WFPS member Kenneth Kitchen passed along this anecdote about the famous B-Western villan.

Roy up to no good

Roy Barcroft is probably the most popular badman of the B-Western films. The crooked outlaw character was as critical to the horse opera as the hero in the white hat. The best cowboy pictures included believable villains and no one could top Barcroft. The reason for Barcroft’s success was simple. He was a very good actor.

However, off-screen Barcroft suffered from the same human foibles as the rest of us.

Dale Berry spent some time in Hollywood and was friendly with both Barcroft and Keene Duncan. He told me of an evening he shared with the two tough guys celebrating completion of another oater. The three men wound up at Barcroft’s house where he intended to give the men a farewell drink. Mrs. Barcroft recognized their boozy condition and locked the front door. Not to be denied entry into his own house, Barcroft backed up and charged the door, hitting it hard with his shoulder. As Duncan and Berry were picking up the battered Barcroft from the floor, the “king of the badmen” muttered, “What happened? The *#^! doors always fly open at Republic!”

Many thanks to Kenneth for sharing this. And the picture too!