[1][2] He was reared on a large ranch, where he learned to ride horses and work cattle as a part of daily life.

[5] At Republic Pictures, his cowboy skills gained him stunt work and a small acting part at the age of 18 in a 1935 Gene Autry film, The Singing Vagabond.

These included Springtime in the Rockies (1937) with Autry, The Purple Vigilantes (1938) with Robert Livingston, the serial The Lone Ranger (1938), Outlaws of Sonora (1938) with Livingston, The Old Barn Dance (1938) and Gold Mine in the Sky (1938) with Autry, Under Western Stars (1938) with Roy Rogers and Shine On, Harvest Moon (1938) with Rogers.

He was in an African adventure tale Hawk of the Wilderness (1938) with Bruce Bennett (billed as Herman Brix, his real name) and the bigger-budgeted Army Girl (1938).

He starred in Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) with Maureen O'Hara, playing a role originally intended for Tyrone Power.

[10] He was Ginger Rogers' love interest in Roxie Hart (1942) and played opposite Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942) for Henry Hathaway.

[11] The following year, Montgomery starred with Betty Grable in the Walter Lang-directed film Coney Island, which was his biggest hit to date.

According to one obituary, "The actor's vocal mannerisms were often uncannily reminiscent of Clark Gable, and when he grew a moustache his similarities to the greater star were even more apparent.

[12] However, Montgomery wound up joining the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit in 1943 where he appeared in such training films as Survival of the Fittest (1944).

Fox then cast him as Philip Marlowe in The Brasher Doubloon (1947), a B-picture version of the novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler.

The song "This is Always", Montgomery's major duet (albeit dubbed) with June Haver in Three Little Girls in Blue, was cut, and he was assigned to a minor Western, Belle Starr's Daughter (1948).

For Sam Katzman, he made The Pathfinder (1952), Fort Ti (1952), Jack McCall, Desperado (1953), The Battle of Rogue River (1954), and Seminole Uprising (1955).

(1956), a war movie shot in the Philippines, Canyon River (1956), Pawnee (1957), Black Patch (1957), Gun Duel in Durango (1957) for Small, Street of Sinners (1957), a rare non-Western, Last of the Badmen (1957), Man from God's Country (1958), The Toughest Gun in Tombstone (1958) and Badman's Country (1958) as Pat Garrett.

Montgomery claimed to have turned down the lead roles in the Western television series Gunsmoke and Wagon Train.

Montgomery turned director with The Steel Claw (1961), a war film shot in the Philippines, which he also co-wrote and in which he starred.

He also starred in the TV movie Ride the Tiger (1970) and made guest appearances on 1970s television shows including The Odd Couple, The Six Million Dollar Man and Alias Smith and Jones.

Self-taught, he sculpted upwards of 50 bronze sculptures of subjects such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Gene Autry, Randolph Scott, and Ronald W. Reagan.

[5][3] His sculpture of his former wife, Dinah Shore, and their children is displayed at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.

Allegedly suffering from a fanatical attraction to her employer, the woman planned to shoot Montgomery, then commit suicide.