Red West

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Red West (born 1936) is an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter.

West was born Robert Gene West in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lois and Newton Thomas West.^[1] He was a close high school friend of rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. An excellent athlete and former U.S. Marine, West played football for his high school and junior college teams and was a boxer in the Golden Gloves championships.

Today, he is probably best known to American film audiences for his role as Red in Road House, alongside Patrick Swayze.

West and Elvis

In 1955, West was the driver for Presley and band members Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and later D. J. Fontana when they toured the U.S. South performing live concerts as the "Blue Moon Boys". In 1960, following Presley's discharge from the United States Army, Red West went to work for the singer as a bodyguard and became known as one of the media-dubbed Memphis Mafia.

In addition, West was a talented songwriter who wrote songs that not only Elvis Presley recorded but also were recorded by teen idols Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone and Johnny Rivers.

In 1976, Red West was involved in a series of heavy-handed incidents in Las Vegas with aggressive fans that got out of hand and drew growing criticism by the media. More than that, West was becoming more vocal about Elvis' drug problem and how he needed rehab. As a result, Red West and two other bodyguards were fired by Elvis' father, Vernon Presley. West continued his career in film and in 1977 collaborated with the other two former Presley bodyguards (his cousin Sonny West and Dave Hebler) and professional writer Steve Dunleavy on a book about their time working for Elvis Presley titled "Elvis: What Happened" (ISBN 0-345-27215-3). This was the first book that focused on Elvis' addiction to prescription drugs. The book came out a few weeks before Elvis died. Some fans have suggested that reading the book may have made Elvis more depressed and hastened his death.^{[citation needed]} When Elvis died in August 1977, the book sold more than 1 million copies.

Red West wrote several songs with Elvis Presley in 1961 and 1962. He received help from Elvis Presley in writing two songs in the early 1960s, which were collaborations: You'll Be Gone and That's Someone You Never Forget. "You'll Be Gone" was also co-written with Charlie Hodge, and appeared on the Girl Happy soundtrack album and as a 45 single in 1965. The single reached number 35 on the Canadian singles chart in 1965. "That's Someone You Never Forget" was the final track on the 1962 album Pot Luck and was released as a 45 B side single in 1967 and was featured on the Artist of the Century compilation. Red also co-wrote "If You Think I Don't Need You" with Joey Cooper for the motion picture "Viva Las Vegas." He teamed up with Joey Cooper again on "I'm A Fool," which Ricky Nelson recorded. "I'm A Fool" later became a hit for Dino, Desi and Billy. He also co-wrote the tunes "Seeing Is Believing," (with Glenn Spreen) "Holly Leaves And Christmas Trees," (with Glenn Spreen) "Separate Ways" (with Richard Mainegra) and "If You Talk In Your Sleep" (with Johnny Christopher) which Elvis recorded in the early 1970s. The Christmas song "If Everyday Was Like Christmas" was written by West and recorded by Elvis in 1966. Red had put out his own recording of "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" in 1965 on the Brent label.

Career in film and television

When Presley was making films in the 1960s in Hollywood, Red West appeared in small roles in sixteen of the star's films. During this time, West became good friends with actor Nick Adams and his physical abilities got him hired on as a stuntman on Adams' television series, The Rebel. From there, West went on to do more stunt work in film as well as developing a career as an actor in a number of motion pictures and on television. He was often on screen as a henchman in the television series The Wild Wild West. He was also a stuntman on the series and developed a strong friendship with the star Robert Conrad.

West played Sgt. Andy Micklin in the 1978 Robert Conrad series Baa Baa Black Sheep. He also guest starred twice on the CBS hit Magnum, P.I. (as different characters), as four different characters on NBC's hit The A-Team, Knight Rider pilot episode Knight of the Phoenix, and in The Once and Future King (The Twilight Zone) as the man who played an Elvis impersonator's boss at the Crown Electric company (and who was a real-life schoolmate and best friend of Elvis). In 1989 West appeared in the action film Road House with Patrick Swayze as Red Webster, the auto parts store owner.

Today, Red West continues to work in motion pictures, his most recent role in the 2010 Film; "Father of Invention".

Personal life

In 1961, Red West married one of Elvis Presley's secretaries. Their son John Boyd West is a Hollywood actor who appeared in the 2005 CBS miniseries Elvis.

Filmography

• Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)
• Walking Tall (1973)
• Walking Tall Part II (1975)
• Road House (1989)
• The Rainmaker (1997)
• Glory Road (2006)
• Goodbye Solo (2009)
• Father of Invention (2010)

References

External links

• Red West at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Red West