Shad Heller
Ozarks Mountain Country has had its share of entertainers over the years. The combination of big-name celebrities and homegrown talent has made Branson a favorite attraction. A "local boy made good" is Shad Heller. Most people remember him best as the blacksmith at Silver Dollar City. However, his life and career encompassed a great deal more than that.
Lloyd Heller was born July 17, 1913 in Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania. His father was a builder who specialized in spiral staircases. Lloyd spent a great deal of time working at his father's trade. While they were building the Sherman Theatre in Stroudsberg in 1925, Lloyd became enamored with the stage and acting. He decided then to become an actor, especially after seeing movies that began to play at the local Nickelodeon.
When Lloyd was a sophomore, he spent time in Arizona, helping care for a sister with tuberculosis. While there he signed on as a stagehand and extra with a traveling outdoor pageant, thus gaining his first entry into the world of show business. Back in Pennsylvania Lloyd worked with the midway of a carnival but felt that Arizona was the place for him. He moved back, completed high school, and appeared in drama productions at school.
Just as Lloyd graduated, the Great Depression hit and he had trouble finding steady work. He hit the road on the East Coast, working as he could, and gaining acting experience with local theater groups and as a clown. After a few years, Lloyd returned to Arizona where a mining corporation eventually hired him. As a part of his job, Lloyd learned how to "smith" iron. Lloyd also married, started a family, and made many friends, including a neighbor in Prescott, Barry Goldwater.
Lloyd also became interested in Native American history and culture. He began appearing in the Smoki Show, a pageant of Indian ceremonies. He spent several years doing this, but the development of what would be a life-long battle with alcohol began to disrupt his personal life. Lloyd and his wife separated and Lloyd wandered back to the East Coast where he found a job with the Ringling Brothers Circus. He spent several years with them but reached a point where he was tired of the constant travel. That point was in Independence, Kansas.
He settled in Coffeyville, Kansas where he joined AA, found a regular job, and began dating a woman named Ruth. Lloyd and Ruth eventually married. Ruth became his partner on-stage and off as she also had an interest in performing. In 1957 Lloyd and Ruth vacationed in Branson, Missouri, where they attended a performance of "The Shepherd of the Hills," a play based on Harold Bell Wright's novel. They loved the play, auditioned for roles, and were cast as the Shepherd and as Aunt Mollie. In 1959 they moved to Branson permanently.
Silver Dollar City opened in 1960. The park's owners hired Lloyd and Ruth as part-time street performer. But most of Lloyd's energy went toward transforming the Shepherd of the Hills play into a grand outdoor pageant. He was one of the original producers of the play as it is performed today. He also continued to work at Silver Dollar City where his characters included the sheriff, the mayor, and his most famous creation, "Shad" the blacksmith.
The skills that he had learned at the mine in Arizona were put into use at an Ozarks theme park. Shad the blacksmith was the most recognizable and celebrated character at the City. Lloyd's rare combination of acting talent and smithing skills was also recognized in Hollywood. When the "Beverly Hillbillies" television show came to Silver Dollar City to film episodes, Shad appeared in the show. He was also signed for several episodes that were filmed in Hollywood.
Lloyd "Shad" Heller spent the next three decades playing the blacksmith. He also played many other characters, founded his own theater called the Corn Crib Theatre, supported many young actors, and passed on his blacksmithing knowledge to others. Shad Heller died in 1991, having left in indelible imprint on the Ozarks.
Works Consulted
Hoy, Martha. "Entertainment Pioneer Shad Heller Remembered." Branson Beacon, Jan. 17, 1991, p.1.
Newton, Margaret. Shad. Springfield, MO: Pin Oak Publishing Co., 1982.
Photograph of Shad Heller courtesy of Lyons Memorial Library, College of the Ozarks.
