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Blond American screen cowboy William Steele began his acting career with the Méliès company in his hometown of San Antonio, TX. As a youngster, Steele was known as a top pistol marksman and a splendid trick roper, traits that would stand him in good stead in his chosen profession. The Méliès company's best remembered film was The Immortal Alamo from 1911, and Steele, then going under his real name, William Giddinger, played William Travis, one of the last of the heroes still standing. Later, in Hollywood, he was rarely this heroic on screen; instead, as William Steele, he menaced about every cowboy star under the California skies, usually playing the intelligent but ruthless boss villain. Appearing in hundreds of "B"-westerns, Steele's career lasted until 1956.