Russell "Lucky" Hayden (born Hayden Michael "Pate" Lucid; June 12, 1912 – June 9, 1981) was an American film and televisionactor. He is best known for his portrayal as Lucky Jenkins in Paramount's popular Hopalong Cassidy film series.
Early life
He was born as Hayden Michael "Pate" Lucid, son of Francis J. Lucid and the former Minnie Harvey. He later took the name Russell Hayden to honor a friend, cameraman Russell Harlan.
In 1941 Columbia Pictures hired Hayden to appear with its leading cowboy star Charles Starrett in eight Westerns. After this apprenticeship, Columbia gave Hayden his own series of starring Westerns.
In 1946, he joined Robert L. Lippert's Screen Guild Productions, and played a country parson in the harness racing drama Rolling Home. He played both the main hero and villain in the film Trail of the Mounties. In 1948 Hayden teamed with another Hopalong Cassidy alumnus, James Ellison (as "Lucky" and "Shamrock") in a series of Western features for Lippert.
In 1950, Hayden appeared as "Marshal #1" in several episodes of the live-broadcast and short-lived ABC series The Marshal of Gunsight Pass.
Hayden and fellow Western actor Dick Curtis helped to develop Pioneertown, a Western movie set near Palm Springs, which has been used in Western films and television episodes.
Hayden was married from 1938 to 1943 to actress Jan Clayton, who was later cast as the first mother on the Lassie television series on CBS. The couple had a daughter, Sandra Hayden (1940–1956). In 1946 Hayden wed screen actress Lillian Porter, who retired from pictures. The Haydens remained happily married until his death on June 9, 1981, three days before his 69th birthday.[6][7]
^Erickson, Hal (1989). Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN0-7864-1198-8. P. 101.
^Billy Hathorn, "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", West Texas Historical Review, Vol. 89 (2013), pp. 109–110