Monte Rawlins
Encyclopedia
Monte Rawlins, born Dean Calvin Spencer (February 21, 1907 – July 13, 1988), also called Monte "Alamo" Rawlins, was a short-lived western film star of the late 1930s, often dubbed The Masked Phantom due to his better known role. The B-rated
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 "Masked Phantom" role was his only starring role.

In the late 1930s, Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 had been searching for a new face to be a new cowboy western star. They were having success with several, including Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard was an American motion picture stuntman and actor.-Biography:Born Kenneth Olin Maynard in Vevay, Indiana, he was one of five children. His younger brother, Kermit Maynard, also became a stuntman and actor....

 and Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott
Wild Bill Elliott was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B-Westerns, particularly in the Red Ryder series of films.-Early life:...

. Originally from Yakima, Washington
Yakima, Washington
Yakima is an American city southeast of Mount Rainier National Park and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the eighth largest city by population in the state itself. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 91,196 and a metropolitan population of...

, Rawlins had made his way to Hollywood by way of him being a barnstormer
Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...

 pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

, starring in an air show
Air show
An air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows"....

. He first worked doing aerial stunt work for films, and played two small bit roles in films, and was noticed by Columbia and approached for his own series. The series, titled Adventures of the Masked Phantom, opened in 1939, with Rawlins in the lead role.

The series was to have a trio that travels, rescuing people as they go, overcoming troubles and dangers that they encounter along the way. Reviews were not bad, but indicated that veteran actors George Douglas
George Douglas
George Douglas may refer to:*George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus , Scottish magnate*George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus , Scottish magnate*George Douglas, Master of Angus , Scottish nobleman*George Douglas of Pittendreich George Douglas may refer to:*George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus (1378–1402),...

, Jack Ingram
Jack Ingram
Jack Owen Ingram is an American Texas Country artist signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eight studio albums, one extended play, six live albums and eighteen singles. Although active since 1992, Ingram did not reach the U.S. country Top 40 until the late...

 and Curley Dresden had saved the series. Rawlins' reviews were horrible—it would be his last acting role.

At the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Rawlins joined the US Marine Corp, and served with distinction until the wars end. He remained in the US Marine Reserves, and was called up for active duty for the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 also. He remained in the Marine Reserves, and began working, upon his return from Korea, as a sound engineer for both Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...

 and Disney. He retired from both Disney and the Marine Reserves, moving to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, where he later died of natural causes in 1988.

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