--- name: "Bob Steele" canonical: "https://film.one/person/bob-steele" roles: ["Actor"] born: "23 January 1907" died: "21 December 1988" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 84 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T00:03:14.112472+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Bob Steele Actor. Born 23 January 1907 in Portland, Oregon, USA. Died 21 December 1988. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 23 January 1907, Portland, Oregon, USA - **Died:** 21 December 1988 - **Active:** 1939–1946 - **Also known as:** Bob Bradbury Jr., Robert Bradbury Jr., Robert Adrian Bradbury - **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 84 (1), 1940s 84 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Steele_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q888266, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0824496/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/88649 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Of Mice and Men*](https://film.one/film/of-mice-and-men.md) (84) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Bob Steele > For two decades a B-Western hero, small and cold-eyed, who beat bigger men picture after picture. His best work came when the A-pictures asked him to play the other man: the bully in *Of Mice and Men*, the henchman in *The Big Sleep*. Bob Steele stood five foot five, and for most of the 1930s that was the point of him. In the B-Westerns that made his name he was the small man who went up against the big one and won, week after week. Then Lewis Milestone cast him as Curley in *Of Mice and Men* (1939) and the same size meant something else. Curley is the ranch bully, and Steele plays him small, mean and frightened of it. The fear is what makes the performance. We disliked him on sight, which is the job, and were slightly ashamed to find we pitied him too, because Steele lets you see a man who knows exactly how he looks standing next to Lon Chaney Jr. and hates it. He had been in front of a camera since childhood, in shorts directed by his father, Robert N. Bradbury, after a start in vaudeville. The name came in 1927, for starring westerns at FBO, and it carried him through Monogram, Republic and PRC: twenty films as Tucson Smith in the Three Mesquiteers series, a run as Billy the Kid, six pictures with John Wayne. What people noticed was the stare. He could make a man back down without a gun coming out, and he was hired for it again and again. The material was the trouble. Those westerns were made to a pattern and seldom asked more of him than the pattern needed, and by his own account he did not much mind. His stardom faded in the middle of the 1940s, and the parts that have outlasted it are the ones where he played against everything the audience knew him as. Curley is one. Lash Canino, the henchman in Howard Hawks's *The Big Sleep* (1946), is the other, in a film where Bogart and Bacall leave little air for anyone else. A henchman who is remembered has usually done his job badly. Canino is remembered anyway, and for the same reason as Curley: the menace has no swagger in it. After that came character parts and television, more than four hundred films and episodes in all, and a late run as Trooper Duffy in *F Troop* (1965–1967), a comic western that put him back in front of an audience. He was unsentimental about it. Asked in 1966 about taking bit parts while other actors starved, he said, "Why disintegrate because of pride?" Not many leading men talk like that, and he had been one for longer than most. Start with *Of Mice and Men*. It is where the hero of all those westerns turned round and showed what the small man looks like when he is not the hero, and it is still uncomfortable to watch. ## Biography Bob Steele was an American actor who appeared in more than 400 films and television productions, primarily Westerns. Born Robert Adrian Bradbury on 23 January 1907 in Portland, Oregon, he performed in vaudeville as a child with his twin brother Bill before entering films under the direction of their father, Robert N. Bradbury. He adopted the professional name Bob Steele in 1927 and became a leading star of B-Westerns for studios including Monogram, Republic and PRC, appearing in series such as the Three Mesquiteers. From the mid-1940s he worked mainly as a character actor. Notable credits include Curley in *Of Mice and Men* (1939), Lash Canino in *The Big Sleep* (1946), and supporting roles in John Wayne films such as *Rio Bravo* (1959), *The Comancheros* (1961) and *Rio Lobo* (1970). He also appeared in television Westerns and played Trooper Duffy in the comedy series *F Troop* (1965–1967). Steele died on 21 December 1988. