Yellowstone’s Tribute to Billy Klapper, Explained

Approximately two years after the first part of the fifth and final season of the Western drama television series Yellowstone debuted, the Part 2 premiere had patient viewers clamoring to discover the fate of Yellowstone patriarch John Dutton, after Kevin Costner decided to leave Yellowstone to focus on the Horizon film series.

While the Part 2 premiere does indeed reveal Dutton’s fate with shocking finality in the episode’s first 30 seconds, the episode then jumps back in time approximately six weeks to show the events that led to Dutton’s permanent absence. Moreover, the premiere clearly establishes Dutton’s heir apparent in the form of Dutton’s son-in-law, Rip Wheeler, played by Cole Hauser, possibly in a Yellowstone spin-off series, assuming that the fifth season of Yellowstone is really the end.

While the Season 2 Premiere seethes with drama and intensity regarding Dutton’s demise, one of the most powerful moments in the episode happens in Texas, in a scene in which Rip encounters a legendary bit and spur maker named Billy Klapper, who died on September 10, 2024, at the age of 87, shortly after filming his cameo scene in the episode. As a tribute to Klapper, an “In Loving Memory of Billy Klapper” title card appears at the end of the episode.

Klapper’s poignant cameo in the premiere episode represents an ode to an increasingly bygone era while also triggering a passing-of-the-torch moment for Rip, whose clear emergence in Yellowstone has set the stage for Rip to attempt to fill the void left by Dutton’s absence.

Billy Klapper Was a Legendary Artist and Cowboy

Release Date

June 20, 2018

Cast

Kevin Costner , Finn Little , Brecken Merrill , Gil Birmingham , Denim Richards , Ian Bohen , Danny Huston , Kelly Reilly , Forrie J. Smith , Cole Hauser , Kelsey Asbille , Wes Bentley , Jefferson White , Luke Grimes , Ryan Bingham

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John Dutton’s most beloved children, daughter Beth and son Kayce, probe the suspicious circumstances of Dutton’s demise throughout the shocking Part 2 premiere of the final season of Yellowstone. Meanwhile, Beth’s husband, Rip, is in Texas, where he has ushered many of the cattle from the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in Montana, in order to save the herd from being infected with bacterial disease.

Before Rip frantically returns to Montana to comfort Beth, he visits a revered crafts-person named Billy Klapper in the city of Pampa, Texas, to pick up a bit for longtime Dutton ranch hand Lloyd, who first ordered the bit from Klapper many years ago. In Billy’s small store, Rip expresses great admiration for Klapper’s pure artistry, especially a set of spurs that Klapper made from a single piece of steel. Rip, who is allowed by Klapper to take the spurs for free, is surprised to discover that spurs are still made this way, instead of welding pieces together, to which Klapper says, “I think there might be a few, but very few.”

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Klapper, who was a friend of Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, began making spurs in 1966, under the tutelage of famed spur maker Adolph Bayers, while he was employed as a ranch hand. While his creations became much sought after in the ensuing decades, Klapper’s strict adherence to his old-school techniques limited him to producing approximately 200 spurs each year. Klapper’s obituary reads:

“Billy will be remembered as a good man, a friend to all, and, most of all, a true cowboy. He is going to be deeply missed by his family and friends.
Billy put the “western” in western heritage for years
, and now he is a part of the heritage.”

Yellowstone Has a History of Paying Tribute to Real-Life Cowboys and Western Figures

The tribute to Billy Klapper continues Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s tradition of showing respect for departed real-life cowboys and Western figures, regardless of whether they were directly connected to Yellowstone. The first such dedication took place in the Season 2 finale episode, which is dedicated to Melanie Olmstead, a horse trainer who worked behind the scenes on Yellowstone, in a non-credited capacity, and served as a driver for various film and television projects, including on Sheridan’s 2017 Western film Wind River, prior to her death in 2019.

The Season 3 episode “Meaner Than Evil” features a title-card tribute to veteran character Wilford Brimley, despite the fact that Brimley, who died in 2020 at the age of 85, never appeared in a Yellowstone episode nor ever acted alongside Kevin Costner. This tribute reflects Brimley’s extensive contribution to the Western genre through Brimley’s memorable performances in such Western films as Lawman and True Grit, among various other Western-themed film and television credits.

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Prior to Klapper’s tribute, the most recent Yellowstone tribute came in the Season 5 episode “Watch ‘Em Ride Away,” which is dedicated to Timothy Reynolds, a Yellowstone lighting technician who died in 2022 at the age of 66. Prior to Reynolds, also in Season 5, Yellowstone eulogized Dr. Glenn Blodgett, the longtime manager of the iconic 6666 Ranch in Guthrie, Texas. The 6666 Ranch, which was bought by Sheridan in 2022 and has been featured in Yellowstone, is slated to be further immortalized in Sheridan’s 6666 spin-off series.

Klapper’s Legacy Embodies the Core Values of Yellowstone

Rip’s fateful meeting with Billy Klapper in the premiere episode of the second part of the fifth season of Yellowstone has a profound effect on Rip. He takes the spurs Klapper gave Rip to the 6666 Ranch, where Rip and a wrangler named Dusty lament how Klapper is part of a dying breed, since Klapper doesn’t have an apprentice who can carry on his legacy of artistic excellence. “When he’s gone, we’re all out of legends,” says Dusty to Rip, “with nobody trying to be the next one.”

As an authentic figure of the modern West, Klapper’s brief cameo in the premiere episode embodies the show’s essential philosophy while also offering a glimpse of where Yellowstone is headed throughout the rest of the season. Through Dusty’s quote, Rip’s brief encounter with Klapper serves to establish Rip as the next legendary figure in Yellowstone, as one of the world’s few remaining cowboys.