Clayton Moore

Career Modelling 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 modelling 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, including Ghost of Zorro (in which his character wore a black mask) and in two films for Columbia Pictures.

Military service During World War II, Moore enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and served with that branch's First Motion Picture Unit making training films, such as Target-Invisible, in which Moore co-starred with fellow actor Arthur Kennedy.

The Lone Ranger In 1949, Moore's work on the Ghost of Zorro serial drew the attention of George W. Trendle, co-creator and producer of a popular radio series titled The Lone Ranger. The series' running plot involved the exploits of a mysterious former Texas Ranger, the sole survivor of a Ranger posse ambushed by a gang of outlaws, who roamed the West with his Indian companion Tonto to battle evil and help the downtrodden. When Trendle brought the radio program to television, Moore landed the title role. With the "March of the Swiss Soldiers" finale from Rossini's William Tell overture as their theme music, Moore and co-star Jay Silverheels made history as the stars of the first Western written specifically for television. The Lone Ranger soon became the highest-rated program to that point on the fledgling ABC network and its first true hit. It earned an Emmy Award nomination in 1950.

Moore was replaced in the third season by John Hart, reportedly due to a contract dispute, but he returned for the final two seasons. Moore later said he received no explanation from the producers as to why he was replaced or why he was rehired.

Moore appeared in other television series during his Lone Ranger run, including a 1952 episode of Bill Williams' syndicated Western The Adventures of Kit Carson. He guest-starred in two episodes of Jock Mahoney's series The Range Rider in 1952 and 1953. Silverheels and he also starred in two feature-length Lone Ranger motion pictures. After completion of the second feature, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold in 1958, Moore began 40 years of personal appearances (including at several short-lived Lone Ranger Restaurants in Southern California ), TV guest spots, and classic commercials as the legendary masked man. Silverheels joined him for occasional reunions during the early 1960s. Throughout his career, Moore expressed respect and love for Silverheels.

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. 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 to dispel any rumors that the 65-year-old Moore would be playing the title role in the new picture.

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 again to 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. Coupled with his public fight to retain the right to wear the mask, Moore and his character became inseparable. Moore was so identified with the masked man that he (as the only person ) has his character's name along with his own in the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It reads: "Clayton Moore — The Lone Ranger". He was inducted into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame in 1982 and in 1990 into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Moore was also awarded a place on the Western Walk of Fame in Old Town Newhall, California.

Later life and death In 1964 Moore moved to Golden Valley, Minnesota, with his wife and daughter to be closer to his wife's family in Minneapolis. 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. During that time, Moore 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." At the end of his life he was married to Clarita Moore (née Petrone); he also had an adopted daughter.

Moore died on December 28, 1999 at the age of 85 at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack at his home in nearby Calabasas. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale.

Filmography + Film Year Title Role Note 1937 Forlorn River Cowboy uncredited Thunder Trail 1938 Go Chase Yourself Reporter1939 Burn 'Em Up O'Connor Hospital Intern as Jack Moore1940 Kit Carson Paul Terry The Son of Monte Cristo Lieutenant Fritz Dorner 1941 International Lady Sewell Tuxedo Junction Bill Bennett 1942 Black Dragons FBI Agent Richard 'Dick' Martin Perils of Nyoka Dr. Larry Grayson Outlaws of Pine Ridge Lane Hollister 1946 The Bachelor's Daughters Bill Cotter The Crimson Ghost Ashe 1947 Jesse James Rides Again Jesse James Along the Oregon Trail Gregg Thurston 1948 G-Men Never Forget Agent Ted O'Hara Marshal of Amarillo Art Crandall Adventures of Frank and Jesse James Jesse James 1949 The Far Frontier Tom Sharper Sheriff of Wichita Raymond D'Arcy Riders of the Whistling Pines Henchman Pete Ghost of Zorro Ken Mason/ el Zorro Frontier Investigator Scott Garnett The Gay Amigo (The Cisco Kid) Lieutenant South of Death Valley Brad Masked Raiders Matt Trevett The Cowboy and the Indians Henchman Luke Bandits of El Dorado B.F. Morgan Sons of New Mexico Rufe Burns 1949-1957 The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger (TV series) 169 episodes 1951 Cyclone Fury Kansas Pacific Stone 1952 Son of Geronimo: Apache Avenger Jim Scott as Clay Moore The Hawk of Wild River The Hawk Radar Men from the Moon Graber Night Stage to Galveston Clyde ChambersCaptive of Billy the KidPaul HowardBuffalo Bill in Tomahawk TerritoryBuffalo Bill Montana Territory Deputy George Ives 1953 Jungle Drums of Africa Alan King as Clay Moore Kansas Pacific Henchman Stone The Bandits of Corsica Ricardo 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 (1958 film) 1959 Lassie (TV series) Guest star

References and notes

Autobiography I Was That Masked Man, by Clayton Moore with Frank Thompson, Taylor Publishing Company, 1996 –