Kirby Grant
Encyclopedia
Kirby Grant, was a long-time B movie
and television
actor
. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King
.
Grant, a child prodigy
violin
ist, continued to pursue music and became a professional singer and bandleader. In 1939 the "Gateway to Hollywood" talent-search contest awarded him a movie contract. These "Gateway" contracts were already prepared with fictitious screen names
(thus Josephine Cottle became "Gale Storm
" and Ralph Bowman became "John Archer
"; Grant won with Dorothy Howe, who became "Virginia Vale
"). Grant's contract was made out to "Robert Stanton," and Grant used the pseudonym in his earliest films before adopting his first and middle names professionally. "Robert Stanton" and "Virginia Vale" were introduced in the RKO Radio Pictures feature Three Sons, with Edward Ellis and William Gargan
. For the next few years Grant freelanced among various studios; his most familiar picture from this period (as Kirby Grant) is probably 1941's Blondie Goes Latin, with Penny Singleton
and Arthur Lake
.
In 1943, Grant signed with Universal Pictures
, where he played romantic leads in B musicals, and in Abbott and Costello
and Olsen and Johnson
comedies. His smooth baritone voice got him teamed with Universal's singing star Gloria Jean
for two features in 1944, and then Universal selected him to replace Rod Cameron
(who had just been promoted to more important roles) as the studio's B-Western
series star in 1945.
These seven westerns established Kirby Grant as an action star. In the late 1940s Monogram Pictures
hired him for a series of mounted-police adventures, featuring "Chinook the Wonder Dog." Grant was working in this capacity when television beckoned in 1951, with an adventure series called Sky King.
Grant starred as Arizona
rancher-pilot Schuyler "Sky" King, who fought bad guys and rescued people with his airplane. Production spanned much of the Cold War
; early villains were bank robbers and kidnappers; some later foils were Russian spies and saboteurs. Sky's first airplane was a Cessna T-50 (known among pilots as the "Bamboo Bomber" because of its wooden wings), and later a much more modern Cessna 310
B. Sky's airplanes were named "Songbird". Sky and his niece "Penny" lived on the "Flying Crown Ranch". A nephew
named, "Clipper", played by Ron Hagerthy
, appeared only in the first season. His absence was explained as having joined the military. The series called for Grant to wear the same outfit on every show. That prompted many fans to wonder if the character owned any other clothes. Actually, this was a common practice in the early days of TV production: the series regulars in Adventures of Superman
and Dragnet
, for example, always wore the same outfits so different episodes could be filmed at the same time, and file footage could be added to new footage without anyone noticing.
Grant did little acting after the show ended although he and co-star Gloria Winters
were in demand for personal appearances at fairs and aviation events. He traveled with the Carson and Barnes Circus from 1967 to 1970. Grant retired that year. Sky King continued to play in reruns, but Grant received no residuals.
Grant and his wife, Carolyn, had three children. In the early 1970s
, they moved from California
to Florida
.
The couple founded the nonprofit Sky King Youth Ranches of America, which provided homes for abandoned or orphaned children. He had plans to resurrect the Sky King series with the Flying Crown Ranch becoming a home for such kids, and publicizing their stories, but it never materialized.
Grant was killed at the age of seventy-three in a car accident near Titusville, Florida
. He was on his way to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger
at Cape Canaveral
, where he was also to be honored by the astronauts for encouraging aviation and space flight. Grant was not wearing his seatbelt. He is interred in Missoula, Montana
.
A Country music
supergroup
in the 1990s was named The Sky Kings
.
because of color blindness
. In the article "310 B Goes To Hollywood," Bill Fergusson, the show's usual stunt pilot on loan from the Cessna Corp. recalled how Grant flew the 310B like a professional. According to Gloria Winters, Grant was a pilot, and started his flying career in a 1929 Waco
.
As in his television series, Grant was a rancher and flier and his ranch was in Valley Center, CA. His home was on Valley Center Road at the end of his private airstrip.(4)
It has been reported that Kirby Grant's pilot's license was issued in 1929 and expired in 1978 for medical reasons.
There are many anecdotal reports of Grant flying airplanes at air shows.
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King
Sky King
Sky King is a 1940s and 1950s American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King...
.
Grant, a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, continued to pursue music and became a professional singer and bandleader. In 1939 the "Gateway to Hollywood" talent-search contest awarded him a movie contract. These "Gateway" contracts were already prepared with fictitious screen names
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
(thus Josephine Cottle became "Gale Storm
Gale Storm
Gale Storm was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.-Early life:...
" and Ralph Bowman became "John Archer
John Archer (actor)
John Archer was an American movie and television actor.-Biography:Born Ralph Bowman in Osceola, Nebraska, Archer moved to California at the age of five...
"; Grant won with Dorothy Howe, who became "Virginia Vale
Virginia Vale
Virginia Vale was an American film actress. She starred in a number of B-movie Westerns but took a variety of other roles as well, notably in The Blonde Comet , in which she played a race car driver....