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Big Sleep* (1946), Fi1m 84, as Lash Canino — [page](https://film.one/film/the-big-sleep.md) - *Of Mice and Men* (1939), Fi1m 84, as Curley — [page](https://film.one/film/of-mice-and-men.md) ## Complete filmography (234) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Shootist* (1976), as Books' Victim in Flashback (archive footage / uncredited) - *Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch* (1976), as (archive footage) - *Nightmare Honeymoon* (1974), as Charlie - *Charley Varrick* (1973), as Bank Guard (uncredited) - *Something Big* (1971), as Teamster #3 - *Skin Game* (1971), as Bidder (uncredited) - *Rio Lobo* (1970), as Rio Lobo Deputy (uncredited) - *Then Came Bronson* (1969), series, as Clay Turner - *Doc* (1969), as Toby - *The Great Bank Robbery* (1969), as First Guard - *Hang 'em High* (1968), as Jenkins - *Family Affair* (1966), series, Actor - *F Troop* (1965), series, as Trooper Duffy - *The Bounty Killer* (1965), as Red - Henchman - *Town Tamer* (1965), as Ken - *Requiem for a Gunfighter* (1965), as Max Smith - *Shenandoah* (1965), as Union Train Guard - *Taggart* (1965), as Earl (uncredited) - *Bullet for a Badman* (1964), as Sheriff (uncredited) - *4 for Texas* (1963), as Bank Board Member - *McLintock!* (1963), as Train Engineer - *Wall of Noise* (1963), as Trainer - *The Wild Westerners* (1962), as Casey Banner - *Six Black Horses* (1962), as Puncher - *The Comancheros* (1961), as Pa Schofield (uncredited) - *National Velvet* (1960), series, as Clive - *Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge* (1960), as Ben - *Hell Bent for Leather* (1960), as Jared - *The Atomic Submarine* (1959), as "Grif" Griffin - *The Rebel* (1959), series, as Will Randall, Jess Kirby - *Pork Chop Hill* (1959), as Col. Kern - *Rio Bravo* (1959), as Matt Harris (uncredited) - *No Name on the Bullet* (1959), as Poker Player (uncredited) - *Rawhide* (1959), series, as Deputy Art Gray - *Ride a Crooked Trail* (1958), as Jud Blunt (uncredited) - *Lawman* (1958), series, as Telegraph Operator (uncredited) - *The Texan* (1958), series, as Luke Short - *Once Upon a Horse...* (1958), as Bob Steele - *The Bonnie Parker Story* (1958), as Armored Truck Guard (uncredited) - *Giant from the Unknown* (1958), as Sheriff Parker - *Decision at Sundown* (1957), as Irv (uncredited) - *The Parson and the Outlaw* (1957), as Ace Jardine - *Maverick* (1957), series, as Walter Jackson, Wells, Jailed Cowhand Billy (uncredited) - *Sugarfoot* (1957), series, as Sam Shoulders - *Have Gun, Will Travel* (1957), series, as Jockey - *Duel at Apache Wells* (1957), as Joe Dunn - *Gun for a Coward* (1956), as Durkee - *Pardners* (1956), as Shorty - *The Steel Jungle* (1956), as Dan Bucci - *The Spoilers* (1955), as Miner - *The Fighting Chance* (1955), as Curly - *Last of the Desperados* (1955), as Charlie Bowdre - *Screen Director's Playhouse* (1955), series, as Deputy Sheriff Dodd - *Cheyenne* (1955), series, as Dugan - *Gunsmoke* (1955), series, as Sam Gordon, Coe - *The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp* (1955), series, as Deputy Marshal Sam (uncredited), Deputy Marshal Sam - *The Wonderful World of Disney* (1954), series, as Ben, Soto Man (uncredited), Rebel Arsonist (uncredited) - *The Outcast* (1954), as Dude Rankin - *Drums Across the River* (1954), as Billy Costa - *Island in the Sky* (1953), as Wilson - *Column South* (1953), as McAfee - *Savage Frontier* (1953), as Sam Webb - *San Antone* (1953), as Bob Coolidge - *The Lion and the Horse* (1952), as Matt Jennings - *Bugles in the Afternoon* (1952), as Rider Who Announces Custer Is Dead - *Rose of Cimarron* (1952), as Rio - *Cattle Drive* (1951), as Charlie "Careless" Morgan - *Fort Worth* (1951), as Shorty - *Silver Canyon* (1951), as Walt Middler - *The Enforcer* (1951), as Herman - *The Savage Horde* (1950), as Dancer - *South of St. Louis* (1949), as Slim Hansen - *Bandits of Dark