Harry Carey, Jr., had been reliable character actor for decades, mostly
in Westerns, before he retired. He is the son of the actor
Harry Carey and the actress
Olive Carey. He was born on his parents'
1000-acre ranch near Saugus, in the northwestern part of Los Angeles
County, which is now next door to Santa Clarita, a large town that
certainly did not exist in 1947 or for decades longer. Thus, the young
Harry Carey, Jr., grew up among cattle and horses at the ranch. Because
of a large group of Navajo Indians who worked on his parents' ranch, he
learned to speak the Navajo language at the same time that he was
learning to speak English.
During World War II, Carey enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and he served in
the Pacific Theater first as a Navy medical corpsman. However, he was
transferred back to the United States (against his wishes) to serve
under his father's good friend, the director
John Ford, in making movies for the
Navy (training films)and the O.S.S. (propaganda films).
After World War II ended, Carey tried to make a career in singing, but
he was not successful at this. Hence, he moved into acting, and after a
couple of small acting parts, he was given a chance to work in a motion
picture with his father, the
John Wayne film
Panik am roten Fluß (1948). (However, the father
and the son did not have any scenes with one another). After the death
of Harry Carey, Sr., in 1946, Mr. Ford gave the younger Carey a leading
role in the movie that Ford dedicated to the memory of Harry Carey,
Sr., in 1948, Spuren im Sand (1948).
As a full-fledged member of the noted John Ford Stock Company, Carey,
Jr., appeared in many of Mr. Ford's epic Westerns during the following
two decades. Carey also starred in a series-within-a-series on TV,
The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955),
which was shown as a part of
The Mickey Mouse Club (1955).
Very boyish looks characterized Carey's early years, but he matured
into a strong and familiar character actor over the following four
decades, and he acted in scores of films and TV programs in his long
career. Carey, Jr., is married to Marilyn Fix Carey, the daughter of
the actor Paul Fix.
