RIP Ty Hardin

Orison Whipple Hungerford III aka Ty Hardin died during the evening of August 3^rd. He was 87. Ty was known to millions as Bronco Layne from the hit Warner Bros. TV series Bronco which ran from 1958-1962. When Clint Walker, star of the Cheyenne TV series, went on strike he was replaced by Bronco and when Clint reached an agreement with Warner Brothers and returned to the air Bronco and Sugarfoot starring Wil Hutchins were seen in a rotating format from week to week. Ty went on to make eight Euro-westerns and told several of us at Festival of the West in Scottsdale that he was another of the long list of actors who was offered the role of ‘The Man With No Name’ but turned down the role. After his Italian career he returned to the US and appeared at film festivals and TV films. After difficulties with the IRS, Hardin founded an anti-tax movement in Prescott. In 1982 the movement became the Arizona Patriots. Ty was living in Huntington Beach, California and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for the past few years.