Canyon* (1947), as Ed Archer - *Killer McCoy* (1947), as Sailor Graves - *Exposed* (1947), as Chicago - *Cheyenne* (1947), as Bucky - *Twilight on the Rio Grande* (1947), as Dusty Morgan - *Rio Grande Raiders* (1946), as Jeff Carson - *The Big Sleep* (1946), as Lash Canino — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-big-sleep.md) - *Thunder Town* (1946), as Jim Brandon - *Sheriff of Redwood Valley* (1946), as Reno Kid - *Ambush Trail* (1946), as Curley Thompson - *Six Gun Man* (1946), as Stormy Storm - *Northwest Trail* (1945), as RCMP Matt O'Brien - *Navajo Kid* (1945), as Tom "The Navajo Kid" Kirk - *Wildfire* (1945), as Happy Haye - *Trigger Law* (1944), as Bob Steele - *The Utah Kid* (1944), as Bob Roberts - *Marked Trails* (1944), as Bob Stevens - *Sonora Stagecoach* (1944), as Bob Steele - *Outlaw Trail* (1944), as Bob - *Arizona Whirlwind* (1944), as Bob Steele - *Westward Bound* (1944), as Bob Steele - *Death Valley Rangers* (1943), as Bob Steele - *Revenge of the Zombies* (1943), as Sheriff - *Riders of the Rio Grande* (1943), as Tucson Smith - *Santa Fe Scouts* (1943), as Tucson Smith - *The Blocked Trail* (1943), as Tucson Smith - *Thundering Trails* (1943), as Tucson Smith - *Valley of Hunted Men* (1942), as Tucson Smith - *Shadows on the Sage* (1942), as 'Tucson' Smith / Curly Joe - *The Phantom Plainsmen* (1942), as Tucson Smith - *Westward Ho* (1942), as Tucson Smith - *Raiders of the Range* (1942), as Tucson Smith - *Code of the Outlaw* (1942), as Tucson Smith - *West of Cimarron* (1941), as Tucson Smith - *Gauchos of El Dorado* (1941), as 'Tucson' Smith - *Outlaws of Cherokee Trail* (1941), as 'Tucson' Smith - *Billy the Kid in Santa Fe* (1941), as Billy the Kid - *Gangs of Sonora* (1941), as 'Tucson' Smith - *Saddlemates* (1941), as Tucson Smith - *Billy The Kid's Fighting Pals* (1941), as Billy the Kid - *Pals of the Pecos* (1941), as Tucson Smith - *The Great Train Robbery* (1941), as Tom Logan - *Prairie Pioneers* (1941), as Tucson Smith - *Billy the Kid's Range War* (1941), as Billy the Kid - *Billy the Kid's Gun Justice* (1940), as Billy the Kid - *Lone Star Raiders* (1940), as Tucson Smith - *The Trail Blazers* (1940), as Tucson Smith - *Billy the Kid in Texas* (1940), as Billy the Kid - *Under Texas Skies* (1940), as Tucson Smith - *City for Conquest* (1940), as Kid Callahan (uncredited) - *Billy the Kid Outlawed* (1940), as Billy the Kid - *The Carson City Kid* (1940), as Lee Jessup, aka Morgan Reynolds - *Pinto Canyon* (1940), as Bob Hall - *Wild Horse Valley* (1940), as Bob Evans - *Of Mice and Men* (1939), as Curley — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/of-mice-and-men.md) - *El Diablo Rides* (1939), as Bob - *The Pal from Texas* (1939), as Bob Barton - *Riders of the Sage* (1939), as Bob Burke - *Mesquite Buckaroo* (1939), as Bob Allen - *Smoky Trails* (1939), as Bob Archer - *Feud of the Range* (1939), as Bob Gray - *Durango Valley Raiders* (1938), as Keene Cordner - *Desert Patrol* (1938), as Dave Austin - *The Feud Maker* (1938), as Tex Ryan aka Wind River Kid - *Thunder in the Desert* (1938), as Bob Radford - *Paroled - To Die* (1938), as Doug Redfern - *Colorado Kid* (1937), as Colorado Kid - *Arizona Gunfighter* (1937), as Colt Ferron - *Ridin' the Lone Trail* (1937), as Bob McArthur - *The Red Rope* (1937), as Tom Shaw - *Doomed at Sundown* (1937), as Dave Austin - *Border Phantom* (1937), as Larry O'Day - *Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin* (1937), as Dan Stockton - *The Trusted Outlaw* (1937), as Dan Ward - *Lightnin' Crandall* (1937), as Bob Crandall, aka Lightnin' Crandall - *The Gun Ranger* (1936), as Dan Larson - *Cavalry* (1936), as Ted Thorne - *Brand of the Outlaws* (1936), as Gary Gray - *The Law Rides* (1936), as Bruce Conway - *Last of the Warrens* (1936), as Ted Warren - *The Kid Ranger* (1936), as Ray Burton - *Trail of Terror* (1935), as Spike Manning - *Alias John Law* (1935), as Everett Tarkington 'John' Clark - *The Rider of the Law* (1935), as Bob Marlow - *Powdersmoke Range* (1935), as Jeff Ferguson aka Guadalupe Kid - *No Man's Range* (1935), as Jim Hale - *Sundown Saunders* (1935), as Jim Sundown Saunders - *Tombstone Terror* (1935), as Jimmy Dixon / Duke Dixon - *Smokey Smith* (1935), as Smokey Smith - *Big Calibre* (1935), as Bob Neal - *Kid Courageous* (1935), as