death_place death_date birth_place birth_date article_title birth_name occupation
los angeles , california 22 october 1964 granite city , illinois 16 june 1911 whip wilson
 roland charles meyers film actor
whip wilson

whip wilson -lrb- born roland charles meyers june 16 , 1911 , granite city , illinois -- october 22 , 1964 , los angeles , california -rrb- was an american cowboy film star of the late 1940s and into the 1950s , known for his roles in b-westerns .
he was one of eight children .
wilson had been a moderately successful singer before coming to hollywood .
following buck jones 's death in the famous cocoanut grove fire of 1942 , which claimed the lives of 492 people , monogram pictures had been searching for someone to replace him .
producer scott r. dunlap saw meyers , and thought he looked similar to jones .
this , apparently , was enough to build him into a cowboy star .
because of the fame being generated by lash larue , who used a bullwhip in his movies , monogram decided to make meyers a similar whip-wielding character , rechristening him `` whip wilson '' .
