Gloria Henry: Catching Up with a Strawberry Gal

Gloria Henry spent a week in Sedona filming 1948's The Strawberry Roan with singing cowboy Gene Autry. Henry, familiar to baby boomers as mom Alice Mitchell on TV’s Dennis The Menace, was asked in 2005 to share a few of her Roan memories.––Joe McNeill


Did you ever get to ride Gene Autry’s horse, Champion?

Oh, good God, no! Champ absolutely hated me; I think Champ was jealous of any of Gene Autry’s leading ladies unless they really loved horses and I was afraid of horses. I remember we were shooting some beautiful scenery up on top of a hill, on a beautiful day. We were sort of right on the edge of the hill and the cameraman went down on a little hognose area below us, looking up at us and taking these romantic shots. Gene was on one side of Champ, and I’m on the other side and we’re all facing out. Champ looked at me; I could see that his eyes looked funny. He put his head over toward Gene and suddenly he turned it toward me and wonked me as hard as he could with his head, which nearly knocked me over the side. I wouldn’t have died or anything. Another time he looked at me and took his hoof and stepped right on my foot as hard as he could. Luckily, I was wearing good stiff boots. He did his best to get me out of the picture, that’s all I remember.

What was it like being the only woman in the cast of The Strawberry Roan?

Well, you’re not the only woman on the set; there are makeup people, wardrobe people, and the script girl – in those days, it was usually always the script girl – so there were always other women around. But I don’t think it was anything special one way or the other to be the only actress on the set. I mean, it would be different had it been George Clooney (laughing). Then it would have been divine to be the only girl on the set!

Sedona Movie Alert!

Catch a film ­featuring our red rock scenery on TV: The Strawberry Roan (1948, filmed in Sedona) starring Gene Autry, Gloria Henry and Jack Holt; directed by John English. Airing on Encore Westerns August 22 and August 25 at 12 p.m. Eastern time.

Sedona Fashion Gets Back in the Saddle!

A lot has changed in Sedona, including fashion, since Zane Grey’s The Call of the Canyon was filmed in the area in 1923, but the red rock skylines aren’t really fazed by the years. While Arizona’s Little Hollywood was in the works it was exciting to find that many of the backdrops from some of Red Rock Country’s most famous films are still accessible and unimpeded by houses and strip malls – what better locations for showcasing hot Western wear? Paris and New York may have the runways, but we have the red rocks. Even our well-heeled models agreed: Nothing compares to Sedona’s natural beauty (not even the chunky turquoise jewelry that had everyone at the photo shoot making their Christmas wish lists early). So saddle up and take a look at Sedona scenery and fashion, then and now. What would you rather be wearing?––Erika Ayn Finch




Inset: George O’Brien and Noble Johnson fight to the finish in Mystery Ranch (1932, Fox Film Corp.). Photographed in Sedona in 1932.




Inset: Gene Autry (l), Dick Jones (c) and Jack Holt in The Strawberry Roan (1948, Columbia Pictures). Photographed in Sedona in 1947.




Inset: Elvis Presley and unknown starlets in a publicity shot from Stay Away, Joe (1968, MGM). Photographed in Sedona in 1967.




Inset: Randolph Scott and Dorothy Hart in Gunfighters (1947, Columbia Pictures). Filmed in Sedona in 1946.




Inset: John Wayne and Gail Russell in Angel and the Badman (1947, Republic Pictures). Filmed in Sedona in 1946.

Sedona Movie Legends Walk of Fame

With more than sixty major feature films shot in Sedona between 1923 and 1973, and occasional TV, commercial and other productions ever since, the town holds a special place in movie history. On October 27, 2004, Sedona Main Street Program celebrated that legacy with the first “Hands through History” event. The five guests of honor who helped make movie magic in Sedona – Ernest Borgnine and Ben Cooper, co-stars of Johnny Guitar (1954); Sue Ane Langdon, co-star of The Rounders (1965); Bob Bradshaw, a local rancher who did late-era location scouting; Dwight Brooks, director, producer and CEO of Sedona Movie Studio, a local production company; and A.C. Lyles, the legendary Hollywood producer whose series of westerns breathed life into the genre in the 1960s – attended a cocktail party where granite plaques, each with their images and signatures, were unveiled.

After introductions and the screening of vintage film clips, the guests of honor cast their handprints in concrete slabs, which would be installed in Uptown Sedona in August 2006 as part of the Uptown Enhancement Project for streetscape beautification.

Borg­nine recalled that when he first came to Sedona “it was just a little hamlet, a little tiny town…there weren’t very many people here. Then, BAM! Next thing you know, it’s a city.” Cooper recalled that Sedona Lodge, headquarters for the Johnny Guitar company during their stay “had a big mess hall and they would bring in platters of food; they would have a platter of pork chops piled high, a platter of steaks piled high.” When asked if she had the chance to sightsee while shooting The Rounders, Langdon replied, “It was mostly just work, work, work – but where we worked was sightseeable. Where is there a place that’s not sightseeable here?”

A.C. Lyles, who’s worked for Paramount Pictures since 1928, was serving as a consultant to HBO’s Deadwood at the time and bursting with pride at the show’s success. “We just opened in England,” he said, “it’s been on four weeks and already is the highest-rated drama on Sky Network,” a British pay-TV service.

Actors Clint Walker, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, Robert Horton, and Morgan Wood­ward were the guests of honor in February 2005 when the second “Hands Through History” evening brought more of the greats from Sedona’s western movie past back to town. Walker, who filmed Yellow­­stone Kelly there in 1959, joked, “It’s been 18 years [since my last visit]; most of this wasn’t here. I wondered, would I be able to find my way around?” His Kelly co-star, Byrnes, called that film “my favorite western that I’ve done.”

Robert Horton said, “I first saw Sedona [when we filmed] Pony Soldier in 1952. My wife and I came back in 1989 and it had changed; but the red rocks didn’t change, and I think the city should be very proud.”

Movie tough guy Morgan Wood­ward showed he has a soft spot for our town. He noted he filmed Firecreek here in the late ‘60s and “I can see that both of us have changed a great deal. I’m delighted to be back to celebrate this marvelous historical event that you’re carrying forward. Sedona is an absolutely beautiful place and I’ve never been among friendlier people.”




Passersby check out Uptown Sedona's "Hands Through History" installations.

A third “Hands Through History” event was held in May 2005, honoring Randolph Scott (Gunfighters, 1947), Tyrone Power (Pony Soldier, 1952), James Drury (The Last Wagon, 1956) and Dick Jones (The Strawberry Roan, 1948) for their roles in Sedona movies. Actress Donna Martell represented the deceased Scott, her co-star in the Tucson-filmed Ten Wanted Men (1955); Tyrone Power Jr. stood in for his father. To date, the last Sedona film star honored by Sedona Main Street Program has been The Strawberry Roan’s Gloria Henry, who cast her handprints in concrete during a visit to town in September 2007.––Joe McNeill