Kirby Grant

Kirby Grant, (born Kirby Grant Hoon Jr., in Butte, Montana, November 24, 1911 - October 30, 1985), was a long-time B movie and television actor. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King. Grant, a child prodigy violinist, continued to pursue music and became a professional singer and bandleader. In 1939 the "Gateway to Hollywood" talent-search contest awarded him a movie contract. These "Gateway" contracts were already prepared with fictitious screen names (thus Josephine Cottle became "Gale Storm" and Ralph Bowman became "John Archer"; Grant won with Dorothy Howe, who became "Virginia Vale"). Grant's contract was made out to "Robert Stanton," and Grant used the pseudonym in his earliest films...