Dan White

Biography

Dan White (1908-1980) was an American actor best known for his work in Western films and television series. He spent decades in Hollywood, mostly in supporting roles, and is remembered for playing villains and character parts in the B-Western tradition.

Born in Florida into a large family, he had a youth marked by a robbery conviction. After marrying, he tried to build a career in entertainment and, following a long journey west, reached Hollywood in the late 1930s. His first major job came with Republic Pictures, in Prairie Moon (1938), alongside Gene Autry. By his own account he made about three hundred films, a figure that cannot be independently verified. Most of his credits are Westerns, and he appeared in large productions such as Gone with the Wind and Red River, often uncredited. In the 1950s and 1960s he turned to television. He turned down the bartender role on Gunsmoke and suggested his friend Glenn Strange instead. His final film was Black Sunday (1977). He was posthumously honored with a place on the Newhall Walk of Western Stars in 2019, and in 2025 his grandson published a biography of him.

Key films

• Gone with the Wind (1939): a minor, uncredited appearance in the period's biggest hit.
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940): a supporting figure at a transient camp, uncredited.
• Duel in the Sun (1946): a brief uncredited part as a wrangler.
• Red River (1948): a supporting role in Howard Hawks's Western, also uncredited.
• The Red Badge of Courage (1951): a sergeant in John Huston's Civil War film, uncredited.