Hal Harvey Fieberling (born Hal David Britton; December 10, 1918Texas, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1903–1932 for Hal David Britton, 1918 > 057451-061848, retrieved from Ancestry.com – January 15, 1998)Hal Harvey Fieberling in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claim Index, 1936–2007, retrieved from Ancestry.com known by his stage name Hal Baylor, was an American boxer and screen character actor. He had a professional boxing record of 16–8–3, and later appeared in 76 films and over 500 episodes of various television shows.
Early years Born in San Antonio, Texas, to David Locke Britton and Thelma Hallie Bowles, he grew up in Oakland, California when his mother remarried to Walter H. Fieberling during January 1925. After Oakland High School, he attended Chico State College where he played on the football team. He transferred to Washington State College in the Fall of 1938, where he pledged Phi Delta Theta. But by December 1939 he was working as an apprentice butcher in a meat market on 14th Street in Oakland.
Boxing Fieberling had his first amateur fight in San Francisco, during June 1938, while still a college student. Representing the Athens Athletic Club of Oakland, he won the California Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) novice heavyweight title in a single bout on points. A newspaper report on his first boxing match mentioned he was left-handed. He repeated the triumph in August 1939, this time taking the State AAU heavyweight title by knocking out 6' 6" 225 lb. Jack Hillman of the San Francisco Olympic Club. However, the following month he lost a rematch on points to Hillman, his first amateur defeat.
After just five amateur fights, Fieberling signed a professional contract with manager Ray Carlen in May 1940. He scored a technical knockout over Phil Latonia in the third round for his first professional win, and three weeks later did the same to Bob Schaunbelt. Sportswriters labeled him "the butcher boy" and printed photos of him at his daytime job. Columnists also called him "Handsome Hal" and "Prince Hal" for his good looks.
Over the years, reports of his height varied from 6' 2" (188 cm) to 6' 4 1/2" (194 cm). All his matches were as a heavyweight, with his weight varying from a pre-boxing high of 227 lbs. (103 kg), to a low of 189 lbs. (85.7 kg) after his return from the Pacific War. Following the war, he resumed professional boxing, until he fractured his hand in a 1947 fight with Dutch Culbertson. His career record was 52–5 as an amateurWins and losses; there are no draws in amateur boxing. and 16–8–3 as a professional. Sports columnist Eddie Muller said years after Fieberling left the ring that "he didn't amount to much because he never took the game too seriously".
Military service Fieberling was a private at a US Marine Corps recruit depot during January 1943,Hal Harvey Fieberling in the U.S., Marine Corps Muster Roll, 1798–1958, January 1943 retrieved from Ancestry.com making the rank of sergeant by November 1943. He was assigned stateside through April 1944, enabling him to continue boxing. He took part in the landings on Saipan and Tinian, finishing the war as a Staff Sergeant with the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.Hal Harvey Fieberling in the U.S., Marine Corps Muster Roll, 1798–1958, July 1945, retrieved from Ancestry.com
Early films Fieberling began his acting career in the 1948 boxing film Joe Palooka in Winner Take All. The film's star, Joe Kirkwood, had spotted him at a boxing arena. During filming of a boxing scene, Kirkwood threw the wrong choreographed punch and Fieberling accidentally kayoed him. Fieberling was an official witness a year later when Kirkwood took his final exam for U.S. naturalization.
The Set-Up (1949) was Fieberling's third film and first credited role. The picture included the entirety of a four-round bout between star Robert Ryan, portraying a second-rate pug on the skids, and Fieberling, playing a mob-controlled fighter. Reviewers praised the realism of the boxing and the lack of cliches. Ryan told a columnist that shooting the bout with Fieberling took 10 days to capture 11 minutes of filming. "Each afternoon I went home with a headache. Fieberling hits hard. Once Hal knocked me cold for several seconds. He gave me a black eye, mussed up my nose, and made me glad I didn't follow boxing as a profession." Fieberling said of Ryan: "There's one actor who can go more than two rounds in the Mocambo."The Mocambo at the time had a reputation for brawls breaking out among its celebrity patrons. See "Cugat and Oleg Cassini Fight At Mocambo", The San Bernardino County Sun, February 9, 1948, page 1, for an example.
