Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore | |
---|---|
West Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California |
Other names | Jack Moore Clay Moore |
Occupation(s) | Actor, model |
Years active | 1934–1999 |
Known for | The Lone Ranger |
Television | The Lone Ranger |
Spouses |
|
Children | 1 |
Clayton Moore (born Jack Carlton Moore, September 14, 1914 – December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1952 and 1953 to 1957 on the television series of the same name and two related films from the same producers.
Early life
Born in
Highly athletic as a boy, "Jack" became a
Career
Modeling and acting
Moore as a young man worked successfully as a John Robert Powers model. Moving to Hollywood in the late 1930s, he worked as a stuntman and bit player between modeling jobs. Moore in his 1996 autobiography I Was That Masked Man noted that Hollywood producer Edward Small persuaded him around 1940 to adopt the stage name "Clayton". Subsequently, he was cast as an occasional player in B Westerns and the lead in four Republic Studio cliffhangers and in two films for Columbia Pictures.
Military service
During
The Lone Ranger
In 1949, Moore's work in the
Moore was replaced in the third season by
Moore appeared in other television series during his Lone Ranger run, including a 1952 episode of
One of Moore’s personal appearances in character became the basis of a story that actor
Lawsuit
In 1979, Jack Wrather, who owned the Lone Ranger character, obtained a court order prohibiting Moore from making future appearances as The Lone Ranger.[13] Wrather was in the process of making a new film version of the story and believed that Moore's public appearances in character would undercut the value of the character and the film, and also advance any rumors that the 65-year-old Moore would be playing the title role in the new picture (which he did not).
Wrather's move was disastrous. Moore responded by filing a countersuit and then slightly changed his costume, replacing the domino mask with a pair of Foster Grant wraparound sunglasses and participating in the company's "Who's that behind those Foster Grants?" ad campaign. The public was strongly in favor of Moore, as evidenced when moviegoers stayed away from Wrather's film. The Legend of the Lone Ranger was released in 1981, was panned by critics, and earned only $12 million at the box office, two-thirds of the film's budget. The legal proceedings between Moore and Wrather dragged on until 1984, when Wrather suddenly dropped the lawsuit permitting Moore to again make public appearances as the Lone Ranger; Wrather died of cancer two months after dropping the suit.
Moore & the Lone Ranger
Moore was often quoted as saying he had "fallen in love with the Lone Ranger character" and strove in his personal life to take The Lone Ranger Creed to heart. This, coupled with his public fight to retain the right to wear the mask, made Moore and his character inseparable. In this regard he was much like cowboy star
Later life and death
In 1964 Clayton moved to Golden Valley, Minnesota with his wife and daughter to be closer to his wife's family in Minneapolis.[14] He obtained a Minnesota real estate license, established Ranger Realty, and helped to develop the area that is now north of Interstate 394 near the Louisiana Avenue exit.[15] During that time he once came upon the scene of a crime and untied a grocery store manager shortly after the store had been robbed, apparently quipping, "You have just been rescued by the Lone Ranger."[16]
Clayton Moore died on December 28, 1999, in a
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Note |
---|---|---|---|
1937 | Forlorn River | Cowboy | uncredited |
1937 | Thunder Trail | Cowboy | uncredited |
1938 | Go Chase Yourself | Reporter | uncredited |
1939 | Burn 'Em Up O'Connor | Hospital Intern | as Jack Moore |
1940 | Kit Carson | Paul Terry | |
1940 | The Son of Monte Cristo | Lieutenant Fritz Dorner | |
1941 | International Lady | Sewell | |
1941 | Tuxedo Junction | Bill Bennett | |
1942 | Black Dragons | FBI Agent Richard 'Dick' Martin | |
1942 | Perils of Nyoka | Dr. Larry Grayson | |
1942 | Outlaws of Pine Ridge | Lane Hollister | |
1946 | The Bachelor's Daughters | Bill Cotter | |
1946 | The Crimson Ghost | Ashe | |
1947 | Jesse James Rides Again | Jesse James | |
1947 | Along the Oregon Trail | Gregg Thurston | |
1948 | G-Men Never Forget
|
Agent Ted O'Hara | |
1948 | Marshal of Amarillo | Art Crandall | |
1948 | Adventures of Frank and Jesse James | Jesse James | |
1949 | The Far Frontier | Tom Sharper | |
1949 | Sheriff of Wichita | Raymond D'Arcy | |
1949 | Riders of the Whistling Pines | Henchman Pete | |
1949 | Ghost of Zorro | Ken Mason/ el Zorro | |
