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