Tackling Tiny Roebuck

Theodore “Tiny” Roebuck (1906-1969) was a Native American athlete who dabbled in film acting in the 1930s.

A member of the Choctaw tribe, Roebuck hailed from the Lenton Territory in what is now Oklahoma. His nickname was ironic of course; he stood 6’4″, over 270 pounds in adulthood. He became a trophy winning college football player at Haskell University, graduating in 1926 with several all-state titles to his credit. He then boxed professionally between 1927 and 1934, fighting 26 heavyweight bouts, winning about half. At which point he joined the likes of Wahoo McDaniel among the Native American professional wrestlers, although Roebuck worked his size as a gimmick as opposed to going around with a headdress and tomahawk.

Roebuck was only in a handful of movies, usually in walk-ons as thugs and bruisers. He made his debut in the 1936 Republic serial Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, starring the Iñupiaq actor Mala (Ray Mala), here playing a “Polynesian” secret agent, aided by Rex the Wonder Horse and Buck the Dog. Next he was in Straight, Place and Show (1938) with the Ritz Brothers, which is likely how he made his way onto the Travalanche radar. Then came the Jack Benny comedy Man About Town (1938) with Dorothy Lamour, Edward Arnold, Binnie Barnes, Monty Wooley, Phil Harris, Betty Grable, and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson. His last was Torchy Blane…Playing With Dynamite (1939), the last in that series, with Jane Wyman as the titular heroine rather than Glenda Farrell.

At some point later in life, Roebuck was Born Again, or claimed to be. We know this on account of this 1951 press clipping of an appearance he made with Billy Graham:

For more on classic cinema please check out my book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.