Acting
Hank Patterson
Hank Patterson (born Elmer Calvin Patterson; October 9, 1888 – August 23, 1975) was an American actor and musician. He is known foremost for playing two recurring characters on three television series: the stableman Hank Miller on Gunsmoke and farmer Fred Ziffel on both Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Patterson found plenty of movie work, mainly playing cantankerous types as well as blacksmiths, hotel clerks, farmers, shopkeepers and other townsmen, usually bit roles and character parts in Republic Pictures westerns, and then in popular juvenile TV westerns such as The Cisco Kid, The Adventures of Kit Carson, The Lone Ranger, and Annie Oakley. Patterson played recurring or different roles in adult/family TV westerns, including the role of "Hank Miller" in 33 episodes of Gunsmoke from 1962 through 1972, on Have Gun-Will Travel (eleven episodes), Death Valley Days (nine episodes), Tales of Wells Fargo (seven episodes), Maverick (four episodes), Cheyenne (four episodes), Wagon Train (three episodes), Daniel Boone (three episodes), The Virginian (two episodes), The Rifleman, Bonanza, and in episodes of Lawman, Bat Masterson, The Restless Gun, and many others. He made additional TV appearances, including three episodes of The Twilight Zone as well as Perry Mason, Burke's Law, The Untouchables, Judd for the Defense, My Three Sons, and in later years The Mod Squad and Love, American Style.Highway Patrol. In 1963 Patterson first appeared in what would become a recurring role as farmer Fred Ziffel on the popular CBS rural comedy Petticoat Junction. In 1965 CBS debuted another rural comedy, Green Acres. Both series were set in the mythical farming community of Hooterville, with characters from Petticoat Junction often also appearing in Green Acres, including Patterson's Fred Ziffel character. It was on the popular, irreverent Green Acres that Patterson earned his greatest fame. In 1965 and 1966—two of the years in which the two series ran concurrently—Patterson frequently appeared in both shows in the same week on primetime. The association of Patterson's character with the popular character Arnold, the pet pig whom Fred and his wife Doris treated as a son, ensured Patterson a place in TV history. Arnold attended school, watched TV and was a talented artist, piano player, and actor. He even "talked" (snorted, grunted and squealed) in a language that everyone in Hooterville seemed to understand except Oliver Wendell Douglas (Green Acres co-star Eddie Albert). According to westernclippings.com "Characters and Heavies" by Boyd Magers, "Ironically, by the time Patterson was doing 'Green Acres' he was in his late 70s and almost completely deaf, but the producers loved his portrayal so much they worked around his hearing impairment by having the dialogue coach lying on the floor out-of-shot tapping Hank's leg with a yardstick as a cue to speak his line."
Filmography
Love, American Style
Series · 1969
The Mod Squad
Series · 1968
Cimarron Strip
Series · 1967
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Series · 1967
Custer
Series · 1967
Green Acres
Series · 1965
Laredo
Series · 1965
The Loner
Series · 1965
The Legend of Jesse James
Series · 1965
Daniel Boone
Series · 1964
Daniel Boone
Series · 1964
Daniel Boone
Series · 1964
Burke's Law
Series · 1963
Petticoat Junction
Series · 1963
The Beverly Hillbillies
Series · 1962
The Virginian
Series · 1962
The Absent-Minded Professor
Film · 1961
Mister Ed
Series · 1961
Straightaway
Series · 1961
87th Precinct
Series · 1961
Miami Undercover
Series · 1961
Gunfighters of Abilene
Film · 1960
The Andy Griffith Show
Series · 1960
The Tall Man
Series · 1960
The Westerner
Series · 1960
Lone Texan
Film · 1959
Gunmen from Laredo
Film · 1959
No Name on the Bullet
Film · 1959
The Twilight Zone
Series · 1959
Rawhide
Series · 1959
The Alaskans
Series · 1959
Black Saddle
Series · 1959
Lock-Up
Series · 1959
Riverboat
Series · 1959
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Series · 1959
Johnny Ringo
Series · 1959
Riverboat
Series · 1959
The Twilight Zone
Series · 1959
The Twilight Zone
Series · 1959
Bonanza
Series · 1959
The Saga of Hemp Brown
Film · 1958
Terror in a Texas Town
Film · 1958
Attack of the Puppet People
Film · 1958
Earth vs. the Spider
Film · 1958
Attack of the Puppet People
Film · 1958
The Decks Ran Red
Film · 1958
Monster on the Campus
Film · 1958
Sea Hunt
Series · 1958
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Series · 1958
Bronco
Series · 1958
The Rifleman
Series · 1958
Bat Masterson
Series · 1958
The Texan
Series · 1958
Bat Masterson
Series · 1958
Bat Masterson
Series · 1958
Bronco
Series · 1958
Gunsight Ridge
Film · 1957
The Amazing Colossal Man
Film · 1957
The Storm Rider
Film · 1957
Beginning of the End
Film · 1957
Trackdown
Series · 1957
Perry Mason
Series · 1957
Have Gun, Will Travel
Series · 1957
The New Adventures of Spin and Marty
Series · 1957
Julie
Film · 1956
Strange Intruder
Film · 1956
The First Traveling Saleslady
Film · 1956
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Series · 1956
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Series · 1956
Tarantula
Film · 1955
Phantom Trails
Film · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Highway Patrol
Series · 1955
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
Series · 1955
Navy Log
Series · 1955
Buffalo Bill Jr.
Series · 1955
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Gunsmoke
Series · 1955
Cheyenne
Series · 1955
Southwest Passage
Film · 1954
Jack Slade
Film · 1953
Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders
Film · 1953
Woman They Almost Lynched
Film · 1953
City Detective
Series · 1953
California Conquest
Film · 1952
Gang Busters
Series · 1952
Hopalong Cassidy
Series · 1952
The Abbott and Costello Show
Series · 1952
Death Valley Days
Series · 1952
Don Daredevil Rides Again
Film · 1951
Silver City Bonanza
Film · 1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Series · 1951
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Series · 1951
The Return of Jesse James
Film · 1950
Code of the Silver Sage
Film · 1950
The Gunfighter
Film · 1950
Desperadoes of the West
Film · 1950
Blades of the Musketeers
Film · 1950
No Sad Songs for Me
Film · 1950
The Gene Autry Show
Series · 1950
The Cowboy and the Indians
Film · 1949
The James Brothers of Missouri
Film · 1949
The Lone Ranger
Series · 1949
Panhandle
Film · 1948
Night Time in Nevada
Film · 1948
The Denver Kid
Film · 1948
Oklahoma Badlands
Film · 1948
Relentless
Film · 1948
Bells of San Angelo
Film · 1947
Springtime in the Sierras
Film · 1947
Robin Hood Of Texas
Film · 1947
Robin Hood Of Texas
Film · 1947
Under Colorado Skies
Film · 1947
Duel in the Sun
Film · 1946
Abilene Town
Film · 1946
Santa Fe Uprising
Film · 1946
The El Paso Kid
Film · 1946
Three Faces West
Film · 1940
The Arizona Kid
Film · 1939
Sabotage
Film · 1939