Bob Custer’s Last Stand

I’m just the kind of sucker who can be taken in by a screen name like Bob Custer (Raymond Glenn, 1898-1974). I literally did wonder whether the western star was related to the ill-fated General of Little Big Horn. Go ahead and brand me “Pilgrim”!

Custer was Kentucky born, bred, and educated, even obtaining a degree in engineering from the University of Kentucky. As a young man he actually worked for cattle ranches, later using the skills he acquired in rodeos, finally breaking into films, where the money was better, in 1924. His initial contract was at FBO, the studio which later became part of RKO. In the very late days of silents he produced his own films. Nearly all of Custer’s over 50 films were westerns with titles like The Texas Bearcat (1925) and The Fighting Hombre (1927). On a couple of occasions he appeared in non-westerns like The Return of Boston Blackie(1927) and Temptations of a Shop Girl (1927), credited under his birth name. When sound came in, he continued to work for minor studios making B movies through 1937. After that, he fell back on his engineering degree to become a building inspector in communities around Los Angeles.