Clayton Moore (born Jack Carlton Moore, September 14, 1914 â€"
December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the
fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949â€"1952 and
1953â€"1957 on the television series of the same name and two related
movies from the same producers.Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1914,
Moore was the youngest of three sons of Theresa Violet (née Fisher)
and Charles Sprague Moore. Moore's father, according to the federal
census of 1930, was a native of New York and supported his family in
Chicago by working as a real estate broker. That same census also
documents that a full-time maid, Amelia Hirsch, lived with the Moore
family, an indication of the household's relative prosperity at the
time.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 as a young man also
worked successfully as a John Robert Powers model. Moving to Hollywood
in the late 1930s, he worked as a stuntman and bit player between
modeling jobs. Moore in his 1996 autobiography I Was That Masked Man
noted that Hollywood producer Edward Small persuaded him around 1940
to adopt the stage name "Clayton". Subsequently, he was cast as an
occasional player in B Westerns and the lead in four Republic Studio
cliffhangers and in two films for Columbia Pictures.
December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the
fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949â€"1952 and
1953â€"1957 on the television series of the same name and two related
movies from the same producers.Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1914,
Moore was the youngest of three sons of Theresa Violet (née Fisher)
and Charles Sprague Moore. Moore's father, according to the federal
census of 1930, was a native of New York and supported his family in
Chicago by working as a real estate broker. That same census also
documents that a full-time maid, Amelia Hirsch, lived with the Moore
family, an indication of the household's relative prosperity at the
time.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 as a young man also
worked successfully as a John Robert Powers model. Moving to Hollywood
in the late 1930s, he worked as a stuntman and bit player between
modeling jobs. Moore in his 1996 autobiography I Was That Masked Man
noted that Hollywood producer Edward Small persuaded him around 1940
to adopt the stage name "Clayton". Subsequently, he was cast as an
occasional player in B Westerns and the lead in four Republic Studio
cliffhangers and in two films for Columbia Pictures.
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