Brace Beemer
| Brace Beemer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brace Beemer December 9, 1902 Mount Carmel, Illinois |
| Died | March 1, 1965 or February 28, 1965,[1] age 62 Lake Orion, Michigan |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Known for | Portraying the Lone Ranger on radio |
Brace Beemer (December 9, 1902 – March 1, 1965 (another source says February 28, 1965)[1]) was an American radio actor and announcer at radio station WXYZ, Detroit, Michigan.
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Early years
Beemer was the son of Joseph D. Beemer. He attended high school in Vincennes, Indiana, leaving school to enlist in the military.[2]
Military service
When he was 14,[3] Beemer misrepresented his age to participate in World War I. He served with "Battery E, 150th field artillery, and [was] wounded in action in France May 27," 1918.[2] He was said to be the youngest sergeant in that war.[4]
The Lone Ranger
Born in Mount Carmel, Illinois, Beemer was six foot, three inches tall and was an expert horse rider. He served as the deep-voiced announcer for The Lone Ranger soon after its first broadcast in 1933. Beemer also appeared as the Ranger in public appearances because station owner George Trendle felt that Earle Graser, the actor who played the part on the radio, did not look right for the part.
The son of WXYZ staffer Erskine Campbell recalled:
- Brace Beemer was voice of Lone Ranger as early as 1938 because my father, Erskine Campbell, worked for him at WXYZ in Detroit that year, as a continuity writer and a sound-effects man, also ran a farm Beemer owned outside nearby Pontiac, Michigan. My sister and I, pupils in a one-room elementary schoolhouse outside Pontiac, often visited our father and "Uncle" Brace while they did the show.
On April 8, 1941, Graser was killed in a car accident, and Beemer took over as the voice of The Lone Ranger from 1941[5] to the last new episode on September 3, 1954. During the 13 years that Beemer played the title character, he was required by contract to restrict his radio acting to that one role until the program left the air.
The experienced and popular Western film actor, Clayton Moore, was chosen to take over the role for the television series. Although Beemer had the right voice and had made many public appearances as the Ranger, he had no experience as a film actor, as he preferred live action to television. However, Beemer's voice as the character was so familiar that Moore imitated his sound in the earliest TV episodes.
Beemer also portrayed "Sergeant William Preston" of the Yukon on Challenge of the Yukon, for a brief time after the Lone Ranger series ended.
Going by the name of Justice "Cowboy" Colt, Beemer's son hosted cowboy films for children on local television in Detroit in the 1950s.
One of Beemer's last TV appearances, was an interview with former film actor, Bill Kennedy on his "At the Movies" show on CKLW TV 9 from Windsor, Ont., Canada.
Later years
Beemer resided in Lake Orion and Oxford, Michigan. He raised thoroughbred horses and sold subdivided land.[6]
Death
Beemer died of a heart attack March 1, 1965.[4] He was buried in White Chapel Cemetery in Troy, Michigan.[7] At the time of his death, he was using his famous "Lone Ranger" voice on automobile commercials running on radio stations.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. P. 27.
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