Fieberling received more publicity nationwide from The Set-Up than he ever had from his boxing career, which had been confined to California. He had three more films released during 1949, one of which, Sands of Iwo Jima, was considered his most remembered film role.
Films and television In March 1950, Fieberling made his earliest known television appearance, when he and his then wife along with three other couples guested on The Frank Webb Show, a local program on KFI-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles. Later that year he performed on two episodes of The Lone Ranger. Television would prove very lucrative, but it also diminished his standing with neighbor kids, one of who told him: "You're not so tough. I saw the Lone Ranger beat the stuffing out of you".
By 1952 he decided to adopt the stage name "Hal Baylor" as he felt it was "easier to spell and pronounce than Fieberling". The choice was meant to honor his great-great-grandfather, Robert E. B. Baylor, the founder of Baylor University.
Oakland sportswriter Alan Ward said of Baylor in late 1957: "He works constantly and remuneratively in movies and television... He has the face and structure of a college football hero but Hollywood usually casts him as a villain. A baby-faced villain. And invariably in westerns." Thirteen years later, he echoed the same thoughts on Baylor in another column: "Readers have seen Hal Baylor, nee Fieberling, on movie and TV screens scores of times. Usually he's the villain, rarely a hero". Baylor agreed with the assessment of his career: "Recently I had a sympathetic part and got to kiss the girl. It was quite a departure from the norm. As a rule I'm the complete heel".
From 1961, he made television commercials for Kellogg's OK's breakfast cereal as Big Otis the Scotsman until he was replaced by Yogi Bear.
Baylor's last film performances came in 1975, with three movies released that year: A Boy and His Dog, Cornbread, Earl and Me, and Hustle. His last television work was an episode of CHiPs broadcast during 1978.
Later life Baylor was the founder and longtime president of a charitable organization called The Spotlighters,Later known as The Starlighters and by other names. consisting of show business personalities who raised money for the San Fernando Valley Youth Center. He also took part in celebrity golf tournaments benefiting charities.
Baylor was a partner in an exclusive outdoor sports development near Jackson Hole, Wyoming and told sportswriter Alan Ward: "Someday I'll retire there and hunt and fish and watch the late, late movies." In 1983, Baylor donated scripts and photos from his career to the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming.
Baylor died in Los Angeles on January 15, 1998.
Personal life Fieberling married Jacqueline Anstey, whom he had known at Oakland High School, on February 3, 1940, in Reno, Nevada. They had a son Michael, born in late 1941, before separating on May 15, 1942. She filed for divorce and was granted preliminary alimony and child support on May 27, 1942.
