Don Collier made over 200 credited movie and television appearances. He performed with John Wayne,
Robert Mitchum, Anthony Quinn, Dean Martin, Tom Selleck, James Arness, and even Elvis Presley. His first role was as an extra in 1948 in the western Zweikampf am Red River (1949). This was followed by two more westerns -- Auf dem Kriegspfad (1950)
and Bis zum letzten Mann (1948) with John Wayne. He later appeared in three more John Wayne movies.
In 1959, Collier won the leading role of U.S. Deputy Marshal Will Foreman in the NBC series, Outlaws (1960). Starring with Don were Barton MacLane and Jock Gaynor. The second season of Outlaws (1960) found Will Foreman as a full-fledged Marshal. New characters were played by Bruce Yarnell, Slim Pickens, and Judy Lewis.
Collier kept busy appearing on all the other western TV shows, such as Bonanza (1959), Rauchende Colts (1955), Wagon Train (1957), Geächtet (1965), and Im wilden Westen (1952). In 1968, he was cast as the foreman of the ranch The High Chaparral (1967) in David Dortort's latest western series of the same name. Working alongside a extremely talented and experienced cast, his portrayal of Sam Butler was fundamental to the success of the highly acclaimed show, which ran until 1971. Even his commercials took advantage of his cowboy persona, when he became a 1980s icon as The Gum Fighter for Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum. More movies and TV kept him busy. Then he went further back in time when he was called on play the recurring role of William Tompkins in Die jungen Reiter (1989).
He continued to guest star on TV in and out of the west in Unsere kleine Farm (1974), two made-for-TV Gunsmoke movies (Faustrecht des Westens (1992) and Er ist das Gesetz (1994)), a made-for-TV Bonanza movie (Bonanza - Angriff auf die Ponderosa (1995)), Banacek (1972), Die Waltons (1972), Ein Engel auf Erden (1984) and such big-screen movies as Tombstone (1993).
He worked on a western radio drama series titled West of the Story and was sidekick to Fred Imus on
Sirius Radio's weekly show, Fred's Trailer Park Bash until Imus' death in 2011. He remained active with public appearances at Western and nostalgia shows like Western Legends Roundup in Kanab, Utah; Territorial Days in Tombstone, Ariz.; and the 50th Anniversary of The High Chaparral event being hosted in Sept. 2017 in Hollywood.
