# Paul Brinegar
**Paul Brinegar** (Paul Alden Brinegar Jr.; December 19, 1917 – March 27, 1995) was an American character actor best remembered as Wishbone, the grizzled chuck wagon cook on the CBS television Western *[Rawhide](https://www.edgepedia.org/rawhide-tv-series)*, a role he held for the series' entire run from 1959 to 1965.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) Over a screen career running from 1946 to 1994, he appeared in more than 100 film and television roles, most of them Westerns, and specialized in playing feisty, grizzled cowboy sidekicks.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/paul_brinegar) • [3](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/91116/paul-brinegar)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | December 19, 1917, Tucumcari, New Mexico; March 27, 1995, Los Angeles, of emphysema[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) |
| Signature role | Wishbone, the cattle-drive cook on *Rawhide* (CBS, 1959–1965); the Los Angeles Times counted 226 episodes, while IMDb lists 216[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0109495/) |
| Earlier series role | Mayor Jim "Dog" Kelley of Dodge City on *The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp* (1956–1958); the Los Angeles Times counts 38 episodes, TVmaze counts 33 as Kelley plus one other episode[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [3](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/91116/paul-brinegar) |
| Other regular role | Jelly Hoskins on the Western series *Lancer* (1968–1970), 51 episodes by the Los Angeles Times count[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) |
| Film work | Tom Jefferson Jeffrey in *Cattle Empire* (1958), the film on which *Rawhide* was based; Lutie Naylor in *High Plains Drifter* (1973); stagecoach driver in *Maverick* (1994)[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/121604-Paul-Brinegar?cp=1&isMiscCredit=false&pos=0&sid=ceec14bf-7d8f-4827-b79e-4ee18e69eec2&sr=1.8064759) |
| Career span | 1946–1994, beginning with an uncredited part in *Abilene Town* and ending with *Maverick*[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/paul_brinegar) |
| Recognition | Golden Boot Award in 1994 for his efforts to further Westerns on television and in film[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) |
## Early life and war service
Brinegar was born in [Tucumcari, New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/tucumcari-new-mexico), and was raised in the state; as a small child the family moved to Alamogordo, then Las Cruces, and finally Santa Fe, where he began acting in high school plays.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [6](https://sassnet.com/uploads/downloads/cowboychronicle/2013/13aprchron.pdf) He continued acting as a student at Pasadena City College, where he studied drama, literature, and art.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0109495/)
During World War II he took a break from acting and served four years in the South Pacific as a chief radioman in the Navy.[6](https://sassnet.com/uploads/downloads/cowboychronicle/2013/13aprchron.pdf) After the war he supported himself as a radio repairman while taking bit parts in movies.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html)
## Screen career
Brinegar began appearing in films in 1946 with an uncredited role in the Western romance *[Abilene Town](https://www.edgepedia.org/abilene-town)*, and received his first credit two years later as a mechanic in the 1948 film noir *Larceny*.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/paul_brinegar) Through the late 1940s and 1950s he accumulated dozens of small film parts, usually in Westerns, playing characters such as a [Western Union](https://www.edgepedia.org/western-union) clerk in *Pinky* (1949), a bandleader in *Rails Into Laramie* (1954), and a barber in *Four Guns to the Border* (1954).[5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/121604-Paul-Brinegar?cp=1&isMiscCredit=false&pos=0&sid=ceec14bf-7d8f-4827-b79e-4ee18e69eec2&sr=1.8064759) As an early television actor he won roles in *Dragnet* and *Racket Squad*.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html)
**The Wyatt Earp break.** His first big break came when he was cast as Jim "Dog" Kelley, the mayor of [Dodge City, Kansas](https://www.edgepedia.org/dodge-city-kansas), in *The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp*, the ABC series starring [Hugh O'Brian](https://www.edgepedia.org/hugh-obrian); he played the role from 1956 to 1958.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [3](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/91116/paul-brinegar) In 1958 he played the camp cook Tom Jefferson Jeffrey in the film *Cattle Empire*, directed by Charles Marquis Warren, who went on to create *Rawhide*; Warren decided Brinegar would be the ideal camp cook for the new series.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html)
**Wishbone on Rawhide.** In 1959 Brinegar took on the role that defined his career: George Washington Wishbone, the cantankerous chuck wagon cook on *Rawhide*, the CBS cattle-drive Western that also starred [Eric Fleming](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-fleming) and a young [Clint Eastwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/clint-eastwood) as Rowdy Yates.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [6](https://sassnet.com/uploads/downloads/cowboychronicle/2013/13aprchron.pdf) He played the part from the first episode to the last, through the show's eight seasons.[7](https://western-series.fandom.com/wiki/Paul_Brinegar) Brinegar was 41 when the series began, portraying a man of about 65, and he credited his prematurely graying hair and lined face with making him profitable in character parts.