Bruce Boxleitner - Living the Spirit of the Old West
Title: Bruce Boxleitner - Living the Spirit of the Old West
Source: YoungNLovin Teen
Author: Unknown
Date: June 1978
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It isn’t all an act. “How the West Was Won’s” favorite son, Bruce Boxleitner, wears his rugged role like it was made for him, and there’s a good reason way.
Bruce, a native of Elgin, Illinois, is one of those pioneering souls with a sense of adventure that would have had him forging westward and settling the wilderness had he been born 150 years earlier. Instead, he grew up as a diehard fan of Western movies and TV shows like “Davy Crockett” and “Gunsmoke.” As he got older, he was able to live out his frontier fantasies by joining a national organization known as the “Buckskinners.”
It’s basically made up of riflemen, gun collectors, and Western Buffs,” Bruce told us. “They duplicate and reproduce the actual guns, as well as living the lifestyle of the perople during the covered-wagon era. The group holds meetings and events all over the country.”
Currently, Bruce is an active participant in the Buckskinners’ apprenticeship program. A couple of months ago, the club led him on a four-day excursion into the wilds of central California, where he lived the life of an 1840’s fur trader down to the last detail.
Bruce’s love of the outdoors has contributed a great deal to his completely believable character on “How the West Was Won.”/p>
“Usually, TV shows and movies are so romanticized that what comes across on screen is nothing like it really was,” commented Bruce, who’s always been a history nut. “That over-romanticizing is a trap I hope ‘How the West Was Won’ never falls into. So far we’ve stuck pretty close to historical fact, and I think the people, places and hardships in out stories are as realistic as anything ever presented on television as dramatic entertainment.”
Although “How the West Was Won” is his first major Hollywood credit, Bruce warmed up to the TV bix playing parts on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Gunsmoke,” “Police Woman,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Baretta,” and a movie of the week called Cry for Help.
Co-starring with his wife, Kathryn Holcomb (who plays his younger sister), Bruce plays a young man during the time of the Civil War. He’s being chased by bounty hunters because of a shooting incident that took place when he tried to escape from COnfederate sympathizers.
“As Luke Macahan, I get a reputation as a gunslinger,” Bruce descrbed his role, “although I never wanted to become one. My gunfights are all the result of selfdefense, or from trying to help someone else, a friend or member of the family.”
It’s eerie how perfectly Luke’s character matches Bruce’s, although that’s how fine acting is always supposed to look. In this case, however, there seems to be more involved than just being a talented trouper.
Bruce is living out part of his personality.