Trivia: A circus acrobat from the age of eight, Clayton Moore had performed as an aerialist with two circuses and at one World's Fair before turning 20. He became a male model in New York, then struck out for Hollywood in 1938 to seek out acting jobs. He began at the bottom rung as an extra, worked his way up to stunt man, and by 1939 was playing nondescript supporting roles. Alternating between heroes and villains in serials and B-Westerns, Moore didn't strike professional gold until 1949, when he was selected to play the "masked rider of the west" in the TV version of The Lone Ranger. He remained with the series until 1952, when he walked off the show over a salary dispute. His replacement for 26 episodes was John Hart, who had neither the bearing nor the stirring vocal timbre that had distinguished Moore's performances. Briefly returning to serials, Moore was brought back into the Lone Ranger fold in 1954 at a much higher weekly compensation. He stayed with the series until its last episode in 1956, and also starred in two Technicolor Lone Ranger theatrical features. Thereafter, Moore made a good living trading on his Lone Ranger image in TV commercials and personal appearances. In 1978, the Wrather Corporation, which owned the Lone Ranger property and was about to embark on a new feature film based on the character, served Moore with a court order barring him from appearing in public in the Ranger mask and costume. The outpouring of public support and sympathy eventually forced the Wrather people to reverse their decision, but it should be noted that they weren't quite the Scrooges depicted in the press: Throughout the 1970s, Clayton Moore made many appearances as the Lone Ranger without paying the necessary licensing fee to Wrather.

Trivia: Frequently cast as Western heavies due to his steely gaze, longtime character actor Lyle Bettger traveled the well-worn path from stage to screen, making a name for himself on such small screen oaters as Rawhide and Bonanza before stepping into a more contemporary setting with frequent appearances on Hawaii Five-O. A Philadelphia native and graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, subsequent work in theater and summer stock eventually lead Bettger to Broadway, and later a contract with Paramount. In 1950, Bettger made his screen debut with the film noir drama No Man of Her Own,and the fruitful following decade found him building a solid resumé with roles in Union Station (1950) and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), among numerous others. Success followed the actor to the small screen, with Bettger donning his spurs as numerous baddies and even moving on to starring roles in the series The Court of Last Resort and The Grand Jury in the late '50s. Later work on Hawaii Five-O found the easygoing actor warming to the hospitable climate in which the show was set, and after appearing in the show's 1979 series finale, Bettger retired and made a home for himself in Paia. Lyle Bettger died of natural causes September 24, 2003, in Atascadero, CA. He was 88.

Trivia: Born into a show-biz family, Bonita Granville first appeared onstage at the age of 3 and began making films at 9. As a child actress she was frequently cast as a mean, spiteful, naughty little girl; examples include These Three (1936), in which she played a mischievous girl spreading malicious lies about her teachers (and for which, at the age of 13, she received a "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar nomination), and Maid of Salem (1937), in which she lead a hysterical group of village girls as accusers in the Salem Witch Trials. As a teen she also played "nicer" girls, as in the title role in the series of four detective-reporter Nancy Drew movies, as well as a blond, blue-eyed Aryan Nazi "ideal youth" in the huge hit Hitler's Children (1943). She later gained standard leading lady roles before retiring from the screen in the '50s. Bonita Granville married a millionaire in 1947 and subsequently became a businesswoman as well as the producer of the TV series Lassie.

Trivia: A mixed-blood Mohawk Indian, Jay Silverheels was the son of a Canadian tribal chief. Silverheels excelled in sports during his youth and it was this prowess that brought him to Hollywood in 1938 as a stunt man. Though most of Silverheels' earliest film appearances went uncredited, it was difficult to ignore him in such roles as the Osceola boy in Key Largo (1948) and Geronimo in Broken Arrow (1950). In 1949, Silverheels was cast as Tonto on the pilot episode of TV's The Lone Ranger. Until the series shut down production in 1956, Silverheels essayed the role of the masked man's "faithful Indian companion," while Clayton Moore (and, briefly, John Hart) was seen as the Ranger. Silverheels also co-starred in two spin-off Lone Ranger theatrical films and reprised the Tonto role in a memorable Jeno's Pizza Rolls advertisement of the 1960s ("Have-um pizza roll, kemo sabe?"). Silverheels' other film credits include a cameo in the all-star fiasco The Phynx (1970) and a pivotal role in 1973's The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing. In the 1970s, Silverheels established himself as a prize-winning horse breeder and harness racing driver. During the period, he was asked if any of his new horses were faster than Tonto's Scout, whereupon Silverheels replied, "Heck, I can beat Scout." One of Jay Silverheels' last public appearance was on a comedy sketch on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, wherein Silverheels summed up his relationship with the Lone Ranger as "30 lousy years."