AS A child actor and young man in the Thirties and Forties, Sammy McKim made more than 50 films, including three westerns with John Wayne. But after serving in the Second World War and being decorated for valour in Korea, he retrained as an artist and worked for Disney for more than 30 years, largely on its theme parks. He was responsible for the distinctive “fun maps” issued to visitors.
He was born John Samuel McKim in Vancouver in 1924 but the family moved first to Seattle and then to Los Angeles, where McKim and his four siblings joined the long lines of children looking for work in the movies. Sammy auditioned to provide the voice of Pinocchio and by the mid-Thirties had begun a long association with Republic Pictures, which specialised in low-budget westerns and counted John Wayne among its contract players. McKim’s freckly, open features and toothy grin seemed well suited to visions of the frontier, and he was soon promoted from small uncredited parts to major supporting roles and a salary of $50 a week.
He played the young Kit Carson in The Painted Stallion in 1937 and appeared in The Lone Ranger serial in 1938. Republic also used him in a string of different juvenile roles in its hugely popular series The Three Mesquiteers, which ran to about 50 films in the Thirties and Forties. McKim appeared in three with John Wayne — Red River Range (1938), The Night Riders (1939) and New Frontier (1939) — and one with Rita Hayworth when she was still Rita Cansino — Hit the Saddle (1937). He worked seven hours a day, with another three in the studio’s classroom.
Republic wanted to give McKim his own series, but his grandfather, who was running his career after the death of his father, insisted on more money and the deal collapsed. During the Second World War McKim served in the US Army. By 1945 he was too old for the juvenile roles on which his success was based; he was out of contract at Republic and was reduced to the sort of uncredited parts with which his career had begun. Now styling himself Sam McKim, he studied art and subsequently re-enlisted for the Korean War, was shot down on a combat mission and won the Distinguished Service Cross and Bronze Star.
Returning to the US a war hero, after a brief spell as an artist with 20th Century-Fox he joined Disney in 1954, shortly before the opening of Disneyland.
Advertisement
Theme parks, rides and exhibitions were to become his specialism, though he also worked on several of the studio’s films, including The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Gnome Mobile (1967).
Originally he had only a temporary job at the studio, though ultimately he was to stay there until his retirement in 1987. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Sam McKim, actor and Disney artist, was born on December 20, 1924. He died of heart failure on July 9, 2004, aged 79.