Hal Baylor

Hal Harvey Fieberling (born Hal David Britton; December 10, 1918 – January 15, 1998) known by his stage name Hal Baylor, was an American boxer and screen character actor. He had a professional boxing record of 16–8–3, and later appeared in 76 films and over 500 episodes of various television shows.

Early years Born in San Antonio, Texas, to David Locke Britton and Thelma Hallie Bowles, when his mother remarried to Walter H. Fieberling during January 1925. After Oakland High School, he attended Chico State College where he played on the football team. He transferred to Washington State College in the Fall of 1938, where he pledged Phi Delta Theta. But by December 1939 he was working as an apprentice butcher in a meat market on 14th Street in Oakland.

Boxing Fieberling had his first amateur fight in San Francisco, during June 1938, while still a college student. Representing the Athens Athletic Club of Oakland, he won the California Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) novice heavyweight title in a single bout on points. A newspaper report on his first boxing match mentioned he was left-handed. However, the following month he lost a rematch on points to Hillman, his first amateur defeat.

After just five amateur fights, Fieberling signed a professional contract with manager Ray Carlen in May 1940. He scored a technical knockout over Phil Latonia in the third round for his first professional win, and three weeks later did the same to Bob Schaunbelt. Sportswriters labeled him "the butcher boy" and printed photos of him at his daytime job. Columnists also called him "Handsome Hal" and "Prince Hal" for his good looks.

Over the years, reports of his height varied from 6' 2" (188 cm) to 6' 4 1/2" (194 cm). All his matches were as a heavyweight, with his weight varying from a pre-boxing high of 227 lbs. (103 kg), Following the war, he resumed professional boxing, until he fractured his hand in a 1947 fight with Dutch Culbertson. His career record was 52–5 as an amateur and 16–8–3 as a professional.

Military service Fieberling was a private at a US Marine Corps recruit depot during January 1943, making the rank of sergeant by November 1943. He took part in the landings on Saipan and Tinian, finishing the war as a Staff Sergeant with the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.

Early films Fieberling began his acting career in the 1948 boxing film Joe Palooka in Winner Take All. The film's star, Joe Kirkwood, had spotted him at a boxing arena. During filming of a boxing scene, Kirkwood threw the wrong choreographed punch and Fieberling accidentally kayoed him.

The Set-Up (1949) was Fieberling's third film and first credited role. The picture included the entirety of a four-round bout between star Robert Ryan, portraying a second-rate pug on the skids, and Fieberling, playing a mob-controlled fighter. Reviewers praised the realism of the boxing and the lack of cliches. Ryan told a columnist that shooting the bout with Fieberling took 10 days to capture 11 minutes of filming. "Each afternoon I went home with a headache. Fieberling hits hard. Once Hal knocked me cold for several seconds. He gave me a black eye, mussed up my nose, and made me glad I didn't follow boxing as a profession."

Fieberling received more publicity nationwide from The Set-Up than he ever had from his boxing career, which had been confined to California. He had three more films released during 1949, one of which, Sands of Iwo Jima, was considered his most remembered film role. Later that year he performed on two episodes of The Lone Ranger. Television would prove very lucrative, but it also diminished his standing with neighbor kids, one of who told him: "You're not so tough. I saw the Lone Ranger beat the stuffing out of you".

By 1952 he decided to adopt the stage name "Hal Baylor" as he felt it was "easier to spell and pronounce than Fieberling". The choice was meant to honor his great-great-grandfather, Robert E. B. Baylor, the founder of Baylor University.

Oakland sportswriter Alan Ward said of Baylor in late 1957: "He works constantly and remuneratively in movies and television... He has the face and structure of a college football hero but Hollywood usually casts him as a villain. A baby-faced villain. And invariably in westerns."

Baylor's last film performances came in 1975, with three movies released that year: A Boy and His Dog, Cornbread, Earl and Me, and Hustle. His last television work was an episode of CHiPs broadcast during 1978.

quote= "Like Elam and Van Cleef, Hal is a very pleasant fellow off screen. He has the quiet gentle manner of a man who doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. He bears no marks from his prize-fighting career, or his countless on-camera brawls. "You name the actor" he said resignedly, "he's beaten me up". John Wayne, John Payne, Robert Ryan, Robert Mitchum are naturally on the list. And Tab Hunter. "He gave me a sound thrashing," Hal said deadpan." —Interview in Anaheim Bulletin consisting of show business personalities who raised money for the San Fernando Valley Youth Center. He also took part in celebrity golf tournaments benefiting charities.

