When a genuine American hero becomes a star — Audie Murphy’s ‘To Hell and Back’

Stick around for a thorough review of soft-spoken Texas soldier turned Hollywood cowboy Audie Murphy’s World War II memoir “To Hell and Back,” Universal’s top box office champ for 20 years straight until defeated by Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” in 1975. In the accompanying still Murphy lets eldest child Terry examine a German helmet during the Bakersfield, California, location filming for “To Hell and Back,” September — October 1954. Image Credit: The Vic Mizzone Collection / Universal Studios

To Hell and Back, distributed by Universal International Pictures in September 1955, recounts the story of Audie Murphy’s battle heroics. The most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, Murphy enlisted at 17 with the help of elder sister Corrine, who surreptitiously lied about his age.

Fighting three years in the European campaign, the reticent hero won 33 awards and decorations for valor on the battlefield, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was credited with saving his unit by killing 240 German soldiers. Wounded several times, France and Belgium also bestowed a number of honors on Murphy.

He returned to Texas in September 1945 a national hero, famously appearing on the cover of LIFE magazine. Though physically and psychologically scarred, Murphy soon found himself in Hollywood after actor James Cagney spotted him on the magazine’s cover.

Several tough, lean years followed, with the Texan attempting to develop a film career with middling results. An offer to pen his autobiography came in 1949. Entitled To Hell and Back, it became a runaway bestseller.

Universal soon became interested in his fledgling film career, signing him to a contract later that year. A number of westerns quickly followed, up to three a…