Did you know that the Lone Ranger was based on a real lawman? That man was U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves! Reeves was born a slave in 1838. When the Civil War broke out, Reeves’ master enlisted and brought his slave with him.

Was Bass Reeves the Lone Ranger?

Bass Reeves, a former slave, fiercely defended the Old West during his 32-year tenure as deputy U.S. marshal. As the first Black deputy west of the Mississippi River, Reeves arrested more than 3,000 outlaws.

What nationality was the real Lone Ranger?

Reeves was a real-life African American cowboy who one historian has proposed may have inspired the Lone Ranger. In 1838—nearly a century before the Lone Ranger was introduced to the public—Bass Reeves was born into slavery in the Arkansas household of William S. Reeves, who relocated to Paris, Texas, in 1846.

What is Marshall was the Lone Ranger based on?

Bass Reeves (July 1838 – January 12, 1910) was an American law enforcement officer. He was the first black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. He worked mostly in Arkansas and the Oklahoma Territory.

What was the real Lone Ranger's name?

Hence his moniker—the Lone Ranger. Later, via his first film appearances in 1938, the Ranger’s back story was even more fully fleshed out. His real name was John Reid. He, his brother, Dan, and four other Texas Rangers had been ambushed in the Badlands by the outlaw Butch Cavendish and his gang.

Why did The Lone Ranger always wear a mask?

The Lone Ranger (formerly known as John Reid) is a one-time Texas Ranger, the sole survivor of a group of Rangers killed in ambush. He wears a mask to conceal his identity as he travels throughout the West fighting for law and order.

Why did Clayton Moore leave The Lone Ranger?

Moore’s daughter Dawn, in a 2014 interview available on YouTube, says Trendle believed Moore wanted a share of the merchandising revenue from the show. Since he considered actors playing a masked man were interchangeable, he fired Moore (who, according to Dawn, never would have asked for the merchandising money).

Is Tonto based on a real person?

Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. … In Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, “tonto” translates as “a dumb person”, “moron”, or “fool”.

Is kemosabe a real word?

Ke-mo sah-bee (/ˌkiːmoʊˈsɑːbiː/; often spelled kemo sabe, kemosabe or kimosabe) is the term used by the fictional Native American sidekick Tonto as the “Native American” name for the Lone Ranger in the American television and radio programs The Lone Ranger. It has become a common catchphrase.

Who was the real Tonto?

Jay Silverheels (born Harold Jay Smith; May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was an Indigenous Canadian actor and athlete. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger in the American Western television series The Lone Ranger.

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What happened to Lone Ranger's horse Silver?

He starred as Silver in “The Lone Ranger” Television Series from 1949 to 1954, and was thought to be one of the most popular horses of all the western heroes. … He was retired after a brief stand-in appearance in the 1956 movie, “The Lone Ranger”, and was only used for close ups and head shots thereafter.

Why were there two different Lone Rangers?

Usually actors try to avoid this kind of relationship with their characters, but there was one man who really embraced it – Clayton Moore, better known as The Lone Ranger. Moore played the Ranger on TV from 1949 to 1951, when he was replaced by John Hart, allegedly due to a contract dispute with the producers.

Why was Tonto not in some Lone Ranger episodes?

The Lone Ranger – Jay SilverHeels. Jay was born on a reservation in Canada to a Mohawk Chief. … Jay would play Tonto in all the episodes except for those that he missed when he had his heart attack. In those episodes, he was replaced by the Ranger’s nephew, Dan.

What did Tonto say to his horse?

Tonto’s horse was called Scout. When the Lone Ranger shouted “Hi-ho, Silver-away!” Tonto would mumble “Get-um up, Scout”.

Did Clayton Moore actually ride Silver?

Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto. Moore is riding Silver, while Silverheels is riding Scout. The radio show was first broadcast in 1933. … The Lone Ranger was played in the serial by several actors since the character was heavily masked in all scenes.

How did Lone Ranger meet Tonto?

But when Tonto was introduced in the 11th episode in February of 1933, he was a half-breed. And as the early radio storyline goes, the Lone Ranger met Tonto when he saves him from a landside in the gold mining country where one of the bad guys wants to kill Tonto.

What did Tonto mean when he said kemosabe?

In the program, the Lone Ranger and his Native American friend Tonto referred to each other as kemosabe, a friendly term they had shared for years. … According to Striker’s son, his father used kemosabe to mean “trusty scout” in fan letters and to his children.

What breed of horse was silver in the Lone Ranger?

— Even in the animal world, Hollywood stardom is all about timing. Take the 10-year-old Thoroughbred quarter horse called Silver who happened to be born with a pure white coat.

What tribe is Jay Silverheels from?

Silverheels, a full-blooded Mohawk, was born on the Six Nations Indian Reservation in Ontario, Canada, and moved to the United States with his family in the 1930s.

What does Tonto mean in Apache?

The neighboring Western Apache ethnonym for them was Koun’nde (“wild rough People”), from which the Spanish derived their use of Tonto (“loose”, “foolish”) for the group.

What does kemosabe mean in Navajo?

In Navajo, on the other hand, “kemosabe” translates as “soggy shrub.” If this seems an odd thing for faithful friend Tonto to call the Lone Ranger, perhaps he was just repaying the Ranger’s long-standing insult. “Tonto,” after all, is a Spanish word meaning “stupid.”

Was Tonto black?

Although Johnson was noted as being African American, he was also noted for having strong American Indian features. He was what some refer to as a “black Indian” or a mixed blood. He was in fact a Creek freedman.

Does The Lone Ranger Ranch still exist?

It was, of course, one of the sites for filming The Lone Ranger television series. Corriganville, which came to be known as Lone Ranger Ranch in the credits, and now remains as a cement slab or two, lies not more than a few miles away in the same general area.

Where did they film The Lone Ranger?

The movie, with a budget reported to exceed $200 million, shot 80 percent of its principal photography in New Mexico, according to Marshall Moore, director of the Utah Film Commission. The production also filmed in Utah, Arizona, Colorado and California.

Was silver really a stallion?

The Lone Ranger’s white horse, like the Ranger, are fictional characters created by George W. Trendle, or by Fran Striker, for Detroit radio station WXYZ. They first appeared on radio in 1933.

What does Tonto call the Lone Ranger?

The character, identified as being from the Potawatomi Indian nation, was primarily voiced by Caucasian actor John Todd. The program, which went off the air in 1954, spawned Tonto’s term of endearment for the Lone Ranger, “kemo sabe” — “trusty scout” in Potawatomi.

Did Clayton Moore get his mask back?

Clayton Moore, who portrayed the Lone Ranger in television and movies in the 1950s and in public appearances for the last 30 years, regained permission to wear the mask when a Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed a copyright suit filed by the Wrather Corp. … ”The great Kemo Sabe`s got his mask back.

How long did Clayton Moore play the Lone Ranger?

Clayton Moore (born Jack Carlton Moore, September 14, 1914 – December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1952 and 1953 to 1957 on the television series of the same name and two related movies from the same producers.

Did Tonto do his own stunts?

Playing Tonto Because it was a low-budget show, he worked very hard for little money. He also continued to do his own stunt work on the show, but in 1955, after a particularly difficult stunt sequence, he had a heart attack and was out for a number of episodes.

What happened to scout Tonto's horse?

In order to differentiate Tonto’s horse from Silver, they gave him a paint horse. The horse is finally named Scout in “Border Dope Smuggling” (September 2, 1938). Three months later, after being sited by animal control for neglect, the man finally relinquished Scout over to us.