Born in Pasadena, California, actor Joel McCrea first entered filmmaking as a youth extra; in his high school years, he worked as a stunt double; by the time he commenced his education at U.S.C., he was appearing regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse. On the basis of his success in the 1929 talkie Jazz Age, the ruggedly handsome McCrea steadily built his reputation in adventures and melodramas of the 1930s. He eventually concentrated nearly exclusively on Westerns, due to his box-office pull in William Wellman's Buffalo Bill (1944) and The Virginian (1946). Along the way, he struck up a friendship with Will Rogers, who imparted to McCrea his good business advice and wisdom about ranching. By the late forties, McCrea, an earnest listener, apparently, had become a multimillionaire due to his savvy management of his vast land holdings, his ranching activities, and his busy film career (he generally listed his occupation as rancher--acting to him was a hobby). In the early 1950s, McCrea branched out into radio with a western series called Tales of the Texas Rangers, and in the latter part of the decade he starred in a TV western series called Wichita Town, which also co-starred his son Jody. McCrea remained married to actress Frances Dee from 1933 until his death in 1990.

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