Starrett still holds the record for starring in the longest series of theatrical features: 131 westerns, all produced by Columbia Pictures.

[4] He played the romantic lead in his first movie, Fast and Loose (1930), which starred Frank Morgan, Miriam Hopkins, and Carole Lombard.

Starrett starred in the Canadian production The Viking (1931), a rugged outdoor adventure filmed on location in Newfoundland, which had begun as a Paramount Pictures project.

He was featured in Our Betters (1933), Murder on the Campus (1933), and as a young doctor named Orion in "Along Came Love", opposite Irene Hervey.

He cast an appealing figure with his tall stature (6' 2"), strong jawline, confident voice, and air of quiet authority.

But you know when you're raising a family -- I had two young boys, twins -- you can't always do what you want to do... And I think an actor's life is very much like an athlete's.

"[7] Theater exhibitors around the world were attracting big crowds with Charles Starrett westerns, so Columbia gave him a new contract with the actor insisting on appearing in a non-western.

Very occasionally, Columbia reassigned Meredith to other productions, so various contract starlets took the ingenue roles, among them Lorna Gray and Ann Doran.

Iris Meredith left the studio,[11] and the Sons of the Pioneers moved to Republic Pictures, where they reunited with their former lead singer Roy Rogers.

Columbia then added former Hopalong Cassidy co-star Russell Hayden and comedian-musician Cliff Edwards to the Starrett company, following the "trigger trio" format popular at the time: three name stars in a western series, like The Three Mesquiteers, The Rough Riders, and The Range Busters.

The character was an upright citizen known and liked by the townsfolk, but he masqueraded as a notorious, black-garbed horseman to terrorize the local criminals and foil their plans.

One favorite device became a signature: the masked Durango Kid suddenly materializing like Superman, always catching the villains by surprise.

[13] The film series was also a useful training ground for novice actresses and fashion models, who would be signed to six-month contracts and cast as cowgirls in Starrett westerns.

The Durango Kid films combined vigorous action sequences—often with spectacular stunts performed by Ted Mapes and later Jock Mahoney—and western music.

In 1947 producer Colbert Clark faced a scheduling problem for the film Prairie Raiders and had to borrow scenes from older westerns to coax the running time up to the usual length.

Although his agent, Sam Jaffe, tried to interest movie and TV producers in hiring Starrett, the actor no longer needed or wanted a show-business career; he was independently wealthy from wise investments and his family fortune.

[18] Cowboy Theater premiered on Saturday, September 15, 1956, at 12 noon Eastern time, and the first episode was a slightly edited version of Starrett's first Columbia feature, Gallant Defender (1935).

This edition of the show did without a live host, presenting only the films; some of them were the 1941-42 theatrical series starring Charles Starrett and featuring Russell Hayden and Cliff Edwards.