12 Western Stars Who Deserved Their Downfall

They had the hit shows, the big contracts and the cheering crowds. Then they threw it all away. Nobody took it from them. In this video we go through court records, newspaper reports and the stars' own words: the Bonanza son who walked out on TV's biggest western, the cowboy whose temper handed his job to a young Gene Autry, the man who played Jesse James twice and was arrested more than a dozen times, the Kung Fu star's night in Laurel Canyon, the child star who stood before two juries that reached two different answers, and the King of Western Swing who never walked out of the Oakland Auditorium. Which fall do you think was the most deserved, and who should have been on this list? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe to Hollywood Weekly for more true stories of classic western and TV legends. Note: This is a documentary-style retrospective drawn from court records, newspaper reports, interviews and biographies. Where a story is disputed or a person was never convicted, we say so. #westerns #oldhollywood #bonanza