O
nly quentin tarantino would model a major
character on Ty Hardin: a prototypical square-
jawed, barely mid-level actor who went from
minor TV cowboy heartthrob to unimpressive
movie roles to flat-out obsolescence in the span
of a decade. An inspiration for DiCaprio’s Rick
Dalton in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood(though Dalton’s fate
doesn’t seem anywhere near as clear-cut), Hardin’s career carried
the emblematic shape of every almost-famous hotshot who imag-
ined they were one break away from following Steve McQueen or
Clint Eastwood into the Big Leagues.
He’d arrived in the hurly-burly stampede of westerns that
overran American television from the late ’50s through the early
’60s. Despite having the given name of a comic-relief aristocrat
(Orison-with-an-i Whipple Hungerford Jr.), there was an
earnest, boyish-manly charm to go with his pin-up looks.
Rechristened by the infamous agent/predator Henry Willson,
Hardin joined a client list as long as a DNA strand in a backlot
petri dish: Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Troy Donohue. Rory Cal-
houn, John Saxon, Dack Rambo, and Clint Walker. His big break
brought home their basic interchangeability: in 1958, Clint
Walker got in contract dispute on his show Cheyenne, Hardin
was brought in as his potential replacement, and then the char-
acter was spun off into the series Broncowhen Walker settled.Many of these shows had a long afterlife in syndication. As a
5-to-10-year-old child circa 1969, like Tarantino (or myself ), if
you turned on any local station in the afternoons or evenings,
there were 5-to-10-year-old reruns of The Rifleman(Chuck
Connors as the single dad who racked up a notable body count:
“Father Kills Best”); Bat Masterson(clipped, forceful Gene
Barry); Wagon Train(Ward Bond, via the namesake John Ford
movie);Have Gun – Will Travel (Richard Boone as the natty,
knightly Paladin); Rawhide(Eastwood as the indefatigable
Rowdy Yates, though second-billed to Eric Fleming for most of
its eight-season run); Maverick (the endlessly adroit James Gar-
ner, eventually replaced by Jack Kelly and then Roger Moore);
Wanted: Dead or Alive(McQueen, obviously bound for greater
things). Not to mention the legacy westerns still in production:
the eternal Gunsmoke(James Arness, a decent enough Gary
Cooper clone); the dire Bonanza(Lorne Greene and TV sons);
and The Virginian(James Drury, stalwart and forgettable). And
also the kid-friendly likes of The Lone Rangerand The Roy Rogers
Show, The Cisco Kid and Zorro...
Hardin’s Broncopopped up from time to time between the
tumbleweeds, rubber rattlesnakes, and trail cooks called Wish-
bone, but never found footing to set himself apart. That said, Hol-
lywood gave him a fair enough shake: solid parts in PT 109(1963)
and Merrill’s Mauraders(1962),and a star turn sandwiched
between Suzanne Pleshette and Dorothy Provine in the wonder-
fully titledWall of Noise (1963). After another Warners program-
mer (Palm Springs Weekend, 1963), the bottom fell out: the glut of
Westerns coupled with the overpopulation of Troys and Tabs
made him expendable. Aside from getting third-billed in the big-
ticket, Cinerama-produced, Madrid-filmed flop Custer of the West
(1967), there was a part in the Argentine-Spanish Savage Pampas
(1966); a lead in the lesser Sergio Corbucci heist flick Death on the
Run(1967); and an Australian TV series (Riptide, 1969). When
Hardin died recently, his obits brought an unsettling twist: after
Hollywood (though he did parts here and there for many more
years), he’d gone and become a rabidly right-wing evangelical
preacher. The road to Trump rather than Manson...
Tarantino may use Hardin as a general template, but naturally
he diverges not only in Dal-
ton’s personal and profes-
sional specifics but also in
the cardinal presence of
Brad Pitt as his best pal and
stunt double Cliff Booth. So
while Tarantino’s film is
rooted in Hollywood actual-
ity, it also has one foot in an
alternate reality where Dal-
ton does imaginary Cor-
bucci flicks and guest stars
on the real series Lancer.
(And as Inglourious Basterds30 |FILMCOMMENT| July-August 2019SLOW DEATH
A ROUGH GUIDE TO THE TV LAND (AND AFTER LIVES) TRAVERSED
IN ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOODBY HOWARD HAMPTON
Ty Hardin’s career
carried the emblematic
shape of every almost-
famous hotshot who
imagined they were one
break away from follow-
ing Steve McQueen or
Clint Eastwood into
the Big Leagues.Ty Hardin