Red West (born 1936) is an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter.
West was born Robert Gene West in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lois and Newton Thomas West. He was a close high school friend of rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. An excellent athlete and former U.S. Marine, West played football for his high school and junior college teams and was a boxer in the Golden Gloves championships.
Today, he is probably best known to American film audiences for his role as Red in Road House, alongside Patrick Swayze.
In 1955, West was the driver for Presley and band members Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and later D. J. Fontana when they toured the U.S. South performing live concerts as the "Blue Moon Boys". In 1960, following Presley's discharge from the United States Army, Red West went to work for the singer as a bodyguard and became known as one of the media-dubbed Memphis Mafia.
In addition, West was a talented songwriter who wrote songs that not only Elvis Presley recorded but also were recorded by teen idols Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone and Johnny Rivers.
In 1976, Red West was involved in a series of heavy-handed incidents in Las Vegas with aggressive fans that got out of hand and
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