Rex Williams - Revision history

Djando: /* Star Elephant Trainer */

2023-06-09T21:55:33Z

‎Star Elephant Trainer

Djando: /* Star Elephant Trainer */

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‎Star Elephant Trainer

Djando: /* From Flying Trapeze to Elephants */

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‎From Flying Trapeze to Elephants

Djando: /* Star Elephant Trainer */

2023-03-14T19:42:00Z

‎Star Elephant Trainer

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

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‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* From Flying Trapeze to Elephants */

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‎From Flying Trapeze to Elephants

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

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‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* From Flying Trapeze to Elephants */

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‎From Flying Trapeze to Elephants

Djando: /* From Flying Trapeze to Elephants */

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‎From Flying Trapeze to Elephants

Djando: /* Star Elephant Trainer */

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‎Star Elephant Trainer

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 [[File:Rex_Williams_Elephant_Hitch.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The 12-elephant hitch in Pasadena (1982)]]Still out of the ring, Rex led a twelve-elephant hitch pulling a thirty-foot-high wagon in the 1982 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. This spectacular float, sponsored by the Casablanca Fan Company, was the last in the parade and its high point. In 1983, he led a herd of free running elephants on Wall Street, in New York City, for a Xerox Financial Services television commercial. Later that year, he celebrated the first successful birth of an elephant from two of his own elephants; the baby, a male elephant named Myakka, was his pride and joy.
-Rex married three times. His first wife was aerialist and leopard trainer [[Barbara Woodcock|Barbara Ray]], whose parents, LaLea and Ruben Ray, had a tiny circus called ''Marlowe's Mighty Hippodrome''. Barbara gave him a son, [[Ben Williams]]. After their divorce, Barbara re-married with another famous elephant trainer, [[Bill Woodcock]]. His second wife, Ava Coronas came from a well-known Czech family of high-wire performers. She gave him two daughters, Darlene and Renee. (Ava Williams eventually created a successful talent agency.) Rex was married a third time, late in life, to Mary Braa-Williams, who didn't come from a circus family.
+Rex married three times. His first wife was aerialist and leopard trainer [[Barbara Woodcock|Barbara Ray]], whose parents, LaLea and Ruben Ray, had a tiny circus called ''Marlowe's Mighty Hippodrome''. Barbara gave him a son, [[Ben Williams]]. After their divorce, Barbara re-married with another famous elephant trainer, [[Bill Woodcock]]. His second wife, Ava Coronas, came from a well-known Czech family of high-wire performers. She gave him two daughters, Darlene and Renee. (Ava Williams eventually created a successful talent agency.) Rex was married a third time, late in life, to Mary Braa-Williams, who didn't come from a circus family.
 Ben Williams (1953-2009) became a star elephant trainer in his own right. Rex’s daughter Darlene was a stuntwoman in Hollywood for many years, appearing notably in ''Water for Elephants'' (2011), ''Fast and Furious 7'' (2015), and many other films. Renee Williams was a pilot and is currently (2023) the VP of Operation for Constellation Aviation Solutions, a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration.

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 [[File:Rex_Williams_Elephant_Hitch.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The 12-elephant hitch in Pasadena (1982)]]Still out of the ring, Rex led a twelve-elephant hitch pulling a thirty-foot-high wagon in the 1982 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. This spectacular float, sponsored by the Casablanca Fan Company, was the last in the parade and its high point. In 1983, he led a herd of free running elephants on Wall Street, in New York City, for a Xerox Financial Services television commercial. Later that year, he celebrated the first successful birth of an elephant from two of his own elephants; the baby, a male elephant named Myakka, was his pride and joy.
-Rex married three times. His first wife was aerialist and leopard trainer [[Barbara Woodcock|Barbara Ray]], whose parents, LaLea and Ruben Ray, had a tiny circus called Marlowe's Mighty Hippodrome. Barbara gave him a son, [[Ben Williams]]. After their divorce, Barbara re-married with another famous elephant trainer, [[Bill Woodcock]]. His second wife, Ava Coronas came from a well-known Czech family of high-wire performers. She gave him two daughters, Darlene and Renee. (Ava Williams eventually created a successful talent agency.) Rex was married a third time, late in life, to Mary Braa-Williams, who didn't come from a circus family.
+Rex married three times. His first wife was aerialist and leopard trainer [[Barbara Woodcock|Barbara Ray]], whose parents, LaLea and Ruben Ray, had a tiny circus called ''Marlowe's Mighty Hippodrome''. Barbara gave him a son, [[Ben Williams]]. After their divorce, Barbara re-married with another famous elephant trainer, [[Bill Woodcock]]. His second wife, Ava Coronas came from a well-known Czech family of high-wire performers. She gave him two daughters, Darlene and Renee. (Ava Williams eventually created a successful talent agency.) Rex was married a third time, late in life, to Mary Braa-Williams, who didn't come from a circus family.
 Ben Williams (1953-2009) became a star elephant trainer in his own right. Rex’s daughter Darlene was a stuntwoman in Hollywood for many years, appearing notably in ''Water for Elephants'' (2011), ''Fast and Furious 7'' (2015), and many other films. Renee Williams was a pilot and is currently (2023) the VP of Operation for Constellation Aviation Solutions, a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration.

