John Hart

Broad-shouldered leading man John Hart was signed to a standard contract by Paramount in 1938. He appeared in a few "B"s like Tip-Off Girls (1938) and King of Alcatraz (1938) before his option was permitted to lapse. Returning to Hollywood after World War II, Hart worked as a journeyman actor in low-budget films: his biggest assignment of the late 1940s was the title role in the Columbia serial Jack Armstrong (1947). When Clayton Moore left the Lone Ranger TV series during a salary dispute in 1952, Hart was hired to play the Masked Rider of the Plains in 26 Ranger episodes. The replacement did not go unnoticed, and soon fans were demanding the return of Moore. Five years later, Hart co-starred with Lon Chaney Jr. in the Canadian-filmed syndicated TVer Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans. He spent the next two decades essaying small roles in films and TV shows and also worked prolifically as a voice-over artist. John Hart came back into the spotlight when the Wrather Corporation produced the 1981 theatrical feature Legend of the Lone Ranger; while Clayton Moore was once more on the "outs" with Wrather, the white-haired, virile Hart was available to play the key supporting role of Lucas Stryker (an inside joke: one of the principal writers of the Lone Ranger radio series was Fran Stryker).