Tex Holden

If you watch a western and there's an actor with a peg leg, odds are that it's Tex Holden who found a niche for himself in such roles. However, he did not let disability stop him from obtaining regular work. Starting in the late 1940s, he managed to obtain work as barflies and townsman in B-Westerns including in films that starred Gene Autry and Tim Holt. With the fading of the classic B-western Holden had no problem finding work in the 1950s and 1960s sometimes as a barfly, townsman, or with his peg leg as needed. In 1951 he had probably was perhaps his best role in Clark Gable's Across the Wide Missouri as Peg Leg Bates where he showcases his mobility with his leg and ability to perform stunts. Never short of work, Holden continued to appear in westerns until the mid 1960s working on such shows as Gunsmoke, Laramie, Maverick, Bat Masterson, and Laredo.