John Hoyt - Television and Film

Television and Film

Hoyt had a number of memorable roles - as Darwin Norland in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Libelous Locket", an industrialist in When Worlds Collide.

On November 17, 1959, Hoyt apppeared as the mentally troubled Colonel Brandon in the episode "The General Must Die" on NBC's Laramie western series. Brian Keith appears with Hoyt in the role of Whit Malone, an old Union Army friend of series character Slim Sherman, portrayed by John Smith. Malone and Brandon arrive at the Sherman Ranch and Relay Station with a daring but foiled plan to assassinate General William Tecumseh Sherman, who passes through the station on a stagecoach. Gilman Rankin makes a cameo appearance as General Sherman, who is unrelated to Slim Sherman but under whom Slim had fought in the American Civil War.

Hoyt appeared in guest roles on CBS's Hogan's Heroes, and as Dr. Philip Boyce in a pilot episode of Star Trek ("The Cage"). Hoyt appeared twice during the second season of The Twilight Zone, in the episodes "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up" and "The Lateness of the Hour". He also appeared as the KAOS agent Conrad Bunny in the Get Smart episode, "Our Man in Toyland", as General Beeker in ABC's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "Hail to the Chief", and as Dr. Mendoza in NBC's The Monkees episode "I Was a Teenage Monster".

He was also a guest player in an episode of CBS's The Burns and Allen Show. Because of his stentorian demeanor, the writers had him play opposite the usual conceit—where most strangers became befuddled by Gracie Allen's convoluted behavior. In the teleplay, Hoyt simply would not put up with Gracie's antics and immediately removed himself from the room — twice. His last screen role was as Grandpa in Nell Carter's television series, Gimme a Break!. On the silver screen, he played the chillingly strict Principal Warneke in the 1955 film, Blackboard Jungle.

Hoyt appeared in one Shakespearean film, MGM's Julius Caesar, reprising the role of Decius Brutus (a.k.a. Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus), which he had played in the 1937 Mercury Theatre production. In 1953, he portrayed Elijah in the biblical film Sins of Jezebel.