Dale Robertson

Dale Robertson
Born	Dayle Lamoine Robertson July 14, 1923 (1923-07-14) (age 86) Harrah, Oklahoma, U.S.

Dale Robertson (born July 14, 1923) is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television.

Biography

Dayle Lamoine Robertson was born in Harrah near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He began his acting career by chance during World War II, when he was in the United States Army. Stationed at San Luis Obispo, California, Robertson decided to have a photograph taken for his mother; so he and several other soldiers went to Hollywood to find a photographer. A large copy of his photo was later displayed in the photographer's shop window^[1]

Eventually serving in the South Pacific, Robertson found himself receiving letters from film agents who wished to represent him.^[2] After the war, Robertson stayed in California. Hollywood actor Will Rogers, Jr., gave him this advice: "Don't ever take a dramatic lesson. They will try to put your voice in a dinner jacket, and people like their hominy and grits in everyday clothes."^[2] Robertson thereafter avoided formal acting lessons.

For most of his career, Robertson played in Western movies and TV shows. His best remembered series were the NBC series Tales of Wells Fargo, later moved to ABC, in which he played a roving company 'trouble-shooter' named "Jim Hardie", and ABC's The Iron Horse, in which his character won an incomplete railroad line in a poker game and took the challenge of running it. However, Robertson also appeared in sixty-three films.

In its March 30, 1959, cover story on TV westerns, Time magazine reported Robertson was 6 feet tall, weighed 180 pounds, and measured 42-34-34. He sometimes made use of his physique in "beefcake" scenes, such as one in 1952's Return of the Texan where he is seen bare-chested and sweaty, repairing a fence.

In 1962, Robertson guest starred on a short-lived western comedy and variety series, The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show on ABC.^[3]

In 1981 he was in the original starring cast of ABC's popular Dynasty, playing Walter Lankershim, a character who disappeared after the first season. In 1985 it was revealed in the storyline that the character had died off screen. In 1987, he starred as the title character on ABC's J.J. Starbuck. In December 1993 and January 1994, Robertson appeared in two episodes of CBS's comedy/western Harts of the West in the role of Zeke Terrell, brother of series co-star Lloyd Bridges.

Robertson was also, along with Ronald W. Reagan, Ray Milland, and Robert Taylor, one of the hosts of the syndicated Death Valley Days during the 1960s. He is a well known rodeo speaker, having appeared at the Pike's Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs. He received the Golden Boot Award in 1985, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is also in the Hall of Great Western Performers. He is an inductee in the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

Robertson is now retired and lives on a ranch with his wife in Yukon, Oklahoma.

References

External links

• Dale Robertson at the Internet Movie Database
• Dale Robertson biography
• http://www.annelockhart.com/site/celebrityriders.htm
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0702063/ Episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man" in which Dale Robertson is featured