My second film. Straight off the Mississippi, and into an honest to god Western!
Belle was played by Elizabeth Montgomery. I played her troubled, jealous son.
Didn’t like the men she was sleeping with. Shot her dead.
Contains some of the worst western dialog in cinema history. My favorite line (I actually got to say this):
“Guns are fer killin’, Ma. Your kinda killin’, not mine. Mine’s the rabbit fer stew. Yours is bigger game.”
Actually only “Guns are for killin’, Ma.” ended up in the final edit. Not my fault, I sold that line.
Two little stories: Before I got cast in this, I was asked if I could ride a horse. Being born and raised in New York City, where I had actually seen a real horse in Central Park once, I said yes, of course.
Then I went to Griffith Park and learned to ride, on my own dime.
Turns out the reason they were asking, was because if I hadn’t known how to ride they were going to teach me.
I never lied about a skill again. Let that be a lesson to all you youngsters out there.
And the other thing, not really a story, they spelled my freaking name wrong in the credits. That’s why if you look me up on imdb.com, it says “Sometimes billed as David Nell.”
No, not “sometimes.” Just this one time.
Whatever, dude. I got to be a cowboy!