Kirby Grant (November 24, 1911 – October 30, 1985), born Kirby Grant Hoon Jr., was a long-time

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

and television actor, mostly remembered for having played the title role in the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

-themed adventure television series '' Sky King''. Between 1949 and 1954, Grant starred in 10 Mounted-Police adventures, usually in the role of Corporal Rod Webb.

Early life and career

Grant was born in

Butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

in Silver Bow County in southwestern

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. He was a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

violinist. He continued to study music and became a professional singer and bandleader.

Movie career

In 1939 the '' Gateway to Hollywood'' talent-search contest awarded him a movie contract. These "Gateway" contracts were already prepared with fictitious screen names (thus Josephine Cottle became "

Gale Storm Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009), known professionally as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer. After a film career from 1940 to 1952, she starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, '' My Litt ...

" 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 the

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

feature ''Three Sons'', with Edward Ellis and

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 16, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

. For the next few years Grant freelanced among various studios; his most familiar picture from this period (as Kirby Grant) is probably ''Blondie Goes Latin'', a 1941 film with Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake. Grant also appeared briefly in the 1943 submarine picture '' Destination Tokyo'', playing the role of Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, organizer of the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan. In 1943, Grant signed with

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, where he played romantic leads in B musicals, and in Abbott and Costello and Olsen and Johnson comedies. His smooth baritone voice got him teamed with Universal's singing star Gloria Jean for two features in 1944, and then Universal selected him to replace Rod Cameron (who had just been promoted to more important roles) as the studio's B-

series star in 1945. These seven westerns established Kirby Grant as an action star. In 1949

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

hired him for a series of

Mountie The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

adventures, featuring "Chinook the Wonder Dog." Grant was working in this capacity when television beckoned in 1952 with the contemporary series ''Sky King''.

''Sky King''

Grant starred in the series ''Sky King'' during its entire run (1952, and 1956–59), filming 72 episodes in all. He played

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

rancher-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 a Cessna T-50 (known among pilots as the "Bamboo Bomber" because of its wooden wings), and later a much more modern

Cessna 310 The Cessna 310 is an American four-to-six-seat, low-wing, twin-engine monoplane produced by Cessna between 1954 and 1980. It was the second twin-engine aircraft that Cessna put into production; the first was the Cessna T-50. It was used by the ...

B. Sky's airplanes were named "Songbird". Sky and his niece Penny, played by Gloria Winters, lived on the "Flying Crown Ranch".

Later appearances and retirement

Grant did little acting after ''Sky King'' ended, 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 King'' continued 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 the ''Sky King'' series with the Flying Crown Ranch becoming a home for such kids, and publicizing their stories, but it never materialized.

Death

At about 8 a.m. on October 30, 1985, Grant was killed in an automobile accident west of Titusville in Brevard 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 to Jess Parrish Hospital in Titusville, but was dead on arrival. That morning, Grant was en route from his condominium in Winter Springs to the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

to watch the ( last successful) launch of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' at

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

. He was to have been honored by the astronauts for encouraging aviation and space flight. He was 73 years old. Kirby is interred in

Missoula Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot River, Bitterroot and Blackfoot River (Montana), ...

, Montana.

Recording career

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

Selected filmography

* '' Sweet Adeline'' (1934) – Singing Beer Garden Patron (uncredited) * '' I Dream Too Much'' (1935) – Violinist (uncredited) * '' In Old Chicago'' (1938) – Moustached Quartette Member – 'Old Virginny' Number (uncredited) * '' Radio City Revels'' (1938) – Group Singer (uncredited) * '' My Lucky Star'' (1938) – Singing Student on Sleighride (uncredited) * '' There Goes My Heart'' (1938) – Customer (uncredited) * '' Lawless Valley'' (1938) – Ranch Hand (uncredited) * '' Red River Range'' (1938) – Tex Reilly * '' Three Sons'' (1939) – Bert Pardway * '' Mexican Spitfire'' (1940) – Airline Clerk (uncredited) * '' The Marines Fly High'' (1940) – Lt. Bob Hobbes * '' Millionaire Playboy'' (1940) – Bill (uncredited) * '' Bullet Code'' (1940) – Bud Mathews * '' Blondie Goes Latin'' (1941) – Hal Trent, Orchestra Leader * '' Always Tomorrow: The Portrait of an American Business'' (1941) – 1st Picknicker (uncredited) * ''The Power of God'' (1942) – Kenneth Hale * '' Dr. Kildare's Victory'' (1942) – Sgt. Brown (uncredited) * ''

My Favorite Blonde ''My Favorite Blonde'' is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll. Based on a story by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is about a vaudeville performer who gets mixed up with Br ...

'' (1942) – Pilot (uncredited) * '' Hello, Frisco, Hello'' (1943) – Specialty Singer * '' Bombardier'' (1943) – Pilot (uncredited) * '' The Stranger from Pecos'' (1943) – Tom Barstow * '' Destination Tokyo'' (1943) – Army Briefing Officer (uncredited) * '' Chip Off the Old Block'' (1944) – Member – The Jivin' Jacks and Jills (uncredited) * ''

Hi, Good Lookin'! ''Hi, Good Lookin'!'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Edward C. Lilley and written by Paul Gerard Smith, Bradford Ropes and Eugene Conrad. The film stars Harriet Nelson, Eddie Quillan, Kirby Grant, Betty Kean, Roscoe Karns, Vivian Aust ...

'' (1944) – King Castle * '' Rosie the Riveter'' (1944) – Singer at Award Presentation (uncredited) * '' Law Men'' (1944) – Clyde Miller * '' Ghost Catchers'' (1944) – Clay Edwards * '' In Society'' (1944) – Peter Evans * '' Babes on Swing Street'' (1944) – Dick Lorimer * '' I'll Remember April'' (1945) – Dave Ball * '' Trail to Vengeance'' (1945) – Jeff Gordon * '' Penthouse Rhythm'' (1945) – Dick Ryan * '' Bad Men of the Border'' (1945) – Ted Cameron * '' Easy to Look At'' (1945) – Tyler * '' Code of the Lawless'' (1945) – Grant Carter posing as Chad Hilton * '' Gun Town'' (1946) – Hal Wentley * '' The Spider Woman Strikes Back'' (1946) – Hal Wentley * '' Blonde Alibi'' (1946) – Henry Rothmore (uncredited) * '' She Wrote the Book'' (1946) – Eddie Caldwell * '' Lawless Breed'' (1946) – Ted Everett * '' Rustler's Round-Up'' (1946) – Bob Ryan * '' Gunman's Code'' (1946) – Jack Douglas * '' Song of Idaho'' (1948) – King Russell * '' Singin' Spurs'' (1948) – Jeff Carter * '' Trail of the Yukon'' (1949) – Mountie Bob McDonald * '' Black Midnight'' (1949) – Sheriff Gilbert * '' The Wolf Hunters'' (1949) – Mountie Corporal Rod Webb * '' Feudin' Rhythm'' (1949) – Ace Lucky * '' Snow Dog'' (1950) – Mountie Corporal Rod McDonald * ''

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

'' (1950) – Lieutenant Randy Mason * '' Dial 1119'' (1950) – Reporter (uncredited) * '' Call of the Klondike'' (1950) – Corporal Rod Webb * '' Rhythm Inn'' (1951) – Dusty Rhodes * '' Yukon Manhunt'' (1951) – Corporal Rod Webb * '' Comin' Round the Mountain'' (1951) – Clark Winfield * ''

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

'' (1951) – Cpl. Rod Webb * '' Yukon Gold'' (1952) – Mountie Cpl. Rod Webb * '' Fangs of the Arctic'' (1953) – Mountie Corporal Rod Webb * '' Northern Patrol'' (1953) – Cpl. Rod Webb – RCMP * '' Yukon Vengeance'' (1954) – Corporal Rod Webb, RCMP

References

* Airport Journals Jan. 2006 interview with Gloria Winters. * Missoula city website https://web.archive.org/web/20120225013557/http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/index.aspx?NID=175 * http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060611/news_m1m11history.html (Link no longer active)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Kirby 1911 births 1985 deaths Aviators from Montana American male film actors Singing cowboys American male television actors Male actors from Butte, Montana Road incident deaths in Florida Ranchers from California Male actors from Montana 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers Western (genre) television actors