TV's 'Lone Ranger' Dies at 85

By DAVID GERMAIN

.c The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Clayton Moore, the masked man who played the Lone Ranger on television and raced horseback to the ``William Tell Overture'' and the cry of ``Hi-Yo, Silver!'' died Tuesday. He was 85.

Moore died of a heart attack in the emergency room at West Hills Hospital, where he was taken early Tuesday, said Rick Miller, the hospital's vice president for business development.

``Today, we've lost a part of America in the passing of Clayton Moore,'' said Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood, who helped unveil Moore's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987. ``He was a great showman and a great human being.''

The Ranger, with his Indian companion Tonto, rode through the West bringing law and order in every half-hour episode. Moore liked to say that the character embodied a creed that ``everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.''

The masked Ranger disguised himself because he was the lone survivor of a group of Texas Rangers who were ambushed by a gang of bad guys; Tonto had nursed him back to health. Tonto was played by Jay Silverheels, who died in 1979.

(©Copyright 1999 Associated Press)

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