Who's Rick Horn mystery solved

For decades fans of the Spaghetti westerns have wondered and debated over who Rick Horn, the leading actor in The Man from Oklahoma was. He’s been misidentified as Anton Geesink or Samson Burke, both were researched by members of the Spaghetti Western Database and both were found to be incorrect identifications. We did receive word this past week from Rick’s wife Rosaria that Rick had passed away last week and in searching for an Italian dubbed version of "The Man from Oklahoma" had found the Spaghetti Western Database. She cleared up the mystery and apologized that if they had discovered the database before Rick himself would have posted and straightened out the confusion. I contacted her through a private message at the database and she wrote back with some additional information on Rick. I’ve pieced together what she told the board and me and put the article below together. We extend our sincere condolences to Rosaria and thank her for ending another mystery and giving us another piece to the puzzle.

 

Hi everybody, I was just searching for the movie my husband (Rick Horn) was in, to see if I could get it in Italian as a present for my mom. I have the English version of it. I saw your posts and it seems like everybody wanted to know who Rick Horn was. His full name is Richard Stuart Hornbeck, he was born in New York City on April 4, 1937 and was 28 years old when he was cast in the movie il Ranch Degli Spietati (The Man from Oklahoma). He made another Spaghetti western that we were unable to locate and a couple of movies like Hercules (Maciste in Italian). He liked doing theatre a lot more. In any case, he had a Masters in Art and went to teach at a collage in Rhode Island, he then decided to become a Doctor of Chiropractic and went to Italy to work as a chiropractor and that’s where he met me. We were married in 1979 and had a wonderful 36 years together. We moved from Italy to El Segundo California where he opened a practice and then to Seneca, South Carolina where because of suffering from Spinal Stenosis he retired early and we moved to the hill country of Texas. One week after we got here, Richard suffered congestive heart failure and spiraled down from there and during a thunderstorm in the early morning of May 06, 2015 Richard took his last breath. He was a wonderful man and a very sweet, sensitive and an animal lover. In The Man from Oklahoma his weight was about 200 LBS, and he was 6’2’ tall. I thought I would clear up the mystery about him. It is funny your comments about he liked to take his shirt off, I think his female co-star would have liked that for he had a great body. He had doing body building since he was 17 years old. He did not like the hat he was given to wear at all, it was way too small. I am sorry I did not see the posts a long time ago as he would have probably cleared up the mystery himself. Rick appeared as Richard S. Hornbeck in an episode of the TV series Cheyenne (1959) called ‘Prisoner of Moon Mesa”. – Rosaria Hornbeck

HORN, Rick (Richard Stuart Hornbeck) [4/4/1937, New York City, New York, U.S.A. – 5/6/2015, Manor, Texas, U.S.A.] – model, stage, TV actor, chiropractor, married to Rosario Hornbeck (1979-2015).

The Man from Oklahoma – 1965 (Oklahoma John)

Richard S. Hornbeck was born in New York City in 1937. Sutton Place South, New York City, New York, U.S.A. Son of Paul H. Hornbeck 1905, Olga Hornbeck 1911, brother of Danuel P. Hornbeck 1934. He graduated in 1958 from Columbia University with a Master’s Degree in Art. He acted on television and in Italy. Married Rosaria and became a chiropractor in Italy returning with Rosario to open a practice in El Segundo, California then they moved to Seneca, South Carolina where Rick continued his practice. He developed Spinal Stenosis and congenital heart disease and the couple decided to move to the hill country of Texas and a warmer drier climate. One week after their arrival Rick died on Wednesday May 6, 2015 of congestive heart disease.