Tall in the Saddle

Kathryn Jones is a journalist, essayist, and poet whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Texas Monthly, and other publications, and in numerous anthologies, including A Uniquely American Epic: Intimacy and Action, Tenderness and Violence in Sam Peckinpah’s "The Wild Bunch." She is author of two volumes of poetry about the beauty and brutality of nature. She was born in Hollywood and grew up in Texas, where she lives on a ranch southwest of Fort Worth. Jones was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2016.

"Back when I worked with Ben Johnson on The Sacketts, he told me that the great director John Ford’s dying words to him were, ‘Johnson, always stay real.’ Well . . . that was never gonna be a problem. Ben was as real as daylight. But that being said, I have to admit that gravity seemed to take a holiday when Ben Johnson was around. And while I know he’d be embarrassed if he knew I called him a mentor, the fact is, I went to the school of Uncle Ben. Honesty and respect were his watchwords, and he was never afraid of modesty. In the very best sense, he was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. He was a world champion roper, he earned an Academy Award, and nobody sat a horse like Ben Johnson." - Tom Selleck"It has all the fixings of a tall tale—young cowboy/grammar-school dropout from small Oklahoma town rises to heights far above the Hollywood Sign’s Mount Lee—but in Kathryn Jones’s Tall in the Saddle, it’s genuine. Rife with apt quotes, varied sources, and fresh interviews, the book is a living, breathing document of Johnson’s remarkable career. Jones’s campfire storytelling is delightful, each chapter ending with a virtual cliffhanger practically atop a Monument Valley spire. Plus, her personal background informs a look at Johnson’s gap year as he strove to win rodeo’s world championship (Sam Shepard would have traded his Pulitzer for that accolade), and her understanding of Johnson’s ethos never waivers." - Susan Compo, author of Warren Oates: A Wild Life and other works"Kathryn Jones’s Tall in the Saddle: The Life of Ben Johnson, Hollywood’s Real Cowboy is an instant classic. Jones spent years employing her great skills as a researcher and reporter to piece together the complicated life of a complex man, then used her sublime gift as a storyteller to produce this compelling, exquisitely written book. Even people who think they know everything about the Oscar-winning actor and world-champion rodeo cowboy will come away from Tall in the Saddle with a much deeper understanding of Johnson. I highly recommend it." - W. K. Stratton, author of The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film"Be warned: this book will seduce you. That’s a promise. I was hooked before I reached the second page. Thanks to Kathryn Jones’s thorough research and skillful writing, Tall in the Saddle satisfies readers who devour this life story of Ben Johnson, an authentic cowboy who became a world champion rodeo roper and snagged an Academy Award. ‘I’m not an actor,’ he once said. ‘I’m a cowboy who got lucky.’ Grab a handful of mane and enjoy the ride." - Michael Wallis, author of The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West"Kathryn Jones’s treatment of the actor’s life history and comprehensive discussion of all of Johnson’s films, television productions, and related professional and philanthropic work is impressive. Tall in the Saddle cements Johnson’s contribution to the Western genre as well as twentieth-century film and Oklahoma history." - Jennifer L. McMahon, coeditor of The Philosophy of the Western"Tall in the Saddle: The Life of Ben Johnson, Hollywood’s Real Cowboy is rich with research by the author, interviews, and telling, behind-the-scenes detail about the making of key movies in Johnson’s career, as well as his other career as a world-champion roper." - Joseph B. Atkins, author of Harry Dean Stanton: Hollywood’s Zen Rebel

• PrologueChapter 1. Big Sky and Tall GrassChapter 2. The Cowboy Way of LifeChapter 3. Hollywood and Mr. HughesChapter 4. Doubling the StarsChapter 5. Enter John FordChapter 6. Don’t Act, ReactChapter 7. The Western Master and Wagon MasterChapter 8. In the CrosshairsChapter 9. Playing the Bad Guy in ShaneChapter 10. Rodeo ChampChapter 11. Back in the Hollywood SaddleChapter 12. Black Hats and BrandoChapter 13. Grand AdventuresChapter 14. The Autumn of John FordChapter 15. Blood and Guts and ThunderChapter 16. Rebranding the WesternChapter 17. The Wild Bunch’s "Traumatic Poem of Violence" Chapter 18. Back with DukeChapter 19. A Picture Show Role of a LifetimeChapter 20. The Best Little Rodeo Picture Ever MadeChapter 21. Getting Away with Peckinpah and McQueenChapter 22. Oscar AcclaimChapter 23. An Actor in DemandChapter 24. Chasing DillingerChapter 25. The Spielberg ExpressChapter 26. A Man to RememberChapter 27. Westerns Ride AgainChapter 28. "A Symbol of America Past" Chapter 29. Returning to RootsChapter 30. Arizona SonChapter 31. "Not Bad for an Old Cowboy" EpilogueAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyFilmographyIndex