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Robert Horton (born Meade Howard Horton Jr. on July 29, 1924 in Los Angeles, California) is an American television actor, who was most noted for the role of Flint McCullough in the TV series Wagon Train (1957 – 1962). When Horton quit that series, he wanted to pursue a successful career in musical theatre, hence, he wasn't being replaced by a breakout star, Robert Fuller (who shares the same birthday with Horton, who in turn bears a slight resemblance to him, but is 9 yrs. Horton's junior) according to a 2009 interview with On Screen And Beyond, with Fuller. According to an item in the 4-20-1959 issue of Time magazine, Horton's measurements were 42-31-40. Horton also played Ronald Reagan's role in the TV version of Kings Row (1955), which featured Jack Kelly and ran for seven episodes as part of the Warner Bros. Presents series, rotating with a TV version of Casablanca and a western series called Cheyenne.
The ruggedly handsome Horton made dozens of appearances in movies and television shows between 1951 and 1989, including an episode of Ray Milland's Meet Mr. McNutley and John Bromfield's Sheriff of Cochise. Horton also appeared on seven separate episodes of the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including memorably as a tennis-playing bookie & blackmailer opposite Betsy von Furstenberg in one entitled "The Disappearing Trick" which was directed by Arthur Hiller. He appeared as Danny Barnes in the episode "No Place to Hide" of the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson and on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood and NBC's anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show.
Horton is also remembered for his offbeat role as a cowboy amnesiac in his ABC television series A Man Called Shenandoah (1965–1966). Horton even took a turn in daytime, playing the part of Whit McColl on As the World Turns (1983-1984). In 1966 he starred in "The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones", the first Western made specifically for television and simultaneous distribution to cinemas in Europe. It was made by MGM and co-starred Sal Mineo and Diane Baker.
He went on to perform for many years in theaters and nightclubs all over America and in Australia as a very fine singer (sometimes with his wife, the former Marilynn Bradley). In 1963, producer David Merrick hired him as the male lead in the musical version of N. Richard Nash's play The Rainmaker (entitled 110 in the Shade), in the part played on the screen by Burt Lancaster. The musical, which boasted a score by Tom Jones (writer) and Harvey Schmidt, ran for 330 performances on Broadway.
It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy than to get a cowboy to be an actor.
John Ford
Robert Horton has been the recipient of several lifetime achievement awards for television, including the prestigious Golden Boot, and recently, the Cowboy Spirit Award at the National Festival of the West. Mr. and Mrs. Horton live in Encino, California.
Robert Horton
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Meade Howard Horton Jr
29 July 1924, Los Angeles, California
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