Paul Brinegar

Who was Paul Brinegar?

Paul Brinegar was an American character actor.

Brinegar made over 100 appearances between 1946 and 1994, appearing in many western films, and played the barman in Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter in 1973. He was best known for his long-running role as the cook, George Washington Wishbone, on the CBS series Rawhide from 1959 to 1966, which also starred Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. He had even played Tom Jefferson Jeffrey in the 1958 movie Cattle Empire upon which Rawhide was based.

From 1956 to 1958, he played James H. "Dog" Kelley, the mayor of Dodge City, Kansas from 1877 to 1881, in the western series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O'Brian in the title role of Wyatt Earp. Brinegar appeared thirty-three times as Kelley and once in a previous episode as another character. In 1959, he played Ludwig, the bartender, in the episode "The Ringer" of the western series The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun. In 1969, he appeared in the western film Charro! starring Elvis Presley.

Brinegar made two guest appearances on Perry Mason.