Baylor was a partner in an exclusive outdoor sports development near Jackson Hole, Wyoming and told sportswriter Alan Ward: "Someday I'll retire there and hunt and fish and watch the late, late movies." In 1983, Baylor donated scripts and photos from his career to the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming. They had a son Michael, born in late 1941, before separating on May 15, 1942. She filed for divorce and was granted preliminary alimony and child support on May 27, 1942.

Hal Baylor and Shirley Hickey (née Croose), were married on August 14, 1965.

Filmography As Hal Fieberling

Partial television credits The Lone Ranger (1950–1954) – Judd Collins / Notch Brice / Bert Devlin / Glenn Bolton / Gus Mr. & Mrs. North (1953) – Vince McKay in "Trained for Murder" Four Star Playhouse (1954–1955) – Cal / Jamison The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–J1958) – Sam Wilson / Bill Thompson / Jeb Callum Cheyenne (1956–1960) – Rowdy Shane / Jed Rayner / Joe Barnum / Duke / Turk Moylan Gunsmoke (1957) – Mike The Silent Service (1957–1958) – Exec. Officer Bob Ison / Calhoun / Lieut. Robert L. Ison The Donna Reed Show (1959) – Herbie, "Donna Plays Cupid" Have Gun – Will Travel (1958–1963) – Tagg – Farmer / Floyd Perrin / Bryan Sykes Death Valley Days (1958–1970) – Stokes LaFever / Captain Randolph / Wes Adams / Web Hardy / Trenner / Lance / Sheriff Ryan / Hughie Snow / Joe Sweigert / Ben Poole / Gus Mahoney / Jed / Buck Jarrico 26 Men (1958–1959) – Slats Scarsted / Roper / Charlie Daggett / Sykes Laramie (1959–1963) – Hub Ballard / Samson / Ben – Mountain Man / Beamer / 2nd Bar Patron / Kincaid / Cowboy Hill Rawhide (1959–1965) Rawhide (1959) – Blacksmith in S2:E1, "Incident of the Day of the Dead" Rawhide (1960) – Myles in S2:E25, "Incident of the Arana Sacar" Rawhide (1961) – Pool Player in S4:E7, "The Black Sheep" Rawhide (1962) – Jenkins in S5:E1, "Incident of El Toro" Rawhide (1962) – Jenkins in S5:E2, "Incident of the Hunter" Rawhide (1962) – Jenkins in S5:E12, "Incident of the Querencias" Rawhide (1965) – Barney in S7:E22, "Prairie Fire" Rawhide (1965) – Will Gufler in S8:E6, "Hostage for Hanging" Lawman (1959–1962) – Harlan Smith/ Poke / Mort Peters Maverick (1959) – Bimbo Bat Masterson (1960) – Eli Fisher 77 Sunset Strip (1960–1964) – Herky's Bouncer / Johnny Lace / Vic Felton / Hank Schmidt / Britt Stagecoach West (1961) – Saloon Brawler / Jim Horton / Big Jim Tales of Wells Fargo (1962) – Hondo The Real McCoys (1963) Goober Watson Perry Mason (1963–1965) – Jack David / First Truck Driver / Proprietor Wagon Train (1963) S6 E34 "Alias Bill Hawks" as Lester Cole The Virginian (1963–1970) – Jethro / Bert / Corporal Jobie / 1st Miner / Sgt. Costello / Gleason / Flake The Addams Family (1964) – Fred in episode "Morticia the Matchmaker" My Favorite Martian (1964–1966) – Red / Guard / Harold Slattery's People (1965) – Tom Short in "A Sitting Duck Named Slattery" Laredo (1966) – Mott / Tattoo A Man Called Shenandoah (1966) – as Driscoll in "The Siege" The Road West (1966) – as Wesley in "Long Journey to Leavenworth" The Big Valley (1967) – Sam Driscoll / Gabe Batman (1967) – Mercury Dragnet (1967) – Roger Kensington in "The Shooting" Star Trek (1967–1968) – Guard / Policeman in "The City on the Edge of Forever" Love American Style (1969) – Man at Bar in "Love and the Modern Wife" The Virginian (1970) (The Men of Shiloh) – Season 9 Episode 01 (The West vs. Colonel MacKenzie) :Jethro Kodiak (1974) in "Lesson in Terror". Planet of the Apes (1974) as Jasko in "The Deception" Barbary Coast (1975) as Paddy Muldoon in "Arson and Old Lace" How the West Was Won (1976) as Lawman in "The Macahans" CHiPs (1978) as Reed in "Trick or Treat"