Joel McCrea was an actor I admired.


 Not only for his movies but for his attitude to his work. Like Sterling Hayden, it was only a job, a means to an end. For Sterling it was to go sailing on his boat, and for Joel to maintain his first love, ranching. Very early in his career, he had become friends with Will Rogers who advised him to put his money in land, which he did. Will personally vouched for him to the bank as Joel needed a large loan.


He knew his place in the firmament of stars. He once said he got the comedies that Cary Grant turned down and the Westerns that Gary Cooper passed on.


When WWll broke out he was in his mid-thirties and too old for war. Again, acknowledging his shortcomings, he realised he would not look right on the screen acting a young war hero and refused to do any war pictures.


When the war ended he had just turned 40 and spent the rest of his career on Westerns, with the exception of, Shoot First, 1953, aka Rough Shoot.


When the time came to retire he recognized it, and he hung up his spurs spending his last days happily on his large ranch. Towards the end of his life, he was asked if he had any regrets. “I have no regrets, except perhaps one: I should have tried harder to be a better actor.”



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