I REMEMBER FURY!

 

From 1955 to 1960, NBC televised a western titled: "Fury." My parents didn't get a T.V. until 1956, but once they did, I HAD to watch every episode of the story about the wild stallion that only one boy could tame and ride. I dreamt of being that boy. 

Fury was an equine actor. He was thought to be the most popular horse in the country during the 1950s. He held the title role on the popular Saturday morning television series which was also broadcast around the world. Additionally, he starred in several movies: "Black Beauty," "Brave Stallion," "Gyspy Colt," "Wild is the Wind," "The Return of Wildfire," and "Giant" with Elizabeth Taylor.

He won several Patsy Awards. The Patsy Award was created in 1939 by the Hollywood office of the American Human Society. It was created to honor a horse that was killed on set while filming a movie. It stands for "Picture Animal Top Star of the Year." 

Fury was born in 1943 in Missouri. The Saddlebred Stallion was named Highland Dale. He died in 1972, at the age of 29 in California and is buried there. He worked only four months of the year. He earned his owner/trainer Ralph McCutcheon $500,000 in the eight years he performed. He was paid $1,500 for each Fury episode. By the time Highland Dale retired, he ranked second only to Lassie in net earnings by an animal actor. 

FURY - Famous horse of TV and Movies

If you are my age, you must remember the Saturday Morning T.V. Series "Fury." If so, this will look very familiar to you! It ran from 1955 to 1960 on NBC. I watched it every Saturday morning until the last year when I started taking riding lessons on Saturday mornings. Like any young, horse-loving girl...I LOVED Fury. He was beautiful and brave and loyal to his beloved "Joey."


So, I looked up some information about Fury. Most of the information comes from the website:
http://www.horsefame.tripod.com/.

Fury was discovered on a Missour farm by the famous trainer of animals for movies and television named Ralph McCutcheon. Mr. McCutcheon immediatly recognized the star potential in the 18 month old colt. He purchased the colt and moved him to his five acre ranch in Van Nuys, California.

The T.V. Series "Fury" stared Peter Graves as "Jim," Bobby Diamond as his son "Joey," and William Fawcett as "Pete." Reruns were carried on NBC from 1960 to 1966 under the title "Brave Stallion." "Brave Stallion" also ran internationally. The stories were based upon the Books by Albert G. Miller. Maybe, someday there will be a television series about the Legion of the Unicorn based upon the Mist Trilogy books!!!

Fury was only 26 months old when he starred in one of the many "Black Beauty" Films. He also starred in "Gypsy Colt," for which he had to do lots of tricks. Then in "Giant" with co-star Elizabeth Taylor. The young Elizabeth Taylor was in lots of horse movies. I wonder if she loved horses???

Fury's name changed frequently depending upon the current role he was playing: HIghland Dale to Beauty to Gypsy to Fury.

The beautiful black horse loved to be bathed and curried, especially on hot California days. His favorite trick was to roll in the sandy dirt between scenes, forcing his grooms to bathe and curry him. He suffered from Heaves (Like Asthma in people) so he had to have all the dust washed out of his hay.

Fury won three Patsy awards which are the animal equivalent of Oscars.

Order the new fantasy, Behind the Mist, for horse and unicorn lovers!Great for middle grade readers to adults.
Click here:
http://www.behindthemist.com/