Hank Patterson
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."
Known for
Bonanza
Blacksmith
Perry Mason
Jack Gilly
The Twilight Zone
Old Man
The Twilight Zone
Freitag
The Twilight Zone
Mr. Gentry
The Andy Griffith Show
Hobo
Have Gun, Will Travel
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Slim Baker
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Jonas Mulvey
The Rifleman
The Virginian
Old Man
Rawhide
Simpson
Love, American Style
Farmer
The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Fred Ziffel
Daniel Boone
Jed Harper (uncredited)
Daniel Boone
Gray
Daniel Boone
Fiddler
Burke's Law
Lukey Slade
The Lone Ranger
Calico
Gunsmoke
Jake
Gunsmoke
Carl
Gunsmoke
Judge
Gunsmoke
Crowbait
Gunsmoke
Carl Miller
Gunsmoke
Hank Miller
Gunsmoke
Cowboy
Gunsmoke
Hank
Gunsmoke
Hank Miller (uncredited)
Gunsmoke
Livery Man
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
Petticoat Junction
Fred Ziffell
The Texan
Trackdown
Bat Masterson
Prospector
Bat Masterson
Soda Smith
Bat Masterson
Warren T. 'Soda' Smith
Mister Ed
Black Saddle
Harvey Morgan
The Mod Squad
Highway Patrol
Sea Hunt
Lock-Up
The Abbott and Costello Show
The Tramp
Laredo
Johnny Ringo
Old Man
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Mr. Phillips
Navy Log
87th Precinct
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Bronco
Bronco
Railroad Costigan
Cimarron Strip
The Tall Man
The Alaskans
Riverboat
Rare
Riverboat
Johnny Mullins (uncredited)
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
The Loner
The Bartender
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
City Detective
The Westerner
Sample
Hopalong Cassidy
The Legend of Jesse James
Porter
Buffalo Bill Jr.
Custer
Death Valley Days
Phi Jones
Gang Busters
Straightaway
Duel in the Sun
Man (uncredited)
Miami Undercover
Attack of the Puppet People
Night Manager
Attack of the Puppet People
Theater Janitor
The New Adventures of Spin and Marty
Pete Duggan
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
The Absent-Minded Professor
Fisherman Spectator (uncredited)
Tarantula
Josh
The Gunfighter
Jake (uncredited)
Abilene Town
Doug Neil
No Name on the Bullet
Ed - Chess Player (uncredited)
Julie
Ellis
Beginning of the End
Dave
Terror in a Texas Town
Brady
Monster on the Campus
Townsend - Night Watchman
The Saga of Hemp Brown
Gil Henry
Three Faces West
Pool Player
Panhandle
Old Timer (uncredited)
Relentless
Bob Pliny (uncredited)
Jack Slade
Old Tom
No Sad Songs for Me
Night Construction Workman (uncredited)
The first traveling saleslady
Courtroom Spectator
Gunsight Ridge
George Clark (uncredited)
The Arizona Kid
Townsman
The Amazing Colossal Man
Henry
Code of the Silver Sage
Sergeant Woods
Gunmen from Laredo
Springtime in the Sierras
Old-Timer
Earth vs. the Spider
Hugo
Southwest Passage
Barstow
Silver City Bonanza
Postman
The Decks Ran Red
Moody
California Conquest
The James Brothers of Missouri
Duffy [Ch. 4] / Duffy [11]
Bells of San Angelo
Deaf bus passenger
The Return of Jesse James
Clay County Marshal
Sabotage
(uncredited)
Lone Texan
Jack Stone (uncredited)
Santa Fe Uprising
Deputy Jake
The Storm Rider
Milstead
Oklahoma Badlands
Postmaster Fred
The Denver Kid
Sergeant Cooper
Under Colorado Skies
Slim
The Cowboy and the Indians
Tom
Gunfighters of Abilene
Andy Ferris
Robin Hood Of Texas
Guest
Robin Hood Of Texas
Taxi Driver
The El Paso Kid
Jeff Winters
Strange Intruder
Knife Grinder
Desperadoes of the West
Hardrock Haggerty
Don Daredevil Rides Again
Buck Bender
Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders
Jed Larson
Night Time in Nevada
Tramp
Blades of the Musketeers
The Old Fisherman
Because I Love Him
Phantom Trails
Jess Morgan