A century ago, William “Billy” Sleeper was known in the Big Horn Basin as a huge promoter of the sheep and crop industry.
He regularly rode the train to Chicago and other big cities to tout the lambs, seeds and other crops in the early 1900s to potential buyers.
These trips had Sleeper rubbing elbows with artists and actors.
These connections eventually led Sleeper into the movie industry, and within just a few years, his daughter went from being the kid of a Wyoming sheep rancher to a Hollywood starlet.
Martha Sleeper spent her early childhood on the family’s sheep ranch in Meeteetse, surrounded by sheep and hay.
She was mentioned in the local Meeteetse newspaper as just one of the 30 children in the area enjoying the occasional party, and would go on trips to Billings, Montana, with her artist mother, Minnie Akass.
Her path from budding sheep rancher to a world-renowned actress was paved by her father, Billy.
During Martha Sleeper’s long Hollywood career, she worked beside superstar actors such as John Wayne, Bing Crosby and Spencer Tracy on the big screen and on Broadway.
Martha Sleeper was still a teenager, left, when she began acting on the big screen. The Hollywood starlet had been raised on a sheep ranch in Meeteetse before her dad, Billy Sleeper, left the ranching life for the big lights of the theatre and emerging movie business. By 1935, right, she became type cast as a society woman and left Hollywood for Broadway by 1936. (Courtesy Photo) 
Martha Sweeper, center, stars alongside Randolph Scott (standing) in teh 1933 film "Broken Dreams." (Courtesy Photo) 
Martha Sleeper played in many Hollywood films beginning when she was 13 years old including the 1931 movie, “Girls Demand Excitement” alongside John Wayne. (Courtesy Photo) 
Hollywood actress Martha Sleeper began life on a sheep ranch in Meeteetse. Her father, William “Billy” Sleeper was well-known for helping to promote Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin before he set his sights on the movie industry. (Courtesy Photo) 
In her last Hollywood on-screen role, Martha Sleeper of Meeteetse, Wyoming, played the role of Patsy’s mother in “The Bells of St. Mary’s” with Bing Crosby and William Gargan, pictured. (Courtesy Photo) 
Hollywood actress Martha Sleeper began life on a sheep ranch in Meeteetse. Her father, William “Billy” Sleeper was well-known for helping to promote Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin before he set his sights on the movie industry. (Courtesy Photo) 
In her last Hollywood on-screen role, Martha Sleeper of Meeteetse, Wyoming, played the role of Patsy’s mother in “The Bells of St. Mary’s” with Bing Crosby and William Gargan. (Courtesy Photo) 
In 1927, 16-year-old Martha Sleeper was chosen as a “Wampas Baby Star,” one of 13 young actresses that exhibitors believed had a promising future in feature films. When the announcement was made, newspapers across Wyoming proudly reminded readers that Sleeper was born in Meeteetse and was one of their own. (Wyoming Star Tribune, Nov. 23, 1923) 
Martha Sleeper of Meeteetse played the supporting role in numerous Hollywood productions from the 1920s to the 1940s appearing in films with Bing Crosby and John Wayne. (Courtesy Photo)
The Promoter
Known throughout the Basin as “Billy,” Sleeper was an ambitious young man who was born back East in 1865.
Like so many of his generation, Sleeper was drawn to the West at a young age and left Philadelphia when he was 18 to work in Billings as a cowboy.
It was reported in the June 28,1903, Wyoming Stockgrower and Farmer that Sleeper had ridden the range with Theodore Roosevelt and later became good friends with Col. William F. Cody.
After a stint in the grocery business in Montana and Chicago, Sleeper returned to Wyoming in 1899, then in his 30s, to buy a ranch on the Wind River and another in Meeteetse, the Sleeper Ranch.
Sleeper became active in state development and later served in the Wyoming Legislature as a popular Republican.
He was even jokingly promoted to “Governor of Wyoming” by the editor of the Times in Billings, Montana, a nickname that followed Sleeper for the rest of his life.
