Of all the artists in the America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale, many are authentic horsemen and -women. Few, however, can claim that they’ve also found fame as a Hollywood horseman.

But Buck Taylor sure can. Buck, who painted the 2019 show’s signature artwork, “Gold Cup,” has found renown in a number of arenas, including acting. At 21, he followed his father, actor Dub Taylor, into the entertainment industry, where Westerns were calling his name.

He played Newly O’Brien for eight seasons (1967-1975) in the long-running TV series “Gunsmoke” and continued with an impressive number of roles – in TV shows like “The Virginian” and “Walker, Texas Ranger” and movies like “Tombstone” with Val Kilmer and the 2011 “Cowboys & Aliens,” just to name a few.

But acting wasn’t always his goal. When Buck was growing up in Hollywood, he dreamed of becoming a Western artist. And he also could have been a professional gymnast.

“When I was a kid, I drew lots of Indians and cowboys,” the now-81-year-old actor says. “My dad had a guesthouse full of Remingtons and Russells. I’d look at the western scenes in those paintings and say, ‘Man, that’s where I want to go.’ The closest I could get to it was by being in movies representing the West. A lot of the early Westerns were fantasy. It made us feel good. And we all loved our heroes.”

As Buck watched his big-screen heroes do their own stunts, he decided that along with riding, roping and shooting, he also wanted to do stunt work. So, he took up gymnastics and in 1960 just missed qualifying for the Olympic gymnastics team.

Also as a teenager, Buck was awarded a one-year scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.

“I really wanted to be a painter,” he says. “This wasn’t graphic arts. We painted live models. It was an incredible experience.”

Buck’s acrylics and watercolors reflect his love of horses and the romance he has with the Old West.

“My artwork has always been there,” Buck says. “I’ll never let it go. A painter doesn’t paint because he wants to. He paints because he has to. It’s an outlet. On top of that, to make a living at it, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Several of his subjects are from movies he has been in.

“I painted Sam Elliott from the movie ‘Conagher,’” he says. “I can’t just sit on a movie set. I have to sketch.”

Buck also painted a portrait of the late James Arness, who played Marshall Matt Dillon in “Gunsmoke.”

While those two friends of Buck’s have a lot of name recognition, just wait until he starts telling stories about growing up in 1940s Hollywood.

“It was an extraordinary way to grow up,” Buck says. “At the time, I thought I was just like any other kid, to have Roy Rogers come by the house and take you over to dinner where they were cooking doves after dove hunting. Tex Ritter was a dear friend of my dad’s. I knew John Ritter (Tex’s son) when he was young. I knew Candace Bergen because her dad was Edgar Bergen. He liked to hunt a lot. They were all dove hunters, rural people that came to work in Hollywood.”

Buck grew up down the road from Yakima Canutt, a world champion cowboy who became John Wayne’s stuntman and a director.

“I grew up near Roy Williams, who was a cowboy from Texas who made a lot of movies and was a friend of Will Rogers,” Buck says. “I was just so fortunate. I have to remember these things that happened to me and pass them on to my kids and let them know that I named my son Cooper Glenn Taylor after Gary Cooper and Glenn Strange, who played the bartender on ‘Gunsmoke’ and was a friend of Gary Cooper’s.”

Buck’s son, Matthew, was named after Marshall Matt Dillon. He also has a daughter, Tiffany.

Acting, art and family aside, there is nothing that Buck is more passionate about than his 24-year marriage to Goldie. His soft eyes twinkle when he talks about the bubbly Goldie and how she came along at a time when he needed a new lease on life.

“I lost my father and my oldest son, Adam, in 1994,” he says. “I think Adam sent Goldie to me as a way of telling me to get on with my life.

“I owe the fact that I met my wife, Goldie, all to AQHA,” Buck says. “She and I met at the 1995 AQHA World Show. I was there exhibiting my paintings, and she was there competing in the barrel racing.”

When Goldie came into Buck’s exhibit, he asked her to sign his guest book just so he could learn her name. When he discovered she was single, he asked her to write down her phone number, too, so he could call her and take her out to dinner.

“But I live in Louisiana,” she said.

“I don’t care. I’ll drive wherever I have to to take you out,” he said.

And that was the beginning of their whirlwind courtship. They were married three months later.

Buck and Goldie’s relationship illustrates the theory that opposites attract. Where Buck is easygoing and quiet, Goldie is a lot like her barrel horses – outgoing, spirited and energetic.

“Goldie knows a lot about horses,” Buck says. “I like to bond with our horses. They all have their own personalities. They’re teaching me patience. I’m one that likes to jump ahead too fast to the next lesson, and that gets me in trouble. My wife is my horse director; she lets me know it, too.”

For more than a decade, the America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale has been collecting some of the best equine art in the world and offering it for sale in the best possible win-win scenario. Purchasers, of course, take home amazing bronzes or captivating canvasses, and a portion of the proceeds benefits the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum, a program of the American Quarter Horse Foundation, supporting its efforts to preserve the history of the American Quarter Horse.

This year, the show and sale kicks off August 17, with an opening extravaganza from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the museum in Amarillo. The event will feature live music, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.

Buck Taylor’s artwork pictured in this story – as well as that of many other artists – will be available for purchase via silent auction on opening night. All remaining pieces not sold on opening night will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 8 a.m. Central August 19. Art sales will be available online at www.aqha.com/ahia, by telephone at 806-376-5181 and by email at artshow@aqha.org.

The museum also offers proxy bidding for the opening night silent auction, providing an easy and safe way to purchase. Please contact museum staff at artshow@aqha.org.

America’s Horse in Art is underwritten by the Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council Art Committee, the Fairly Group and the American Quarter Horse Foundation. Learn more about the Foundation and its programming at www.aqha.com/foundation.