bobbaker

Bob Baker

Bob "Tumbleweed" Baker (1910 – 1975) Baker enlisted in the Army when he was 18 and served two consecutive hitches. He also served briefly in the early 1940s, and again during the Korean conflict.

It was during his first hitch in the army that he picked up the nickname "Tumbleweed". It was also during this time that he started learning the guitar, an event that would shape his future.

Baker worked on several radio stations before landing a job on the prestigious National Barn Dance on Radio station WLS in Chicago.

During the mid 1930s, Universal Studio was looking for a new singing cowboy star. Baker was given a try out by Universal and won the job over seven other candidates --- one of the candidates was Roy Rogers.

Baker's first film, and one of his best, was COURAGE OF THE WEST released in 1937. The next year he made a total of nine features and was listed in the Top Ten Moneymaking Western Star poll. In his pictures he rode a beautiful paint horse called Apache. One of his movies for Universal, LAST STAND – 1938 was the basis of a comic book (see below).

Shortly after making his twelfth feature (PHANTOM STAGE), Universal hired Johnny Mack Brown. The studio then formed a trio of Brown, Baker and Fuzzy Knight, and their first movie was DESPERATE TRAILS (1939). Baker made six features with Brown, but his role was never equal to Brown's. In fact, in OKLAHOMA RAIDERS, Baker was killed off about half way through the picture. Baker's career then went downhill and he got out of the movies.