John Hart's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (CA) Nat 'Hawkey… Harris Against the World Policeman

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Tall and athletic, and possessed of "movie star" good looks, John Hart acted on the stage of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse as a young man, before making his screen debut in a supporting role in director Cecil B. DeMille's big-budget The Buccaneer (1938). With these physical assets and early acting credentials, the native Los Angeleno seemed bound for bigger and better things but military service slowed his momentum: Returning to Hollywood after World War II, he found himself back at the proverbial starting line. Hart soon fell into the low-budget Western and serial rut, but he served with distinction in many youth-oriented productions: He was the perfect embodiment of radio-comic strip hero Jack Armstrong in a 1947 serial, rode the Western plains in 52 episodes of TV's "The Lone Ranger" (1949) (playing the Masked Man) and brought life to James Fenimore Cooper's courageous frontiersman Hawkeye in TV's "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans" (1957). In more recent years, he worked behind-the-scenes (as a cameraman, post-production supervisor, dubbing supervisor, etc.).


TRIVIA:

• He acted in two episodes of _"The Lone Ranger" (1949)_ (qv) before he himself portrayed the famous Masked Man from 1952 to 1953 replacing 'Clayton Moore (I)' (qv) for a year. The episodes were "Sheriff at Gunstock" (episode # 1.46) 27 July 1950 playing "Duke, Henchman" and "Rifles and Renegades" (episode # 1.34) 4 May 1950 playing "Sergeant of the Guard." Later he gave a very convincing portrayal as Hawkeye in _"Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans" (1957)_ (qv).
• He had a cameo role as Lucas Striker, a tribute to " The Lone Ranger" creator Fran Sriker in "The Legend Of The Lone Ranger"(1981).
• Interviewed in Tom Weaver's "Eye on Science Fiction" (McFarland & Co., 2003).