Chief Tahachee (born Jeff Davis "Tahchee" Cypert, March 4, 1904 – June 9, 1978) was a writer, a stage actor, a film

extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * '' Extra!'', an American m ...

, and a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

performer. He claimed to be a descendant of the Old Settler

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

s. Chief Tahachee wrote four books: ''Poems of Dreams'' (1942), ''Drifting Sands'' (1950), ''An American Indian Climb Toward Truth & Wisdom'' (1955), and ''The Rough and Rowdy Ways of an American Indian Cowboy'' (1957). ''Poems of Dreams'' was his most popular and he renewed the copyright on it October 1972. Chief Tahachee was an actor, stuntman and film extra in many Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1960s, including

westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

, and historical sagas. His first film appearance was in a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

, ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfind ...

'', in 1920 at the age of 16. Tahachee was married to poet and Hollywood film extra Dorothy Lear Evelyn Teters Cypert "Nawana" Yarbrough, who also went by "Princess Neowana." After their divorce married six more times, he fathered ten children. He died June 9, 1978, in

San Gabriel, California San Gabriel ( Spanish for "St. Gabriel") is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California. At the 2010 census, the population was 39,718. San Gabriel was founded by the Spanish in 1771, when Mission San Gabriel Arc ...

of a heart attack.Chief Tahachee News, Chief Tahachee Videos, and Chief Tahachee Photos
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References

External links

* American male actors American writers 1904 births 1978 deaths People from Crittenden County, Arkansas Male actors from Arkansas Vaudeville performers American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers {{US-film-actor-1900s-stub