Slim Pickens - Western movie actor and rodeo performer

Celebrity Interviews with Joey Mitchell

Anyone old enough to remember Stanley Kubrick's movie "Dr. Strangelove" can picture the scene when Slim Pickens straddles the H-Bomb that's about to drop on an unsuspecting city, like a wild bronc and rides it on down to nuclear oblivion. That was my friend Slim Pickens, actor and rodeo star who appeared in so many movie and TV westerns he lost count. Slim and I met at a radio remote, and against all odds (me a city boy from NYC and he a western cowboy) would become real life great friends. In this episode, I heard he was in the hospital and we arranged an interview from there on the day before his release. He had major surgery on a tumor from the, in his words, the best doctor in the country, and he felt great. So why would he die in less than six months? Ironically, it had nothing to do with his surgery. Slim had contracted pneumonia and the complications led to his demise. I will forever remember Slim as one of the most genuine, funny, likeable people I have ever met. I am so grateful for the time we had together.