Cowboy Actor. He was born in Athol, Massachusetts, the youngest of nine children of Leroy Starrett founder of the Starrett Precision Tool Company best known today for their pocket knives. Charles Starrett was educated at Worcester Academy and Dartmouth. While attending Dartmouth College he was a member of the football team. He was cast in a role as an extra in the 1926 film, "The Quarterback." This inspired him to pursue an acting career. Starrett studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. He began appearing in vaudeville and stock company performances along the Atlantic Seaboard then obtained leading roles on Broadway. A screen test in Hollywood landed him a contract with Paramount studios and a role in the film "Fast and Loose." His career barely off the ground, he put it all in jeopardy by helping to form the Screen Actors Guild, a labor movement for actors and actresses. Today it is a force defining working conditions, compensation and benefits on behalf of artists. After a few years of bland romantic leads: 'The Mask of Fu Manchu, Jungle Bride, Sons of Steel,' Starrett switched to Westerns, signing with Columbia Pictures and a partnership which lasted for some sixteen years. He made over 100 pictures for them and appeared in almost 175 B-grade westerns overall during his career. A few: 'Gallant Defender (his first) The Cowboy Star, Outlaws of the Prairie, Texas Stagecoach and Bad Men of the Hills.' (his better films) He made a 64-picture run that featured him as the Durango Kid. The Kid was the gallant defender of good against evil. Whenever the day needed saving, he simply changed clothes, donned his mask, black western wear, guns and summoned his white horse "Raider." He retired from acting in 1952 after making his last movie, "The Kid From Broken Gun." Starrett lived the rest of his life in quiet seclusion retiring to Laguna Beach where he had a small home overlooking the Pacific. He traveled all over the world, visiting Starrett machine tool distributors as a goodwill ambassador. Every Fall, he visited his alma mater, Dartmouth for a reunion. He spent his winters in Borrego Springs, a tiny village located on the Borrego Dessert in Southern California. Blind and diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, he was treated at the Laguna Beach Hospital. He discontinued his treatments after it became hopeless returning home. While in Borrego Springs, he quietly passed away. His remains were transported back to Laguna and cremated then taken to New England, placed aboard a plane and his ashes were strewn over the Dartmouth football field.