Wilford Brimley is known to Western fans as a walrus moustached, portly, somewhat curmudgeonly character who usually offers sage advice and a little comic relief.
The real life cowboy got his start off-camera, shoeing horses and wrangling for various movie and TV productions in the ‘60s, then (with some help from friend Robert Duvall) becoming a stunt man and extra.  His first film was 1968’s Bandolero!; he followed that up with an uncredited part in the first True Grit.
Brimley hasnâ

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows