b'The Story of Crazy HorsePART 1 By Alan RockmanI t is a great pleasure and anand Western Museum that features a Michael Dante room! honor to dedicate this articleArizona Raiders has continuously aired to this day whether about another great Americanit be on GRIT or the Starz Encore Western Channeland herothe Sioux Chieftainas aforementioned Michael definitely brought that sense of Crazy Horse to two other greatdedication, integrity, and honor to his strong and honest Americans and dear friends ofportrayal of Crazy Horse in that short-lived Custer series.mine Honoring Michael Dante who portrayed him and also to the memory of Bob RoloffThe second dedication who loved people and loved Arizona. is in memory of a dear friend to many of us First, my good friend and in the Arizona Real veteran actor Michael Dante Country family and to who portrayed "Chief CrazyDr. Buck Montgomery\'s Horse" in the short-lived (onlyWild Western posse 17 episodes) of the Custer TVas wellthe Arizona Series on ABC in 1967. MichaelDuuude, Bob Roloff.JD Kime Photographyhas played many characters inThis writer was starting research on the subjecthis very long and extremelyof this Crazy Horse article when he learned that the successful career as a workingDuuude, a longtime friend and colleague, was in the actor in Hollywood, but amonghospital with cancer. He had bravely fought this terrible his better roles were those ofdisease several times before and had won those fights,Alleged photo of Crazy Horse in 1877portraying Native Americansbut this time it was not meant to be. I had the with sensitivity and respect.pleasure and privilege of knowing the Duuude for His role as Crazy Horse on TV directlyover 15 yearsfrom the very first time I saw himarrest and demise of Crazy Horse was battling a new, but paved the way to his starring role in thein his cowboy hat and his very distinctive Arizonajust as skillful Indian enemy in Chief Joseph\'s Nez Perce, critically acclaimed movie Winterhawk!shirt at one of the very first Western Festivals I hadhe was virulently disliked and distrusted by none other attended upon moving to Arizona. Always outgoing,than General George Crook, his captor and the Army As Michael wrote himself, "I acceptedhe came over and introduced himself to me and myofficial he had arguably defeated at the Rosebud battle just the role of Crazy Horse from Producerfamily, and from then on it became a fast, enduringa week before Little Horn. Crook, who had no problems David Wisebart, who also produced Kidfriendshipthat only ended with his passing. Bob smoking the proverbial peace pipe with Geronimo either Galahad with Elvis in 1962 and likedwas kind, courteous, and generous to everyone hecouldn\'t bring himself to feeling the same about the Oglala very much what I did in the film.Davidmet, and boy did he promote this great state well Sioux chieftain, or perhaps there was a lingering sense of told me he had some projects he wasat the aforementioned festivals and as a columnist resentment, maybe some jealousy too, to revenge a Rosebud working on and would be in touch. In 1967, I got athis magazine. humiliation that had stirred and festered within the body call from David and he told me he was producing a Custerand soul of Crook for almost a year and a half.series and wanted me to play the role (of) Crazy Horse. IThere is much that I could write about the Duuude\'s didn\'t want to do a series at the time and to be type castpersonal kindness to me, including how knowing how muchCrazy Horse wanted peace and he wanted to live both of playing a Native American, but I had read a lot about Crazythis writer was into "Custeriana" he sent me a copy of a bookwhich were denied to him by equally jealous and bitter Horse and was honored to be able to portray him. I wasentitled Custer\'s Fall: The Native American Side of the Storyarmy officersand yes, within the ranks of his own people, impressed and interested in his great leadership qualities,(which is one of the works I consulted for this article). If itincluding some very close friends, or make that former as a warrior, his militarist tactics, spiritual awareness, andwasn\'t for him sending meout of the bluea copy of thefriends. He had to die to avenge Custer, to end the Rosebud the visionary that he was. Surprised and heartbroken withFebruary 2018 issue of Arizona Real Country the