Ty Hardin, who roamed the West searching for adventure in the television series “Bronco’’ in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, died Thursday, August 3, in Huntington Beach, Calif. He was 87.
His wife, Caroline, confirmed his death, but said the cause had not been determined.
In a television landscape crowded with gunslingers such as Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, Lucas McCain (the Rifleman) and Bret Maverick, Ty Hardin carved a niche playing Bronco Layne, a soft-spoken loner slow to anger but quick on the draw and skilled in the saddle.
“There ain’t a horse that he can’t handle, that’s how he got his name,’’ a line in the show’s theme song went.
First introduced on the series “Cheyenne’’ in 1958, Bronco, formerly a captain in the Confederate Army, held various jobs as he traveled — Army scout, deputy sheriff, wagon-train master, undercover post-office agent, and miner among them — and encountered colorful historical characters along the way, notably Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James (played by James Coburn).
“Ty Hardin, the hero, is a handsome, callow cowhand,’’ The New York Times wrote when the show had its premiere, “not as frivolous as Bret Maverick but, then again, not as omnipotent as Marshal Dillon nor as righteous as Wyatt Earp.’’
Mr. Hardin was born Orison Whipple Hungerford Jr. on Jan. 1, 1930, in Manhattan. His parents divorced when he was 2, and his mother, the former Gwendolyn Burnett, took him and his brother to live in Houston and then at her mother’s farm outside Austin, Texas.
After graduating from Lamar High School in Houston he attended Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Texas, on a football scholarship and studied for a semester at the Dallas Bible Institute.
While shopping for a Halloween costume, he was spotted by a talent scout for Paramount Pictures, who arranged a screen test that led to a seven-year contract and the films “The Space Children’’ and “I Married a Monster From Outer Space.’’
Hoping for a role in the Warner Bros. film “Rio Bravo,’’ he met with John Wayne, only to find that the part he wanted had been given to Ricky Nelson. Wayne introduced him to Howard Hawks, the film’s producer and director, and to William T. Orr, head of the studio’s television division. Warner bought his contract, assigned him the last name Hardin, and inserted him into its series “Cheyenne’’ when the show’s star, Clint Walker, walked off the set in a contract dispute.
His career on the wane, he tried his luck in Europe. He played a tightrope walker in a circus owned by Joan Crawford in the 1967 British horror film “Berserk!’’ and an action hero in the Italian thriller “Death on the Run.’’
Mr. Hardin’s first seven marriages ended in divorce. He lived in Huntington Beach. In additiion to his wife, the former Caroline Pampu, he leaves his sons Bobby Smith, Jeff and John Hardin, and Tyrin Hungerford; his daughters Mary Chriss Smith and Stefanie Hardin Leuty; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