While a sergeant in the USMC, stationed in San Diego, Fieberling married Margaret Jeanne MacLean in Los Angeles, on November 27, 1943. They had a daughter Paula in August 1955.Paula Jean Fieberling in the California Birth Index, 1905–1995, retrieved from Ancestry.com
Hal Baylor and Shirley Hickey (née Croose), were married on August 14, 1965.Hal Harvey Fieberling in the California, U.S., Marriage Index, 1960–1985, retrieved from Ancestry.com
Filmography As Hal Fieberling + Film (by year of first release) Year Title Role Notes & Cites 1948Joe Palooka in Winner Take All Sammy Talbot Uncredited.In This Corner Uncredited.1949The Set-Up Tiger Nelson The screenplay was by Art Cohn, a former Oakland sportswriter, who had covered Fieberling's early boxing career.The Crooked Way Coke Yes Sir, That's My Baby Pudge Flugeldorfer Fieberling is a married football-playing G.I. Bill student at a small college.Sands of Iwo Jima Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski 1950Destination Big House Bill Storm UncreditedDial 1119The working title was The Violent Hour. Lt. 'Whitey' Tallman Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle Pinky Thompson For Heaven's Sake Expectant Father Uncredited1951Inside Straight Foreman UncreditedUp Front Smitty UncreditedThe Guy Who Came Back Navy Man UncreditedJim Thorpe – All-American Player Uncredited
As Hal Baylor + Film (by year of first release) Year Title Role Notes & Cites 1951The Wild Blue Yonder Sgt. Eric Nelson 1952Fort Osage Olaf Christensen UncreditedDown Among the Sheltering Palms Soldier UncreditedBreakdown Joe Thompson Plays champBig Jim McLain Poke One Minute to Zero Pvt. Jones 1953The Sun Shines Bright Rufe Ramseur Jr. Woman They Almost Lynched Zed UncreditedChamp for a Day 'Soldier' Freeman 99 River Street Sailor Braxton UncreditedIsland in the Sky Stankowski Hot News Augie Grotz Flight Nurse Sgt. Jimmy Case 1954Prince Valiant Prison Guard UncreditedRiver of No Return Young Punk Uncredited.Tobor the Great Max This Is My Love Eddie Collins Black Tuesday Lou Mehrtens 1955Outlaw Treasure Ace Harkey 1956Away All Boats Chaplain Hughes Sports columnist Alan Ward expressed surprise at Baylor playing a Navy chaplain.The Burning Hills Braun Baylor plays a hired gunfighter.1957Kiss Them for Me Big Marine in Nightclub Uncredited1958The Young Lions Pvt. Burnecker 1959Operation Petticoat Military Police Sergeant Uncredited1963Johnny Cool Gambler Uncredited1964Quick, Before It Melts Prison Guard 1967The Gnome-Mobile Male Nurse UncreditedFitzwilly Motorcycle Cop Uncredited1970The Cheyenne Social Club Barkeep at Lady of Egypt WUSA Shorty 1971The Barefoot Executive Policeman The Grissom Gang Chief McLaine Evel Knievel Sheriff 1972Pickup on 101 Railroad cop Ulzana's Raid Curtis Uncredited1973Emperor of the North Yardman's Helper One Little Indian Branigan 1974Herbie Rides Again Demolition Truck Driver The Bears and I Foreman 1975A Boy and His Dog Michael Baylor played a killer android in this post-apocalyptic cult favorite.Cornbread, Earl and Me Mr. Wilson Hustle Police Captain
Partial television credits The Lone Ranger (1950–1954) – Judd Collins / Notch Brice / Bert Devlin / Glenn Bolton / Gus Mr. & Mrs. North (1953) – Vince McKay in "Trained for Murder" Four Star Playhouse (1954–1955) – Cal / Jamison The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–J1958) – Sam Wilson / Bill Thompson / Jeb Callum Cheyenne (1956–1960) – Rowdy Shane / Jed Rayner / Joe Barnum / Duke / Turk Moylan Gunsmoke (1957) – Mike The Silent Service (1957–1958) – Exec. Officer Bob Ison / Calhoun / Lieut. Robert L. Ison The Donna Reed Show (1959) – Herbie, "Donna Plays Cupid" Have Gun – Will Travel (1958–1963) – Tagg – Farmer / Floyd Perrin / Bryan Sykes Death Valley Days (1958–1970) – Stokes LaFever / Captain Randolph / Wes Adams / Web Hardy / Trenner / Lance / Sheriff Ryan / Hughie Snow / Joe Sweigert / Ben Poole / Gus Mahoney / Jed / Buck Jarrico 26 Men (1958–1959) – Slats Scarsted / Roper / Charlie Daggett / Sykes Laramie (1959–1963) – Hub Ballard / Samson / Ben – Mountain Man / Beamer / 2nd Bar Patron / Kincaid / Cowboy Hill Rawhide (1959–1965) Rawhide (1959) – Blacksmith in S2:E1, "Incident of the Day of the Dead" Rawhide (1960) – Myles in S2:E25, "Incident of the Arana Sacar" Rawhide (1961) – Pool Player in S4:E7, "The Black Sheep"