Born Jacques O'Mahoney on February 7th, 1919 in Chicago,
Illinois,
of French and Irish extraction, with some Cherokee thrown
in.
Jock's birth certificate states he was born
Jack Joseph O'Mahoney.
To Vera from Cousin Jacques and to Bob (Vera's husband) from Jack.
Photo courtesy of Vera L. Warner, Jock's 1st cousin,
and her son, Thomas C. Warner, Jock's 1st Cousin, once removed.
Tom and his brother Jerry were surprised
to find this site dedicated to their Mother's cousin.
The Warner's all live in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ruth Regina (nee Miller) & Charles James O'Mahoney
Jack's parents
Photo courtesy of Vera L. Warner,
Jock's cousin on their Mother's sides.
Jock grew up in Davenport, Iowa and had planned to become a doctor.
He attended the University of Iowa where he excelled in swimming,
basketball and football.
During World War II he earned the rank of "flight instructor" in the Marine Corps.
After the war Jock moved to Hollywood, and in the following years,
earned his spurs as a top Hollywood stuntman, doubling for Jon Hall,
George MacCready, Gregory Peck, Errol Flynn and Randolph Scott.
At 6' 4" and normally around 220 lbs.,
Jock took to the back breaking work with a fever.
Errol Flynn's daring leap off the descending staircase in 1949's
THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN was actually Jocko.
Jock could apparently stand flat footed and leap over the small
of the back of a regular size horse.
The movie public was always assured of hard fighting,
fast riding thrills in a Durango Kid movie.
Ted Mapes had been Starrett's double for sometime but when Jock
replaced Mapes, the stunts and action became even more furious.
Starrett was quoted as saying:
"I certainly had the best stuntmen."
"Jocko was just beautiful. He was like a cat."
At a western film festival in the eighties, Jocko recalled:
"Columbia left the stunts up to me."
"I'd walk around the location and find interesting things to do,
and then they would plain just write them into the script."
Someone at Columbia also noticed that Jock could act,
and he began receiving parts in the Starrett series :
ROARING RANGERS (1946),
THE FIGHTING FRONTIERSMAN (1946),
SOUTH OF THE CHISHOLM TRAIL (1947),
THE STRANGER FROM PONCA CITY (1947),
BLAZING ACROSS THE PECOS (1948),
TRAIL TO LAREDO (1948),
BLAZING TRAIL (1949),
HORSEMEN OF THE SIERRAS (1949),
BANDITS OF ELDORADO (1949),
RENEGADES OF THE SAGE (1949),
FRONTIER OUTPOST (1949),
LIGHTNING GUN (1950),
TEXAS DYNAMO (1950)
The Durango Kid - Charles Starrett
Photo courtesy of Thomas C. Warner, Jock's 1st Cousin, once removed.
Starring roles in serials followed bringing a new matinee idol
to the screen in :
CODY OF THE PONY EXPRESS (1950),
ROAR OF THE IRON HORSE (1950),
the Australian "Western" feature
"KANGAROO KID" (1950),
plus
In 1951, apart from being in THE TEXAS RANGERS (1951)
Jock also takes a starring role with Starrett and Burnette in PECOS RIVER (1951).
In essence Jocko threw himself off the train.
GUNFIGHTERS OF THE NORTHWEST (1954)
1950 saw Jock in "THE NEVADAN" (1950) with Randolph Scott;
DAVID HARDING, COUNTERSPY (1950) and strangely enough
another cowboy musical HOEDOWN (1950) with Eddie Arnold.
and in Randy Scott's SANTA FE (1951),
Jock again re-joined Charles Starrett and Smiley Burnette
to do stunts for Starrett in Columbia's CYCLONE FURY(1951).
It is here that Mahoney does an awesome stunt as the
"Durango Kid", leaping over two horses and onto his own.
Funny Note :
During the filming of Santa Fe (1951), besides
playing a villain, Jock was also doubling for Randolph Scott.
Jock was having a fight scene as Scott with another stuntman
on a moving flatbed train car.
After a brief fight Mahoney as Scott is to throw the other double
off the moving train.
The other double was fearful of injury or he just couldn't pull it off.
Jock agreed to go off the train.
For the final shot they switched clothes and the other double threw
Jocko off the moving train.
