Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922 – April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor.

[4] Calhoun worked at a number of odd jobs, including as a mechanic, logger in California's redwoods, hard-rock miner in Nevada, cowboy in Arizona, fisherman, truck driver, crane operator, and forest firefighter.

She arranged for him to have a screen test at 20th Century Fox, and he was cast in uncredited roles for Something for the Boys (1944) and Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944).

"[5] Shortly afterward, the Ladds hosted a party attended by David O. Selznick employee Henry Willson, an agent who was known for representing young actors.

Willson signed McCown to a contract with Selznick's company Vanguard and his name was soon changed to Rory Calhoun.

[9] (In another account of the story, Selznick named him "Rory" because he helped put out roaring fire blazes when a firefighter and "Calhoun" because it sounded Irish.

His first public appearance in the film capital was as Lana Turner's escort to the premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), a Selznick production.

[10] Calhoun did not appear in a film for a year before being lent to producer Sol Lesser for The Red House (1947) with Edward G.

[11] He was then loaned to Paramount's Pine-Thomas second feature studio to play the lead in Adventure Island (1947) with fellow Selznick contractee Rhonda Fleming.

Calhoun was announced for a film called Jet Pilot with Fleming, Guy Madison, and other Selznick contract players,[12] but it was not made.

[5] During Calhoun's contract with 20th Century Fox, he was in A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950) and was second male lead in I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951) with Susan Hayward and Meet Me After the Show (1951) with Betty Grable.

Calhoun was promoted to star in the Westerns The Silver Whip (1953) with Dale Robertson and Robert Wagner and Powder River (1953) with Corinne Calvet.

He was in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) as Betty Grable's love interest, then was back to second male leads in River of No Return (1954) as Marilyn Monroe's boyfriend, who loses her to Robert Mitchum.

While filming The Spoilers, Calhoun's conviction history became public when his mugshot appeared on the May 1955 cover of Confidential magazine.

Ultimately, the disclosure had no negative effect on Calhoun's career and only served to solidify his "bad boy" image.

[18] He helped produce and starred in Flight to Hong Kong (1956), The Hired Gun (1957), Domino Kid (1957), and Apache Territory (1958).

In 1958, on the recommendation of studio boss Desi Arnaz, Calhoun co-produced and starred in the television series The Texan, which aired on Monday evenings until 1960.

[20] On March 26, 1959, he appeared as himself in the episode "Rory Calhoun, The Texan" on the sitcom December Bride, starring Spring Byington.

Calhoun continued to appear in both television and film throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including Thunder in Carolina, Rawhide, Gilligan's Island, Hawaii Five-O, Alias Smith and Jones and Starsky and Hutch.

[27] Calhoun died on April 28, 1999, at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, of emphysema and diabetes.