Cole Hauser, a star in the television show “Yellowstone,” will serve as grand marshal for the Cody Stampede Parade on July 4.
Stampede Parade officials announced this week that Hauser had agreed to headline the annual parade, sparking a storm of social media commentary.
“This is the best news I’ve heard all year,” commented one Facebook user.
Mack Frost, president of the Stampede Parade Committee, told Cowboy State Daily that Hauser’s appearance comes thanks to his association with a Cody resident.
“(Cody resident) Jim Dager is associated with Cole Hauser in the Special Operations Warrior Foundation,” said Mack Frost, president of the Stampede Parade Committee. “Cole has recently become a member of the board, and Jim Dager has been one of their ambassadors.”
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides support for the families of fallen members of special operations forces.
Frost said one of the members of the Stampede Parade Committee who knew of Dager’s association with Hauser asked if Hauser might consider serving as grand marshal for this year’s parade.
“Cole is coming down here at Jim’s invitation to attend a benefit dinner (for the Warrior Foundation) that Jim is going to hold at his place,” Frost said.
“And as long as he was going to be here, they asked him if he would be willing to do the stint as our grand marshal. He said ‘You bet, be happy to do it.’ He just asked us to keep it quiet until about now,” he said.
Hauser’s leading role in “Yellowstone,” set in Montana on a fictitious ranch in the Yellowstone National Park region, has brought him into the spotlight, although his family background is one of Hollywood royalty.
His mother, Cass Warner, is the granddaughter of film mogul Harry Warner, a co-founder of Warner Bros.; his father is actor Wings Hauser, who appeared in television shows including “Murder, She Wrote” and “Roseanne,” and his paternal grandfathers were Hollywood screenwriters.
Social media has been buzzing about the news since it was announced at a chamber luncheon on Monday.
“So excited! We will be there for sure,” wrote one Facebook user.
“Might have to change our holiday for this!” wrote another.
Frost said that Hauser won’t be making any additional public appearances once his stint as grand marshal is over, but the thousands of people who line up each year to see the parade will be able to get a glimpse of the famous actor.
Hauser’s credits also include roles in the films “School Ties,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Hart’s War,” “Tears of the Sun,” and “2 Fast 2 Furious,” prior to his very popular turn as the character “Rip” in the Paramount series “Yellowstone.”
Frost pointed out that there hasn’t been a celebrity grand marshal in the parade for a few years now.
“The last celebrities we had were (Robert) Taylor and his sidekick (Adam Bartley, both actors in the TV series Longmire),” said Frost. “They were the last celebrities we had,” and that was in 2017.
Other grand marshals of previous Cody Stampede Parades include Chuck Yeager, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, champion bullfighter Dusty Tuckness, Wilford Brimley, Dennis Weaver and Steven Seagal.
