Rusty Wescoatt, Athletics and Acting
Born Norman Edward Wescoatt in Hawaii on August 2, 1911, “Rusty” Wescoatt played football for the University of Hawaii before making his professional wrestling debut in Hawaii during 1933. Wescoatt was also a swimming champion. Wescoatt initially made more news for his swimming than his wrestling when he traveled to the continental United States in 1935.
On Easter Sunday, April 21, 1935, Wescoatt swam the five-mile ferry route between Oakland and San Francisco in two hours, eight minutes, and five seconds. The San Francisco Examiner article noted Wescoatt held the national backstroke championship as well.
Film credits for The Last of the Bucanners with Rusty Wescoatt as part of the cast
Wescoatt married swimming champion and film actor Vivian DeBarre. After their marriage, Vivian managed Rusty’s career and traveled the country with him.
Rusty Wescoatt performed as a solid mid-card wrestler but never developed into a main event performer. Wescoatt’s best year was 1939 when he wrestled a few main events in California and Texas.
In Harlingen, Texas on May 31, 1939, Wescoatt wrestled Juan Humberto in the main event on the card. Humberto won the first fall of the best two-out-of-three-falls match. The referee awarded Wescoatt the second fall on a disqualification, but Wescoatt refused to accept it. Wescoatt defeated Humberto cleanly for the second fall.
The men wrestled a fast-paced, evenly contested third fall before Humberto pinned Wescoatt for the third fall. The fans thought little separated the two wrestlers. Unfortunately, these few matches were the highlights of his career.
By the late 1940s, Wescoatt transitioned into acting in “B” films and serials such as Batman and Robin (1949). Wescoatt plays the henchman Ives in this serial (affiliate link) in chapters 3 to 13. Wescoatt played in over eighty films and television before retiring from acting in the late 1950s.
After retiring from acting and athletics, Wescoatt operated a chain of food markets in Los Angeles and San Diego. Wescoatt lived in the Hollywood area until his death on September 3, 1987, at seventy-six years of age. Wescoatt’s wife Vivian passed away in 1985 after fifty years of marriage.
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Sources: San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California), April 22, 1935, p. 19, The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), March 19, 1936, p. 14, Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas), June 1, 1939, p. 6, The Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1985, p. 28 and September 5, 1987, p. 59 and The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii), September 11, 1987, p. 13
