The Alamo (1960 film) had seen some of the rushes from "Timberland" and thought I would be right." After making the film, Wayne told the press "We're not cutting one bit of any scene in which Frankie appears. I believe he is the finest young talent I've seen in a long time." "Mr Wayne said I was natural as far as acting goes," said Avalon. Several days after filming began, Widmark complained he had been miscast and tried to leave. Among other things, it seemed ridiculous that the relatively diminutive (5'9") Widmark would be playing the "larger than life" Bowie, who was a reported
Denver Pyle cast as Big Red in the 1959 episode "Woman in the River" of the ABC/Warner Bros. detective series "Bourbon Street Beat", starring Andrew Duggan and Richard Long. He made several appearances as Briscoe Darling, Jr., on "The Andy Griffith Show". Pyle was cast in a number of Western movies by John Ford, including "The Horse Soldiers" with William Holden and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". He played a Tennessee soldier (called Thimblerig) in John Wayne's "The Alamo" (1960). He portrayed Sam Houston in several episodes of CBS's "The Adventures of Jim Bowie". He guest-starred as a law enforcement officer