‘Chief Red Feather’ : James Brady; Indian Greeter at Berry Farm

James Urban Brady, who as Chief Red Feather greeted visitors to Knott’s Berry Farm for 35 years, has died in Anaheim at age 85 after a four-year bout with cancer.

Brady, of Navajo and Sioux ancestry, dressed in full ceremonial Indian costume and became one of the park’s celebrities who specialized in posing for visitors’ snapshots.

“My God,” said Knott’s spokeswoman Patsy Marshall, “35 years at how many snapshots a year? There must be millions of pictures of him all over the world. A lot of people had never really seen a real Indian chief--or a real Indian, period.”

According to the biography that Brady provided to Knott’s, he was born in Shiprock, N.M., in 1902 and was named Chief Red Feather during tribal ceremonies in 1934.

He worked as a boxer, a rodeo rider, a deputy marshal and a factory laborer and also appeared as an Indian in 18 motion pictures, in which, he said, he was hanged, stabbed and shot by most of the top Western stars of that era. He worked at Knott’s from 1948 to 1983.

“He was a good teller of tales,” Marshall said. “I loved him. He was a marvelous guy--very extroverted and extremely nice. Everybody here knew him as Chief.”

When ill health forced him to retire in 1983, he was never replaced, Marshall said. “I’m not sure why. I imagine it’s because it’s hard to replace Jim Brady.”

Brady, who had been married six times, is survived by a son, Jimmy Brady of Anaheim; a daughter, Virginia Haddon of Anaheim, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, according to a spokeswoman for the family. He died Aug. 29.