1. Rex Bell appeared in the 1930 movie True to the Navy, starring Clara Bow; Bell and Bow married the following year.
15 Facts About Rex Bell
1. 2.
Rex Bell was the second Lieutenant Governor to die in office after Henry C Davis and as of 2025, he is the most recent to have died in office.
3.
Rex Bell was born George Francis Beldam in Chicago, Illinois on October 16,1903.
4.
Rex Bell made his film debut in Wild West Romance in 1928, and went on to act in a number of films, mostly Westerns, in which he had the lead role.
5.
Fox Film executives were reported to be grooming Rex Bell to be a successor to Tom Mix.
6.
Rex Bell left the movie industry in 1936, although he had generally small roles in a few later films.
7.
Rex Bell's final film appearance was an uncredited but very prominent role as a loquacious old cowboy in a bar and attending a rodeo in John Huston's The Misfits starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.
8.
In 1944, Rex Bell ran for the United States House of Representatives on the Republican ticket against Democrat Berkeley Bunker.
9.
Rex Bell was the leader of the Nevada Republican Party and in 1948 was an alternate to the Republican National Convention.
10.
Rex Bell was active in the Nevada Chamber of Commerce and Boy Scouts.
11.
The ties Rex Bell forged during those years helped him win the Lieutenant Governor's office in 1954.
12.
In 1958, Democrat Grant Sawyer unseated Russell, but Bell won re-election as Lieutenant Governor.
13.
Rex Bell died after giving a campaign speech on July 4,1962, while running for governor, still in office, of a heart attack at the El Rancho Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
14.
Rex Bell was host of the program Cowboys and Injuns in 1950.
15.
Rex Bell died of a heart attack on July 4,1962, a few hours after attending a political rally and picnic in Las Vegas.