(Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan) Much of the B western and serial work had faded away by the early 1950s, and many of the heroes and supporting players wound up doing TV shows. Above from left to right are Jackie Coogan, Marshall Reed, Virginia Herrick and Russell Hayden in a scene from one of the early TV sagebrush series, the syndicated COWBOY G-MEN. This TVer first appeared on the little screen in 1952 and starred Hayden as "Pat Gallagher" and Coogan as "Stoney Crockett". Marshall Reed was another B western veteran who did lots of early television. Reed had the ongoing role of "Inspector Fred Asher" on the 1950s police show THE LINEUP which starred Warner Anderson and Tom Tully. (Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above from left to right are Al "Lash" LaRue, Max Terhune and Russell Hayden in a 1972 photo. (Courtesy of Larry Imber) Above are Russ Hayden and Larry Imber at Pioneertown circa late 1970s or 1980. |
The search for Russell Hayden's real name is mass confusion due to all the name variations in the census, birth records, death records, etc. In the data that follows, you will find these ten name variations:
Hadyn Lucid (probably a spelling error by the 1920 census taker)
Hayden Lucid (1930 census)
Hayden M. Lucid (1930s California Voter Registrations)
Hayden R. Lucid (1940 California Voter Registration)
Russell Michael Hayden (California Death Index)
Russell Hayden (various sources including the Social Security Death Index (SSDI))
James Michael Lucid (name on his 1911 California birth certificate)
Russell H. Lucid (California Birth Record Index)
Russell Hayden Lucid (February, 1943 birth record name change affidavit submitted by his mother)
Pate Lucid ("Pate" is probably a nickname, not his real name)
The Family Search website (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), California Death Index, Social Security Death Index (SSDI), and newspapers have information on Russell Hayden:
For those of you with Ancestry subscriptions, you can find the dozen or more user submitted family trees on the Lucid family:
In the last name box, enter Lucid, and select Exact
In the Birth boxes, select birth years from 1910-1912 and birth location of California, USA
In the search results, look for the "Lucid Branch" family tree, and in the comments tab, you will find this:
"This birth was first recorded under the name of James Michael Lucid born on June 11, 1911 on the original birth certificate issued June 15, 1911. February 3, 1943, Minnie Harvey Lucid filed an affidavit for correction of the original certificate on the basis that the name and birth date were incorrect and should be RUSSELL HAYDEN LUCID born on June 10, 1911."
I connected with the Ancestry.com owner of this family tree, and she was most helpful. A few years back, she had gotten copies of Hayden's birth record and the affidavit for correction of that birth record from the State of California. And she sent those originals to me for my Russ Hayden files. Thanks MT!
Those State of California documents are in color, and if anyone wants, I can provide pdf or jpeg/jpg versions. I cropped the appropriate sections, converted them to B&W, and they are shown below:
Above - James Michael Lucid, born June 11, 1911 from the State of California birth certificate dated June 15, 1911.
Above from the February 3, 1943 affidavit for correction of the original birth certificate which was filed by Hayden's mother, Minnie Harvey Lucid - change name and birth date from James Michael Lucid, born June 11, 1911 to Russell Hayden Lucid, born June 10, 1911. |
Speculation on the name change: the answer may be a simple parental change of heart: "I don't like the James Michael Lucid name, so let's change it!" ... and then they forgot to get official records updated. In the 1920 and 1930 census, Russ is shown as Hadyn/Hayden ... not James and/or Michael.
Russ enlisted in the Navy in December, 1943 but did not report for duty until March, 1944 (after he finished GAMBLER'S CHOICE (Pine-Thomas Productions/Paramount, 1944)). Speculation: I'm guessing that Russ knew he would have to enter World War II service, but suspected a problem with his birth record name and/or date of birth. Or he needed the birth record during his divorce from Jan Clayton. One or both could be the reasons that his mother filed the February 3, 1943 affidavit for correction of the original birth certificate name and date.
Most (all) of the biographies on Hayden have his real name as Pate Lucid. There is no mention of "Pate" in any of the records. It was probably a nickname.
Below are links to a few newspaper articles on Hayden from the Google newspaper archives:
Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Russell Hayden, and his wives Jan Clayton and Lillian "Mousie" Porter:
Russell Hayden: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370797/
Lillian Porter (1917-1997) (Hayden's second wife): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0692206/
Jan Clayton (1917-1983) (Hayden's first wife): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0165715/
A variety of films and TV shows with Hayden are available to view or download from:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22russell+hayden%22
Internet Archive: http://archive.org/search.php?query=%22russell%20hayden%22%20AND%20collection%3Amoviesandfilms
Russ Hayden and bad guy Dick Curtis were instrumental in the establishment of the Pioneertown, California movie location:
https://www.angelfire.com/film/locationbooks/MovieLocationsPlus/PIONEER.HTM
https://visitpioneertown.com/the-story
https://www.thedesertway.com/pioneertown-ca/
https://pioneertownsun.com/newspaper-articles/
Stephen Lodge wrote about Pioneertown and Dick Curtis, Roy Rogers, Russell Hayden, and more: https://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=12206&id=8415
The CombatSim website has some 1940s photos of Lillian Porter during her contract days at 20th Century Fox: https://community.combatsim.com/topic/32144-this-day-in-wwii-4-june-1940-1945/
Find A Grave website has info and a picture of the grave marker for Hayden at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California. While his birth year has been reported as 1910, 1911 or 1912, the marker shows RUSSELL 'LUCKY' HAYDEN, 1910 - 1981, and the inscription reads TO THE BIG DIRECTOR IN THE SKY: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5265/russell-hayden
Interred near Hayden at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California are Hayden's second wife Lillian 'Mousie' Porter Hayden, as well as Sandra Hayden, the daughter of Russ and Jan Clayton, who was killed in a car accident in 1956:
Lillian Mary Porter Hayden (1917-1997): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45199146/lillian-mary-hayden
Sandra Jane Hayden (1940-1956): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11346982/sandra-jane-hayden
Actress Jan Clayton (1917-1983), Hayden's first wife, is interred at Fairview Cemetery, Tularosa, Otero County, New Mexico: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19850/jan-clayton