Ralph Taeger
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Ralph Taeger is an American actor who starred in three television series during the 1960s.
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[edit] Personal life
Taeger was born on July 30, 1936, in Richmond Hill, New York.
In 1967 Taeger married Linda Jarret, a former activities director at the Newburgh, New York YWCA. They have one son.
[edit] Career
Taeger's first career choice was professional baseball, and he did play briefly on a farm team for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Knee injuries prompted him to switch his focus from athletics to acting, though he refers to baseball as his "first love."
A high school teacher had suggested Taeger try public speaking and acting. In the late 1950s he enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and also worked as a model.
Taeger went to Southern California.
Within six months, however, he landed a major role in a production at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. An official at MGM was so impressed by Taeger's performance that the studio signed him to a contract.
[edit] Television
Taeger's first TV series was Klondike, a half-hour adventure series set in Skagway, Alaska, during the 1897-1899 gold rush. Taeger played Mike Halliday, a rugged prospector.
Midway through the 1960-61 season, NBC dropped Klondike but transferred Taeger and co-star James Coburn to the replacement series, Acapulco, set in the Mexican resort. In Acapulco, Taeger played Patrick Malone, a Korean War veteran-turned-beachcomber.
In 1967 Taeger was cast in the title role of Hondo, ABC's TV adaptation of the John Wayne movie. As Hondo Lane, Taeger played a cavalry scout in the Arizona Territory of the 1870s.
In a 1967 interview Taeger told TV Guide: "For a long time I couldn't get any work because people had hung a label on me as uncooperative. But I'm not; it's just that I say what I think, and sometimes that rubs folks the wrong way."
[edit] Post-Television
Between Acapulco and Hondo, Taeger operated a janitorial service, Bronco Maintenance Service, in Los Angeles. Prior to landing the role of Hondo Lane, Taeger had considered partnering with his brother in a maintenance business in Walden, New York.
In 1983, he used an inheritance to buy a house and six acres of forested land near Placerville, California. He opened a wholesale firewood business, Taeger's Firewood, and occasionally appeared in productions at the local playhouse.
[edit] References
- Brooks, Tim. (1987). The Complete Directory To Primetime TV Stars. New York: Ballantine Books, p. 827.
- Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle. (1979). The Complete Directory To Primetime Network TV Shows. New York: Ballantine Books, pp. 5, 270, 327.
- Lamparski, Richard. (1985). Whatever became of...?, Ninth Series. New York: Crown Publishers Inc., pp. 170-171.
- Prelutsky, Burt. (1967, December 2-8). He Can Always Go Back To Polishing Floors. TV Guide, pp. 32-34.
