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Kirby Grant

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Kirby Grant Jr.
Kirby Grant (left) withGloria WintersandRon HagerthyinSky King
Born
Kirby Grant Hoon Jr.

(1911-11-24)November 24, 1911
Butte, Montana,U.S.
DiedOctober 30, 1985(1985-10-30)(aged 73)
Brevard County, Florida,U.S.
Resting placeMissoula,Montana
Occupation(s)Actor, musician
Years active1934–1959
SpouseCarolyn J. Gillis Grant (1928–1989)
Children3[1]

Kirby Grant(November 24, 1911 – October 30, 1985), bornKirby Grant Hoon Jr.,was a long-timeB movieand television actor, mostly remembered for having played the title role in theWestern-themed adventure television seriesSky King.Between 1949 and 1954, Grant starred in 10Mounted-Policeadventures, usually in the role ofCorporal Rod Webb.

Early life and career

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Grant was born inButteinSilver Bow Countyin southwesternMontana.He was achild prodigyviolinist. He continued to study music and became a professional singer and bandleader.[2]

Movie career

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In 1939 theGateway to Hollywoodtalent-search contest awarded him a movie contract. These "Gateway" contracts were already prepared with fictitiousscreen names(thus Josephine Cottle became "Gale Storm"and Ralph Bowman became"John Archer";Grant won with Dorothy Howe, who became"Virginia Vale"). Grant's contract was made out to" Robert Stanton, "and Grant used the pseudonym in his earliest films before adopting his first and middle names professionally." Robert Stanton "and" Virginia Vale "were introduced in theRKO Radio PicturesfeatureThree Sons,with Edward Ellis andWilliam Gargan.For the next few years Grant freelanced among various studios; his most familiar picture from this period (as Kirby Grant) is probablyBlondie Goes Latin,a 1941 film withPenny SingletonandArthur Lake. Grant also appeared briefly in the 1943 submarine pictureDestination Tokyo,playing the role of Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, organizer of the famousDoolittle Raidon Japan.

In 1943, Grant signed withUniversal Pictures,where he played romantic leads in B musicals, and inAbbott and CostelloandOlsen and Johnsoncomedies. His smooth baritone voice got him teamed with Universal's singing starGloria Jeanfor two features in 1944, and then Universal selected him to replaceRod Cameron(who had just been promoted to more important roles) as the studio's B-Westernseries star in 1945. These seven westerns established Kirby Grant as an action star. In 1949Monogram Pictureshired him for a series ofMountieadventures, featuring "Chinook the Wonder Dog." Grant was working in this capacity when television beckoned in 1952 with the contemporary seriesSky King.

Sky King

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Grant starred in the seriesSky Kingduring its entire run (1952, and 1956–59), filming 72 episodes in all. He playedArizonarancher-pilot Schuyler "Sky" King, who fought bad guys and rescued people with his airplane. Early villains were bank robbers and kidnappers; some later foils were Russian spies and saboteurs. Sky's first airplane was aCessna T-50(known among pilots as the "Bamboo Bomber" because of its wooden wings), and later a much more modernCessna 310B. Sky's airplanes were named "Songbird". Sky and his niece Penny, played byGloria Winters,lived on the "Flying Crown Ranch".

Later appearances and retirement

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Grant did little acting afterSky Kingended, although he and Gloria Winters were in demand for personal appearances at fairs and aviation events. He traveled with the Carson and Barnes Circus from 1965 to 1967. Grant retired in 1970.Sky Kingcontinued to play in reruns from 1959 to 1966, but Grant received no residuals.

Grant and his wife, Carolyn, had three children. In the early 1970s, the Grants moved from California to Florida.

The couple founded the nonprofit Sky King Youth Ranches of America, which provided homes for abandoned or orphaned children. He had plans to resurrect theSky Kingseries with the Flying Crown Ranch becoming a home for such kids, and publicizing their stories, but it never materialized.

Death

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At about 8 a.m. on October 30, 1985, Grant was killed in an automobile accident west ofTitusvilleinBrevard County,Florida. Three vehicles were traveling east bound in single file, Grant was in the third vehicle. He pulled out of line (to the left) to pass both vehicles in front of him, when the middle vehicle also pulled out to pass at the same time. To avoid a collision, Grant suddenly swerved farther left, and went onto the shoulder of the oncoming lane, he then over-corrected back all the way to the right, when his vehicle left the roadway and spun into a ditch, which contained three feet of standing water. Grant was thrown out of his car and into the water. A passerby pulled him out, and he was taken toJess Parrish Hospitalin Titusville, but was dead on arrival. That morning, Grant was en route from his condominium inWinter Springsto theKennedy Space Centerto watch the (last successful) launch of theSpace ShuttleChallengeratCape Canaveral.[3]He was to have been honored by the astronauts for encouraging aviation and space flight. He was 73 years old. Kirby is interred inMissoula,Montana.

Recording career

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Kirby Grant is listed as the recording artist on twoWizard Recordssingles, #245-A "Loving Time" and 245-B "Letter from Tina," circa 1970.

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^"Kirby Grant, `Sky King,` Killed In Auto Accident"ArchivedNovember 29, 2012, at theWayback Machine.Orlando Sentinel(October 31, 1985).
  2. ^"Who Was Sky King?".Archived fromthe originalon December 27, 2002.RetrievedDecember 27,2002.
  3. ^Headline News – on the Death of Sky King, 1985onYouTube
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