Ralph Moody

Ralph Moody (November 5, 1886 – September 6, 1971 ) was an American actor with over 50 movie and over 100 television appearances, plus numerous radio appearances.

Moody spent more than four decades working in stock theater throughout the United States, including having his own troupe for almost half of that span.

In 1939, he began working in radio at WIBW in Topeka, Kansas. Moody was a regular supporting actor, in various roles, on radio broadcasts of Gunsmoke and Dragnet, and also performed on the Roy Rogers Show and Wild Bill Hickok. He portrayed Gramps on The Trouble with the Truitts on NBC Radio.

At the age of 62, Moody began a string of film and television appearances, including films such as Road to Bali, Toward the Unknown, The Legend of Tom Dooley, and The Story of Ruth.

On television, he played Jay Burrage in The Rifleman. He was also seen in episodes of Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, Circus Boy, Mr. Adams and Eve, Perry Mason, Bonanza, Have Gun – Will Travel as Judge Howell in "The Silver Queen" (1958) and as Elmer Jansen in S3 E23 "The Lady on the Wall" (1960),Rawhide, Daniel Boone, Wanted Dead or Alive, Wagon Train, Rescue 8, and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. He was also among a rotation of actors used by Jack Webb in the 1950s version, as well as the 1967–70 revival of Dragnet, and in 1970 appeared in the last Dragnet episode produced by Webb. His most frequent television roles were as a kindly old man or Native American.

Filmography