Clayton Moore

 ( 1914 Births ) 

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 was replaced in the third season by John Hart, reportedly due to a contract dispute,

Moore appeared in other television series during his Lone Ranger run, including a 1952 episode of Bill Williams' syndicated Western The Adventures of Kit Carson. He guest-starred in two episodes of Jock Mahoney's series The Range Rider in 1952 and 1953. Silverheels and he also starred in two feature film Lone Ranger motion pictures. After completion of the second feature, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold in 1958, Moore began 40 years of personal appearances (including at several short-lived Lone Ranger Restaurants in Southern California Lone Ranger Restaurant), TV guest spots, and classic commercials as the legendary masked man. Silverheels joined him for occasional reunions during the early 1960s. Throughout his career, Moore expressed respect and love for Silverheels.

One of Moore's personal appearances in character became the basis of a story that actor Jay Thomas told every year around Christmas beginning in 2000 on The Late Show with David Letterman. Thomas was a radio disc jockey at the time in North Carolina and happened to be doing a show at a car dealership where Moore was appearing in character as The Lone Ranger. Moore had been stranded at the dealership, and Thomas offered him a ride back to his hotel. On the way, a passing motorist struck Thomas' Volvo with enough force to break a headlight. Thomas gave chase and eventually cornered the man in a parking lot where he threatened to press charges. The driver of the other car taunted Thomas by saying nobody would believe his story, but Moore emerged from the back seat of the car — still wearing his costume — and said "they'll believe me, citizen" to the stunned driver. With one exception, Thomas returned to Letterman's show to tell the story every December until Letterman's retirement.

Wrather's move was disastrous. Moore responded by filing a countersuit and then slightly changed his costume, replacing the domino mask with a pair of Foster Grant wraparound sunglasses and participating in the company's "Who's that behind those Foster Grants?" ad campaign. The public was strongly in favor of Moore, as evidenced when moviegoers stayed away from Wrather's film. The Legend of the Lone Ranger was released in 1981, was panned by critics, and earned only $12 million at the box office, two-thirds of the film's budget. The legal proceedings between Moore and Wrather dragged on until 1984, when Wrather suddenly dropped the lawsuit permitting Moore again to make public appearances as the Lone Ranger; Wrather died of cancer two months after dropping the suit.

Clayton Moore died on December 28, 1999 at the age of 85 in a West Hills, California, hospital after suffering a heart attack at his home in nearby Calabasas. He was survived by his fourth wife Clarita Moore ( née Petrone) and an adopted daughter, Dawn Angela Moore. Clayton Moore is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

• I Was That Masked Man, by Clayton Moore with Frank Thompson, Taylor Publishing Company, 1996 –

• Clayton Moore Memorial
• Clayton Moore at The Old Corral (b-westerns.com)
• "Clayton Moore, Television's Lone Ranger And a Persistent Masked Man, Dies at 85", by Richard Goldstein, The New York Times, December 29, 1999
• Sept 2014 interview with daughter, Dawn Moore