The late Gene Wilder wasn’t the original Waco Kid in the comedy “Blazing Saddles.” Veteran actor Gig Young got the role of the drunken gunfighter.
But Young was a drunk in real life, and director Mel Brooks says he showed up for the first day of shooting and began throwing up, unable to do the job. Brooks sent Young to a hospital and called Wilder, who flew out the next day.

September 2017
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Johnny Lingo: Nothing That Glitters Is Gold
- Stuart’s Stranglers
- Action-Packed Western
- Was Ammunition Expensive?
- Gold Fever
- The Great Western
- A Murderous Trail
- James Ford Wreaks Havoc
- Is Clint Eastwood Ambidextrous?
- The Late Glen Campbell’s Roll in 1969’s True Grit
- The Sunny Sheriff
- Sam Mason Gets What He Gave
- John Hance, Grand Canyon’s Windjammer
- The Many Faces of the Late Sam Shepard
- Western Legend
- Not Easily Intimidated
- Six-Shooters
- The Farrington Brothers’ Short-Lived Outlaw Career
- Invalids Need Not Apply!
- Did “Wild Bill” Hickok have a Sidekick Named Jingles?
- Saving Hamley’s Saddles
- Crazy Horse Never Died
- Will C. Barnes Makes Quite A Name for Himself
- A Frontier Wonder Woman