- Born
- Died
- Clifford Gordon Ketchum was born on January 20, 1918 in Aston, Monoma County, Iowa, USA. He was the son of Arthur Leslie Antil and Dorothy Nelson Ketchum. As a part-time actor he appeared in two 1959 movies (Pork Chop Hill and The Young Land) and from 1957 to 1965 in three television series (once on 77 Sunset Strip and three times each on Tales of Wells Fargo and Gunsmoke). His best known work was as a saddle maker, leather stamper, and silversmith. His saddles were often used in television and movies as well as by real life cowboys. Stunt men prized his saddles. Many of the special ornate saddles with flashy silver work used in parades were handcrafted by Cliff Ketchum. Cliff Ketchum apprenticed Saddlemaking at the Porter Saddle Company, Phoenix Az. while in high school, under the watch full eye of Luis Ringlero, Master Saddlemaker. According to the 1940 U.S, Census at the age of 22 he managed a Los Angeles Saddle Shop. His first marriage was on February 27, 1940. Ketchum enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 31, 1942 and remained in military service until his release on March 1, 1946. After World War II , he packed his bags with his wife and young son and went to Los Angeles and worked for a few saddle shops before he opened the San Fernando Valley Saddlery with Art Hugenberger in Van Nuys, California, USA. Later he bought out his partner. Cliff Ketchum's horse was in Disney movies Tonka (1958) and Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). The saddle used by James Arness was a San Fernando Saddlery Saddle. Many saddle makers were apprenticed under Ketchum's tutelage. Ketchum was married to Wanda Juanita Gledhill, Patricia A. Fullerton, and Anna Gail Jensen. Cliff Ketchum passed away on September 11, 1984 in Milton-Freewater, Umatilla County, Oregon, USA.- IMDb Mini Biography By: SAGE STEPS
- SpousesAnna Gail Jensen(February 7, 1977 - September 11, 1984) (his death)Patricia A. Fullerton(April 17, 1954 - ?) (divorced)Wanda Juanita Gledhill(February 27, 1940 - November 29, 1952) (her death, 1 child)
- Verlane Desgrange is a nationally acclaimed saddle maker and leather worker known for the ergonomics of accommodating rider to horse. She learned her craft in part as an apprentice to Ketchum, a master Western saddle maker in Ralston, Wyoming.
- Cliff Ketchum showed master Western saddle maker Don King many tricks of the trade, including leather stamping and how to make one's own tools from nails. Known as an emeritus saddle maker, King was initially encouraged to work with leather during a visit with Ketchum at Porter's Saddle Shop in Phoenix, Arizona.
- Ketchum served as a mentor in helping famed saddle maker Pedro Pedrini in learning his craft.
- Bob Morgan was fearless as a stuntman for many screen stars such as Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, John Wayne, and many others. In 1962, his stunt career ended while he was filming How the West Was Won (1962) in Arizona. As stunt double for George Peppard, Morgan was paid $250 for a difficult stunt requiring him to mount a coupling connecting railroad cars and hold on fast to a brace of slipping logs on the speeding train. After doing it successfully, someone shouted a wrong command and the logs were released. Two flat cars and a caboose ran over Morgan. Following the amputation of his left leg, wife Yvonne De Carlo supported both his recovery and desire to return to work as a stuntman. This was never to be, although Morgan continued to work as an actor. DeCarlo took the role of Lily on The Munsters (1964) to help pay Morgan's medical bills. One of his later roles on the movie Alvarez Kelly (1966) required him to ride a horse while playing a peg leg Confederate soldier. Cliff Ketchum designed and made a scabbard saddle which Morgan described as being absolutely great for any amputee who rides horses.
- Emeritus saddle maker Don King was initially encouraged to work with leather during a visit with Ketchum to Porter's Saddle Shop in Phoenix, Arizona.
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