TY HARDIN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Ty Hardin was born June 1st, 1930 in New York City, USA with the birth name Orison Hungerford. He was raised in Texas and attended high school at Lamar High. He then went on to serve in the Korean War and upon his return attended University at, Texas A&M where he became interested in acting and appeared in various campus productions.
In 1957, Hardin moved to Hollywood and was lucky enough to get signed by Paramount for a contract. In 1958, he made his first feature debut with a small role in, "I Married A Monster From Outer Space" under the name Ty Hungerford.
His big break came when the actor, Clint Walker, walked out on his ABC TV series, "Cheyenne" (1958) over a contract dispute with Warner Brothers, and Ty got to take over the role of the Country Cousin Bronco Layne for one season, changing his name from Hungerford to Hardin. After the one season, Warner Brothers and Clint Walker came to terms on their contract and he was given his part back, however, Hardin had made such a good impression on the studio that he was given his own series, "Bronco" which ran from 1958-1962. He also married the German actress, Marlene Schmidt from 1962 to 1966 and together they had one daughter.
Following this series was another role on another series called, "On the Trail of Johnny Hilling". Ty Hardin was also appearing in various feature films such as, " The Chapman Report" (1962) also starring Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom, Glynis Johns, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr, with Ray Danton, Andrew Duggan, Harold J. Stone, Cloris Leachman and Henry Daniell, "Merrill's Marauders" (1962) starring with Jeff Chandler, Andrew Duggan, Claude Akins, Peter Brown, Will Hutchins, John Hoyt and Samuel V. Wilson, "PT 109" (1963) starring Cliff Robertson as John F. Kennedy, Robert Blake, Norman Fell and Robert Culp, "Wall of Noise" (1963), and Palm Springs Weekend (1963), "Battle of the Bulge" (1965), "Riptide" (1965) and "Pampa Salvaje" (1966) an Italian and Spanish Production.
During the early 70's, Hardin lived in Los Boliches, Spain, where he ran a bar and a string of Laundromats. In 1977, Hardin returned to the US and became a devout Christian earning money as a traveling evangelist and the minister of a church in Prescott, AZ, where he also appeared in a 30-minute religious show, "Going Home", that aired nationally three times a week on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. He did not give up on his acting career completely, he did have a couple other appearances in films such as, "Vehicles" and "Spurs of Death" (1983).
Ty Hardin was nominated for the Peninsula Citizens award for his dedication to his community. Hardin resided for a while in the Key Peninsula near the town of Gig Harbor, Washington. He now remarried as of June 2007 and lives in Southern California with his family.
Filmography
1993 Rescue Me
1990 Born Killer
1989 Bad Jim
1988 Red River
1977 Fire
1972 Avanti!
1971 The Last Rebel
1969 One Step to Hell
1968 Custer of the West
1967 Savage Pampas
1967 Berserk
1965 Battle of the Bulge
1963 Wall of Noise
1963 Palm Springs Weekend
1963 PT 109
1962 Merrill's Marauders
1962 The Chapman Report
1959 Last Train from Gun Hill
1959 The Buccaneer
1958 I Married a Monster from Outer Space
1958 As Young as We Are
1958 The Space Children
