the cover of “Life” magazine. Tibbs lived a flamboyant lifestyle, favoring purple satin shirts and fast cars.

Son of a Baptist preacher, Scarborough became a cowboy when he was old enough to work in Texas. He was later appointed as a county sheriff and also worked as a U.S. Deputy Marshall chasing cattle rustlers. Later in his career, he moved to New Mexico and worked as a gunman for the Grant County Cattlemen’s Association. Scarborough was pursuing some members of the legendary Wild Bunch and got in a gunfight with them. He was shot in the leg and it had be amputated. He died the next day.

Ben Johnson was a cowboy before he became an Oscar-winning actor. Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when movie producer and businessman Howard Hughes hired him to take horses to California. He stayed on in California and became a stuntman, horse wrangler, and a double in westerns. Johnson won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the movie “The Last Picture Show” in 1972.

Walt Garrison is a Texas cowboy through and through. Older football fans might remember him as a fullback for the Dallas Cowboys. Garrison grew up as a real cowboy, competing in rodeos in high school. After the Cowboys drafted him, he made sure his signing bonus included a two-horse trailer so he could continue to attend rodeos. He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2018.

McClary is another rodeo veteran who turned to acting. Among his movie credits are “D2: Mighty Ducks” and “Wild Wild West.” McClary is a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

Emmett Dalton of the infamous Dalton Gang was cowboy in the 1880s before he turned to a life of crime. Four members of the gang were killed on Oct. 5, 1892, during attempted bank robberies in Coffeyville, Kansas. Though he was shot more than times, Emmett Dalton survived to serve nearly a decade and a half in prison. Upon his release, he worked as an consultant and actor for western genre films in Hollywood.

Bill Pickett, an African American cowboy, serves as a reminder of the important role African Americans played in the culture of the West. Pickett and his brothers started their own horse-breaking and cowboy services company called the Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders Association. Pickett invented the art of bulldogging from seeing how bulldogs brought down a steer by clamping down on the animal’s sensitive nose and lip. He would wrestle a steer to the ground then bite and hold the animal’s lip until it held still.

The Texas-born cowhand went to Hollywood and became one the great stuntmen in westerns. He had more than 120 acting and stuntman credits, including “Cat Ballou,” “The Searchers,” “Man of the West,” and “Nevada Smith.” He was a double for John Wayne in many movies.

Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum was dealt a poor hand as a youth, losing both parents when he was a child. He and his brother began working as cowboys on various ranches, but they found robbing trains more lucrative. They formed a gang and robbed one train of $20,000. Black Jack’s luck eventually ran out and he was caught and hanged in New Mexico.

Doc Scurlock studied medicine in New Orleans — hence the nickname — but left Louisiana when he thought he had contracted tuberculosis. He went to Mexico, hoping the change of scenery would cure him. There he developed a reputation as a gunfighter. It would help him survive multiple attacks by Native Americans while he was a cowboy working for Texas cattle baron John Chisum. Later in life, Scurlock was a founding member of the Lincoln County Regulators, a deputized posse that was involved in the Lincoln County War, a prolonged dispute between rival business factions in New Mexico in 1878. As an older man, he gave away his guns and took an interest in literature and writing poetry.

Hank Worden was a durable character actor in movie westerns. He appeared in more than 100 films such as “Red River” and “The Searchers,” and on television series such as “Bonanza.” Worden was born in Iowa and grew up on a ranch in Montana. He worked as a bronco rider on the rodeo circuit.

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy took on the federal government over grazing rights, refusing to recognize the government’s control over U.S. public lands. Bundy refused to pay leasing fees, and when the government demanded he remove his cattle from public land in 2014, he and a group of armed followers confronted federal agents. In a federal case brought against Bundy, a U.S. district judge declared a mistrial in January 2018 and charges were dropped.

Ty Murray was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2000. He’s won nine world championships (seven all-around titles and two bull-riding crowns). He’s also won the most money at one rodeo — $124,821 at the 1993 National Finals Rodeo — and the most money in one year, $297,896, also in 1993. Murray is recognized as the most dominant cowboy of his era.

Like many of the infamous gunslingers in the West, Hardin also tried his hand at ranching for a Texas rancher in 1871. He was trying to lay low after murdering a Texas state police guard who was transferring him to Waco for a trial. However, his hot temper betrayed him on a cattle drive. Hardin got in a dispute with the man in charge of another cattle herd and shot him through the heart. Hardin is also notorious for apparently shooting a man to death in an adjoining hotel room for snoring too loudly.

Annie Oakley was the most skilled markswoman of her time. Her shooting ability was such that she earned enough money as a teenager to pay off the mortgage on her family’s home. She was a star attraction with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Oakley astonished audiences by shooting a cigarette off her husband’s lips and hitting the edge of a playing card from 30 paces away.

Rogers was an American author, actor, and humorist, earning the sobriquet “The Cowboy Philosopher.” Among his famous quotes is, “I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.” Rogers was part Native American and grew up in a ranching family in Oklahoma. He joined traveling Wild West shows and eventually parlayed his lassoing abilities into a vaudeville act. He was killed in a plane crash in Alaska in 1935.

We know Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty, as a ruthless outlaw in the Old West. But for a time he worked as a cowboy for John Tunstall, a rancher in New Mexico. Billy got involved in a dispute between Tunstall and his business partners over Tunstall’s debt. When the local sheriff and his posse attempted to seize Tunstall’s cattle, Tunstall was killed. Billy was a witness, but before the sheriff was arrested, Billy was tossed into jail. Upon release, he embarked on the Old West’s most famous criminal career.