Crash Corrigan

My parents took us to Crash Corrigan’s Corriganville Ranch when I was about 5 and it was wonderful for a young cowboy. I even got to meet and talk with him. That’s the back of my head in the picture on the left.

Ray “Crash” Corrigan (14 February 1902 – 10 August 1976), born Raymond Benard, was an American actor most famous for appearing in B-Western movies.

From Wikipedia:
“In 1937, Corrigan purchased land in the Simi Valley and developed it into a movie ranch called “Corriganville.” The ranch was used in several film serials, feature films and television shows, as well as for the performance of live western shows for tourists. Bob Hope bought the ranch in 1966 and renamed it Hopetown.

“His career in Hollywood began as a physical fitness instructor and physical culture trainer to the stars. In the early 1930s he did stunts and bit-parts. Many of his early roles were in ape costumes – for example, as a Gorilla in Tarzan and His Mate (1934) and an “Orangopoid” in the original Flash Gordon serial. In 1936 he got his break with roles in two Republic serials, The Vigilantes Are Coming and Undersea Kingdom in the main starring role where Benaud adopted his characters name “Crash Corrigan” (that evoked memories of “Flash Gordon”) as his own.

“On the basis of this, Republic signed him to a Term Player Contract, running from 25 May 1936 to 24 May 1938. He was cast as one the trio in the Three Mesquiteers series of films and starred in 24 in all. He left Republic in 1938 in a dispute over pay.

“At Monogram Pictures, he began a new series of films – The Range Busters (a cheap copy of the Three Mesquiteers) – with a character of his own name. Ray starred in 20 of the 24 films in this series between 1940 and 1943…..

“In 1950 Corrigan had a television show called Crash Corrigan’s Ranch and was planning a television series with his old associate Max Terhune called Buckskin Rangers.

“Corrigan’s last film was playing the title role of It! The Terror from Beyond Space. According to bio information given to visitors at the Thousand Oaks, California Corrigan Steak House and Bar that he once owned, the origin of his “Crash” nickname is from his stunt work where he would often crash through saloon windows onto the street outside.”

Others say the name was because Corrigan wasn’t a great rider and had a hard time staying on a horse.

Wikipedia again:
“In 1937, Corrigan was on a hunting trip with Clark Gable when he had the idea to purchase the land in Simi Valley, California as his own Western ranch similar to Iverson Movie Ranch. He paid $1,000 down payment, then a thousand dollars a month until the $11,354 price was paid. He developed this into Corriganville, a location used for many Western movies and TV shows. The location featured many different types of terrain for producers such as lakes, mountains, and caves. As opposed to merely set fronts, Corriganville contained actual buildings where film crews could live and store their equipment to save time and expense wasted in daily travelling from studios to an outdoor location.

“Corrigan made a lot of money from renting out this location and from paying visitors – it was opened to the public for Western-themed shows in 1949.”

Shows like the Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid and Fort Apache were filmed there.

You can get more information about his ranch by clicking HERE.