Ted Mapes was born on a Nebraska wheat ranch. His father, John H. Mapes, also had cattle, horses and mules. When Ted was in his 20s he traveled west to California, where he worked driving a truck in the Signal Hills oil fields near Long Beach, then a moving van for a Los Angeles company. While moving John Barrymore's baggage and equipment from the United Artists studios to Barrymore's home, Ted met a grip boss, Alex Hume. That meeting led to Ted's first film job as a grip boss on The Taming ...[Read Story]