JOHN HART, the man who replaced CLAYTON MOORE as TV's wild west hero THE LONE RANGER, has died, aged 91.
Hart battled dementia in his latter years and passed away at his home in Rosarito Beach, Mexico on Sunday (20Sep09), according to the Los Angeles Times.
A California native, Hart launched his Hollywood career in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1938 film The Buccaneer.
After serving in the U.S. Army, he landed the title role in the 1947 TV series Jack Armstrong: The All-American Boy and took over from Moore as The Lone Ranger for 52 episodes of the popular family show.
He was the perfect choice for the role - because he worked as a cowboy as a teenager, and had joined the cast of the show to work with a nervous Silver, the Lone Ranger's horse.
Hart gave up the role of The Lone Ranger when Moore returned to the show, but he played the masked hero again in a 1981 episode of The Greatest American Hero and in a 1982 episode of Happy Days.
He also starred in Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, alongside horror movie icon Lon Chaney Jr.