Ron Hagerthy

Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy (born March 9, 1932) is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of the private airplane known as the Songbird. Gloria Winters also starred as Sky King's niece, Penny King.

Film roles

Hagerthy was 18 and playing the gentleman caller in a Glendale College production of The Glass Menagerie in 1950 when he was invited to Warner Bros. for an intervie.^[1] Hagerthy's first screen role was as 19-year-old Dick Cvetic in the 1951 Warner Brothers film, I Was a Communist for the FBI. Frank Lovejoy (1912–1962) played the role of Matt Cvetic, a 39-year-old undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent within the Communist Party United States of America. Philip Carey (1925–2009) and Paul Picerni (1922–2011) were cast in the roles of Mason and Joe Cvetic, respectively. I was a Communist in the FBI subsequently inspired the syndicated television series I Led Three Lives.^[2] Hagerthy also appeared in small roles in two other 1951 Warner Bros. films, as Minto in Force of Arms and as corporal Rick Williams, who become the romantic interest of a Hollywood starlet, played by Janice Rule, in Starlift.^[3]

Sky King

Hagerthy appeared in nineteen episodes of Sky King, which in a topsy turvy broadcast history aired at one time on all three major television networks as well as in syndication. The series is set on a fictitious Arizona ranch. Hagerthy's episodes are:

• "Operation Urgent" (5 April 1952)
• "Carrier Pigeon" (19 April 1952)
• "Stage Coach Robbers: (3 May 1952)
• "Deadly Cargo" (17 May 1952)
• "Jim Bell's Triumph" (31 May 1952)
• "Designing Woman" (14 June 1952)
• "One for the Money" (28 June 1952)
• "Danger Point" (12 July 1952)
• "Desperate Character" (26 July 1952)
• "The Man Who Forgot" (9 August 1952)
• "The Threatening Bomb" (23 August 1952)
• "Speak No Evil" (6 September 1952)
• "Two-Gun Penny" (20 September 1952)
• "Formula for Fear" (4 October 1952)
• "The Giant Eagle" (18 October 1952)
• "Blackmail" (8 November 1952)
• "Wings of Justice" (22 November 1952)
• "Destruction from the Sky" (6 December 1952)
• "The Porcelain Lion" (20 December 1952^[3]

Transitional roles

After Sky King, Hagerthy entered the military.^[4] He still appeared in three 1953 films: (1) as Johnny McKeever in Warner's 3-D Western The Charge at Feather River (1953) (2) as Stubby Kelly in City That Never Sleeps, and (3) as an unnamed college student in Titanic. That same year, he guest starred in William Boyd's Hopalong Cassidy, the first western television series, in the role of Johnny Bolton in the episode, "The Devil's Idol".^[3]

From 1952-1953, Hagerthy appeared on Fireside Theatre in different roles in three episodes entitled "Honor", "The Alien", and "The Boy Down the Road". In 1956, he appeared with Inger Stevens and Everett Sloane in the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show in the episode "Law is for the Lovers".^[3]

Western roles

Hagerthy's long string of appearances in western series began to accelerate in 1956 with two guest-starring roles on the syndicated Annie Oakley, starring Gail Davis as Annie Oakley. He played the title role of Chuck Hutchins in the episode "The Waco Kid". Elizabeth Slifer (1896–1958) appeared as long-suffering mother, Jenny Hutchins, who yearns for her son to turn away from outlawry. He appeared as Billy Stryker thereafter in "Annie Rings the Bell", which also features Slim Pickens and X Brands. Pickens also guest starred in "The Waco Kid" segment.^[5]

His other western roles include:

