Jack Wrather is best known for producing The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and Lassie television series in the 1950s as well as marrying actress Bonita Granville.
19 Facts About Jack Wrather
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Jack Wrather worked in the oilfields of East Texas as a wildcatter and pipeline walker as his college summer job.
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Jack Wrather served in the US Marine Corps Reserve during World War II in three campaigns and commanded a Marine air group in the Philippines.
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Jack Wrather bought a home in Hollywood and by 1955, he had produced six more movies, including High Tide, Perilous Waters, Strike It Rich and Guilty of Treason.
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Jack Wrather-Alvarez went on to purchase the San Diego television and radio stations KFMB-TV and KFMB in 1953 and New York City radio station WNEW in 1955.
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Jack Wrather-Alvarez owned WJDW-TV in Boston, and donated it in 1965 to the WGBH Educational Foundation, which operates it as the PBS station WGBX-TV.
7.
Walt Disney asked Jack Wrather to build the hotel when Disney exhausted his credit line building the Disneyland theme park.
8.
When Disney later attempted to buy the hotel, Jack Wrather refused to sell.
9.
In 1954, Jack Wrather-Alvarez purchased the complete rights to the Lone Ranger character and took over production of the television series.
10.
Jack Wrather discovered that "Miss" Alvarez had married former partner John Hill when he had been "bought out" and his shares given to Alvarez.
11.
In 1958, Jack Wrather bought Alvarez's shares of Jack Wrather-Alvarez and became sole owner of its television and hotel assets.
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Jack Wrather operated primarily as a distribution service for syndicating television shows produced by Wrather or the British ITC company.
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Jack Wrather later sold his shares of Independent Television Corporation to ITC.
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Jack Wrather was the founder of Los Angeles public television station KCET.
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Jack Wrather is known as the man that "sued the mask off the Lone Ranger".
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In 1957, Jack Wrather purchased the Muzak corporation, a company providing "elevator music" for business environments.
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Jack Wrather owned an extensive library of easy listening music and one of the world's largest recording plants.
18.
Jack Wrather died of cancer on November 12,1984, at St John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California.
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Jack Wrather's funeral was held at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills and he was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery, in Culver City, California.