This week I’m part of the Cowboys and Lawmen Blog Hop!
From May 2-6, over 50 authors will share their love of Cowboys and Lawmen. Cowboys are known as bad-boys, but what happens when the bad-boy is also the law in town? Why are these small town sheriffs, Texas Rangers and ex-outlaws-turned-lawmen so irresistible?
Join us at http://cowboycharm.blogspot.com/ to find out.
Every time you leave a comment with your email address, you will be entered for some amazing prizes. ***PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO QUALIFY***
You will also be entered to win a free digital copy of WYOMING ESCAPE.
Grand Prize: At least a $100 Gift Card for Amazon or Barnes and Noble, your choice. The winner will be chosen at random from comments containing email addresses, and will be announced on May 7. This is open to both US and international readers.
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Gary Cooper – The Quintessential Cowboy
The theme of this blog hop is Cowboys and Lawmen. My current book WYOMING ESCAPE has a minor character named Sheriff Red Eagle. While he only plays a small part this time, he is the hero of the second book of my Triple H Ranch series, WYOMING HOPE. Since he’s still revealing his story to me, I thought I’d talk instead about one of my favorite movie stars who often played a cowboy lawman—Gary Cooper.
For me, Gary Cooper, with his lean, lanky body, quiet confidence and laid-back approach, was the quintessential American cowboy. Although he rode the movie range long before tight jeans and rippling abs became the rage, he was a popular sex symbol of his era. His smoldering good looks and powerful presence drew women in droves. Here was a man who knew who he was and was comfortable in his skin. He didn’t have to yell for people to pay attention. And he had a twinkle in his eye that implied he knew how to have fun too.
Cooper grew up in Montana on his family’s ranch. So he had no problem playing cowboys when he moved to Hollywood. He consistently portrayed the strong, silent, secretly romantic hero. (In real life he could be considered overly romantic, but that’s another story. ;-)) His two most famous cowboy roles were in his first talkie, The Virginian, and one of his late movies, High Noon, for which he won an Academy Award. In both, he takes the high moral ground of a Western hero. In The Virginian, he helps to capture and eventually hang his best friend, who has turned outlaw. In High Noon, he plays a sheriff who takes on a gang of criminals single-handedly when the town folk won’t support him. Can’t get any more heroic than that.
So who is your favorite Cowboy hero—real or fictional? Do you know any real cowboys?
Leave a comment to be entered in the prize raffle – a free digital copy of WYOMING ESCAPE and $100 gift card . Don’t forget your email address. Otherwise, we can’t contact you.
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For an exciting read about a modern day cowboy, try my book WYOMING ESCAPE. Available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple, Kobo and Smashwords.
One dead body is frightening enough, but a second one, plus a dirty cop, sends chef Mikela Richards fleeing for her life. The ultimate city girl finds a safe hiding place on a Wyoming Dude ranch, where she tries to discover if the murders are connected to the mysterious computer memory stick she found in her car. But her fragile feeling of safety is disturbed by a compelling Marine, home on leave.
Back from Afghanistan to heal both physically and emotionally, Shawn Saunders recognizes the type of fear in Mikela’s eyes—it’s one of the things he’s come home to forget. Even though he knows it’s a bad idea, he can’t stop himself from trying to help her, while she’s even more afraid of letting him. In spite of their reservations, neither can resist the pull of their attraction.
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Don’t forget to visit the other blogs talking about Cowboys and Lawmen. Go to http://cowboycharm.blogspot.com/
Cowboy Charm Blog Hops now has a companion FaceBook Group. If you’d like to join to receive blog hop and prize announcements here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/453991144693516/
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/24842486@N07/5426119444/”>erjkprunczýk</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a>
Conversations with Horses and Others by Kate Wyland 
First, congratulations on your book! Second, what a great cowboy pick. Love Gary Cooper in almost every movie he made. And he could do funny so well.
Agree completely. He was special.
Great post, Kate. I’m kind of with Vicki. I love Gary Cooper. He’s the epitomy of the “strong, silent type.”
And the struggle he has in high noon between wanting to do what his Quaker wife wants him to do (not fight) and protecting the town which he’s sworn to do . . . . awesome conflict.
Very different from the character John Wayne played who’d shoot you as soon as look at you if he thougth you were bad. Don’t get me wrong, I loved John Wayne, especially in anything with Maureen O’Hara. I was young, but have vivid memories of some of their scenes.
Okay confession time. Favorite cowboy is Roy Rogers. LOL I know just really gave away my age if I hadn’t already with the John and Maureen comment. I can remember when I was four playing Roy Rogers and Dales Evens with the neighbor kids.
What a fun post, Kate. Thanks for the memories. Oh, and I’m not a Butch and Sundance fan. My favoirte cowboys have to be the good guys! I’ll be FBing and Tweeting this. 🙂
I loved Roy too, but liked Gene Autry better because of his horse Champion. Trigger was nice, but Champ was awesome! When my friends and I played, I was Champ.
