A Chapter on Chief Thunderbird

August 6 was the birthday of screen actor Chief Thunderbird (Richard “Chick” Davis, 1866-1946).

A member of the Cheyenne people, Chief Thunderbird was born near the Powder River in what was then the Montana Territory. Educated at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, he was taught the dairy trade, and put in charge of the school’s herd. In 1894 he returned west and farmed for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency. In 1910 he started working as an interpreter in Oklahoma, and started performing with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show, which is what led to film roles. During the silent era he was a crowd extra in The Perils of Pauline (1914) and The Covered Wagon (1923).

With the arrival of talkies, Chief Thunderbird began to find steady work in films and began to be credited for roles. First came three serials: The Indians Are Coming (1930) with Tim McCoy, Battling with Buffalo Bill (1931) with Tom Tyler, and Heroes of the West (1932). His most significant roles were in the films Laughing Boy (1934), in which he played the title character’s father, Annie Oakley (1935), in which he played Sitting Bull, and Silly Billies (1936) with Wheeler and Woolsey. Other credits include Massacre (1934), Rustlers of Red Dog (1934), Cyclone of the Saddle (1935), Custer’s Last Stand(1936), The Country Beyond (1936), For the Service (1936), Wild West Days (1937), Susannah of the Mounties (1939), Geronimo (1939), North West Mounted Police (1940), Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942), and The Falcon Out West (1944), with Tom Conway, his last.

He is not to be confused with Chief Thundercloud!