Editing Slim Pickens (section)

==Film career==
After nearly 20 years' rodeo work, Pickens's wide eyes, moon face, strong physical presence, and distinctive country drawl gained him a role in the [[Western (genre)|Western]] ''[[Rocky Mountain (film)|Rocky Mountain]]'' (1950), which starred [[Errol Flynn]]. He appeared in many more Westerns, playing both villains and comic [[sidekick]]s to actors such as [[Rex Allen]].

Hollywood made good use of Pickens's rodeo background. He did not need a [[stand-in]] for horseback scenes, and he was able to gallop his own [[Appaloosa]] horses across the desert, or drive a stagecoach pulled by a six-horse team.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Freese |first=Gene Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10dXAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Slim+Pickens%22+%22Appaloosa%22&pg=PA222 |title=Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed. |date=2014-04-24 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7643-5 |pages=222 |language=en}}</ref>

Pickens appeared in dozens more films, including ''[[Old Oklahoma Plains]]'' (1952), ''[[Down Laredo Way]]'' (1953), ''[[Tonka (film)|Tonka]]'' (1959), ''[[One-Eyed Jacks]]'' (1961, with [[Marlon Brando]]), ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' (1964), ''[[Major Dundee]]'' (1965, with [[Charlton Heston]]), the [[remake]] of ''[[Stagecoach (1966 film)|Stagecoach]]'' (1966; Pickens played the driver, portrayed in the [[Stagecoach (1939 film)|1939 film]] by [[Andy Devine]]), ''[[An Eye for an Eye (1966 film)|An Eye for an Eye]]'' (1966), ''[[Never a Dull Moment (1968 film)|Never a Dull Moment]]'' (1968), ''[[The Cowboys]]'' (1972, with [[John Wayne]]), ''[[The Getaway (1972 film)|The Getaway]]'' (1972, with [[Steve McQueen]]), ''[[Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid]]'' (1973), ''[[Ginger in the Morning]]'' (1974, with [[Fred Ward]]), ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' (1974), ''[[Poor Pretty Eddie]]'', ''[[Rancho Deluxe]]'' (both 1975), ''[[Beyond the Poseidon Adventure]]'' (1979, with [[Michael Caine]] and [[Karl Malden]]), and ''[[Tom Horn (film)|Tom Horn]]'' (1980, also with McQueen). He had a small but memorable role in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[1941 (film)|1941]]'' (1979) in scenes with [[Toshiro Mifune]] and [[Christopher Lee]]; during one scene, he enumerates the objects on his person, similarly to the way he does in the "Survival Kit Contents Check" scene in ''Dr. Strangelove''. In 1978, Pickens lent his voice to theme park [[Silver Dollar City]] as a character named Rube Dugan, for a ride called "Rube Dugan's Diving Bell". The diving bell was a simulation ride that took passengers on a journey to the bottom of Lake Silver and back. The ride was in operation from 1978 to 1984. He also played [[werewolf]] sheriff Sam Newfield in ''[[The Howling (film)|The Howling]]'' (1981).

In 1975, Pickens was in another Western, playing the evil, limping bank robber in [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[The Apple Dumpling Gang (film)|The Apple Dumpling Gang]]''; that same year, the exploitation cult classic ''[[Poor Pretty Eddie]]'' was released, with Pickens portraying twisted Sheriff Orville. He provided the voice of B.O.B. in the 1979 Disney science-fiction thriller ''[[The Black Hole (1979 film)|The Black Hole]]''. His last film was his least notable, ''[[Pink Motel]]'' (1982, with [[Phyllis Diller]]).

===''Dr. Strangelove''===
Pickens played [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] pilot Major T.&nbsp;J. "King" Kong in 1964's ''Dr. Strangelove''.<ref name=imdb>{{IMDb title|293282|Inside: 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'}}</ref> [[Stanley Kubrick]] cast Pickens after [[Peter Sellers]], who played three other roles in the film, sprained his ankle and was unable to perform in the role due to having to work in the cramped cockpit set. Pickens was chosen because his accent and comic sense were perfect for the role of Kong, a cartoonishly patriotic and [[Gung ho|gung-ho]] B-52 commander. He was not given the script for the entire film, but only those portions in which he played a part. Three memorable scenes featuring Pickens were:

[[File:Slim-pickens riding-the-bomb enh-lores.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|Slim Pickens as Major "King" Kong riding a nuclear bomb to oblivion in ''Dr. Strangelove'']]

* Giving a monologue meant to steel his crew for their duty after he receives the definitive order to bomb a strategic target in the [[Soviet Union|USSR]].
* Reading aloud to his crew the contents of their survival kits: after listing the contents usable for barter with Russian women (including prophylactics - in possibly the first mention of [[condom]]s in a Hollywood film - nylons, lipstick, and a [[M1911 pistol]] with ammunition), Major Kong says "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good time in Big D [Dallas] with all this stuff": this line had to be re-dubbed, with the reference to Dallas being changed to "weekend in Vegas", after the scheduled November 22, 1963 screening for critics was cancelled due to President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s assassination.<ref name=imdb />
* Best known of all - and an enduring historical film image of the American-Soviet Cold War era - Major Kong riding a dropped [[Thermonuclear weapon|H-bomb]] to a certain death while whooping and waving his [[cowboy hat]] like a [[rodeo]] performer riding a bronco or a bull, not knowing that its detonation will trigger a Soviet doomsday device.

Pickens credited ''Dr. Strangelove'' as a turning point in his career. Previously, he had been "Hey you" on sets, and afterwards he was addressed as "Mr. Pickens". He once said, "After ''Dr. Strangelove'', the roles, the dressing rooms, and the checks all started gettin' bigger." Pickens said he was amazed at the difference one movie could make.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} He also said, though, that working with Stanley Kubrick proved too difficult due to Kubrick's perfectionist style of directing with multiple takes for nearly every shot, especially with the climactic H-bomb riding scene, which was done in just over 100 [[take]]s. In the late 1970s, Pickens was offered the part of [[Dick Hallorann]] in Kubrick's adaptation of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'', but Pickens stipulated that he would appear in the film only if Kubrick was required to shoot Pickens's scenes in fewer than 100 takes.<ref>{{cite book |year=1991 |title=Scatman: An Authorized Biography of Scatman Crothers |publisher=W. Morrow |first1=James |last1=Haskins |first2=Helen |last2=Crothers |page=[https://archive.org/details/scatmanauthorize0000hask/page/178 178] |isbn=0688085210 |url=https://archive.org/details/scatmanauthorize0000hask/page/178}}</ref> Instead, Pickens's agent showed the script to Don Schwartz, the agent of [[Scatman Crothers]], and Crothers accepted the role.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKMZ4_i60LYC&pg=PA315 |page=315 |last=Baxter |first=John |title=Stanley Kubrick: A Biography |publisher=Basic Books |year=1997 |isbn=0786704853 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>