The Lone Ranger unmasked

The late actor Clayton Moore, known for his television portrayal of “The Lone Ranger” from 1949 to 1957, never discussed one topic during interviews: his family.

On Wednesday night, a handful of the masked hero’s fan base ventured to Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank to hear about a different side to the actor, born Jack Carlton Moore. And they heard it from one of his family members.

Moore was a trapeze artist and a former model. He had an eye for rearranging furniture at home, then moving it back in place. At home, it earned him the nickname “The Lone Re-arranger.”

But for Dawn Moore, he was a father, one who let her don his iconic hat and eye mask as she rode a rocking horse at 4 years old.

“He was a man’s man and a big kid. The first in the pool,” Dawn Moore told the gathering. “He was such a great guy outside of being an actor. It’s important for me to share that part of him.”

Moore’s appearance was part of the “Meet the Family” speaker series, highlighting actors and behind-the-scenes artists affiliated with the studio. The events are free to the public.

The talk on Wednesday came a few days before what would have been Clayton Moore’s 100th birthday, this Sunday. Monday marks 65 years since the late actor first rode as the Lone Ranger, earning him the only Hollywood Walk of Fame star that also bears his character’s name.

Author and Hollywood historian E.J. Stephens moderated the talk, which delved into Clayton Moore’s life on the TV set as well as his family life. Dawn Moore told the audience that through the years, her father gave away memorabilia attached to his iconic western character, but he never parted with the Lone Ranger’s creed.

The creed’s opening two lines are: “I believe that to have a friend, a man must be one. That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.”

And for many, that stance solidified Clayton Moore as “the” Lone Ranger despite movie portrayals by other actors decades later.

There won’t be a better portrayal of the masked hero for fans like Steve Rosinski. The Las Vegas resident dressed in an outfit mirroring the Lone Ranger at the Burbank event, complete with a stiff cowboy hat, neck scarf and black eye mask.

Rosinski was 16 when he first met Clayton Moore. They spent 30 minutes on the phone as Rosinski asked his favorite hero a string of questions. Dawn Moore said her father remembered tidbits about many of the fans he met — from their family members to vacations.

“He said he remembered me when I met him again in 1996,” Rosinski said. “Hearing Dawn just authenticates he was not just one face in public and putting on a show for kids. He cared. He was the real deal.”

As Dawn Moore looked across the audience, she told the crowd even after her father’s death in 1999, she still receives mail from fans of all ages. Through letters or in person, firemen and police officers tell her Clayton Moore is the reason why they chose a profession of public service.

“He was a man that plotted his way through life like everyone else. But the Lone Ranger creed, he lived by it,” said Dawn Moore, tears welling in her eyes. “He enjoyed being able to offer that morality.”