JOHN HART - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 277367

JOHN HART
Copy of comic book cover signed by Nat "Hawkeye" Cutler
Photograph signed "John Hart - Hawkeye". Color. 8½x11. Baby Boomers probably remember Hart best as the Lone Ranger. He also had a number of other western roles, including Nat "Hawkeye" Cutler TV series Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans. Hawkeye was loosely based on James Fennimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans and ran for one season and 39 episodes in 1957. This photo, owned by Hart, is a copy of the cover of a 1958 comic book based on the series with Hart and Lon Chaney, Jr., who played Chingachgook, in full costume. American actor Hart (1917-2009) was a cowboy before becoming an actor and had numerous roles in westerns, including small parts on TV's The Lone Ranger (1950-1953), before being offered the role in 1952. He replaced Clayton Moore, the series' original Lone Ranger, for 52 episodes when Moore was fired for demanding a higher salary. In one interview, Hart claimed that all 52 episodes were shot in a matter of weeks, with each episode taking only two days to shoot. Hart forged a close relationship with Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto, and his cowboy training helped him to ride the Lone Ranger's horse Silver, whom he said was jumpy and difficult to ride. Hart went on to other roles, including parts on Bat Masterson and Rawhide. He played another masked hero in The Adventures of Captain Africa, a Columbia serial intended to be a sequel to The Phantom but which had its name and hero changed after Columbia lost the rights to the character. He also played the Lone Ranger for one episode of Happy Days and was cast as a reporter in The Legend of the Lone Ranger, the movie adaptation of the Lone Ranger story. Fine condition.