Years active 1981 | Name Klinton Spilsbury Role Actor | |
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Full Name Glenn Klinton Spilsbury Movies The Legend of the Lone Ranger Similar People William A Fraker, George W Trendle, Ivan Goff | ||
Klinton Spilsbury (born March 4, 1951) is a former American actor. His sole major acting credit is the film The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981), in which he played the title role.
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Biography
Spilsbury, descended from Mormon settlers in Mexico, spent much of his childhood in Arizona, where his father was a football coach, first in the high school ranks and then at Arizona State Teachers College (now Northern Arizona University). After his father left Northern Arizona, the family returned to Mexico, settling in Colonia Juárez. The younger Spilsbury briefly attended Brigham Young University before moving to Hollywood to attempt to break into acting.
Using the name Max Keller in 1979, he moved to New York City where he did a few minor bit parts on a few daytime soaps.
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
Klinton Spilsbury's dialogue in The Legend of the Lone Ranger was dubbed by actor James Keach. Considerable controversy surrounded Spilsbury at the time of the film's release, in part because of the studio's treatment of Clayton Moore, star of the popular 1950s TV series, who was prevented through legal action from wearing his black mask during personal appearances. Controversy also was due to Spilsbury's on-set antics, which included fighting with crew members and being uncooperative and combative during the production. It was the only film Spilsbury would make. For his performance in this film, Spilsbury received the 1981 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.
Andy Warhol interviewed Spilsbury during his promotion tour, later describing the interview as "nutty," because Spilsbury was "blowing his whole image" during their conversation. Spilsbury told Warhol that prior to making the movie, he had been an art student married to a rich woman and that they had a baby together. He went on to state that they did not spend much time together because he needed too much time with his own thoughts, a detail that Warhol found amusing. Spilsbury told Warhol that he was a friend of actor Dennis Christopher and had fallen in love with him, and that he also had later fallen in love with actor Bud Cort. Warhol described Spilsbury as "very drunk" during the latter part of the interview, when he also mentioned that "he'd been picked up by Halston and woke up in bed with Halston."
Post-'Ranger'
An article about him in The Los Angeles Times in 1989 revealed that he had spent some time in Europe and was working as a model. He had hopes to revive his career as an actor, but admitted in the article that he was not having much luck. He has intermittently coached acting workshops at the Herpolscheimer Academy in Vancouver.
In 2013 when a reboot film, The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer was released, Spilsbury was sought out by media sources but declined to comment. According to Variety, Spilsbury was working as a photographer in Los Angeles at the time.