• Tales of the Texas Rangers as Jim Hartley in "The Devil's Deputy" (1956)
• Gray Ghost in "A Problem of Command" (1957)
• The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin as Tom Mack in "Homer the Great" (1956) and as Corporal Tim Crane in "The Silent Witness" (1957)
• The Lone Ranger, as Buck Webb in "The Sheriff of Smoke Tree", as Deputy Marshal Jim Hannah in "No Handicap" (both 1956), and as Fred Bryan in "The Banker's Son" (1957)
• Sheriff of Cochise as Wally Burke in "The Promise" (1957)
• The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp as Bob Fitzsimmons in "The Manly Art" (1958)
• Gunsmoke as Rusty or Blackie in "Unmarked Grave" (1956) and as Andy Tennis in "Ma Tennis" (1958)
• State Trooper as Bob Evans in "You Can't Run Forever" (1958)
• Have Gun - Will Travel as Joe Martin in "A Snare for Murder" (1958)
• Jefferson Drum as Will Barton in "Thicker Than Water" (1958)
• Death Valley Days as Felix in "Old Gabe" (1958)
• Frontier Doctor as Pa Helbrog in "The Homesteaders" (1959)
• Whirlybirds as Steve in "His Brother's Keeper" (1959)
• Man Without a Gun as Tod Wilburn in "Witness to Terror" (1959)
• Tombstone Territory as Jeff Harper in "The Gunfighter" (1959)
• Bonanza as Billy Johnson in "The Hanging Posse" (1959)
• Wichita Town as Tod in "Biggest Man in Town" (1959)
• The Horse Soldiers as a bugler in the John Wayne and William Holden picture filmed near Natchitoches, Louisiana (1959)
• Pony Express in "The Search" (1960)
• Colt .45 as Deputy Jim Benson in "The Impasse" (1960), with Sandy Koufax, Harry Lauter, and Ann Doran^[6]
• The Man From Blackhawk as Oliver Jergens in "The Drawing Account" (1960)
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater as Jack Wilson in "The Sunday Man" (1960)
• The Rifleman as Ben Haskell in "The Deserter" (1960)
• The Texan as Neil Pierce in "The First Notch" (1958) and in the title role of "Johnny Tuvo" (1960)
• Riverboat as Phelan in "The Quota" (1960)
• Two Faces West as Lucas Garrett in "The Trigger" (1961)
• Gunslinger as Trooper Gurney in "The Recruit" and as Phil Nevis in "The New Savannah Story" (both 1961)
• Rawhide as Jim Hode in "Incident of the Dry Drive" (1959) and as Danny Clayton in "Incident at Cactus Wells" (1962)
• The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters as Carey Macklin in "The Day of Reckoning". This role was renewed in the 1964 television movie, Guns of Diablo based on the Jaimie McPheeters series, starring Kurt Russell.
• The High Chaparral as Morgan in "Best Man for the Job", his final western appearance at the age of thirty-five (1967)^[3]

Drama roles

• Make Haste to Live as Hack (1954)
• Crossroads in "Thanksgiving Prayer" (1956)
• The West Point Story as Daniel Atlas in "The Only Witness" (1957)
• The Silent Service in "Tang v. Truk" (1957)
• The Lineup in "The Toy Tiger Case" and then as John Oakhurst in "The Security Officer Case" (1957)
• Eighteen and Anxious (film) as Danny Fuller (1957)
• Navy Log as Johnny Fletcher in "Ninety Day Wonder" (1956), as Jimmy Milano in "The Lady and the Atom" (1957), and as Swenson in "The Draft Dodger" (1958)
• The Silent Service (TV Series) in "Mine for Keeps" (1958)
• Tightrope as Frank in "First Time Out" (1959)
• Border Patrol in "Death in the Desert" (1959)
• This Is the Life as Johnny in "Ring of Fear" (1959)
• The Untouchables as Handsome Johnny Rollins (uncredited) in "The Big Train, Part II" (1961)
• The Brothers Brannagan as Bruce Jackman in "Advantage: Death" (1961)
• The Twilight Zone as Ben in "Dead Man's Shoes" (1962)
• Saints and Sinners as Phil Barton in "A Taste of Evil" (1962)
• 77 Sunset Strip as Percy in "To Catch a Mink" (1963)^[3]

Last roles

Hagerthy appeared on two CBS sitcoms, The Gale Storm Show as Sergeant Rickie Hyland in the 1956 episode "Wedding at Sea" and on The Beverly Hillbillies as an unnamed geologist in the groundbreaking 1962 series premiere episode, "The Clampetts Strike Oil". Hagerthy, never identified by name, informs the fictitious Clampetts that oil has been discovered on their Arkansas farm land. Hagerthy also appears via archival footage in the 1963 The Beverly Hillbillies episode, "Jed Pays His Income Tax".^[7]

Hagerthy appeared four times on CBS's Lassie: as Jack in "A Place for Everything" (1956), as a hunter in "The Archers" (1958), as a helicopter pilot in "Temper the Wind" (1965), and as Tom in "The Foundling", his last ever screen role in 1968.^[3]

Hagerthy, the son of Ford Hagerthy (1907–1996) and Rita Hagerthy (1911–1998),^[8] is a South Dakota native. He was living in Los Angeles, California by the late 1930s.^[9] He and his wife, Judith A. Hagerthy (born ca. 1940), reside in Corona del Mar, a neighborhood in Newport Beach, California. The couple has two children, Kelly Ann Hagerthy (born ca. 1961) and Patrick R. Hagerthy (born ca. 1963).^[10] After his acting career ended, Hagerthy entered the real estate business in southern California.^[4]

With the death of Gloria Winters in 2010, Hagerthy became the last surviving member of the Sky King cast.

References

External links

• Ron Hagerthy on IMDb