Kirby Grant

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Kirby Grant, (born Kirby Grant Hoon Jr., in Butte, Montana, November 24, 1911 - October 30, 1985), was a long-time B movie and television actor. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King.

Grant, a child prodigy violinist, continued to pursue music and became a professional singer and bandleader^[1]. In 1939 the "Gateway to Hollywood" talent-search contest awarded him a movie contract. These "Gateway" contracts were already prepared with fictitious screen names (thus Josephine Cottle signed a contract to become "Gale Storm," and Ralph Bowman signed to become "John Archer"). Grant's contract was made out to "Robert Stanton," and Grant used the pseudonym in his earliest films before adopting his first and middle names professionally. His first film as "Robert Stanton" was Three Sons, with Edward Ellis and William Gargan. For the next few years he freelanced among various studios; his most familiar picture from this period (as Kirby Grant) is probably 1941's Blondie Goes Latin, with Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake.

In 1943, Grant signed with Universal Pictures, where he played romantic leads in B musicals, and in Abbott and Costello and Olsen and Johnson comedies. His smooth baritone voice got him teamed with Universal's singing star Gloria Jean for two features in 1944, and then Universal selected him to replace Rod Cameron (who had just been promoted to more important roles) as the studio's B-Western series star in 1945.

These seven westerns established Kirby Grant as an action star. In the late 1940s Monogram Pictures hired him for a series of mounted-police adventures, featuring "Chinook the Wonder Dog." Grant was working in this capacity when television beckoned in 1951, with an adventure series called Sky King.

Grant starred as Arizona rancher-pilot Schuyler "Sky" King, who fought bad guys and rescued people with his airplane. Production spanned much of the Cold War; early villains were bank robbers and kidnappers; some later foils were Russian spies and saboteurs. Sky's first airplane was a Cessna T-50 (known among pilots as the "Bamboo Bomber" because of its wooden wings), and later a much more modern Cessna 310B. Sky's airplanes were named "Songbird". Sky and his niece "Penny" lived on the "Flying Crown Ranch". A nephew named, "Clipper", played by Ron Hagerthy, appeared only in the first season. His absence was explained as having joined the military. The series called for Grant to wear the same outfit on every show. That prompted many fans to wonder if the character owned any other clothes. Actually, this was a common practice in the early days of TV production: the series regulars in Adventures of Superman and Dragnet, for example, always wore the same outfits so different episodes could be filmed at the same time, and file footage could be added to new footage without anyone noticing.

Grant did little acting after the show ended although he and co-star Gloria Winters were in demand for personal appearances at fairs and aviation events. He traveled with the Carson and Barnes Circus from 1967 to 1970. Grant retired that year. Sky King continued to play in reruns, but Grant received no residuals.

Grant and his wife, Carolyn, had three children. In the early 1970s, they moved from California to Florida.

The couple founded the nonprofit Sky King Youth Ranches of America, which provided homes for abandoned or orphaned children. He had plans to resurrect the Sky King series with the Flying Crown Ranch becoming a home for such kids, and publicizing their stories, but it never materialized.

Grant was killed at the age of seventy-three in a car accident near Titusville, Florida. He was on his way to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger at Cape Canaveral, where he was also to be honored by the astronauts for encouraging aviation and space flight. Grant was not wearing his seatbelt. He is interred in Missoula, Montana.

Regarding Skepticism of Grant's Pilot Status

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On May 20, 2008 at 2207 hours, Kirby Grant III confirmed that his father was a pilot and he flew with him many times. This was confirmed by e-mail to Ofc. Glenn E. Kresge, United States Department of Defense Police,(and by Kent Volgamore and by Guy Maher, article below). He was turned down for pilot training during World War II because of color blindness. The Cessna T-50 used in the first episodes of the series was provided by Paul Mantz Air Services and flown by several pilots, and the Cessna 310B used in later episodes was provided at no cost by Cessna and flown by Cessna employee Bill Fergusson. In the article "310 B Goes To Hollywood," Mr. Bill Fergusson from the Cessna Corp. recalls how Kirby Grant flew the 310B like a real pro in no time. Thus, he was referring to the transition from the T-50 to the 310 B. The newspaper article can be found at Kae Vee's Place Numerous references to Grant's flying skills came from co-workers, personal friends, and historian Kent Volgamore, who wrote the book for the Sky King DVD's. Volgamore clearly states Grant was a pilot, and started his flying career in a 1929 Waco. References: Airport Journals Jan. 2006 interview with Gloria Winters. Winters stated Grant and her late husband were both pilots. She stated twice in the interview that Kirby Grant was a pilot, and her late husband (Dean Vernon)was a crop duster and the sound engineer on Sky King.

No confirmation could be obtained from the FAA regarding a pilot's license in the name of Kirby Grant Hoon. However, it has been reported that Kirby Grant's pilot's license was issued in 1929 and expired in 1978 for medical reasons. There are many anecdotal reports of Sky King (Hoon) flying airplanes at air shows. In addition, there are reports of Mr. Hoon flying with other pilots, who stated he was a good pilot. Moreover, a newspaper interviewed Hoon after he test flew a 1959 310-B. And a web-site on Sky King reports this: "Kirby's flying career began in a 1929 Waco. During the early 1940s war effort, Grant made repeated attempts to serve his country as an aviator but his color blindness destroyed those hopes. He ended up carrying a rifle in the infantry until 1945. Grant did as much of the flying as he could get away with, but it seemed the location sets were always visited by insurance representatives. Kirby Grant was a licensed pilot and it was tough for him to let anyone else do the work. Many of the shots were shot around Apple Valley, California. The airport that was used is now a shopping mall. The interior scenes were shot in Los Angeles. The only mishap that occurred during the filming of the series occurred when Grant stopped the 310B a few feet past the camera and buried the nosegear in a soft spot." This was stated by Kent Volgamore, a historian, who refers to Grant's later activities: "Grant relocated to Florida where he spent much of his time in fundraising efforts for such programs as cerebral palsy, heart fund and other programs as his way of saying "thanks" to the public who made him successful. In 1978, Kirby Grant suffered a massive heart attack. The operation required a triple bypass and a new valve, but soon he was back on schedule again. Following his heart attack the FAA suspended his pilot's license. Grant worked with Sea World and the Florida Festival in its public relations department and was the Dayton Air Fair's Grand Marshall. Kirby did some announcing with the "Great American Air Shows." He tried his hand at real estate development and there was talk in the 70's of reviving Sky King and some plans on opening a "Sky King" theme park. The project never happened."

References

(2)References: Airport Journals Jan. 2006 interview with Gloria Winters. Winters stated Grant and her late husband were both pilots. She stated twice in the interview that Kirby Grant was a pilot, and her late husband(Dean Vernon)was a crop duster, and was the sound engineer on Sky King. In the 1970s Kirby Grant was an honorary member of the Army Aviation Association of America "Quad-A" at the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Chapter. During meetings he often told stories related to his early movies.