George 'Gabby' Hayes

George Hayes is an American character actor, the most famous of Western-movie sidekicks of the 1930s and 1940s. He worked in a circus and played semi-pro baseball while a teenager. In 1914, he married Olive Ireland and the pair became successful on the vaudeville circuit. Retired in his forties, he lost much of his money in the 1929 stock market crash and was forced to return to work. He played scores of roles in Westerns and non-Westerns alike, finally in the mid-1930s settling in to an almost exclusively Western career. He gained fame as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Windy Halliday in films between 1936 and 1939. Leaving the Cassidy films in a salary dispute, he was legally precluded from using the Windy nickname, and so took on the sobriquet Gabby, and was so billed from about 1940. In his early films, he alternated between whiskered comic-relief sidekicks and clean-shaven bad guys, but by the later 1930s, he worked almost exclusively as a Western sidekick to stars such as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Randolph Scott. After his last film in 1950, he starred as the host of The Gabby Hayes Show. He died on February 9, 1969.

Cast

Riders of Destiny

Randy Rides Alone

- Marvin Black aka Mat Mathews/Matt the Mute

Sheriff Ed Williams

The Lucky Texan

Jake 'Grandy' Benson

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Farmer's Spokesman (uncredited)

West of the Divide

Andrew 'Doc' Grunch

In Old Oklahoma

Tall in the Saddle

The Star Packer

The Hoosier Schoolmaster

Pearson (as George Hayes)

Bad Man of Deadwood

Prof. Mortimer 'Gabby' Blackstone

Badman's Territory

Honest Jim Badger / The Coyote Kid

The Carson City Kid

Gabby Whittaker

The Lawless Frontier

The Texas Rangers

The Eagle's Brood

The Frontiersmen

Pride of the West

Silver on the Sage

Three on the Trail

Hopalong Cassidy Returns

Hopalong Rides Again

North of the Rio Grande

Hop-a-long Cassidy

Heart of the West

Bar 20 Rides Again

Call of the Prairie

Shanghai McHenry

Rustlers' Valley

Hills of Old Wyoming

Heart of Arizona

Home in Oklahoma

Gabby Whittaker

Sunset Serenade

Lights of Old Santa Fe

Gabby Whittaker

Sheriff of Tombstone

Bells of Rosarita

Gabby Whittaker

Roll on Texas Moon

Gabby Whittaker

Under Nevada Skies

Gabby Whittaker

The Border Legion

Honest John Whittaker

Young Bill Hickok

'Gabby' Whitaker

The Man from Utah

Marshal George Higgins

Sheriff Jake Withers

The Lawless Nineties

In Old Cheyenne

Sunset in El Dorado

Young Buffalo Bill

Gabby Whittaker

Bandits of the Badlands

Sheriff Jake Withers

The Shadow Gang

The Arizona Kid

Gabby Whittaker

Rainbow Over Texas

Sheriff 'Gabby' Whittaker

The Big Bonanza

Red River Valley

Gabby Whittaker

Ridin' Down the Canyon

Heart of the Golden West

Man from Cheyenne

Gabby Whittaker

The Ranger and the Lady

Gabby Whittaker

South of Santa Fe

Gabby Whittaker

Sunset on the Desert

Gabby Whittaker

The Night Rider

The Boiling Point

Galloping Romeo

The Return of Casey Jones

In Old Santa Fe

Monte Carlo Nights

Inspector Nick Gunby

Gabby Whittaker

Return of the Bad Men

Man of Conquest

Lannie Upchurch

Marshal of Reno

Jesse James at Bay

Sheriff Gabby Whitaker

Ladies Crave Excitement

Days of Jesse James

'Gabby' Hopkins

Song of Arizona

Gabby Whittaker

Robin Hood of the Pecos

Gabriel Gabby Hornaday

Romance on the Range

Tumbling Tumbleweeds

Let Freedom Ring

The Nevada Buckaroo

Cherokee Williams

Riders of the Desert

Hashknife Brooks

Honeymoon Limited

Sons of the Pioneers

Gabby Whittaker

A Slip at the Switch

The Cariboo Trail

For the Defense

Ben (the waiter)

Saga of Death Valley

Private Detective

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

(archive footage)

In Old Monterey

Gabby Whittaker

The Man from Hell's Edges

Shamrock Cassidy

The Brand of Hate

Gold Is Where You Find It

Justice of the Range

John Coffin, known as Pegleg Sanderson

Hitch Hike Lady

Cavalier of the West

Sheriff Bill Ryan

Railroad Ticket-Seller (uncredited)

Death Flies East

Western Union Clerk

Tombstone Terror

Along the Navajo Trail

Gabby Whittaker

Wall Street Cowboy

Death Valley Manhunt

Bordertown Gun Fighters

Valiant Is the Word for Carrie

Hidden Valley Outlaws

The Man from Hell

Banker Colonel Campbell

In Old Caliente

Sally of the Subway

Police Lieutenant Paxton

Parade Official (uncredited)

Baxter (as George Hayes)

The Gallant Fool

Sheriff Dan Hughes (as George F. Hayes)

Don't Fence Me In

Gabby Whittaker

Wagons Westward

Valley of the Lawless

Grandpaw Jenkins

The Outlaw Tamer

Cactus Barnes (as Geo. S. Hayes)

Man from Oklahoma

Gabby Whittaker

Wagon Tracks West

Thunder Mountain

The Untamed Breed

The Fighting Champ

$1,000 a Minute

New Deal Watson

Calling Wild Bill Elliott

Fighting Thoroughbreds

Gramps Montrose

Ship of Wanted Men

Song of the Trail

The Stolen Jools

I Married a Doctor

Train Station Agent

Big Business Girl

Hotel Clerk (uncredited)

Winner Take All

Interne at Rosario Ranch (uncredited)

Joe, the Watchman

The Man from Thunder River

Gabby Whittaker

Detective Casey

She Who Gets Slapped

Overland Mail Robbery

Mojave Firebrand

Wild Horse Mesa

Breed of the Border

Dance Hall Tobacconist (uncredited)

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Self (archive footage)

Love Me Tonight

Grocer (uncredited)

Bedlam of Beards

House of Mystery

'Neath the Arizona Skies

Granpappy Burnside

God's Country and the Man

Stingaree Kelly

The Headline Woman

Gavin Henchman - Dark Hat

Crooked Gambler

Broadway to Cheyenne

The Phantom Broadcast

Police Lieutenant

Crashing Broadway

J. Talbot Thorndyke

Fighting Texans

The Devil's Mate

Beggars in Ermine

The House Without Children

Archibald Ponsonby

Smiling Irish Eyes

The Farmer Takes a Wife

Rodeo Rocketeers

Marshall George

Vengence is Mine

The Western: A Lost TV Special