person

Hank Patterson

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Gender

Male

Birthday

1888-10-09

Place of Birth

Springville, Alabama, USA

Hank Patterson

Biography

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."

Also Known For

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58

Panhandle

Feb 22, 1948

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57

The Saga of Hemp Brown

Oct 01, 1958

poster

50

Lone Texan

Mar 01, 1959

poster

54

Southwest Passage

Apr 01, 1954

poster

46

California Conquest

Jul 04, 1952

poster

67

Terror in a Texas Town

Sep 01, 1958

poster

50

Attack of the Puppet People

Apr 01, 1958

poster

47

Gunmen from Laredo

Mar 01, 1959

poster

50

Gunfighters of Abilene

Jan 01, 1960

poster

68

The Cowboy and the Indians

Sep 15, 1949

poster

58

The Arizona Kid

Sep 28, 1939

poster

60

Gunsight Ridge

Sep 01, 1957

poster

64

Duel in the Sun

Dec 31, 1946

poster

50

The Return of Jesse James

Aug 01, 1950

poster

44

The Amazing Colossal Man

Oct 25, 1957

poster

56

Strange Intruder

Sep 02, 1956

poster

57

Julie

Oct 17, 1956

poster

60

Code of the Silver Sage

Mar 25, 1950

poster

64

Tarantula

Dec 14, 1955

poster

42

Springtime in the Sierras

Jul 15, 1947

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47

Earth vs. the Spider

Sep 01, 1958

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NA

The Storm Rider

Mar 01, 1957

poster

62

Night Time in Nevada

Sep 05, 1948

poster

41

Bells of San Angelo

Apr 15, 1947

poster

64

The Absent-Minded Professor

Jan 20, 1961

poster

50

Attack of the Puppet People

Apr 01, 1958

poster

38

Beginning of the End

Jun 28, 1957

poster

64

Jack Slade

Nov 08, 1953

poster

64

The Decks Ran Red

Oct 10, 1958

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61

Monster on the Campus

Dec 17, 1958

poster

73

The Gunfighter

May 26, 1950

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53

Abilene Town

Jan 11, 1946

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54

Three Faces West

Jul 03, 1940

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NA

Robin Hood Of Texas

Jul 15, 1947

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NA

Robin Hood Of Texas

Jul 15, 1947

poster

38

Desperadoes of the West

Aug 02, 1950

poster

60

Don Daredevil Rides Again

Apr 10, 1951

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NA

Silver City Bonanza

Mar 01, 1951

poster

NA

Santa Fe Uprising

Nov 15, 1946

poster

70

Sabotage

Oct 13, 1939

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NA

The El Paso Kid

May 22, 1946

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NA

Under Colorado Skies

Dec 15, 1947

poster

60

The James Brothers of Missouri

Aug 31, 1949

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70

The Denver Kid

Sep 30, 1948

poster

30

Oklahoma Badlands

Feb 22, 1948

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62

Relentless

Jun 15, 1948

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NA

Blades of the Musketeers

Nov 24, 1950

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NA

Phantom Trails

May 08, 1955

poster

60

Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders

Jul 08, 1953

poster

62

No Sad Songs for Me

Apr 27, 1950

poster

54

The First Traveling Saleslady

Aug 01, 1956

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NA

Because I Love Him

poster

68

Mister Ed

Jan 05, 1961

poster

76

The Andy Griffith Show

Oct 03, 1960

poster

60

Burke's Law

Sep 20, 1963

poster

64

Trackdown

Oct 04, 1957

poster

73

Green Acres

Sep 15, 1965

poster

68

The Beverly Hillbillies

Sep 26, 1962

poster

58

Petticoat Junction

Sep 24, 1963

poster

62

The Mod Squad

Sep 24, 1968

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

77

Perry Mason

Sep 21, 1957

poster

84

The Twilight Zone

Oct 02, 1959

poster

65

Sea Hunt

Jan 04, 1958

poster

63

The Tall Man

Sep 10, 1960

poster

63

Laredo

Sep 16, 1965

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NA

Straightaway

Oct 06, 1961

poster

75

87th Precinct

Sep 25, 1961

poster

58

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

Oct 06, 1958

poster

71

Rawhide

Jan 09, 1959

poster

74

Have Gun, Will Travel

Sep 14, 1957

poster

58

Highway Patrol

Oct 03, 1955

poster

50

Cimarron Strip

Sep 07, 1967

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68

Daniel Boone

Sep 24, 1964

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63

The Virginian

Sep 19, 1962

poster

72

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

Oct 05, 1951

poster

67

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

Sep 06, 1955

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57

The Loner

Sep 18, 1965

poster

52

Bronco

Sep 23, 1958

poster

45

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

Apr 15, 1951

poster

55

The Alaskans

Oct 04, 1959

poster

45

Navy Log

Sep 20, 1955

poster

60

Black Saddle

Jan 10, 1959

poster

62

Lock-Up

Sep 28, 1959

poster

71

The Rifleman

Sep 30, 1958

poster

61

Bat Masterson

Oct 08, 1958

poster

62

The Guns of Will Sonnett

Sep 08, 1967

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62

Riverboat

Sep 13, 1959

poster

55

The Texan

Sep 29, 1958

poster

50

Buffalo Bill Jr.

Mar 01, 1955

poster

57

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon

Sep 29, 1955

poster

55

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Oct 05, 1956

poster

48

The Legend of Jesse James

Sep 13, 1965

poster

60

Custer

Sep 06, 1967

poster

68

The Westerner

Sep 30, 1960

poster

70

City Detective

Sep 07, 1953

poster

63

The DuPont Show with June Allyson

Sep 21, 1959

poster

NA

Gang Busters

Mar 20, 1952

poster

53

Hopalong Cassidy

Sep 19, 1952

poster

57

Johnny Ringo

Oct 02, 1959

poster

60

Miami Undercover

Jan 23, 1961

poster

62

Riverboat

Sep 13, 1959

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

65

Gunsmoke

Sep 10, 1955

poster

55

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Oct 05, 1956

poster

68

Daniel Boone

Sep 24, 1964

poster

68

Daniel Boone

Sep 24, 1964

poster

61

Bat Masterson

Oct 08, 1958

poster

61

Bat Masterson

Oct 08, 1958

poster

84

The Twilight Zone

Oct 02, 1959

poster

84

The Twilight Zone

Oct 02, 1959

poster

70

The Abbott and Costello Show

Dec 05, 1952

poster

60

The New Adventures of Spin and Marty

Nov 04, 1957

poster

60

Love, American Style

Sep 29, 1969

poster

66

The Lone Ranger

Sep 15, 1949

poster

64

Death Valley Days

Oct 01, 1952