Originally, Bill Williams' character died shortly after the beginning of the film. However, Barbara Hale asked director Edward Killy to make some excuses for Williams to remain in the film. It turned out that she had fallen in love with him and wanted to keep him around. A year later they were married.
It was the first marriage for both. They went on to have three children and were together until his death of a brain tumor in 1992. She lived until 2017, but never remarried. Their middle child, William Katt, became an actor. He was reportedly the spitting image of his father who was a tall, blond athletic actor in "B" films.
It was the first marriage for both. They went on to have three children and were together until his death of a brain tumor in 1992. She lived until 2017, but never remarried. Their middle child, William Katt, became an actor. He was reportedly the spitting image of his father who was a tall, blond athletic actor in "B" films.
The main reason that Barbara Hale's character was disguised as a young boy is that some men in town thought she was a prostitute -AKA "dance-hall girl."
The Zane Grey novel was previously filmed under the same title by RKO in 1935, starring Richard Dix and Martha Sleeper, and directed by Phil Rosen. It is no relation to the silent film West of the Pecos (1922).
The previous year, Robert Mitchum had played the lead in another Zane Grey movie with the same screenwriter (Norman Houston) and director titled Nevada (1944), also featuring Richard Martin as comical sidekick Chito Rafferty. Nevada had been Mitchum's first movie as a leading man and the opening titles began with "Introducing Bob Mitchum as Jim Lacy." It was Mitchum's final job before his service in the army.