Ty Hardin

Ty Hardin (born in New York City, USA, on January 1, 1930) is a former actor best known as the star of the 1950s ABC western television series Bronco.

Early life

Born Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr., Hardin was raised in Texas and attended Lamar High School [1]. He served in the U.S. Army in the Korean War where he was commissioned from Officer Candidate School, and became a pilot of O-1 Bird Dog liaison aircraft.^[1] After his return from service, he began taking college courses at Texas A&M University in College Station.

Working as an engineer in California, Hardin was planning on attending a costume party as a cowboy and heard that the Western Costume company rented out stage weapons. Whilst he was there renting some six guns he was discovered by a Paramount Pictures talent scout.^[2]

By 1957, Hardin acquired the services of agent Henry Willson who had such beefcake clients such as Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, and Clint Walker. as had made his way to Hollywood and was put under contract by Paramount. The name "Ty" is said to come from "Typhoon", a childhood nickname and was thought of by Wilson. Initially, he was billed as "Ty Hungerford". He made minor appearances in several Paramount films such as I Married a Monster from Outer Space, Space Children and Last Train from Gun Hill.

Warner Brothers years

Hardin stated that he had tried for a role in Rio Bravo that he did not know had been promised to Ricky Nelson. However, John Wayne had seen him and had been impressed by his appearance.^[3] Wayne introduced him to Howard Hawks and William T. Orr of Warner Bros. Television who changed his stage surname to "Hardin" after gunfighter John Wesley Hardin.^[4]

When Clint Walker walked out on his ABC series Cheyenne in 1958 during a contract dispute with Warner Bros., Ty Hardin got his big break. Warner Bros. bought out Hardin's Paramount contract and installed him as Cheyenne's country cousin Bronco Layne for one season. Walker and Warner Bros. came to terms after the season ended, but Hardin had been such a big hit that the studio gave him his own series, Bronco. Since it was difficult to produce an hour-long western every week in which the star appeared in every episode and virtually every scene (whereas a series like Bonanza or Maverick would feature one or another of the main characters in a given episode and could thus be filmed weekly), Bronco alternated weeks with another Western, Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins. Bronco ran from 1958 through 1962.

As a popular Warner Brothers television star, Hardin soon found himself in leading roles in Warner Brothers films such as Merrill's Marauders, Palm Springs Weekend, The Chapman Report and PT 109.

International films

Like many American actors, Hardin travelled to Europe where he made several spaghetti westerns though he turned down the lead of A Fistful of Dollars.^[5] He then appeared in Cinerama epic films such as Battle of the Bulge and Custer of the West.

He was considered for the role of Batman in the 1960s series Batman, when it was being planned as a serious action-adventure show. Adam West got the part, because Hardin declined while working in Europe.

Later Hardin starred in a 1967-68 Australian television series Riptide^[6] where he sponsored an Australian motorcycle racing team and a 1970 German television series called On the Trail of Johnny Hilling, Boor and Billy which was immensely successful in West Germany.

Political career

In the 1980s, Ty Hardin organized a militia group known as the Arizona Patriots. The group, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona, was anti-Semitic and fashioned after the Posse Comitatus. He formed the Common Law Institute which taught that the sovereignty of the people was supreme and sovereign citizens were not bound by any rules or regulations of the government. He published a monthly tabloid called the Arizona Patriot which printed anti-United States government articles. The Federal Reserve System and the IRS were targets of the group who felt they should be abolished. Because the group advocated stockpiling weapons and ammunition to protect the people from government, an FBI investigation was triggered which lasted for two years. As a result, federal agents raided a Patriot camp confiscating a cache of weapons and several members of the group were arrested for conspiracy against the U.S. government. Hardin left Arizona soon after and the group ceased to function.

Personal life

From 1962 to 1966 Hardin was married to the 1961 Miss Universe, German beauty queen Marlene Schmidt, who later involved herself in the movie industry. They had one daughter.

Hardin currently lives with his eighth wife in Huntington Beach, California. He has ten children.

Spouse(s) as per the Ty Hardin at the Internet Movie Database entry:

• Nancy (1952 - ?) (divorced) 2 children;
• Andra Martin (30 August 1958 - ?) (divorced) 2 children;
• Marlene Schmidt (1962 - 1966) (divorced) 1 child;
• Francine Nebel (1966 - ?) (divorced) 1 child;
• Jenny Atkins (1971 - ?) (divorced);
• Lyndell (1974 - ?) (divorced) 1 child;
• Judy McNeill (26 February 1978 - 3 August 2007) (divorced) 3 children;
• Caroline (21 August 2007 - present)

See also

• Cheyenne (game)

Notes

External links

• The Official Ty Hardin Website
• Ty Hardin at the Internet Movie Database
• Ty Hardin at Brian's Drive-In Theater
• Ty Hardin Interview with Joe Krein at Elvis2001.net
• Riptide Australian TV series http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/Riptide1.htm