Sleeper's wife Minnie Akass was wooed over a 6-year span as she pursued an art career in Chicago.
When she finally agreed to join her suitor on his Wyoming ranch in Mountain View, the June 28, 1903, Chicago Record-Herald called their romance “A Second ‘Virginian,'” referencing the famous Wyoming-based novel.
For the next decade, the couple moved back to the Basin area and had two daughters, Annette and Martha Marie.
They were living on the Sleeper Ranch and enjoying whatever passed as a social life in Meeteetse, Wyoming, when Sleeper moved his young family away from his beloved ranches to New York City to pursue a career on the theatrical circuit with his wife’s brother, John D. Murdock.
It was there that Martha began her career on the stage.
She studied ballet with Russian ballet master Louis H. Chalif, and her first public appearance was at Carnegie Hall with his class when she f 10.
Martha’s father was an official of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville circuit and her uncle was considered one of the most powerful men in the show business, according to the April 20, 1927, Wyoming State Tribune.
Ranchers Go To Hollywood
The Aug. 20, 1924, Meeteetse News reported that Martha’s neighbors and friends made a special trip to Cody to see their former “Greybull Valley young lady” star in her first movie.
“The lady played the part of the mailman’s daughter in a fervent and thrilling manner,” the Meeteetse News reported. “The comedy was of the heart throbbing nature that depicted robbery of a post office that in the path of the crime left murder and remorse and a last minute pardon for the condemned while standing beneath the oscillating noose.”
As Martha’s friends cheered her success, tragedy was soon to strike.
Billy Sleeper died in his sleep and was taken to be buried in Billings, Montana, where his sisters lived.
The Sept. 9, 1925, Cody Enterprise reported that many people from the Basin traveled to bid their dear friend and promoter their final farewells.
“This man stamped his name so indelibly into the development of Wyoming and Montana,” the Cody Enterprise wrote. “Besides his widow, he is survived by two daughters, Annette, who is attending school in Washington, D.C., and Martha Marie, who has attained considerable fame as a juvenile movie actress.”
Hollywood Starlet
She was first noticed by famous comedy maker Hal Roach, who created the “Our Gang” shorts, but she wasn’t long for that group because, as age 12, she soon was too old.
As Martha Sleeper’s star continued to rise, she never forgot her friends in Wyoming, nor they her as newspapers continued to remind readers that she was their star.
The teenager kept in touch with her childhood friends and gained a reputation of working hard, not taking her fame for granted.
At 16, Martha was given the coveted title of a “Wampas Baby Star,” the title given to 13 actresses thought to have a promising future.
Later that year she was signed on to FBO studios and introduced as a new comedy team with her partner, Bryant Washburn. Martha starred in six silent features and transitioned successfully to talkies when she next signed with MGM.
Through the 1930s, Martha, the ranch girl from Wyoming, played supporting roles in several melodramas, but became typecast as a society woman losing her man to the film’s leading lady.
By 1936, Martha left Hollywood to play on Broadway where she was given leading roles.
In 1945, Martha played in her last on-screen movie in “The Bells of St. Mary’s” with Bing Crosby and William Gargan.
Back on Broadway that same year, the Wyoming actress played Spencer Tracy’s wife in “The Rugged Path.”
Martha was an entrepreneur like her father, Billy, and started a costume jewelry business even as she still acted on the stage according to Deanna Dahlsad in her Dec. 24, 2010, article, “Merry Martha Sleeper Jewelry & Fashions.”
In 1949, a cruise on the Caribbean introduced Sleeper to Puerto Rico and a new life away from the bright lights.
Martha lived the next two decades on the island designing women’s clothing and finally retired to Beaufort, South Carolina.
At age 72, the Hollywood starlet who began life on a sheep ranch in Meeteetse, died of a heart attack, leaving behind a legacy of grit and determination she learned from her father, rancher and promoter William “Billy” Sleeper.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
