LOS ANGELES -- Though he appeared in about 70 films, actor Clayton Moore lived and breathed one role in particular: a masked hero who taught millions of children that the good guys were brave, honest and always wore a white hat.
Starring on TV as the "Lone Ranger" during the 1950s, Moore grew to transcend the role, making public appearances for decades in costume to espouse the character's moral code of justice and democracy."The Lone Ranger is a great character, a great American. Playing him made me a better person," Moore said in a 1986 interview with The Associated Press.
"When I go, I want them to say, 'Who was that masked man?"'
The actor whose battle cry was "Hi-yo, Silver," and whose theme music was the driving "William Tell Overture," died of a heart attack Tuesday. He was 85.
"My father was an incredibly humble man who was honored to have portrayed this amazing character," Moore's daughter, Dawn Moore Gerrity, said Tuesday.
"He constantly strove to live up to the finest tenets of the Lone Ranger, knowing he influenced children worldwide. He held his fans' love and loyalty very close to his heart."
A pioneer of the early TV western, Moore starred in "The Lone Ranger" from 1949-52 and 1954-57, crusading against villains on his horse Silver, his faithful American Indian companion Tonto at his side.
The character was born as a radio hero in the '30s. Moore was cast as the masked man when the show moved to TV, with Jay Silverheels co-starring as Tonto. Silverheels died in 1979.
Into the 1980s, Moore would speak to children in his white hat, powder blue shirt and pants, gun belt with silver bullets and twin holsters, red bandana and boots.
He even waged a five-year court battle to continue wearing the Ranger's trademark black mask when the company that owned the rights to the character wanted to hand the role to a new actor.
Why a good guy would wear a mask was explained in the show's first episode: The Lone Ranger disguised himself because he was the only survivor of a group of Texas Rangers ambushed by a gang of desperadoes.
After Tonto found him and nursed him back to health, he donned the mask to protect himself from his enemies, and the two roamed the West in search of bad guys.
As he'd ride into the sunset each week after rescuing the innocent from the evil, one of those he'd saved would invariably ask: "Who was that masked man?"
Fans loved the series' trademarks, from the rousing opening theme music to that closing line to the silver bullet calling cards to Tonto's nickname for the Ranger, "kemo sabe."
At public appearances, Moore lectured to children against guns, drugs, alcohol, smoking and foul language. Moore liked to say that the character embodied the creed that "everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world."
"He embodied the idealized vision of what people thought the West was about," said James Nottage, chief curator of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage.
"For people who grew up with his television version, he was the Lone Ranger. He conveyed certain values and behavior, how kids were expected to act," he said.
Even into the '80s, people would drive past his Calabasas home in the oak-studded foothills 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and yell, "Hi-yo, Silver."
Moore was born Sept. 14, 1914 -- some sources give an earlier year -- in Chicago, son of a real estate developer. He worked in a circus trapeze act and as a model before heading to Hollywood in 1938.
He first appeared in movie serials such as "Dick Tracy Returns" and would also star in the feature films "The Lone Ranger" and "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" in the late 1950s.
Moore is survived by his wife, Clarita, and his daughter, Dawn Moore Gerrity. He had been married previously to actress Sally Allen, who died in 1986.
Dusty Rogers, 52, son of Dale Evans and the late Roy Rogers, said Moore used to bounce him on his knee when he was a boy. He noted that Rex Allen, a singing cowboy of "B" movie westerns, also died this month.
"We're losing them one by one," Rogers said. "It is really the end of an era now."