Earl Hammond

Best known roles

Earl Hammond began acting in radio at the age of 7, and continued working in that venue throughout his life. In the 1940s, he had a regular role as a young lawyer on a radio soap opera. From 1974 to 1982, he acted on the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, appearing in 189 episodes -- more than 12% of the entire run of the 1,399 episodes of that radio series.

Hammond started his television career in the early 1950s, his first major role being as a regular called Sergeant Lane on the DuMont police drama "Inside Detective" (aka "Rocky King Detective," starring Roscoe Karns). At the same time, he also was the first of three actors to portray the title character in the short-lived ABC TV science-fiction adventure series Buck Rogers, which ran from April 15, 1950, to January 30, 1951. In the mid-1950s, he had a major role in the daily/noontime CBS television soap opera Valiant Lady as Hal Soames, the married love interest of the widowed title character.

Hammond was perhaps best remembered for providing the voices of Mumm-Ra, Jaga, and other characters on the 1980s animated TV series ThunderCats, and for being the voice of villain Mon*Star on the 1980s animated TV series Silverhawks. He also was the voice of the Transformers villain Megatron in a series of children's read-along books.

In 1994, Hammond was selected from among several hundred actors who auditioned to be the voice of Pope John Paul II on the audiotape version of the Random House book Crossing the Threshold of Hope. The publisher said the pope personally selected Hammond.

Early acting career

In 1938, after graduating from Bennet High School in Buffalo, NY, Hammond began acting in Fred and Ethel Dampier's radio skits on WGR, one of the city's major radio stations. He moved on to California, studied acting at Los Angeles City College, and graduated in 1941 with future stars Donna Reed and Alexis Smith among his classmates. He was drafted into the U.S. Army for World War II. After he was discharged, he moved to New York City where he performed in the late 1940s on radio dramas, in summer theater, and in off-Broadway theater productions.

Personal life and death

Earl Hammond was born Erwin Saul Hamburger on June 17, 1921 in New York City, NY — his family moved to Buffalo, NY while he was still a toddler. He began his acting career in radio at the age of 7, and continued all the way through high school. In the early 1940s, he moved to California, took acting classes at Los Angeles City College, and changed his name to Earl Hammond.

He was drafted into the US Army during World War Two, learned Morse code, and served in communications. Once discharged, he moved to New York City.

In the late 1950s, as more and more television production moved from New York City to California, so did he, who, based on his television series credits, likely moved to the West Coast around 1960. He married sometime between 1950 and 1980, and had a son and a daughter, both still living at the time of his death by heart failure on May 1, 2002 in New York City.