Ted Hartley
| Ted Hartley | |
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Ted Hartley in Chopper One, 1974.
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| Born |
Theodore Ringwalt Hartley November 6, 1924 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Harvard Business School |
| Occupation | Fighter pilot, actor, businessman, film and stage producer |
| Years active | 1945–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Dina Merrill (m.1989-present) |
| Website | Ted Hartley |
Theodore Ringwalt "Ted" Hartley (born November 6, 1924) has been a US Navy fighter pilot, an investment banker, an actor, film producer, and is currently CEO of RKO Pictures. He is married to heiress, actress and philanthropist Dina Merrill.
Hartley was born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised on a farm in Iowa. His father died when he was 5, causing financial hardships for the family. At the age of 14, he entered a contest sponsored by Warner Bros., wrote a 50-word essay on “Why I like to fly”, and won some flying lessons. Hartley attended Shattuck Military School in Minnesota, and by the age of 16 he had won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. After flight training, among other tours, he served as a carrier-based fighter pilot, flying F-11s following their introduction in 1956.
As a Navy officer, Hartley had tours as a congressional liaison for the Pentagon, as a Presidential aide, as well as a carrier-based fighter pilot. In May 1964, his F9F8 fighter crashed during a carrier landing accident. He was thrown from the jet, suffered a broken back, and was medically retired from the Navy. Hartley's military career prematurely ended, he attended Harvard Business School and pursued a career in investment banking, becoming Vice President for First Western Financial Corporation.
His next career was in Hollywood, as an actor, where he took on the role of Reverend Jerry Bedford on the 1960s television series Peyton Place. Hartley had minor roles in films with Cary Grant, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood, and then in the late 1970s was cast in his own series, ABC's Chopper One, about helicopter flying police officers. The series was short lived, and thereafter Hartley moved to Aspen, Colorado, where he volunteered as the Managing Artistic Director of the local theater, and then turned to commodity trading full-time.
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Wikipedia