J.W. Eaves; Movie Ranch Owner

J.W. Eaves, whose ranch brought New Mexico into the film industry as the setting for “The Cheyenne Social Club,” “Chisum” and other Westerns, has died at an Albuquerque hospital. He was 85.

Eaves, who died Wednesday, entered the hospital a few weeks ago with pneumonia, said Al Cantu, a friend of 33 years who manages the Eaves Movie Ranch near Santa Fe.

The movie ranch had its genesis in 1969, when 20th Century Fox approached Eaves to build a set for “The Cheyenne Social Club,” with Henry Fonda and James Stewart.

“He had the land and they would build the town if he would go in with them,” Cantu said.

Eaves didn’t know whether the movie set would prove popular, but took a chance, Cantu said. Movie after movie followed.

“The Cowboys” and “Chisum”--both starring John Wayne--were shot at Eaves’ Several big-budget movies were shot there in the 1980s, including “Silverado,” “Young Guns” and “Lust in the Dust.”

Nancy Everist, state film office director, said that in many ways Eaves created New Mexico’s film industry, promoting the state as a location and helping not only with the big-budget movies of the Western movie era but also recent low-budget digital filmmakers.

“He was always willing to work with whatever budget you had or didn’t have,” she said.

Over the years, the ranch grew to more than three dozen buildings, including a church used for weddings, Cantu said.

J.B. Smith, location coordinator for the film office, recalled spending time with Eaves on the set while Eaves negotiated with producers.

“He had his saloon set up with stuffed mannequins and props. He’d always have country-Western music playing on the streets of the town and he’d walk out like Gary Cooper in ‘High Noon.’ And he’d have his poker tables set up where he’d sit down with the producers and negotiate rates.”

In recent years, Hollywood has filmed many of its productions in Canada to take advantage of the weak Canadian dollar, and in the last few years Eaves had “kind of given up on movies here,” Cantu said.

So he opened up the movie ranch to tours and tourists, adding gunfight performances on the main street. He turned to corporate parties, often with saloon girls, a stagecoach and barbecues, and helped beginning filmmakers get started, Cantu said.

Born in Grovington, Texas, the son of a local sheriff, Eaves left home at the age of 14. He ran a trucking company in Albuquerque in the 1940s that hauled material to Los Alamos for making atomic bombs during World War II.

In the 1970s, he owned the Downs at Santa Fe, a local horse-racing track.

Eaves is survived by his son, Mel Eaves; his daughter, Patricia Eaves; three granddaughters; a grandson; and two great-grandchildren. His wife of 62 years, Ermalea Julie Evers, died in 1998.