![]() 3 Godfathers premiered in December 1948 but wasn’t released until January 1949. Stan Jones is listed as an uncredited technical advisor on 3 Godfathers, and Death Valley was one several of the film locations for that movie. The film stars John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, Mae Marsh, and Mildred Natwick, with Ben Johnson in a small role as the member of a posse. The first of the three movies to be filmed in Death Valley around May 1948, was a biggie:ģ Godfathers (1948), a classic western film directed and produced by John Ford. The following year, 3 motion picture companies converged on Death Valley, and Jones was among the Rangers assigned by the Park Service to be on site when they were filming. Ward, author of Ghost Riders in the Sky: The Life of Stan Jones, The Singing Ranger (2014), says that Stan Jones wrote his song Ghost Riders in the Sky in 1947 while working as a Death Valley Forest Ranger. Jones remembered the story and later wrote the song.” The Death Valley Movie Days of Stan Jonesīy 1945 Stan Jones had discovered a calling as a Forest Ranger with the National Park Service, eventually being assigned to work as a Park Ranger in Death Valley.Īccording to Michael K. Later, Watts told Jones the story of “ghost riders” who tried to “catch the devil’s herd” when cold air and hot air currents collide, which often results in tornadoes. ![]() As a storm began to develop, the moving clouds looked like figures riding through the sky, and Watts yelled “ghost riders”. “ An old cowboy, Cap Watts, and a young cowpoke, Stan Jones, were working. One version of how his most famous song came about is that he was told of the legend of spirits in the sky resembling ghost riders, by an old Native American in Arizona (where he grew up).Īnother take on it by It’s the Cowboy Way!: The Amazing True Adventures of Riders in the Sky (2004) author Don Cusic, is this: There are several versions of what inspired Stan Jones’ lyrics for Ghost Riders in the Sky. Berkeley in zoology, and served in the U.S. He was a rodeo rider in his youth, earned his master’s degree from U.C. Stanley Davis Jones was born Jin Douglas, Arizona, and grew up in that state. ( Stan Jones / Ghost Riders in the Sky Photo Blend: © 2020 Anita Hamilton) He turned the rich fodder of his life into stories and songs, one of them being his enduring country-folk tune Ghost Riders in the Sky. ![]() By all accounts, one-time Forest Ranger, firefighter, rodeo cowboy, songwriter, singer, and actor Stan Jones was a born raconteur.
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