Claude Ennis "Jack" Starrett Jr.[1] (November 2, 1936 – March 27, 1989) was an American actor and film director.
[2] Starrett is perhaps best known for his role as Gabby Johnson, a parody of George "Gabby" Hayes, in the 1974 film Blazing Saddles and is also known for his role as the brutal policeman Art Galt in the 1982 action film First Blood.
Starrett was raised in Refugio, Texas and worked in the oil fields before coming to Hollywood.
He made an uncredited first attempt at direction when the original director of The Girls from Thunder Strip needed assistance.
[5] He played the mumbling Gabby Johnson in Mel Brooks' 1974 film Blazing Saddles, which was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.