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Andy Warhol’s interview with Spilsbury in the November 1980 issue of Interview may have been the final nail in the coffin for the still-unreleased film, as a reportedly drunken Spilsbury confessed to affairs with several well-known male actors in what appeared to be an intentional act of self-sabotage. The film would be Spilsbury’s only acting credit with good reason-all of Spilsbury’s dialogue had to be redubbed by James Keach - Stacy Keach’s brother - and his wooden performance earned him several Razzie awards, beating out Gary Coleman and Miles O’Keefe (star of the equally lamented Tarzan, the Ape Man) for “Worst New Star.” Spilsbury took the brunt of the bad publicity for the Clayton Moore lawsuit, despite the fact he had no part in it, and apparently he was aware of the public resentment. Klinton Spilsbury was chosen as the title character, which didn’t help matters. This action was perceived as a Hollywood studio exerting its control on a beloved old man, and caused a good deal of negative publicity for the film before filming had even begun. In order to minimize distractions from the upcoming film, the producers filed a legal injunction against the aged Moore to prevent him from these public appearances or identifying himself as the character. Clayton Moore, who played the role in the television series, had made a living in the years since the show by making public appearances as “the Lone Ranger,” complete with the character’s trademark black domino mask. The first major misstep made by the film’s producers was in underestimating just how popular the television version had been. Plagued by both internal and external troubles, the film was a notorious flop, one that almost killed an American icon.
#The legend of the lone ranger tv
One would have expected a Lone Ranger feature film to be met with the same renown that greeted the TV show, yet 1981’s The Legend of the Lone Ranger failed to meet expectations. This incarnation of the Lone Ranger was so popular that it helped take ABC from a regional to national network, and episodes are reportedly still airing consistently into the present day. I thought that was kind of terrible.The Lone Ranger was introduced in a 1933 radio play, but the character is best known for the television version that aired on ABC from 1949 to 1957. “Nothing Moore was doing was really interfering with the film. “I thought that was really kind of nasty and unnecessary,” says Christopher Lloyd, who grew up listening to and loving the radio serial. When the film crew got to Sante Fe to begin shooting, they quickly found leaflets tucked under their cars’ windshield wipers that read, “Clayton Moore is the REAL Lone Ranger.” Even the cast felt Wrather had gone too far.
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But the legal victory backfired, since millions of fans still idolized Moore and couldn’t bear to see the old man bullied by a Hollywood millionaire. Wrather, who’d owned the Lone Ranger character since the early 1950s, sued Moore and won a court order that prevented Moore from wearing the mask in public.
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Moore was even dropping hints that he should play the Lone Ranger in the new movie. Clayton Moore, who was in his mid-60s, was still appearing at supermarket openings and signing autographs as the Lone Ranger. Meanwhile, Jack Wrather was waging a losing battle on another front. Who was their masked man? His name was Klinton Spilsbury. After witnessing how a little-known actor named Christopher Reeve made Superman fly at the box-office, the producers copied that blue-print and tapped a 30-year-old no-name actor to save the president, kiss the girl (the late Juanin Clay), and ride off on a white horse before the townspeople could thank him. All that was left was the selection of their leading man. John Barry ( Born Free) composed the rambling score, and a posse of great horsemen provided the old-school Western stunts. Jason Robards signed up to play President Ulysses Grant, and Christopher Lloyd was the dastardly Butch Cavendish, the disgraced Civil War officer who kidnaps Grant. Producers Jack Wrather, Walter Coblenz, and Martin Starger recruited an all-star unit to bring the Lone Ranger back to life more than 30 years ago, including their director, Oscar-nominated cinematographer William Fraker ( Rosemary’s Baby), who told his crew he wanted his epic to evoke the look of Lawrence of Arabia.