OklahomaHorses Magazine November 2023

18 OklahomaHorses • November / December 2023 Lifelong Cowboy Ben Johnson Won Awards in Film and Rodeo by Carol Mowdy Bond “W hen I left Oklahoma, I wasn’t even sure which direction Hollywood was, but I could ride a horse pretty good,” late Hollywood actor and Oklaho- man Ben Johnson Jr. once said. “I had no formal education to speak of. I was a cow- boy from the time I hit the ground. But I was fortunate because people accepted my character. I ran my life a certain way. I didn’t hobnob with the elites because I didn’t do drugs, and I didn’t drink a lot of whiskey.” Ben Johnson stars as Trooper Travis Tyree in the 1950 John Ford movie Rio Grande, with costars JohnWayne and Maureen O’Hara. Photo courtesy of the Ben Johnson Cowboy Museum.