who played ned pepper in the original true grit
True Grit (1969 film) Frank Ross (John Pickard) is murdered by his hired hand, Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey). Ross's young daughter, Mattie (Kim Darby), travels to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where she hires aging U.S. Marshal Reuben "Rooster" J. Cogburn (John Wayne) to bring Chaney in, raising his fee by shrewdly horse trading with Colonel Stonehill (Strother Martin). Mattie has heard that Cogburn has "true grit." She gives him a payment to track and capture Chaney, who has taken up with outlaw "Lucky" Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) in Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma).