Cowboy movie star Bob Steel was born Robert Adrian Bradbury
in Portland, Oregon, January 23, 1907 into a vaudeville family.
The Bradbury’s settled in Hollywood in the late 1910’s after
years of touring. Bob’s father found work in movies as
an actor and later as a director. In the 1920 he hired Bob
and his twin brother Bill as young leads for a series of
adventure moves entitled “The Adventures of Bob and
Bill”. As a result of this movie exposure he was hired by a
booking office to star in a series of Westerns in
1927. Steel soon made a name for himself and
in the late 1920’s to the 1940’s he starred in ‘B’
Westerns for many minor film studios, including
Republic. Bob did have a role in a major film, a 1939
adaptation of the Steinbeck novel “OF MICE AND MEN”.
By the 1940’s Steel’s career began to decline, but he kept
himself working by accepting supporting roles in many
movie’s and lots of television work, culminating with
his regular supporting role in the comedy TV series
“F Troop”(1965 – 1967). He played the character of Trooper
Duffy. Bob died at 81 on December 21, 1988 from emphysema.
1932 1944
Bob Steel in the 1960’s
