Clayton Moore

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 1949–1951 and 1954–1957 on the television series of the same name and two related movies from the same producers. 2Early years and military service Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1914, Moore was the youngest of three sons of Theresa (née Fisher) and Sprague Moore. Moore's father, according to the federal census of 1930, was a native of New York and supported his family in Chicago by working as a real estate broker. That same census also documents that a full-time maid, Amelia Hirsch, lived with the Moore family, an indication of the household's relative prosperity at the time. Highly athletic as a boy, "Jack" became a circus acrobat by age eight; and later, in 1934, he appeared at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago with a trapeze act. He graduated from Stephen K. Hayt Elementary School, Sullivan Junior High School, and Senn High School on the far North Side of Chicago. Moore as a young man also worked successfully as a John Robert Powers model. Moving to Hollywood in the late 1930s, he worked as a stunt man 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 Picture