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Hedley Lamarr is the main antagonist of Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles.

He is portrayed by the late Harvey Korman who also played Dr. Charles Montague and Count De Monet in Mel Brooks's High Anxiety and History of the World: Part I.

Biography[]

Throughout the movie he is mistakenly addressed as 'Hedy,' to his annoyance. He is the corrupt district attorney of an unnamed western territory in 1874. He is in charge of laying a railroad track. He wants the property of Rock Ridge for the trains, so he can increase the value of the land for himself.

Unfortunately, the one thing standing between him and the land is the rightful owners, the citizens of the town of Rock Ridge. He decides to drive them out by force. His henchman Taggart leads his men into town shooting the sheriff, destroying buildings and beating and murdering the people. When the townsfolk petition Lamarr for a new sheriff, he chooses Bart, a black railroad worker about to be hanged for knocking Taggart out. Lamarr hopes that a black sheriff will so infuriate the racist townsfolk that they will either leave, or kill him on sight. He easily convinces the dimwitted governor LaPetomane to make Bart the new sheriff.

Bart, however, proves too clever when he escapes the angry townspeople. Taggart sends the giant Mongo to kill Bart, who outwits him with ease, and causing Mongo to join his side. Lamarr then hires the German saloon singer Lili Von Shtupp to seduce Bart, but this too backfires when Lili begins falling in love for real.

Unable to stop Bart from restoring the town's hope, Lamarr decides to recruit an army of the worst outlaws and killers in the west and send them to tear the town apart. Bart and his friend Jim (aka the Waco Kid) discover the plan, and urge the townspeople to join him in a final battle. They build a fake town to lure the army away, and after setting off several planned explosions, rush in to fight the outlaws themselves. The fight soon spills off the movie itself, onto the lots of other movies being filmed.

Lamarr himself gets caught in the fight, and when he sees Bart coming for him, hails a cab and orders it to "Drive me off this picture!" He goes to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where Blazing Saddles is showing, only to realize Bart is right behind him. Lamarr pretends to be unarmed. As Bart puts his gun down ready to settle it hand to hand, Lamarr pulls out his gun. Bart dodges it, dives for his gun, and shoots Lamarr in the stomach. Lamarr dies over Douglas Fairbanks' footprints.

Trivia[]

• Hedley Lamarr's name is a reference to 1940s movie actress, Hedy Lamarr.