1949 | Frontier Investigator | Scott Garnett | |
1949 | The Gay Amigo (The Cisco Kid) | Lieutenant | |
1949 | South of Death Valley | Brad | |
1949 | Masked Raiders | Matt Trevett | |
1949 | The Cowboy and the Indians | Henchman Luke | |
1949 | Bandits of El Dorado | B. F. Morgan | |
1949 | Sons of New Mexico | Rufe Burns | |
1949/1957 | The Lone Ranger | The Lone Ranger | (TV series) 169 episodes |
1951 | Cyclone Fury | Grat Hanlon | |
1951 | Kansas Pacific
|
Stone | |
1952 | Son of Geronimo: Apache Avenger
|
Jim Scott | as Clay Moore |
1952 | The Hawk of Wild River | The Hawk | |
1952 | Radar Men from the Moon | Graber | |
1952 | Night Stage to Galveston | Clyde Chambers | |
1952 | Captive of Billy the Kid | Paul Howard | |
1952 | Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory | Buffalo Bill | |
1952 | Montana Territory | Deputy George Ives | |
1953 | Jungle Drums of Africa | Alan King | as Clay Moore |
1953 | Kansas Pacific | Henchman Stone | |
1953 | The Bandits of Corsica | Ricardo | |
1953 | Down Laredo Way | Chip Wells | |
1954 | Gunfighters of the Northwest | Bram Nevin | |
1955 | Apache Ambush | Townsman | |
1956 | The Lone Ranger | The Lone Ranger | (1956 film) |
1958 | The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold | The Lone Ranger | (1958 film) |
1959 | Lassie | The Lone Ranger | (TV series) Guest star |
References and notes
- ^ a b "Clayton Moore, the 'Lone Ranger,' dead at 85". CNN. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
- ^ a b "Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", enumeration date April 9, 1930, Ward 49, Block 25, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Bureau of the Census, United States Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. Digital copy of original enumeration page available at FamilySearch, a free online genealogical database provided as a public service by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
- ^ The first name of Moore's mother is spelled "Thresa" in the United States Census of 1930, but her name on Clayton Moore's ("Jack Carlson Moore") Chicago birth certificate and on other documents is given as "Theresa". FamilySearch. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ a b Goldstein, Richard (December 29, 1999). "Clayton Moore, Television's Lone Ranger And a Persistent Masked Man, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- ^ "Illinois Hall of Fame". Illinois State Society Of Washington, DC. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
- ^ Billy Hathorn, "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", West Texas Historical Review, Vol. 89 (2013), pp. 102–103
- History.com. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (September 22, 2009). "John Hart dies at 91; the other 'Lone Ranger'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- ISBN 978-0878332168.
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (June 12, 1993). "After 60 Years, the Lone Ranger Still Lives". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
- ^ Lone Ranger Restaurant
- ^ "It's Wouldn't Be the Holidays Without Jay Thomas' Lone Ranger Story". Animalnewyork.com. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
- ^ "Who's That Masked Man? Hi-Yo-It's Clayton Moore!". Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1985. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- ^ "History | Golden Valley, MN". www.goldenvalleymn.gov. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ Tribune, Jeff Strickler Star. "TV's Lone Ranger had Minnesota ties". Star Tribune. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ Editor, Rachel Wittrock Associate (July 11, 2013). "Hi-ho Silver, Away! Lessons learned from the Lone Ranger". Hometown News LP. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help) - ^ Vallance, Tom (December 30, 1999). "Obituary: Clayton Moore". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on October 2, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
- ^ Stassel, Stephanie (December 29, 1999). "Clayton Moore, TV's 'Lone Ranger,' Dies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
- ^ "Lone Ranger star dies". BBC. December 29, 1999. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
Autobiography
- I Was That Masked Man, by Clayton Moore with Frank Thompson, Taylor Publishing Company, 1996 – ISBN 0-87833-939-6
External links
- Jay Thomas talks about Clayton Moore on Letterman on YouTube
- Clayton Moore at IMDb
- Clayton Moore Memorial
- Clayton Moore at The Old Corral (b-westerns.com)
- "Clayton Moore, Television's Lone Ranger And a Persistent Masked Man, Dies at 85", by Richard Goldstein, The New York Times, December 29, 1999
- Clayton Moore at Find a Grave
- Sept 2014 interview with daughter, Dawn Moore