By this time television had gained momentum and Gene Autry's
Flying "A" Productions cast Jock in the role of the popular
Jock on "Rawhide" and Dick on "Lucky"
Teamed with former child star Dick Jones
(the voice of Pinnochio)
as "Dick West - All American Boy".
"THE RANGE RIDER" first aired on April 26th, 1951,
and went on to make 78 half hour episodes.
Dick Jones as "Dick West" & Jock Mahoney as the "Range Rider"
Jones, Autry & Mahoney
"sticken' em' up" for the kids
It was about this time in that Jocko met actress Margaret Field
(aka Maggie Mahoney).
She appeared several times on The Range Rider series and
on the later Yancy Derringer television series.
Maggie had a daughter from a previous marriage and her name was
Sally, more like SALLY FIELD, who went on to become "Gidget"
and the "Flying Nun" and became one the finest actresses in this century.
I believe Sally's first screen appearance was sitting (no lines)
on the back of a settler's wagon on the "Range Rider".
Jock and Maggie were married in Mexico.
A&E's Biography along with Margaret O'Mahoney gave the following info :
Richard and Margaret Field divorced on August 25th, 1951, leaving Margaret,
a contract player for Paramount struggling to survive with two young children,
Richard and Sally. They lived at Margaret's mother's house for two years while
she took parts in "B" films. In 1953 Margaret married her tall handsome suitor Jock.
Things improved for Mararet's family as they moved into a sprawling Hollywood home.
Margaret described Jock as being a very erratic husband and father.
From A&E Margaret said: "One moment he was sweet, loving and warm,
and the next, mean, ugly and there was just no pleasing him.
Jock and Sally locked horns many times as the defiant teenager rebelled against
her overbearing step-father. One thing Jock and Sally did share was a love of acting.
Sally was a head cheerleader at school and a star in the school's drama club.
In the summer of 1964 Jock suggested Sally enroll in the
"Summer Acting Workshop" at Columbia.
Sally had done an audition which was attended by some casting agents.
They stopped Sally and her mother on the way out of the building and
told her they wanted to offer her a part in a television series.
On September 15th, 1965 ABC's "Gidget" made it's one season debut with
Sally Field as the star..........and as they say : " the rest is history ".
SMOKY CANYON (1952);
THE ROUGH TOUGH WEST (1952);
LARAMIE MOUNTAINS (1952);
THE KID FROM BROKEN GUN (1952);
JUNCTION CITY (1952);
and
HAWK OF THE WILD RIVER (1952)
OVERLAND PACIFIC (1954);
SHOWDOWN AT ABILENE (1956);
Jock with Martha Hyer
I'VE LIVED BEFORE (1956);
A DAY OF FURY (1956);
AWAY ALL BOATS (1956);
JOE DAKOTA (1957);
BATTLE HYMN (1957);
SLIM CARTER (1957);
THE LAND UNKNOWN (1957);
LAST OF THE FAST GUNS (1958);
Shawn Smith whose real name was Shirley Patterson was actually born, on Dec.
26th, 1922,
in my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Linda Cristal, Lorne Greene and Jock in a scene from
LAST OF THE FAST GUNS (1958)
only a year before Canadian Lorne Greene
takes over control of the Ponderosa on "Bonanza"
A TIME TO LOVE AND A TIME TO DIE (1958);
MONEY, WOMEN AND GUNS (1958);
THREE BLONDES IN HIS LIFE (1960)
Jock always did his own stunts and in 1958 our man of action
landed another TV Series in CBS's
"YANCY DERRINGER"
with X Brands, as his faithful Indian Companion
Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah.
The show was not your regular style western and came off a little bit
too sophisticated, and was dropped after 34 episodes.
The series ran during the 1958-59 season in 30 minute b&w episodes
The series regular co-stars were Kevin Hagen as John Colton,
and Julie Adams as Amanda Eaton.
Other recurring cast members were :
Frances Bergen as Madame Francine
Lisa Liu as Miss Mandarin
Richard Devon as Jody Barker
Bill Walker as Obadiah
Robert McCord III as Capt. Fry
CBS Thursdays 8:30 pm Eastern Time
click
here to go to the Des Martin
awesome episode guide for
"Yancy Derringer"
click here to go to page 2
of the
Jock Mahoney
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