The Adventures of a Wagon Train
Robert Fuller is still foolin’ ‘em.
By: Henry Cabot Beck 03/01/2009
Tell me about the Hitchin’ Post.
Aw, well, it’s an old cowboy joint. It was a pretty tough joint; you had to weigh in at the door. We raised a lot of hell in those days. It was cowboy time in those days. Thirty-two Westerns. You can imagine. Cowboy bars all over the place.
And there was Whiskey Row—
Whiskey Row was right off the main drag of Universal Studios. I think there were, I can’t remember how many dressing rooms, but it started with Ward Bond, Terry Wilson, Frankie McGrath, John Smith, myself and Lee Marvin. That’s six dressing rooms in a row, called Whiskey Row, and you can probably imagine why.
Lee Marvin was one of the great guys of all time. We always wound up in my dressing room after work at night, and we never got home before two in the morning. Had to be back on the set at 7:30 a.m. But hell, we were young in those days. We could do it.
You were in Korea; Marvin was wounded in the South Pacific. A lot of actors working at that time came through the service and saw action.
It gave you a sense of responsibility, the service. That’s for sure. Lee was never late for work; I was never late for work. When I have to be someplace at 10:47, I’m there at 10:47. I learned all that in the Army. Discipline is a really, really important thing. I wish my kids had been in the Army [laughs].
I loved the Army. I wouldn’t do it over again, going to Korea, but I’m sure glad it happened to me. I was a kind of a messed up kid. I was raising hell when I was 18, 19 years old.
Is that right?
Oh, yeah. My first day in the Army, I hit a corporal [laughs]. I ran up and down the company street, I don’t know for how many hours, holding an M-1 rifle over my head, saying, “I will never hit a Corporal, I will never hit a Corporal, I will never hit a Corporal,” until my arms almost fell off. Boy, you learn it quick, you can’t do
that stuff.
Why’d you hit him?
Oh, he smarted off, as he should have, you know. I was just a recruit. And I didn’t like the way he talked to me.
Was that the first and last time?
Oh no—but the next time I hit a corporal, I was one. It was no problem then.
Comments (3)
I'm been a Bob Fuller fan since his Laramie days. I really enjoyed the article and maybe you can feature him again. He must have tons of stories on his cowboy life in real life and as an actor...horses, shooting contests, wardrope, detials about stunt work, other behind the scenes things, celebrities, etc.
cw
Robert Fuller has always been one of my favorite actors and I just watched Mustang Valley a few days ago and it was great. I look forward to seeing the Wagon Train series, when growing up as a boy in South Dakota we only got one channel on the tv and Wagon Train was on a channel we did not get. Thanks for the great magazine and keep up the good work. Doc
Thank you for a wonderful article about a truly wonderful guy. The Robert Fuller Fandom gets together every year at the Festival of the West in Phoenix, Arizona, and Bob Fuller very generously shares his time with us. He is a true cowboy in the very best sense of the word.
Yvonne Freydberg
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