Who Are Those Guys? - X Brands

Jay X Brand was born on July 24, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri. Brands's unusual first name comes from his family's German history. In the small town in Germany, where Brands's ancestors had lived, there were two men named Jan Brands. One of them added the middle initial "X" to distinguish himself. He became known as "X" Brands, and the name was continued with his descendants in America. The family tradition was that no one could use the initial until the previous "X" had died.

His best-known role was that of "Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah" ("Wolf who stands in water"), the shotgun-toting Indian companion on the 1958 CBS western series ‘Yancy Derringer’, with Jock Mahoney in the starring role.

In 1956, Brands appeared in different roles in fifteen episodes of the syndicated western series, ‘Judge Roy Bean’, starring Edgar Buchanan, Jack Buetel, and Jackie Loughery. Brands always played supporting characters in films. His most noteworthy roles were "Hook" in Santee, with Glenn Ford, and the second remake of “Beau Geste” (1966), in which he played "Vallejo".

Brands died in Northridge, California in Los Angeles County, California, in the spring of 2000 at the age of seventy-two.

BRANDS, X (aka X Brand) (Jay X Brands) [7/24/1927, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A. - 5/8/2000, Northridge, California, U.S.A. (sepsis, pneumonia, congestive heart failure)] - TV actor, stuntman, married to Jean Dorothy Merriam [1929-2001] (1950-1961), father of Kathleen Jean Brands [1951-2001], Karen Juliet Dougherty-Brands Dougherty [1956-     ], married to Pamela McInnes (1971-1975).

Captain Apache – 1970