Today, with the high costs of movie production, it is said that any actress or actor who becomes too temperamental is politely asked to turn in his make-up and look for other work. That goes for temperamental movie horses also. But there is always the exception. Marilyn Monroe has proven that, and way back in the silent movie days a coal-black stallion named Rex also proved it.

Only the older generation will remember Rex as the daring hero of many-a-silent epic. He was as famous as Rudolph Valentino in that era, and in many ways tainted with similar legendary history.

Rex was wild - an independent thinking and acting movie horse that became known as the King of the Wild Horses.
Rex earned a killer name in such scenes as this from Smoky (1934).

Hollywood publicists who have a tendency to overdo it were just about correct, however, when they tagged Rex as the King of the Wild Horses. He was wild – an independent thinking and acting horse which rarely allowed himself to be governed by cues from the handler off camera. He would accept no direction as do movie horses today, taking each cue politely and obediently. When it was time for Rex to act a part, cameras would be grinding away before Rex was released from his halter, since he would do what he pretty well pleased and all the cameramen could hope for were a few shots they could edit together for a plausible sequence.

Why did studios contend with that “ornery,” “warped,” and “arrogant” money-costing horse? Simple… he was good! As a matter of fact, Rex was tops. Many of the roles he played were wild horse parts, a role he played to the hilt. Never since Rex, except for a lovable old horse named Mist-a-Shot, has one horse so convincingly played a wild horse.

Rex was wild - an independent thinking and acting movie horse that became known as the King of the Wild Horses.
Rex from a scene in Wild Beauty. Note the restraining rope.

A few stories have circulated as to where Rex was first found. Some have claimed he was captured wild in southern Utah. Others place the catch rope on him in the Nevada mountains. The more likely story is that he was purchased by Chic Morrison, who had heard of a “devil” horse at a riding school near Golden, Colorado. Chic Morrison worked him for a time and so did Jack Lindell, both late masters of movie horse training. Lindell, who had handled some of the smartest horses in Hollywood, tagged Rex as the smartest horse he had ever handled.

Rex was the first horse to be given star billing. In other words, whenever he appeared in a movie, his name appeared first on the cast heading. Stories such as Wild Beauty, Plunging Hooves, and Stormy were written especially for Rex to star. He also appeared in three 15-chapter serials, one of which he co-starred with the popular dog hero Rin-Tin-Tin.

With the spread of his fame across country, many wild rumors began to circulate about the horse. One claimed Rex had killed two men, and as far as the oldtimers around Hollywood are concerned “they wouldn’t be a darn bit surprised if he had.”

Eugene Forde, who directed the first Smoky picture back in 1933, recently claimed, “Rex had a tremendous personality. He was a vicious horse and dangerous to work with. I stayed away from him . .”

Forde went on to explain that one scene showed Smoky (Rex) charging a cowboy, knocking him down, and trampling him to death. First of all, it took a lot of talking to finally get a stunt man who was willing to work the scene with the horse. During the filming, two women fainted when Rex charged and knocked over the cowboy. They were certain the horse had killed the man. Some of that footage was finally cut from the film, the feeling of the producers being that the audience would be certain that the cowboy was trampled to death and not just a victim of realistic acting.

Cowboy artist and writer Will James was never too happy about the manner in which the movie developed his plot. For one point, the story, as he wrote it, was hashed around; also the acting of the celluloid cowboys soured James. To James, however, Rex was the only actor which rang true to the book and the way Smoky would have been like in real life.

Rex was wild - an independent thinking and acting movie horse that became known as the King of the Wild Horses.
In Smoky, Rex drug his master home using stirrups as handholds.

Smoky was a talking picture and, at that time, Rex had been in the movies nearly 15 years. It seems Rex had no trouble at all making the conversion from silents to talkies which, incidentally, washed out many a matinee idol. Two more later pictures were made with Rex, but all too noticeable was the dying of the fire and spirit that had made him a one-time top box office draw. And then too, Mist-a-Shot was catching the eyes of producers.

Thus, the wild horse of the screen drew his last curtain and spent the final years of his life on the ranch of an admirer near Flagstaff, Arizona. Many of the old pictures Rex made are now on television, and many of the old wranglers around Hollywood always enjoy seeing the horse working again. They respected Rex and, with reverence, they remember that black stallion as the horse which could never be trusted, but was still The King.

This article was originally published in the July 1961 issue of Western Horseman.

2 Comments

  1. Lovely tribute to an amazing wild horse! Rest easy now, Rex, in the wilds from which you were born. Run free with your family band and think not of any past mistreatment by humans. ❤️

  2. Patricia Williams-Harter Reply

    I have a Western Horsemen from 1947- the year I was born!

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