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Resounds: Brian D'Ambrosio

courtesy Brian D'Ambrosio

A few of Montana’s actors such as Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy found success during the Golden Age of Hollywood. For more than a century, Montana has supplied a rich variety of film and musical entertainment and personality—from daredevils to dancers, mostly unknown, until now.

Brian D’Ambrosio’s new book, Montana Entertainers, Famous and Almost Forgotten, gives us a glimpse of many unsung heroes and heroines of the entertainment world, including a few African American and Native American actors such as Chief Many Treaties and Taylor Gordon.

From onetime Butte resident Julian Eltinge who went on to become America’s first famous female impersonator to Steve Reeves who went on to play the role of Hercules, Montana has its fair share of interesting entertainers!

Brian D’Ambrosio lives in Helena, Montana. He has written several books, including most recently Montana and the NFL, as well as more than three hundred articles about Montana people, places and things.

Corby Skinner is an independent marketing professional with an enormous capacity for assessing issues and creating positive, effective messages.
Anna Paige is a Montana-based journalist, poet and educator. She is originally from Wyoming and has lived in Billings for more than a decade, where she co-founded Young Poets, winner of the 2021 Library of Congress Award for Literacy.
Ken Siebert began work at YPR in 1992 as a part-time, evening board operator. He was hired full time in 1994.