Cactus Mack

A cousin of cowboy actors Rex Allen and Glenn Strange, Taylor Curtis McPeters was the oldest son born to John and Leona Byrd McPeters in Weed (Otero County), New Mexico, USA on August 8, 1899. He was the second of eleven children. Glenn Strange's mother was Leona's sister. Rex Allen was 21 years McPeters junior on his father's side. McPeters and Strange learned ranching in Coke,Texas, USA before their families moved to Willcox (Cochise County), Arizona, USA.

Registered for the draft during World War I and was ordered to report for induction on Oct. 31, 1918, but the armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918, and the war ended.

McPeters married Etta Sarah Jessee on July 4, 1922 in Tombstone, Arizona, USA. Cactus Mack was a talented musician. He played violin with Ray Whitley's "Six Bar Cowboys" and guitar with Fred Scott's "The Cimarron Cowboys". He later played villain roles in many westerns, along with other character parts.

He worked at Arizona's O Bar O Ranch in the early 1930s. He formed a band--which included his cousin Glenn Strange--and named it The O Bar O Cowboys. They performed at the Mystic Theatre in Willcox, AZ. When he and Strange decided not to travel with the band any longer it was turned over to its youngest member, Leonard Slye. McPeters allowed Slye to use the name "Cactus Mack". That was the first stage name Slye ever used, until he changed it to Roy Rogers. Over time the band morphed into the famous Sons of the Pioneers.

The XXX Rootbeer Band began singing together in Phoenix, AZ. They became The Arizona Wranglers and began performing in other western states and were identified with radio station KNX in Hollywood, CA. By the mid-'30s he had joined the band as guitar player and appeared with them in their first film. Stormy (1935). . [1929]

In 1951 Curt Massey, musician and broadcaster, purchased a 500-acre ranch in California's Cuyamaca Mountains. He also leased 4,000 acres from the government with an option to lease 3,500 additional acres, planning to run cattle. He hired Mack to be his ranch foreman.

Although typically relegated to "barfly" or "face-in-the0crowd scenes, during the final three years of his career on Gunsmoke (1955) he was selected by Dennis Weaver, director of Gunsmoke: Marry Me (1961), to co-star as Pa Cathcart, a hillbilly who with his two sons kidnaps Miss Kitty. In one scene he picked up Miss Kitty and passed her through a window. This caused him to injure his abdomen, and he underwent surgery. His doctor advised him to take it easy for a while, so he took time off from "Gunsmoke" to recover FOur months later he died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

Injured during his final appearance on Gunsmoke, he required abdominal surgery in late 1961.

His daughter Norma McPeters Johnson represented her late father at the funeral of Roy Rogers on June 11, 1998, at The Church of the Valley in Apple Valley, CA. She reminisced that her father taught Rogers to play the guitar when he was 16-year-old Leonard Slye. They lived in the same San Fernando Valley neighborhood.

In August 2014 he was honored posthumously with the prestigious Jack Iverson Founders Award by former child actor Tommy Ivo. The presentation was made at the 17th annual Celebrity Silver Spur Awards Gala held at the Sportmens Lodge in Studio City, CA.