Sheb Wooley was not only an actor, he was also a writer and musician. Born in 1921 in Oklahoma, Wooley wrote for the TV series Rawhide, and composed music for The Split.
His song “Purple People Eater” was in the Top Ten pop list for nine weeks in 1958, but his popularity as a musician (in spite of his well-received “High Lonesome” album) was a sort of roller-coaster ride.
As an actor, Wooley spent time on Rawhide (as Pete Nolan), The Lone Ranger and The Cisco Kid… to name a few. He appeared as a cavalry sergeant in Silverado and portrayed Travis Cobb in The Outlaw Josey Wales with Clint Eastwood. In a hilarious scene of The War Wagon, he makes the mistake of telling John Wayne to “try to take” his gun away from him and in short order is accommodated via a convincer on the nose.