I’m not a fan of anti-heroes either. Give an old-fashioned good guy.
My favorite western stars were Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart in The Cheyenne Social Club.
Ah, Gary Cooper.
I enjoy The Virginian and The Rifleman
oncerfan@yahoo.com
Those were great TV series, weren’t they? In the days when Westerns were popular.
Fonda and Stewart were really good too. I loved the way Jimmy talked to the horse he rode in most of his movies. He’d tell him what to do and the horse did it. (Probably with a little help from the trainer.) Great fun.
I love Westerns. I loved “The Duke” and Clint Eastwood. Gary Cooper was cool too. Fun Blog. cherleygrogg@gmail.com
Eastwood was always good. Not really a cowboy somehow. More of an outlaw edge. Wayne was just Wayne, no matter what role he played. 🙂
Enjoyed your post re Gary Cooper, he was a great character, you’re right, he was strong and silent, the way a lot of us like them! (Until we try to have a conversation with them!) Great memories evoked.
Neva Bodin
The funny thing about Coop was that he really wasn’t the silent type. He could charm the pants any woman he met (literally). In his early days he was a Hollywood glamor boy and had women fighting over him. Takes more than smoldering looks to provoke that reaction. 😉
I’m happy to see all the remarks about lawmen I loved. Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Randolph Scott, the Virginian and Rifleman. Lest we forget more modern guys like Jack Lord and Magnum PI. These guys never tooted their own horns but you just knew they had steely convictions and the bad guys were gonna pay. Great blog!
Tom Selleck (Magnum) made a great cowboy too. As did Sam Shepherd. I can really see both of them in the old West.
Do I know any cowboys? My dad, my husband, and a whole lot more! Love Gary Cooper!
horses5 AT frontier DOT net
Lucky you. Where do you live to have so many cowboys in your life?
Love movies that feature John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Gary Cooper was such a great actor, his movies were wonderful.
skpetal at hotmail dot com
The old Westerns were a lot of fun. Not as gritty and “realistic” as the more recent ones. I like a bit of fantasy.
Congratulations on your new book! Nice photo of Gary Cooper! My favorite cowboy was Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes. kmnbooks at yahoo dot com
I had to look that one up. Couldn’t place Duel. He was fun in Alias Smith & Jones.
Well, Kate, I’m afraid I don’t know any real cowboys, sad to say. I used to go to rodeos every year in my home town, but never had a favorite or really knew any of them. As to favorite fictional cowboy, there were so many I loved – watched every TV western that came along. Rawhide, The Virginian, Big Valley, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, Rifleman…I loved ’em all, the rawboned, strong and silent cowboys and lawmen. In more modern times, I think John Wayne would fit the bill for favorite cowboy, but Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart would be a close second and third. I love to read western romances, and still watch western movies when they come up on AMC and Netflix. I am really looking forward to the new Lone Ranger movie that is coming out this Summer! So nice to have “met” you, Kate, on this blog today. jdh2690@gmail.com
Nice “meeting” you too.
Of course, not many people encounter cowboys these days, but they still have a powerful image. I loved all those old TV series too, including Have Gun Will Travel and Wanted Dead or Alive. There used to be so many.
And I am lucky enough to know a few cowboys too.
Lovely blog:) Favourite cowboy(s) – any one in Louis Lamour’s books!
melissa@yuulong.com.au
I’ve only read a couple of Louis’ books, but they are great.
Does .au mean Australia? Certainly have a cowboy/drover tradition there.
Gary Cooper is great, but I gotta go with John Wayne
sugerlady@aol.com
The Duke was the big Western star, but somehow I preferred his WWII movies to his Westerns. Blasphemy, I know.
I got hooked on cowboys watching Little Joe on Bonanza. He was so cute. Sounds like a great book.
sstrode at scrtc dot com
All the guys on Bonanza were great! Who didn’t love Hoss too?
Congrats on your new book! 🙂 I love cowboys! Diana Palmers Long Tall Texan series is my favorite. Lots of great cowboys, law enforcement and yummy men! 😀 Thank for sharing and being apart of this awesome hop!
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for stopping by. It’s been a fun blog hop.
Wow, memories going way back here! Enjoyed visiting today.
~~Emmly Jane
ej (at) emmly jane (dot) com
Thanks for stopping by!
How could I forget Fonda, Cooper and Stewart, wow, this is the first time I remember seeing their names on the hop. The lawman/cowboy/ shifter – yeah, I am one of those people, would be a real sweet combo. Someone just needs to write it.
cmucha319(at)yahoo(dot)com
Would love to read that one. Unique to say the least.
You can’t get better than Gary Cooper…but Jimmy Stewart, Sam Elliott, and Tom Selleck may tie with him for best all around cowboy. Yes, I know a lot of real-life cowboys. I live in Texas in the county that bills itself as the cutting horse capital of Texas.
Those are my top picks too. What part of Texas is that? Love cutting and reining.
Forgot to leave my email: caroline@carolineclemmons.com