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 Rex also developed several rare specialty tricks with his elephants. One was the elephant pyramid: Two elephants would lay on their bellies side by side and a third would climb on their backs to form a pyramid. He managed to build a truly special bond with his charges: Animals loved him, and he eventually specialized in handling elephants&mdash;and especially male elephants&mdash;that no one else wanted.
-Unless other trainers who avoided them because they can become quite dangerous in period of musth (the elephants’ period of rut), Rex loved to work with male elephants, and they responded to him very well. He always had several male elephants in his care, and he had up to five in his group at one point in the ring. One of his star elephants was the huge Tusko, a 13,000 pounds gentle male with a spectacular pair of tusks, who was part of the Vargas herd.
+Unless other trainers who avoided them because they can become quite dangerous in period of musth (the elephants’ period of rut), Rex loved to work with male elephants, and they responded to him very well. He always had several male elephants in his care, and he had up to five in his group at one point in the ring. One of his star elephants was the huge ''Tusko'', a 13,000 pounds gentle male with a spectacular pair of tusks, who was part of the Vargas herd.
 Yet, it was a female elephant that injured him seriously in 1994, In Salt Lake City, Utah. Rex was working in Jordan Brothers Circus, when an elephant named Sue threw him to the ground and stepped on him. Rex got a broken arm, four broken ribs, and internal injuries from the incident.

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 Ben Williams (1953-2009) became a star elephant trainer in his own right. Rex’s daughter Darlene was a stuntwoman in Hollywood for many years, appearing notably in ''Water for Elephants'' (2011), ''Fast and Furious 7'' (2015), and many other films. Renee Williams was a pilot and is currently (2023) the VP of Operation for Constellation Aviation Solutions, a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration.
-Rex Williams retired from performing in 1995 and went to work for [[John Cuneo]]’s Hawthorn Corporation, a circus animal farm, and a breeding and training center, at their quarters in Richmond, Illinois. He finally retired in 2002, but didn't enjoy his retirement for long: He died of complications from hypothermia in Daingerfield, Texas, on January 3, 2003. In 2001, Rex had been inducted in the [[Circus Ring of Fame]] at St. Armands Circle, in Sarasota, Florida.
+Rex Williams retired from performing in 1995 and went to work for [[John Cuneo]]’s Hawthorn Corporation, a circus animal farm and a breeding and training center, at their quarters in Richmond, Illinois. He finally retired in 2002 but didn't enjoy his retirement for long: He died of complications from hypothermia in Daingerfield, Texas, on January 3, 2003. Two years earlier, in 2001, he had been inducted in the [[Circus Ring of Fame]] at St. Armands Circle, in Sarasota, Florida.
 ==See Also==

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 File:Vargas_Elephants_-_Rex_Williams.jpg|Rex Williams and the Circus Vargas herd (1979)
 File:Rex_Williams_Elephant_Hitch.jpg|Rex Williams Elephants at the Rose Parade (1982)
 File:Williams_Family.jpg|Rex with Ava, Renee, and Darlene (1985)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Artists and Acts|Williams, Rex]][[Category:Animal Trainers|Williams, Rex]][[Category:Elephant Acts|Williams Rex]]

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 The war over, Rex returned to the circus. In these early years he tried his hand at the flying trapeze, acting as a catcher with the Flying Pierces, whose flyers were [[Wally Naghtin]] and Joanne Day. He also performed in the [[The Cristiani Family|Cristiani]] famous bareback riding act. Yet, his love of animals, especially elephants, eventually brought him to work with them.
-[[File:Williams_Family.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Rex Williams with Ava, Darlene and Renee Williams (1985)]]Rex Williams began his career as elephant trainer in 1948 on [[Ben Davenport]]’s Dailey Bros. Circus, and subsequently worked with many other circuses. In 1969, he went on to lead the elephant department of the [[Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus]]. It is on the Beatty-Cole show that Rex originated what was to become his trademark, a fast-paced elephant act that he led while riding a horse. The sight of the elephant herd rushing into the three rings with Rex riding alongside on his white horse was quite a spectacle, and audiences loved it.
+[[File:Rex_Williams_CHF_1966.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Rex Williams at the Clyde-Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus (1966)]]Rex Williams began his career as elephant trainer in 1948 on [[Ben Davenport]]’s Dailey Bros. Circus, and subsequently worked with many other circuses. In 1969, he went on to lead the elephant department of the [[Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus]]. It is on the Beatty-Cole show that Rex originated what was to become his trademark, a fast-paced elephant act that he led while riding a horse. The sight of the elephant herd rushing into the three rings with Rex riding alongside on his white horse was quite a spectacle, and audiences loved it.
 Rex also developed several rare specialty tricks with his elephants. One was the elephant pyramid: Two elephants would lay on their bellies side by side and a third would climb on their backs to form a pyramid. He managed to build a truly special bond with his charges: Animals loved him, and he eventually specialized in handling elephants&mdash;and especially male elephants&mdash;that no one else wanted.

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 <Gallery>
 File:Rex_Williams.jpg|Rex Williams (c.1955)
-File:Rex_Williams_Portrait.jpg|Rez Williams (1969)
+File:Rex_Williams_CHF_1966.jpg|Rex Williams (1966)
 File:Rex_Williams_Elephants.jpg|Rex & Ava Williams (1970)
 File:Vargas_Elephants_-_Rex_Williams.jpg|Rex Williams and the Circus Vargas herd (1979)