Anthony EarlNumkena

Biography

Origins

Anthony Earl Numkena is the first son of Anthony and Margaret Rae Numkena. He was born on August 20, 1942, in Culver City Rural, California. His father was a Hopi from Moenkopi, Arizona, and his mother was a Karuk from Fort Jones, California. He is the first of five siblings.

How It Started

In 1949, the Numkena family living in Redondo Beach, California answered a posting at the American Indian Center in Los Angeles. Tim McCoy from the Tim McCoy Show on KTLA was looking for American Indians to appear on his weekly television show. Many American Indians answered the posting as well.

Both Anthony and his brother, Ronald, landed roles in the Tim McCoy Show. Since the brothers were children, the parents had to acquire work permits for their children from the City of Los Angeles. Ronald played a significant role as “Little Sitting Bull” while Anthony played a small role in the background.

At the time, movie studios used work permits to find child extras. It was through the permits that movie studios contacted the Numkena family. Twentieth Century Fox was the first to call the Numkena family looking for extras. Twentieth Century Fox became the first movie studio that Anthony worked at as an extra.

Anthony and Ronald worked for various movie studios, sometimes together and sometimes separately. Anthony worked as an extra for 20^th Century Fox, MGM, Columbia, and RKO.

When Anthony was nine, the Numkena family got a call from 20^th Century Fox. It asked for the brothers to attend an audition. It is believed that about 400 child actors showed up at the audition. The group of actors whittled down to four, including Anthony and Ronald. All four went on to a screen test…and Anthony landed the role “Duncan ‘Comes Running’ McDonald” in the movie Pony Soldier.

Life as an Actor

After Pony Soldier, he never had an audition or screen test again. Anthony transitioned from being an extra to an actor. He worked at various movie studios including Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO, RKO-Pathé, Disney, 20^th Century Fox (Pico), 20^th Century Fox (Sunset), Eagle Lion, California Studios, Samuel Goldwyn, Columbia, and Republic.

He worked in the motion picture/television industry for approximately six years. He acted in eight motion pictures and approximately 30 television productions and worked as an extra about five times. He acted in all 26 episodes of the television series Brave Eagle.

In addition to playing American Indian roles, he portrayed a Mongolian, a Mexican, an Eskimo, a Burmese, a Filipino, and a Pacific Islander.

Anthony never knew how to sing, yet he sang in the 1955 Warner Brothers movie Strange Lady in Town. To “sing,” he had a half-day one-on-one session with Dimitri Tiomkin.

When not working, he attended public school in Redondo Beach, California. When working, he had to be schooled by a teacher assigned to the work site by the city of Los Angeles. The teacher was also responsible for the pupils’ welfare with regard to child labor law. All child actors had to have at least four hours of school every school day. The entire workday, including school, could not exceed eight hours. Work was not permitted on weekends.

Like many child actors physically maturing to adulthood, Anthony’s agent eventually could not find roles for him. At the age of 15, his last acting role was in an episode of Wagon Train - A Man Called Horse.

Life after Stardom

He graduated from Aviation High School, Redondo Beach, California, in 1960.

He enlisted in the United States Navy in April 1962. Discharged in December 1966 with the rate of Hospital Corpsman, 2nd class.

He graduated from the University of California Riverside.

He is a retired radiographer/ultra-sonographer from Indian Health Service.

As of October 28, 2025, Anthony Earl Numkena remains alive.

Movies

The following table lists film appearances of Anthony Earl Numkena.

Television

The following table lists television appearances of Anthony Earl Numkena.

Conflation with Earl Holliman

If you search ‘Earl Holliman’ and ‘Anthony Earl Numkena’, some websites say that both names refer to the same person, Earl Holliman.

To set the record straight, Anthony Earl Numkena and Earl Holliman are not the same person. They are not related. However, both worked in the 1953 20^th Century Fox production Destination Gobi.

It is believed that a book published around the 1980s listed both names as the same person.

Conflation with Anthony Numkena

Anthony Earl Numkena’s father is Anthony Numkena. Anthony Numkena did not have a middle name. Anthony Numkena appeared in one movie with his son, Pony Soldier.

Appearances

On occasion, he is invited to make appearances.

• Gathering of Guns 3
• Sedona Film Festival 2022 (Re: Pony Soldier) - See KudosAZ.com

External References

• IMDb - Anthony Earl Numkena
• Boy Actors
• KudosAZ.com - Sedona Classic Movie ‘Pony Soldier’ Rides Again