Blast From The Past for February 5th:

Ty Hardin
From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

 Thanks to some of my friends and many readers of FH, I am now officially over my previously held prejudices surrounding old movies, black and white films in particular. I cannot believe the times I wasted ignoring some of the most incredible films, and actors, I have been enjoying the last couple of years. Given my love of classic Circus films the highlight of TCM's January salute to Joan Crawford was last weeks airing of 1967's Berserk. 

Ty with Diana Dors

Monica Rivers is the owner and ringmaster of a traveling circus, and she'll stop at nothing to draw bigger audiences. When a series of mysterious murders begins to occur and some of her performers die gruesomely, her profits soar!

 Sounds good doesn't it? With Joan Crawford as Monica and my introduction to actor Ty Hardin as the handsome and muscular young man Monica hires to save the show, I was all in. Berserk, which also featured Diana Dors and Michael Gough, certainly wasn't the best Crawford film TCM aired during January, but it also wasn't her worst. The film earned points for it's title alone.

 I hadn't heard of Ty Hardin before (so close to a great porn name) but I certainly ran him through the regular search engines after the viewing. Crawford was the movie's star, and Ty was there to provide the younger eye candy. Quite a sharp contrast to today when it is women who usually provide the eye candy for the older male stars. Ty seems to predecessor to male himbos of today like Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Lautner and Matthew McConaughey before his career transformation. There to look pretty, take their shirts off and stand back and let the real actors emote. 

It is not that Ty, who is still alive and kicking living in New York, was not a good actor, it was more his face, blonde hair and hard body were geared towards female fans at that time and felt enough to satisfy audiences of his films. You only need to check out his wardrobe (see last six photos below) in 1962's The Chapman Report to know what I mean.

 Sadly my goggling also turned up some questionable work in the 70's with a fanatical right winged group, but given the actor was born in the 30's, raised in Texas and served in the Korean war, I will cut him some slack. That was also almost 40 years ago, so I will simply hope he has evolved and continue to seek out films where his amazing chest is on display.

Ty Hardin, born Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr., (born January 1, 1930), is a former American actor best known as the star of the 1950s ABC western television series Bronco for four years.

The Chapman Report 

 Hardin was reared in Texas and attended Lamar High School in Houston. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was commissioned after attending Officer Candidate School, and became a pilot of Forward Observer O-1 Bird Dog liaison aircraft. After his return from service, he began taking courses at Texas A&M University on a scholarship under coach Bear Bryant.

 Working as an electronic engineer at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California, Ty lived with two other Aggies that worked for Douglas. While renting six guns at a motion picture costume rental company for a costume party, he was discovered by a Paramount Pictures talent scout. By 1957, Hardin acquired the services of agent Henry Willson and made his way to Hollywood where he was put under contract by Paramount Pictures. Initially billed as "Ty Hungerford," he made various minor appearances in several Paramount films such as I Married a Monster from Outer Space, The Space Children, and Last Train from Gun Hill. The "Ty" came from a childhood nickname of "Typhoon" given to him by his grandmother.

 According to Hardin, he tried to obtain a lead role in the film Rio Bravo that had been promised to Ricky Nelson. John Wayne reportedly saw him when he visited a film set at Paramount. He was impressed by his appearance. Wayne introduced him to Howard Hawks and William T. Orr at Warner Bros. Television; they bargained for his seven-year contract and he moved to Warner Brothers, who changed his stage surname to "Hardin" after gunfighter John Wesley Hardin. He also attended actors' school at Warner and played small parts in various Warner productions.

When Clint Walker walked out on his ABC series Cheyenne in 1958 during a contract dispute with Warner, Hardin got his big break. Warner bought out his contract from Paramount Studios and installed him into the Cheyenne show as the country cousin "Bronco Layne" to complete the season. Walker and Warner Brothers came to terms after the season ended, but Hardin had made such a big hit on the show that Jack Warner gave him his own series, Bronco, under the Cheyenne title. Bronco alternated weeks with Sugarfoot and Cheyenne for four years. The series ran from 1958 to 1962. Hardin soon was given other leading roles for Warner Brothers productions such as Merrill's Marauders, as Doug 'Stretch' Fortune in the 1963 spring break film Palm Springs Weekend, The Chapman Report and PT 109.

When his contract expired he left Hollywood to seek opportunity overseas as his series was played all over the world. Like many other American actors, Hardin traveled to Europe where he made several spaghetti westerns although he turned down Sergio Leone's offer to play the lead in A Fistful of Dollars. He also appeared in American financed all star epics such as Battle on the Bulge and Custer of the West. He also was reportedly the first choice to play the starring role in the television series Batman, which went to Adam West, but turned it down because of film commitments overseas.

Hardin did star in a 1967–68 Australian television series Riptide  where he sponsored an Australian motorcycle racing team and a 1970 German television series called On the Trail of Johnny Hilling, Boor and Billy which was immensely successful in West Germany.

Hardin has been married eight times and has ten children. From 1962 to 1966 Hardin was married to the 1961 Miss Universe, German beauty queen Marlene Schmidt, who later involved herself in the movie industry; they had one daughter. As of 2009, Hardin lives with his eighth wife in Huntington Beach, California.