Clegg Hoyt


Clegg Hoyt was an American film and television character actor, originally from Norwalk, Connecticut. Hoyt's acting career lasted eleven years and he appeared in many Westerns, as well as in sitcoms, and dramas.

Career

Hoyt made his television debut in 1955 as a carnival barker in the episode "Practice What You Preach" in the series The Great Gildersleeve. His feature film debut came the following year with an uncredited, minor role in Mohawk. In 1956, Hoyt played the role of Dutch in Santiago starring Alan Ladd. In 1957, he appeared as Tucker, another uncredited role, in The True Story of Jesse James, along with Jeffrey Hunter in the role of Frank James..
Hoyt in 1959 portrayed Bugs Marino in "The Joe Angelo Story", an episode of the NBC crime drama The Lawless Years starring James Gregory. In 1962, he played the role of Ozzie Rupert in "For a Deadly Redhead" in the ABC/Warner Brothers' detective series Surfside 6. His other single-episode appearances ranged from being a gangster in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis to a milk deliveryman in Harrigan and Son, a traveling prizefighter in The Real McCoys, a jailer in The Monkees, and a masseur in David Janssen's Richard Diamond, Private Detective.
From 1961 to 1965, Hoyt was cast as Mac in 12 episodes of NBC's Dr. Kildare, starring Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey. He also made appearances on: Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Peter Gunn, Playhouse 90, and twice on both Have Gun – Will Travel, Mr. Lucky, Combat!, and The Twilight Zone, in the latter as a shopkeeper in the episode "Static" and as a bus driver in "The Bard".
In November and December 1964, Hoyt filmed scenes at Desilu Studios in his role as Pitcairn, the transporter chief of the fictitious USS Enterprise, for the first pilot episode, "The Cage |The Cage", of the original NBC science fiction series . "The Cage" was subsequently edited into a two-part episode and renamed "The Menagerie |The Menagerie" for broadcast in November 1966. Robert C. Johnson performed Hoyt's voice in the pilot.
Hoyt appeared in several uncredited roles over his career. He appeared as George in an uncredited silent role with comedian Paul Lynde cast as a sportscaster in the 1964 Walt Disney film Son of Flubber, a sequel to The Absent-Minded Professor, both starring Fred MacMurray. He also had uncredited roles in other films including: the character Lefty in Rod Steiger's 1959 picture Al Capone, as a craps player in Johnny Cool, and as a deputy with Sidney Poitier and Steiger in In the Heat of the Night. In 1958, he played Sheriff Lloyd in the film Damn Citizen with Keith Andes.

Death

Hoyt died of a stroke at fifty-six years old in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, California. He is interred at Babylon Rural Cemetery in Babylon in Suffolk County on Long Island in New York State.

Partial filmography

Hoyt appeared as a guest star on these television westerns: