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(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.


Russell Hayden and family - and confusion with his real name.

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:

  • 1910 census: Russ Hayden was not born yet. Here's the Lucid family in Chico, Butte County, California: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MV28-9N2
  • California Birth Record Index: Russell H. Lucid, born June 10, 1911 in Butte County, California, and his mother's maiden name was Harvey: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VGNQ-SS8
  • 1920 census: 44 year old Francis J. Lucid (born New York; occupation "Salesman-Stocks"), 40 year old wife Minnie (born California), 18 year old son Francis J. Lucid Jr. (born California), 16 year old daughter Madaline (born California), 14 year old daughter Lois (born New York), 12 year old daughter Helen (born Indiana), 10 year old daughter Dorothy (born California), 8 year old son Hadyn [sic] (born California), 6 year old daughter Roberta (born California), and 2 year old daughter Patricia (born California) reside in Chico, Butte County, California: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH3N-MF9
    Ancestry has the 1920 census takers worksheet. The census taker has spelled 8 year old Hayden's name as Hadyn.
  • 1930 census on the Lucid family is a bit confusing due to the family members being spread over two census sheets:
    Living in Los Angeles are 50 Minnie H. Lucid (born California), 20 year old daughter June (born New York), 28 year old son Francis J. Lucid Jr. (born California), 19 year old daughter Dorothy (born Indiana), 18 year old son Hayden (born California), 16 year old daughter Roberta (born California), 12 year old daughter Patricia (born California), 6 year old son Jerry (born California), and 40 year old roomer Ray E. Harvey (born California; this is Minnie Harvey Lucid's brother): https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XCJ1-KTK
    55 year old father Francis J. Lucid Senior (born New York) is at: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XCJ1-L2S
    Ancestry has the two 1930 census takers worksheets that cover the complete Lucid family. They are living at 6494 ??? in Los Angeles. The occupations of 28 year old Francis J. Lucid Jr. and 18 year old Hayden Lucid are "Laboratory-Studio". The occupation of father Frank is "Salesman-Merchandise".
  • 1938 marriage to Jane Byral Clayton (actress Jane/Jan Clayton). Newspaper reports indicate they married October 9, 1938 in the home of Clayton's parents in Tularosa, New Mexico, and Frank Lucid Jr., Russ' older brother, was best man.
  • 1940 census: 27 year old Russell Hayden (born California), 22 wife Jane Hayden (born New Mexico; this is actress Jan Clayton), and a housekeeper are living in Los Angeles: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K9C5-BT5
    1940 census takers worksheet: Russell Hayden and wife are renting at 10503 Chestnut (???-difficult to read street name) in Los Angeles. He reports his occupation as "Actor - Motion Picture Studio", and in 1939, he worked 52 weeks and earned $5000.00+. There is no occupation listed for wife Jane/Jan Clayton, but in 1939, she worked 26 weeks and earned $1800.00: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-27799-4190-62?cc=2000219&wc=M9Q8-B8T:n1341464658
  • Ancestry has several Los Angeles County Voter Registrations:
    1932: Hayden M. Lucid, 6610 Iris Circle (brother Frank Jr. is also at that address). Parents Frank and Minnie Lucid and daughter June Lucid are living at 6610 Iris Dr.
    1934: Hayden M. Lucid, 2031 Holly Hill ter
    1936: Hayden M. Lucid, 1132 N Vista st, occupation: technician
    1938: Hayden M. Lucid, 1132 N Vista st, occupation: technician
    1940: Hayden R. Lucid, 755 N La Jolla av, occupation: actor
  • 1946 marriage to Lillian Porter (nicknamed "Mousie"). Newspaper reports indicate they married July 10, 1946 at the home of a Beverly Hills, California Justice of the Peace.
  • Fifteen year old Sandra Jane Hayden, daughter of Russ and Jan Clayton, died in a motor vehicle accident on September 22, 1956.
  • Newspaper obituaries reported that Russell Hayden passed away on June 9, 1981 from viral pneumonia at the Desert Hospital in Palm Springs, California.
  • Ancestry has a record in the Navy Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) for Russell Hayden: Navy enlistment date of December 27, 1943 and release date of October 24, 1945; born June 10, 1910 and passed away on June 10, 1981. No rank or service location details are shown.
  • You may want to go to the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral and then to the California Death Index and Social Security Death Index (SSDI). There you will find records for: Russell Michael Hayden, born 6/10/1910 in California, Mother's maiden name of Harvey, and he died on 6/9/1981. However, the SSDI shows his birth date as June 11, 1911.
  • Find A Grave website:
    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

For those of you with Ancestry subscriptions, you can find a 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:



Hayden Links

  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://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



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