"). Grant's contract was made out to "Robert Stanton," and Grant used the pseudonym in his earliest films before adopting his first and middle names professionally. "Robert Stanton" and "Virginia Vale" were introduced in the RKO Radio Pictures feature Three Sons, with Edward Ellis and William Gargan
William Gargan
William Gargan, born William Dennis Gargan July 17, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York, USA and died February 17, 1979 aged 73 on a flight between New York and San Diego.He was an American motion picture, television and radio actor...
. For the next few years Grant freelanced among various studios; his most familiar picture from this period (as Kirby Grant) is probably 1941's Blondie Goes Latin, with Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty...
and Arthur Lake
Arthur Lake (actor)
Arthur Lake was an American actor known best for bringing Dagwood Bumstead, the bumbling husband of Blondie, to life in film, radio and television.-Early life and career:...
.
In 1943, Grant signed with Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, where he played romantic leads in B musicals, and in Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
and Olsen and Johnson
Olsen and Johnson
John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen and Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson were zany American comedians of vaudeville, radio, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television. Their shows were noted for their crazy blackout gags and orchestrated mayhem...
comedies. His smooth baritone voice got him teamed with Universal's singing star Gloria Jean
Gloria Jean
Gloria Jean is an American singer and actress who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959. She also made radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances.-Career:...
for two features in 1944, and then Universal selected him to replace Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....
(who had just been promoted to more important roles) as the studio's B-Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series star in 1945.
These seven westerns established Kirby Grant as an action star. In the late 1940s Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
hired him for a series of mounted-police adventures, featuring "Chinook the Wonder Dog." Grant was working in this capacity when television beckoned in 1951, with an adventure series called Sky King.
Grant starred as Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
rancher-pilot Schuyler "Sky" King, who fought bad guys and rescued people with his airplane. Production spanned much of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
; early villains were bank robbers and kidnappers; some later foils were Russian spies and saboteurs. Sky's first airplane was a Cessna T-50 (known among pilots as the "Bamboo Bomber" because of its wooden wings), and later a much more modern Cessna 310
Cessna 310
The Cessna 310 is an American six-seat, low-wing, twin-engined monoplane that was produced by Cessna between 1954 and 1980. It was the first twin-engined aircraft that Cessna put into production after World War II.-Development:...
B. Sky's airplanes were named "Songbird". Sky and his niece "Penny" lived on the "Flying Crown Ranch". A nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
named, "Clipper", played by Ron Hagerthy
Ron Hagerthy
Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
, appeared only in the first season. His absence was explained as having joined the military. The series called for Grant to wear the same outfit on every show. That prompted many fans to wonder if the character owned any other clothes. Actually, this was a common practice in the early days of TV production: the series regulars in Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
and Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
, for example, always wore the same outfits so different episodes could be filmed at the same time, and file footage could be added to new footage without anyone noticing.
Grant did little acting after the show ended although he and co-star Gloria Winters
Gloria Winters
Gloria Winters was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered niece, Penny King, in the 1950s-1960s American television series Sky King.-Early life and career:Gloria Winters grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, but later moved to Hollywood...
were in demand for personal appearances at fairs and aviation events. He traveled with the Carson and Barnes Circus from 1967 to 1970. Grant retired that year. Sky King continued to play in reruns, but Grant received no residuals.
Grant and his wife, Carolyn, had three children. In the early 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, they moved from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
The couple founded the nonprofit Sky King Youth Ranches of America, which provided homes for abandoned or orphaned children. He had plans to resurrect the Sky King series with the Flying Crown Ranch becoming a home for such kids, and publicizing their stories, but it never materialized.
Grant was killed at the age of seventy-three in a car accident near Titusville, Florida
Titusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...
. He was on his way to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
at Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
, where he was also to be honored by the astronauts for encouraging aviation and space flight. Grant was not wearing his seatbelt. He is interred in Missoula, Montana
Missoula, Montana
Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
.
Recording career
Kirby SKY King Grant is listed as the recording artist on Wizard Records of Nashville Tn #245-A "Loving Time" and 245-B "Letter from Tina" circa 1970.A Country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
in the 1990s was named The Sky Kings
The Sky Kings
The Sky Kings was an American country music supergroup formed in 1991 as Four Wheel Drive. The band consisted of John Cowan, Bill Lloyd, Patrick Simmons and Rusty Young. They were signed to a recording deal with RCA Nashville and completed an album which for the label was never released.Warner...
.
Grant's Pilot Status
According to Grant's son, Kirby Grant III, his father was a pilot and he flew with him many times.He was turned down for pilot training during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
because of color blindness
Color blindness
Color blindness or color vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under lighting conditions when color vision is not normally impaired...
. In the article "310 B Goes To Hollywood," Bill Fergusson, the show's usual stunt pilot on loan from the Cessna Corp. recalled how Grant flew the 310B like a professional. According to Gloria Winters, Grant was a pilot, and started his flying career in a 1929 Waco
Waco Aircraft Company
The Waco Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer located in Troy, Ohio, USA. Between 1919 and 1947, the company produced a wide range of civilian biplanes....
.
As in his television series, Grant was a rancher and flier and his ranch was in Valley Center, CA. His home was on Valley Center Road at the end of his private airstrip.(4)
It has been reported that Kirby Grant's pilot's license was issued in 1929 and expired in 1978 for medical reasons.
There are many anecdotal reports of Grant flying airplanes at air shows.