Magazinehumiliation, and to bring forth more pliable Sioux leaders all that he gave and wanted to do more for his people. Itduring a rough patch in my life, I probably never would havewilling to accommodate the white man.was his own people that assassinated him in the end. Iknown of the publicationnor would I be writing an Old accepted the role under the condition that the writers wouldWest history monthly column for the publication the lastBut who was this Crazy Horse? Who was this great warrior develop the many outstanding dimensions of his character.four and a half years. Reading it, I said to myself, "I can dowho according to an Arapaho who had seen him in action David agreed to the conditions and promised the writersthis!" The rest is history, thanks to the Duuude. Bob Roloffat the crucial battle of the Rosebud just a week before Little would do that, and I accepted the role. We never got toaka the Duuude now rides the Heavenly trailGod Bless,Big Horn would later refer to him as being "the bravest man achieve many of those objectives with the cancellation ofRIPand yes, thank you, Duuude. I ever saw. He rode closest to the soldiers, yelling to his the show. Needless to say, I enjoyed portraying one of thewarriors. All the soldiers were shooting at him, but he was greatest Native American leaders of all time. If I didn\'tWHY THE STRANGE MAN OF THE OGLALAS never hit" (Gardner, Mark Lee, The Earth Is All That Lasts, change my mind to be in a series and to play Crazy Horse,HAD TO DIE Harper-Collins, New York, 2022, p. 17).I would never have been given the title role in the critically"I was hostile to the white man.we preferred hunting to acclaimed and highly successful film Winterhawk which isa life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did notWho was this warrior chief who, unlike Sitting Bull now a classic. Charles B. Pierce, the producer, writer, andget enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. Allrefusing to allow himself to be photographed so that there director saw me in the Custer series and said, "That\'s thewe wanted was peace and to be left alone" Chief Crazyis but one supposed photo of himand even that image is actor I want to portray Winterhawk.and the rest is history." Horse, Oglala Sioux (1842-1877) (Grant, R.G., Warrior,questioned by many historians? Who was this warrior chief DK, New York & London, 2007, p. 216). who hated and despised the whites so, but towards the As an actor dedicated to his craft Michael has alwaysend of his life did openly search out ways to live in peace brought his own stamp of dedication and integrity to eachCrazy Horse had to die. No, he wasn\'t allowed to livealongside the whites?and every character he has portrayed in six decades of abecause he bested the white man at the Little Horn, because well-lived and well-done career, whether it be a sparringas a warrior chief he was a lightning rod to his people,WHO WAS CHIEF CRAZY HORSE? THE EARLYpartner with Elvis, a cowpoke alongside Clint Walkerbecause he was, arguably either just as much a leader orLIFE OF A YOUNG OGLALA BRAVEin Cheyenne, a disabled Union Army veteran in his firsteven more so than his friend and spiritual leader, the greatTo begin with, he was born to a man of the "Buffalo People," starring role alongside Randolph Scott in Westbound, asSioux Medicine Man Sitting Bull. And yes, because he knewthe Sioux, a chieftain himself who bore the same name as Maab in Star Trek, and lest this writer forget, his famoustoo much. the one eventually bestowed on his sonCrazy Horse the role as the notorious outlaw Brady alongside his dearElder, was this boy whose actual birth date is obscure and friend Audie Murphy in the very well received ArizonaCrazy Horse had to die because although he wanted peacepretty much subject to conjecture. The most recent source Raiderswhich was filmed out at the iconic and sadly goneand was even willing to lend his services and those ofdoesn\'t even cite a date. Two other reliable sourcesStephen Apacheland studios, (save for the Elvis Chapel and the barnhis warriors to the same 7th Cavalry he bested at LittleAmbrose\'s Crazy Horse and Custer and Mike Sajna\'s Crazy featured in Arizona Raiders which now holds a Western TVHorn, a 7th Cavalry that ironically, at the same time of theHorse have listed his birth dates as 1842 and "sometime 54 December 2022'