Hank Patterson

Birthday: 1888-10-09
Deathday: 1975-08-23
Birthplace: Springville, Alabama, USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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."

Credits

Year Title Character
1961-03-16 The Absent-Minded Professor Fisherman Spectator (uncredited)
1960-01-01 Gunfighters of Abilene Andy Ferris
1959-03-01 Lone Texan Jack Stone (uncredited)
1959-03-01 Gunmen from Laredo
1958-12-17 Monster on the Campus Townsend - Night Watchman
1958-10-10 The Decks Ran Red Moody
1958-10-01 The Saga of Hemp Brown Gil Henry
1958-09-01 Terror in a Texas Town Brady
1958-09-01 The Spider Hugo
1958-04-01 Attack of the Puppet People Night Manager
1958-04-01 Attack of the Puppet People Theater Janitor
1957-10-25 The Amazing Colossal Man Henry
1957-09-01 Gunsight Ridge George Clark (uncredited)
1957-06-28 Beginning of the End Dave
1957-03-01 The Storm Rider Milstead
1956-10-17 Julie Ellis
1956-09-02 Strange Intruder Knife Grinder
1956-08-01 The First Traveling Saleslady Courtroom Spectator
1955-12-14 Tarantula Josh
1955-05-08 Phantom Trails Jess Morgan
1954-04-01 Southwest Passage Barstow
1953-11-08 Jack Slade Old Tom
1953-07-08 Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders Jed Larson
1952-07-04 California Conquest
1951-04-10 Don Daredevil Rides Again Buck Bender
1951-03-01 Silver City Bonanza Postman
1950-11-24 Blades of the Musketeers The Old Fisherman
1950-08-02 Desperadoes of the West Hardrock Haggerty
1950-08-01 The Return of Jesse James Clay County Marshal
1950-06-23 The Gunfighter Jake (uncredited)
1950-04-27 No Sad Songs for Me Night Construction Workman (uncredited)
1950-03-25 Code of the Silver Sage Sergeant Woods
1949-09-15 The Cowboy and the Indians Ranch hand Tom
1949-08-31 The James Brothers of Missouri Duffy [Ch. 4] / Duffy [11]
1948-09-30 The Denver Kid Sergeant Cooper
1948-09-05 Night Time in Nevada Tramp
1948-06-15 Relentless Bob Pliny (uncredited)
1948-02-22 Panhandle Old Timer (uncredited)
1948-02-22 Oklahoma Badlands Postmaster Fred
1947-12-15 Under Colorado Skies Slim
1947-07-15 Springtime in the Sierras Old-Timer
1947-07-15 Robin Hood Of Texas Guest
1947-07-15 Robin Hood Of Texas Taxi Driver
1947-04-15 Bells of San Angelo Deaf bus passenger
1946-12-31 Duel in the Sun Man (uncredited)
1946-11-15 Santa Fe Uprising Deputy Jake
1946-05-22 The El Paso Kid Jeff Winters
1946-01-11 Abilene Town Doug Neil
1940-07-03 Three Faces West Pool Player
1939-10-13 Sabotage (uncredited)
1939-09-28 The Arizona Kid Townsman