Actor Eric Fleming portrayed trail boss Gil Favor, on the television series RAWHIDE. Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi sang the theme song from the show during their hit movie THE BLUES BROTHERS. Gil Favor was often referred to as Mr. Favor, along with Rowdy Yates(Clint Eastwood was one of the main characters in RAWHIDE. Eric Fleming’s character was the leader of a cattle drive who faced numerous dangers and different challenges each week. RAWHIDE ran for 8 seasons be on CBS from 1959-1957. It continues to be shown on n syndication on networks like MeTV. Clint Eastwood went on to become a movie superstar but what happened to the man who portrayed his trail boss?
Eric Fleming was born Edward Heddy Jr. on July 4, 1925 and his life was quite tragic. He had a club foot which hindered his ability to walk and his father often beat him severely. At the age of 8 Fleming tried to shoot his dad but the gun jammed. Fleming ran away from home and began doing odd jobs for gang members in order to survive. When he was 11 the boy was reunited with his mother who had recently divorced his father. He dropped out of school during the Great Depression and worked a number of jobs until he joined the Merchant Marine.
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In 1942 during Word War II he joined the United States army where Fleming served as a Seabee in a naval construction battalion and received extensive facial injuries because of a bet. He was attempting to lift a 200-pound (91 kg) weight that fell on him and caused massive damage. He had to undergo extensive plastic surgery to reconstruct his jaw, forehead, and nose. Fleming had previously, always considered himself to be ugly and considered the accident a “wonderful balance of values.”
After his facial reconstruction, Eric Fleming returned to his job as a construction worker carpenter and grip at Paramount Studios. He obviously learned nothing from his previous experience because he made another bet. This time it was $100.00 that he could do a better audition than a young actor. Fleming lost again but in his anger over the $100 he made a decision that changed his life. He decided to take acting classes and obtain roles that would earn his money back.
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Fleming began working on Broadway and later had roles in a few low-budget films. The actor’s big break came in 1958 when he was cast as trail boss Gil Favor in RAWHIDE. In 1965, however, Eric Fleming and several other cast members were fired and the final season had Clint Eastwood as the trail boss but the show ended up being canceled. Fleming later had a role in the Doris Day film THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT and also appeared on BONANZA.
On September 28, 1966, the actor was on location in Peru, shooting the film HIGH JUNGLE when yet another tragedy occurred. Fleming and co-star Nico Minardos were in a dugout canoe in the Huallaga River when the canoe suddenly overturned. Minardos was able to swim to safety but Fleming was swept away by the current and drowned at age 41, leaving behind his fiancée Lynne Garber.
A club foot, being beaten by his father, running away, gang activity, his and his face being crushed were all pretty brutal. Fleming lost the $100 which gave him the desire to pursue acting, then lost his life at a young age doing what he enjoyed. In spite of these adversities, fans of Gill Favor, RAWHIDE, and or Eric Fleming will continue to watch the iconic television western and have fond memories of the actor who was gone too soon. Truly Eric Fleming had a tough rawhide of his own to endure so much.
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