Robert Shelton, a polo-playing entrepreneur from the Midwest, moved to Tucson in the late 1950s and bought Old Tucson.
"When I took over Old Tucson in 1959, that was right in the peak of Western motion pictures and television shows being made," said Shelton, who is being honored with an exhibition of his memorabilia at the Art Institute of Tucson, 5099 E. Grant Road. "Robert Shelton: The Man Who Brought Hollywood to the Desert" will be on view through Friday.
Shelton, 90, is a titan of Old West moviemaking who was involved in the production of more than 300 movies and television shows between 1959 and 1985, when he sold Old Tucson.
He has worn many a hat over the years, even appearing in front of the camera a few times.
Shelton had a fairly prominent, if uncredited, role as an outlaw in "Arizona Raiders" (1965), one of three movies Audie Murphy made at Old Tucson.
He also tried his hand at screenwriting with "A Knife for the Ladies," starring Jack Elam as a Wild West Jack the Ripper. It was released in 1974.
Mostly, however, Shelton has served as an extraordinary salesman for Southern Arizona, singlehandedly luring movie after movie here.
In 1968, a 13,000-square-foot soundstage was built, which launched Old Tucson into a frenzy of moviemaking. The first film to use the soundstage was "Young Billy Young," with Robert Mitchum and Angie Dickinson.
The year 1968 saw another huge expansion when Old Tucson bought the town CBS built near Benson for the movie "Monte Walsh," starring Lee Marvin.
The town, which is on a bluff 40 miles southeast of Tucson, was later named Mescal.
"We did 60 to 70 films there," says Shelton, who became a lifelong friend of John Wayne and many other giants of the Western genre. At one point in 1970, he had Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin working simultaneously on four different movies here.
On April 25, 1995, a fire raced through Old Tucson, forever changing what John Wayne once called "the best Western street in the nation."
Shelton still gets emotional as he describes the wind-whipped, arson-caused devastation.
"We lost about 50 percent of Old Tucson. We lost our entire wardrobe department, old movie stock, cameras and lots of equipment. They came out and interviewed me that night, and I could look out to the west and see the glow."
Much of the town was never rebuilt, nor was the soundstage, essential for serious moviemaking.
"The Quick and the Dead" turned out to be the last movie made at Old Tucson/Mescal to get a major theatrical release. It was released in 1995.
The arsonist, whoever it was, got away scot-free.
"Old Tucson has never been the same," says Shelton. "It was such a tragedy."
