Race Gentry

Handsome second lead actor, briefly under contract to Universal-International in the mid-1950s. He was born John Papiro of Italian ancestry on 23 February 1934 to Guido and Frances M. Papiro in Los Angeles, California. Following a stint in the army, Papiro adopted the stage moniker Race Gentry (purportedly because he liked fast cars) and embarked on a brief acting career on screen. He made his debut as the younger version of gunslinger John Wesley Hardin (the older played by Rock Hudson) in the heavily romanticized western The Lawless Breed (1952). In another tepid horse opera, Black Horse Canyon (1954), he joined forces with fellow rancher Joel McCrea , competing with a neighbouring rival over the possession of a wild black stallion. Gentry also popped up in a couple of war pictures before devoting his energy to acting on the small screen. His motion picture swansong was Thunder in Carolina (1960), as a cocky young stock car racer mentored by veteran driver Rory Calhoun. For this effort, he changed his name again -- to John Gentry (not to be confused with the British racing engineer of that name). After a few more guest roles on TV, Gentry departed the scene in 1966 to be heard from no more.