Louis Bert Lindley was born in Kingsburg, CA, June 29, 1919. He became a real cowboy, as young as the age of 12. He wound up playing the role of the clown in the rodeos. That's a very dangerous job, as I guess you know. You get in one of those barrels, and, well, you know those folks in California . . .

He got an idea to become an actor, and one of the fellows he was working with said something to the effect, "Well, you might as well try it. It's nothing but slim pickins around here." So he became Slim Pickens at the age of 31 and worked in many of the Western TV shows in the 50's. He also worked in Hollywood and was in dozens of movies as a character actor. Who could ever forget that face? And that drawl, like a human bloodhound.

You probably only remember two things he ever did. One was the role of Taggart in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, 1974. The other was the role of the bomber pilot, Major T. J. "King" Kong, waving his cowboy hat, rodeo-style, as he rides to destroy the planet with fun and glee atop a nuclear bomb in Dr. Strangelove. (We will meet again, you know.)

Slim met his maker on December 8, 1983, after a long and courageous bout with a brain tumor.

Mr. Death got quite a laugh when he met Mr. Pickens.