Mason A. Dinehart III

Mason A. Dinehart III as Deputy Bat Masterson in the popular television show of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" which ran from 1955 to 1961.

 

Mason also appeared in one episode of the Lone Ranger, titled "The Tell-Tale Bullet" which was originally broadcast on April 14, 1955. Mason played the part of Howard Doyle, the step-son of Doctor Doyle, who was involved in a bank robbery.

 

I recently contacted Mason and he graciously agreed to tell me what he remembered about the filming of the Lone Ranger episode, about some of his other film and television credits and where fans can find him in the coming year as well as how you can contact him for an autograph. First, here are some scenes from "The Tell-Tale Bullet".

That great opening scene

Dr. Doyle questions his step-son, Howard, played by Mason A. Dinehart III, about the bullet wound in his arm

Howard convinces his step-father that he received the wound from the bank robbers

A nice close-up of Mason as Howard Doyle

Howard meets with the boss of the robbers, Tuck Hanna and learns of the plot to murder the Lone Ranger. Thats Dennis Weaver on the far right, next to Mason

Howard cannot be a part of the murder plot and informas the Lone Ranger and Tonto of the murder plan

In this scene, Howard does some acting with the Lone Ranger and Tonto, with some ketchup to add to the realism for the two other outlaws in the other room

L to R: Mason Dinehart, Roy Roberts,

Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels

Dr. Doyle has also learned a lesson in this episode and thats how to be a better step-father, to Howard

The ending credits of another great episode

Mason remembers filming the Lone Ranger episode...

"As to what I remember of the filming, I think I can add some

interesting facts. First of all, I was only 19 in 1955. Incidently,

you can check out my credits on the website, www.us.imdb.com. Just

punch in Alan Dinehart III, under search for name.

Anyway, from the first time I went on the set, Clayton was teasing

me. He would mess up my hair just before the shot, knowing full well,

that I liked to have it neat and combed! That was all he needed.

Further, Jay Silverheels (Tonto) was a prankster from the word Go! He

busied himself the whole day shooting rubber bands at everyone on the

set. The director William "Bill" Theele, went crazy and Clayton had to

hold him back from killing Jay. To make it worse, Jay could never

remember his lines, at all. This was because he never read the script.

We would be in the middle of a scene, and there would come a pause, and

Jay would ad lib something like "Um, that right", or "Me wait here, you

go into town". The beautiful thing was that Clayton protected Jay to a

fault. The director would be screaming and Clayton would say, "That's

o.k. Bill, the scene played more naturally the way it was. And they

printed it. This is the reason that Tonto had all those throw away

lines, he just made them up when there was a pause. I was there and

witnessed it first hand. Clayton loved it because it made the Lone

Ranger so much more meaningful as a character, without having to compete

with Tonto. In terms of logistics, I remember it being shot in L.A.

with the location shots perhaps in Placerita Canyon, now known as Canyon

Country just off the Palmdale freeway. The show took 3 days to film and

I was always sad that I wasn't asked back since Clayton Moore as the

Lone Ranger was one of my real hero's, growing up."

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