Sunday night’s premiere featured not one, but two disturbing deaths. However, only one of them happened in real life (“Yellowstone” Season 5 Episode 9 spoilers).
Part of “Desire is All You Need” follows Rip (Cole Hauser) as he travels to Lerner to pick up a piece of Lloyd’s (Furry J. Smith) horse. But while at the store in Pampa, Texas, the work of a certain artisan caught his eye, specifically a set of spurs made from a single piece of metal. That craftsman was Billy Clapper, who appears in the episode himself.
Clapper, a legend in his field, began making spurs full-time in 1968. He was specifically known in the cowboy community for his one-piece spurs, the same one that caught Rip’s eye in the episode. He was also one of the few remaining spur makers trained by Adolph Byers, another legend who made drill bits and spurs between the 1930s and 1970s, and over the course of his long career, Clapper created 682 different task patterns and 816 different patterns. According to his obituary. He was respected for his technical prowess and his ability to replicate vintage designs from other manufacturers.
Clapper died on September 10 of this year at the age of 87. He is survived by his daughters Deborah Yates and Elizabeth Wilson and six grandchildren.
The craftsman himself appears in the season 5 episode, marking Clapper’s only on-screen appearance. The final moments of Episode 9 also include a commemorative card in his honor.
This isn’t the first time “Yellowstone” has incorporated real cowboys and characters from that world into the series. Creator Taylor Sheridan grew up learning to be a cowboy and currently owns part of the 6666 Yellowstone Ranch. Sheridan not only writes and hosts the series, he also plays cowboy and horse trader Travis Wheatley. Other real-life cowboys starring in the drama include Smith, Jake Ream, Ryan Bingham, and Ethan Lee.
“Yellowstone” airs on Sunday nights on Paramount Network before airing on Paramount+.
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