Born Francis Timothy McCown in Los Angeles, Rory Calhoun starred in over 80 films and 1,000 television episodes. Before becoming an actor he worked as a boxer, a lumberjack, a truck driver and a cowpuncher. Tall and handsome, he benefited from a screen test at 20th Century-Fox, arranged for him by Sue Carol, a Hollywood agent and the wife of actor Alan Ladd, who is said to have spotted Calhoun while he was riding a horse in a Los Angeles park. He debuted on screen in Something for the Boys, with Carmen Miranda, billed as "Frank McCown". David O. Selznick changed his name to Rory Calhoun, and after playing small parts for a while, he graduated to starring in western films, including River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum. Calhoun's better-known pictures include How to Marry a Millionaire with Lauren Bacall, Monroe and Betty Grable, and With a Song in My Heart with Susan Hayward.

From 1959 to 1960 he starred in the CBS television series The Texan. More than two decades later he returned to CBS for five years as Judge Judson Tyler on the daytime serial Capitol. His final appearance, 70 years old but handsome as ever, was as Ernest Tucker in Pure Country. Calhoun has two stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures, and one for television.


Mentioned numerous times in the episode of "The Simpsons" (1989) where Mr. Burns steals the puppies from the Simpsons. When Lita Baron sued for divorce, she named 79 women with whom he had allegedly committed adultery. Calhoun responded, "Heck, she didn't even include half of them". Calhoun's second cousin is popular Canadian sportscaster and talk show host Bob McCown (host of Prime Time Sports on the Fan 590 Radio and nation wide on Rogers Sportsnet). In 1955, his agent, Henry Willson, disclosed information about Calhoun's years in prison to Confidential magazine in exchange for the tabloid not printing an exposé about the secret homosexual life of Rock Hudson, another Willson client. The disclosure had no negative effect on Calhoun's career and only served to solidify his bad boy image. In 1943, while horseback riding in the Hollywood Hills, he accidentally met actor Alan Ladd, whose wife, Sue Carol was an agent. She landed him a one-line role in the Laurel and Hardy comedy short The Bullfighters (1945) under his name of "Frank McCown". His young criminal career was rather extensive. A high school dropout, he stole a revolver at age 13 which landed him in the California Youth Authority, Preston School of Industry reformatory at Ione, California. He escaped while in the adjustment center (jail within the jail). After robbing several jewelry stores, he stole a car and drove it across state lines. This offense sent him to the federal penitentiary in Springfield, Missouri for three years. When he finished his sentence, he was incarcerated in San Quentin on other charges and remained there until he was paroled just before his twenty-first birthday. Guy Madison was one of his closest friends. The two men often went on fishing and hunting trips. Guy and his (second) wife Sheila Connolly named him godfather to their first born Bridget.