Meade Howard Horton, Jr. (July 29, 1924 - March 9, 2016), known as Robert Horton, was an American television, stage actor and singer.

In his six decades of television, Horton became known for his nice, rugged voice, who was also most noted for his role, from 1957 to 1962, of the frontier scout Flint McCullough in the NBC Western television series, Wagon Train. His co-stars were Ward Bond, John McIntire, Terry Wilson, and Frank McGrath. Horton eventually quit the series to pursue a career in musical theater. His Wagon Train role was replaced by that of Robert Fuller as the scout Cooper Smith, and thereafter the series moved to ABC. Fuller, a veteran of the western series Laramie, resembled Horton, and the two actors coincidentally shared the same birthday, albeit nine years apart.

Early life

One of two sons, Horton was born as Meade Howard Horton, Jr. on July 29, 1924, in Los Angeles, California. According to himself, he never felt he fit into the appropriate Mormon household, for being the hotheaded child that he was. As a little boy, he also survived many surgeries such as: hernia and an enlarged kidney. Horton attended California Military Institute, in the city's suburb of Perris, where he played football. After graduation from the military school, in 1943, at age 19, he was enlisted in the Coast Guard, but was medically discharged, because of his kidney. In 1945, a chance encounter with the talent scout led to an uncredited part in Lewis Milestone’s World War II film A Walk in the Sun (1945). As he became an actor, Horton's parents were not happy. He also graduated cum laude from UCLA. He would later relocate from California to New York City, where he worked as an unfamiliar struggling actor, before returning to California. At age 28, Horton signed a contract with MGM, appearing in films. It was there where he met unfamiliar younger actors, Robert Fuller and James Drury, whom they both became Horton's lifelong friends, for 62 years, from 1954 until his passing in 2016.

Career

Horton played Ronald Reagan's role in the television version of Kings Row (1955), which also featured Jack Kelly, and ran for seven episodes as part of the Warner Bros. Presents series, rotating with a television version of Casablanca and Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker, the first television western in a 60-minute format.

The ruggedly handsome Horton made dozens of appearances in movies and television shows between 1951 and 1989, including a small role in the film Bright Road starring Dorothy Dandridge, an episode of Ray Milland's CBS sitcom, Meet Mr. McNutley, and on the syndicated Sheriff of Cochise, starring John Bromfield. Horton played Corporal Tom Vaughn in the 1956 episode "False Prophet" of the religion anthology series, Crossroads.

Horton appeared on seven episodes of the anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including memorably as a tennis-playing bookie and blackmailer opposite Betsy von Furstenberg in "The Disappearing Trick", directed by Arthur Hiller. He was cast as Danny Barnes in the episode "No Place to Hide" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson, on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood, and NBC's anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show. He also appeared several times on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Horton is also remembered for his offbeat role as a cowboy amnesiac in his 1965-1966 ABC television series A Man Called Shenandoah. Horton even took a turn in daytime soap operas, having played the part of Whit McColl from 1983 to 1984 on CBS's As the World Turns. In 1966, he starred in "The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones", the first Western made specifically for television and simultaneous distribution to cinemas in Europe. It was made by MGM and co-starred Sal Mineo and Diane Baker.

He went on to perform for many years in theaters and nightclubs all over America, and in Australia as a singer (sometimes with his wife, the former Marilynn Bradley). In 1963, producer David Merrick hired him as the male lead in the musical version of N. Richard Nash's play The Rainmaker (entitled 110 in the Shade), in the part played on the screen by Burt Lancaster. The musical, which boasted a score by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, ran for 330 performances on Broadway.

Personal life and death

Horton was also an accomplished pilot and aircraft owner. According to a "Plane and Pilot" profile: "His three greatest thrills were his first solo flight, a performance before Queen Elizabeth II, and being featured on Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life. His frequent copilot was his French Poodle, "Jamie".

In addition to his love of flying, he spent a great deal of time on his hobby, collecting and driving vintage and mid-century automobiles.

Horton was the recipient of several lifetime achievement awards for television, including the prestigious Golden Boot, and also the Cowboy Spirit Award at the National Festival of the West. Since December 31, 1960, he was married to stage actress Marilynn Bradley, who limited her professional appearances on stage, with him. Horton and his wife also resided in the Encino section of Los Angeles for 55 years, in the same home, until 2015. His beloved residence, as well as several pieces of notable furniture in the home, was built by the actor and woodworker, George Montgomery.

Actor and longtime friend, Robert Fuller, was sometimes described as having replaced Horton on Wagon Train. Though Fuller did have a role on the program after Horton departed, according to an interview from August 17, 2009 with Fuller in On Screen and Beyond, he did not replace him. The two were sometimes confused with each other because of a general physical resemblance, and because they shared the same birthday, July 29, though Horton was nine years Fuller's senior.

Following his 85th birthday in 2009, Horton announced, through his publicist, that he would no longer be making any personal appearances because he had tired of traveling. In 2014, Horton celebrated his 90th birthday, on which he received the Western Legend Award.

Horton died of natural causes on March 9, 2016, at the age of 91, in a rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles, California. According to his niece, he was injured in a fall in November 2015, and was placed in hospice care. At his request, he didn't want a funeral. His remains were cremated.

Selected filmography

• A Walk In The Sun (1946)
• Arena (1953)
• Prisoner of War (1954)
• Men of the Fighting Lady (1954)
• The Man Is Armed (1956)
• The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones (1966, TV film)
• The Green Slime (1968)
• The Spy Killer (1969, TV film)
• Foreign Exchange (1970, TV film)
• Red River (1988, TV film)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]