Bob Bannister - *Western Justice* (1934), as Jim / Ace - *The Brand of Hate* (1934), as Rod Camp - *A Demon for Trouble* (1934), as Bob Worth - *The Mystery Squadron* (1933), as Fred Cromwell - *Ranger's Code* (1933), as Bob Baxter - *Galloping Romeo* (1933), as Bob Rivers - *The Gallant Fool* (1933), as Kit Denton - *Trailing North* (1933), as Lee Evans aka Curly the Kid - *Breed of the Border* (1933), as Speed Brent - *The Fighting Champ* (1932), as Brick Loring - *Young Blood* (1932), as Nick aka The Kid - *Texas Buddies* (1932), as Ted Garner - *Hidden Valley* (1932), as Bob Harding - *Son of Oklahoma* (1932), as Dan Clayton - *The Man from Hell's Edges* (1932), as Bob Williams aka 'Flash' Manning - *Riders of the Desert* (1932), as Bob Houston - *Law of the West* (1932), as Bob Carruthers, alias Bob Morgan - *South of Santa Fe* (1932), as Tom Keene - *Near the Trail's End* (1931), as Marshal Johnny Day - *The Nevada Buckaroo* (1931), as Buck Hurley, aka The Nevada Kid - *The Ridin' Fool* (1931), as Steve Kendall - *The Sunrise Trail* (1931), as Texas, aka Tex - *Headin' North* (1930), as Jim Curtis - *The Land of Missing Men* (1930), as Steve O'Neil - *The Oklahoma Cyclone* (1930), as Jim Smith aka The Oklahoma Cyclone - *The Oklahoma Sheriff* (1930), Actor - *Near the Rainbow's End* (1930), as Jim Bledsoe - *Western Honor* (1930), as Bob - *The Man from Nowhere* (1930), as Terry Norton - *The Hunted Men* (1930), as Dick Stockdale - *Breezy Bill* (1930), as Breezy Bill - *A Texas Cowboy* (1929), as Dick Carlysle - *The Cowboy and the Outlaw* (1929), as George Hardcastle - *The Invaders* (1929), Actor - *Laughing at Death* (1929), as Bob Thornton - *The Amazing Vagabond* (1929), as Jimmy Hobbs - *Come and Get It!* (1929), as Breezy Smith - *Headin' for Danger* (1928), as Jimmy Marshall - *Lightning Speed* (1928), as Jack Pemberton - *Captain Careless* (1928), as Bob Gordon · Story - *Trail of Courage* (1928), as Tex Reeves - *Man in the Rough* (1928), as Bruce Sherwood - *Breed of the Sunsets* (1928), as Jim Collins - *The Riding Renegade* (1928), as Bob Taylor - *Sliding Home* (1928), as Student (as Robert Bradbury Jr.) - *Driftin' Sands* (1928), as 'Driftin' Sands - *The Bandit's Son* (1927), as Bob McCall - *The Mojave Kid* (1927), as Bob Saunders - *With Sitting Bull at the Spirit Lake Massacre* (1927), as Bob Keefe (as Bob Bradbury Jr.) - *The College Boob* (1926), as Shorty Buzelle (as Bob Bradbury Jr.) - *With Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo* (1926), as 'Pinky' Smith - *With Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness* (1926), as Jim Bryan - *Just Plain Folks* (1925), Actor - *The Opossum* (1922), Actor - *Mysterious Tracks* (1922), Actor - *Dangerous Trails* (1922), as Bob - *A Day in the Wilds* (1921), as Bob - *The Skunk* (1921), as Bob - *The Civet Cat* (1921), as Bob - *The American Badger* (1921), as Bob - *Catching a Coon* (1921), as Bob - *Outwitting the Timber Wolf* (1921), Actor - *Trapping the Wildcat* (1921), as Bob - *Trailing the Coyote* (1921), as Bob - *Capturing a Canadian Lynx* (1921), as Bob - *Trapping the Mountain Lion* (1921), as Bob - *Trapping The Bob Cat* (1921), as Bob - *Trapping the Coyote* (1921), as Bob - *Catching a Koala Bear* (1921), as Bob - *Catching a Fox* (1921), as Bob - *The Adventures of Bob and Bill* (1920), as Bob ## Gallery - ![American actor Bob Steele possibly in connection with his role as Curley in the 1939 film Of Mice and Men (1940)](https://film.one/media/person/155897/gallery-edddc75d9ed0.jpg) American actor Bob Steele possibly in connection with his role as Curley in the 1939 film Of Mice and Men (1940) — Los Angeles Daily News, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Bob_Steele%2C_1940.jpg/1280px-Bob_Steele%2C_1940.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Bob Steele](https://film.one/media/person/155897/gallery-6d5613a96199.jpg) Bob Steele — Joseph Kane, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Bob_Steele_in_The_Carson_City_Kid.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Bob Steele](https://film.one/media/person/155897/gallery-cc581674bd65.jpg) Bob Steele — Image via TMDB - ![Bob Steele](https://film.one/media/person/155897/gallery-dc7c7e7d0293.jpg) Bob Steele — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bob-steele