The Alamo (1960 film) of the former Alamo Mission. The set was an extensive three quarter-scale replica of the mission, and has since been used in 100 other westerns, including other depictions of the battle. It took more than two years to construct. Wayne was to have portrayed Sam Houston, a bit part that would have let him focus on his first major directing effort, but investors insisted he play a leading character. He took on the role of Davy Crockett, handing the part of Houston to Richard Boone. Wayne cast Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William Barrett Travis. Harvey
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