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) His beard became part of the character; in a 1964 interview he said that when he shaved it off during a break from the show, no one on the production office recognized him, and he concluded he was "destined to wear a beard from now on."[8](https://www.metv.com/stories/rawhides-paul-brinegars-beard-made-headlines-in-the-60s?marketid=267) In interviews he called Wishbone the best job he ever had, and he noted that not being the star of the production let him finish a week's work in two or three days.[9](https://www.metv.com/stories/rawhides-paul-brinegar-said-wishbone-was-the-best-job-he-ever-had) • [10](https://www.metv.com/stories/paul-brinegar-on-the-secret-to-success-as-an-actor-dont-be-a-star) Off screen he had little interest in cooking, though he and a [Screen Gems](https://www.edgepedia.org/screen-gems) publicist collected old-time camp recipes for a planned book.[11](https://www.metv.com/stories/paul-brinegar-rawhides-mr-wishbone-had-little-interest-in-real-cooking)
**Later roles.** After *Rawhide* ended, Brinegar moved to the CBS Western *[Lancer](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancer-tv-series)* (1968–1970), playing Jelly Hoskins, a crotchety old ranch hand, in 51 episodes by the Los Angeles Times count.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [12](https://www.tvtango.com/person/paul_brinegar) He appeared in the Elvis Presley Western *Charro!* (1969) as Opie Keetch, and in 1973 worked with Clint Eastwood again as the barman Lutie Naylor in *High Plains Drifter*.[5](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/121604-Paul-Brinegar?cp=1&isMiscCredit=false&pos=0&sid=ceec14bf-7d8f-4827-b79e-4ee18e69eec2&sr=1.8064759) • [6](https://sassnet.com/uploads/downloads/cowboychronicle/2013/13aprchron.pdf) From 1982 to 1983 he played the comedic cowboy Lamar Pettybone in the first season of the ABC detective series *Matt Houston*, in 13 episodes by the Los Angeles Times count.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [3](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/91116/paul-brinegar) He also guest-starred on series including *The Dukes of Hazzard*, *Trapper John, M.D.*, *CHiPs*, *Knight Rider*, and *Little House on the Prairie*.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/paul_brinegar) In 1991 he played a character called Cookie in the TV movie *The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw*, a revised version of his Wishbone persona, with a brief monologue naming about a dozen old TV Western series.[6](https://sassnet.com/uploads/downloads/cowboychronicle/2013/13aprchron.pdf) His final screen appearance was as a stagecoach driver in the 1994 film *Maverick*, alongside many colleagues from Western shows.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html)
## Personal life and death
Brinegar married Shirley Talbott on December 28, 1962; they had two children, Paul Alden Brinegar III and Mark Douglas Brinegar.[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0109495/) In private life he served as honorary sheriff and fire chief of Granada Hills, California.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) He received the Golden Boot Award in 1994 for his work furthering Westerns in film and television.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) He died of emphysema on March 27, 1995, in Los Angeles at the age of 77.[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html) • [13](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/03/31/deaths/f5e6badb-d23a-4c30-a2e0-d182d0bdfbf9/)
## References
1. [Paul Brinegar; Appeared in TV's 'Rawhide', Myrna Oliver, Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1995](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-31-mn-49147-story.html)
2. [Paul Brinegar Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/paul_brinegar)
3. [Paul Brinegar, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/91116/paul-brinegar)
4. [Paul Brinegar, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0109495/)
5. [Paul Brinegar filmography, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/121604-Paul-Brinegar?cp=1&isMiscCredit=false&pos=0&sid=ceec14bf-7d8f-4827-b79e-4ee18e69eec2&sr=1.8064759)
6. [Cowboy TV: Paul Alden Brinegar, Cowboy Chronicle (SASS), April 2013](https://sassnet.com/uploads/downloads/cowboychronicle/2013/13aprchron.pdf)
7. [Paul Brinegar, Western Series Wiki](https://western-series.fandom.com/wiki/Paul_Brinegar)
8. [Rawhide's Paul Brinegar had a beard that made headlines in the '60s, MeTV](https://www.metv.com/stories/rawhides-paul-brinegars-beard-made-headlines-in-the-60s?marketid=267)
9. [Rawhide's Paul Brinegar said Wishbone was the best job he ever had, MeTV](https://www.metv.com/stories/rawhides-paul-brinegar-said-wishbone-was-the-best-job-he-ever-had)
10. [Paul Brinegar on the secret to success as an actor: Don't be a star!, MeTV](https://www.metv.com/stories/paul-brinegar-on-the-secret-to-success-as-an-actor-dont-be-a-star)
11. [Paul Brinegar, Rawhide's Mr. Wishbone, had little interest in real cooking, MeTV](https://www.metv.com/stories/paul-brinegar-rawhides-mr-wishbone-had-little-interest-in-real-cooking)
12. [TVography: Paul Brinegar, TV Tango](https://www.tvtango.com/person/paul_brinegar)
13. [Deaths, The Washington Post, March 30, 1995](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/03/31/deaths/f5e6badb-d23a-4c30-a2e0-d182d0bdfbf9/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Character actors, B-movie and genre-circuit performers › American performers, early era*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license